As the screws turn

Imagine a bucket full of wood cockroaches being thrown into a burning fire. The little brown bodies writhe and crackle and begin to fall apart. This is the scene we are watching in Washington.

The end game is cracking and folding.

Like a game of Jenga, one by one the blocks are being pulled out until – Voila – the whole tower tumbles. If you have ever seen the game played, excited players carefully pull a block at a time out of the tower, hoping the tower will remain balanced until the next player takes a turn. I can’t remember the name of the columnist who proposed this analogy, but he was spot on.

We watch the stock market. Numbers remain high, even with so much of the economy circling the toilet. When you look at the indexes, the richest tech companies shore it up with huge profits. The little guy in this economy is dealing with higher prices in consumer goods, increasingly high rents and challenges to having all the things needed to maintain a comfortable standard of living.

Watching Ken Burn’s documentary about the American Revolution the parallels were obvious. In the Revolution, there was a tyrant, England’s King George. There were British Loyalists living in high positions as landowners and tax collectors in the American colonies. Loyalists were happy with the relationship with England. They were getting rich making money off taxes.

It is reminiscent of the Biblical story about the money changers in the Temple. They were cheating the lowly who were faithful in paying the Temple tax as proscribed in the Torah.

A badass Jesus walks into the Temple and, seeing this injustice and thievery, turns over the tables in anger, scattering the moneychangers to the hinterlands. Addressing injustice and wrongdoing are the work Jesus did. It is the work we are called to continue.

I could wrap myself in the Christian flag, along with the stars and stripes, and call myself righteous. Or I could walk in the path of Jesus to meet and right the ills of a corrupt system that harms the poor and diminishes the value of every human being.

Sadly, I see Milquetoast Mike Johnson spouting MAGA piety from the Speaker’s podium. The Maga Republican Congress is largely to blame for Trump’s ability to continue his reign of terror. That includes you, Thom Tillis. Many of you have known the wrongdoing of the Trump government and have sat by twiddling fingers while the country implodes.

Ken Burns showed the lines of battle in red and blue, showing how the patriots outmaneuvered the British in their strategy of attack.

Resistance is the answer. It was then. It is now.

The recent No Kings protests around the country have brought out many of the contemporary patriots who genuinely love this country and are willing to stand the line against tyranny. We went to the No Kings Rally in Raleigh, along with thousands of our neighbors, with signs and costumes and music. We were a band of resistance. At some point we will be a tipping point for Trump’ s madness.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s dramatic exit is a canary in the coalmine. Polls are beginning to project a large turnout of Democrats and Independents in the Mid-Term elections. The time is nigh when the tide is going to turn.

Blessed are they who seek peace and justice. Blessed are the poor, the aged, the lonely.

Stay loud on behalf of Democracy. Change is on the horizon. Stay the course and be brave. 

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com