Since the Democrats lost the presidential election in 2024, there has been a lot of handwringing. Pundits and politicians have been publicly wrestling with what went wrong and how to move forward. What can we learn from 2024?
One answer is nothing. We are in a time of high polarization. The electorate swings between the two parties. Neither one really captures what the median voter wants in terms of results once in office. Wait for the other party to overreach and then highlight you are not the party in power. Unless you think 2024 marked the start of a new MAGA revolution like the Regan revolution, just wait till the pendulum swings back in your favor.
A dangerous answer would be to prepare for future political battles like they are still happening 2024. The problem is that the future will be so different that the lessons from the past will not be obvious. President Trump has likely changed everything in the political landscape. You cannot release your minions to destroy our political systems and then expect things to go back to the way they were.
We live in times of high uncertainty. Firing so many people, destroying so many norms, disregarding traditions, threatening friends and allies, undermining the post WW II international social order, recklessly starting trade wars, for better or worse, we are in a new era. What can one do when the future is so up in the air?
Not go back to the past. There is a phenomenon in life where we prepare for the future by looking at our mistakes in the past. In some ways, this is proper. An aspect of building wisdom. Yet, I have noticed as a pastor, we often perhaps absorb the wrong lessons. We learn what not to do in the past, but that lesson does not translate well to future problems.
Churches change over time in terms of composition. The communities and larger society changes. Onetime anomalies and mistakes loom large in the collective mind. Past successes also loom large-especially when looking at other perceived successes in other churches. If a church in a different locality did this well two years and succeeded in our eyes, why can’t we? Congregants are just as likely to say yes to something that worked a few years ago at a different church in a different context as they are to say no to something new that reminds them of something from the past in their own context.
In the military, war planners often plan for the future based on the past. You enter a war prepared for how militaries deployed technologies, tactics, and strategies in the last war, not fully appreciating how the technology has changed or how tactics or strategies will change in this new context. Success depends, in part, on dealing with the world as it is now, not as it was in the last war.
The same is true in political battles. Until you are on the field of battle, you do not know what your opposition looks like, what tactics they will deploy, or how voters will respond to the moment. So instead of fretting about what did not work and re-litigating what happened, it’s better to be yourself and fight for what you believe in.
Know what you stand for-what values matter most to you? What harms are breaking your heart? How can you offer a story of hope that offers a real alternative to your opponents? Are you willing to live and make real your values now? Looking behind will not move us forward. What the world needs is an alternative that is genuine and compellingly different from what is being offered in the moment.
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