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Letter from AmericaPolitics as usualWeapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) continue to create political tension for George W. Bush. At the Oscars Sean Penn scored an easy laugh with this side swipe: 'If there's one thing actors know - other than that there aren't any WMDs - it's that there is no such thing as 'best' in acting.' Bush is therefore launching an earlier than expected counter-attack in this presidential election year. John Kerry, leading Democratic hopeful, is to be portrayed as the snivelling elitist in the pocket of the rich liberal hierarchy. His prevaricating voting record will be pointed out. In his own stab at humour, George Bush recently said referring to Kerry: 'The other party's nomination battle is still playing out. The candidates are an interesting group with diverse opinions. They're for tax cuts and against them. They're for NAFTA and against NAFTA. They're for the Patriot Act and against the Patriot Act. They're in favour of liberating Iraq, and opposed to it. And that's just one senator from Massachusetts.' No doubt, as Bush said in another recent speech, this will be a year of sharp elbows and sharp tongues. He who pays the piper . . . The truly interesting thing about this pre-fight sparring is that in many ways the real battle is going on somewhere else. Many commentators agree that probably the most significant victories will be won by fundraising. Kerry has managed to raise something like 30 million dollars. Bush, on the other hand, has raised a reported 150 million or so dollars. This vast disparity, and vast amount, of money is about to be poured into the election conflict in what is meant to be the purest democracy on the earth. Is it democracy or 'dollarocracy'? Of course there is a fully understandable need to raise money. Advertisements are expensive, campaign managers have to be paid, and television air time has to be bought. But, increasingly, not only does money talk, it elects. People will make up their own minds and, at times, the richest candidate will lose. Nonetheless the fundraising drive is said by those who know to be all important in the upcoming election. Despite the pre-match sparring the battle between Kerry and Bush is not really a battle between a hick simpleton from Texas and an elite (wine-drinking, for goodness sake) intellectual from Massachusetts. Bush's family is also originally from New England. Bush was educated at Yale and at Harvard. Bush went to an elite prep school (= English public school) and is the son of a well entrenched political dynasty. Bush's portrayal as the shoot-from-the-hip Texan provides him political leverage, however hard that might be to understand from a European point of view, but it is a one-sided picture to say the least. And Kerry? Kerry likewise graduated from Yale though he has Boston as his other alma mater, not Harvard. As Bush did, so Kerry also went to a New England prep school. In fact, this apparent battle between straight-talking blue-collar George Bush and wine-sipping elitist John Kerry (if Kerry wins the democratic nomination) will in some ways be a war between St. Paul's (where Kerry went to prep school) and Andover's (where Bush went). We could say it was an intra-collegiate battle from Yale, like some tweedy intramural contest. Or that the battle for the presidency may become in some sense a battle between very wealthy and connected families, Kerry's wife being heiress to the Heinz fortune and Bush's father having been himself President of the United States. No need to despairIt is politics as usual. This should not make us cynical nor make us despair. Christians are to be realists about this world and optimists about the influence of the church in this world. We are to be 'salt' and 'light', we are the global moral preservatives and the universal spiritual illuminators. But the world is indeed dark and in need of refrigeration lest it go bad. This is even true of the much vaunted modern Western democratic process. I have heard the quotation attributed to several men but it inexorably comes to mind in this context: 'Democracy is the worst possible form of government, apart from all the others.' Another quotation also pops into the head: 'Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's' (Matthew 22.21). Thank God he is in charge of our national, individual, and ecclesiastic destinies. And let us give what we should to Caesar, and do what we can to encourage Caesars who are havens for the gospel to flourish. Josh Moody,
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