Honor and Civility in Political Activity

Honor and Civility in Political Activity

Written by Dan McDonald

 

            The other day, John Armstrong wrote one of his briefest blogs. It contained two paragraphs. He expressed frustration regarding political polarization between Conservative and Liberals. The two endlessly debate about the role of government and it is increasingly common that such differences are highlighted with implications that those in the opposing camp are ignorant or evil. Those of us not fitting nicely into such Conservative or Liberal identity politics wonder if there will ever be a workable understanding by which a basic political consensus could be established. It would seem that the observation of H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) sums up the present democracy of our American Republic. He once wrote, “Under Democracy one party always devotes its energies to trying to prove the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed and are right.” That seems to be where we are within today’s social and political landscape.

            A poster once asserted that virtually all the important life lessons are basically learned in Kindergarten. I wonder, based on that insight, if we can’t learn something about honoring others in our political environment by applying the lesson we learn as children to honor our fathers and mothers. To be sure we don’t mean reducing the command to honor father and mother to some sort of command merely calling upon us to obey our parents. A child may observe the command to honor father and mother by obeying their parents; but an adult son or daughter honors their parents in almost wholly other ways than by merely obeying them. The requirement to obey a parent is not an obligation of an adult son or daughter, so for the adult son or daughter honoring father and mother means something different from obeying father and mother. A consideration of how we honor fathers and mothers may well help us to understand how we are meant to honor kings and those in authority.

            It would seem to me that we often fail to see the command to honor father and mother, and in association honoring of king and country in a realistic manner. Why has God commanded us to honor father and mother? What are the reasons for us to honor our parents?

            I suspect that there are three basic reasons for honoring parents, of which the third may be the most important but most often the less contemplated. The first reason is simply biological. We exist by being born of our parents. Clearly it is a reason, but not the most important reason to list the honoring of father and mother in the Ten Words. Secondly, and this is far more important we honor our parents because generally we owe them so much for the values and privileges we possess through their provision and care for us.

            But there is another reason for God to put the commandment to honor father and mother into the Ten Sacred Words commanded on Sinai. A large number of children grow up to become adults with issues inherited from parents. There are too many children who grow up having been abused, having been carelessly reared, having been abandoned or in some ways semi-abandoned by their parents. Most of us have issues where we wish our parents had done this or that or not done that, because certain areas are difficult for us because our parents failed miserably in some manner. Perhaps that is actually an important reason why God included this commandment in the Ten Commandments. It is in fact, a relationship where for most of us in consistently honoring our parents, have had to come to the realization that as God has received us by grace and has thus honored us in his treatment of us, so has he called us to honor others by treating them graciously. This is the only way the keeping of this commandment is kept within the boundaries of sanity. God does not expect us to honor abuse or failure that so often is part of the mixed bag of parenting. Therefore the only way we can consistently honor parents is to recognize that the command is connected to our participation in the loving-kindness, mercy, and honor of God’s grace towards us so that as he extends grace to us we extend honor and graciousness to others.

            This then means as children mature and become responsible for their actions they honor their parents not by unthinkingly copying their parental methods but by being thankful for where their parenting was a means of blessing and moving forward to make changes for the better where parents’ parenting skills proved less than admirable. There must be realism in the way we honor parents. As we learn how to honor our fathers and mothers, we learn how to establish our own households independently of their authority. We can thus honor without agreeing. We can be civil without having full agreement.

            It seems to me that such lessons learned in honoring our parents will apply also in the general command to honor the king and those in authority. We can honor and respect those in authority without necessarily agreeing with every political decision. It does seem to me that such an understanding would promote within us carefulness in how we speak of our leaders and how we disagree in political discourse. Debates regarding public policy matters are essential to a representative democracy. Lampooning others as idiots, evil, or charlatans without just cause is nothing less than a form of character assassination.

            I offer this blog as food for thought. I do not mean it to be an article suggesting that people shouldn’t speak pointedly and passionately in support of or against legislation. I believe it is often essential to speak faithfully concerning social and political concerns. I have no qualms with those who organize protests and demonstrations. We nevertheless have the responsibility to honor those in authority and to be civil to our political opponents.