Colson on "The Political Illusion"

Election day, November 4, 2008, ended not only the most expensive presidential campaign in US history, but probably the longest. Barack Obama formally announced his presidential candidacy on February 10, 2007, nearly 21 months before election day, 2008, and almost a full year before the first primary of the 2008 campaign. Hillary Clinton announced the formation of her presidential exploratory committee on January 20, 2007.

The news media, of course, began reporting on the presidential horserace the day after President Bush won reelection in 2004. We live in an era of non-stop political campaigns. Even as President-Elect Obama puts together his cabinet, the speculation is already running hot as to who will run against him in 2012: Sarah Palin? Mitt Romney? Tim Pawlenty? Even former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson is acquiring a small but impressed group of supporters.

Charles Colson commented on the character of perpetual campaigns back in mid-2007, observing that with some 15 months until the general election of 2008, if Americans were getting sick and tired of the campaign, there wasn't much evidence of such weariness. "The campaign is all some people can think about," Colson wrote in an August 7, 2007, article on Christianity Today's online magazine. "Everywhere I go, people seem almost frantic to know who I'm for and who I think will win. When I say, 'It's too early to tell,' they're crestfallen, as if desperate to attach themselves to a candidate."

Observing the obsessive compulsion with which Americans follow national politics, Colson asked, "Have we finally succumbed to what Jacques Ellul, the eccentric French Reformed thinker, prophesied in the 1960s—the politicization of all aspects of life?" A rhetorical question, to which the answer is "Yes."

Colson makes his point, and in so doing, summarizes Ellul's theme in his book The Political Illusion:

Ellul foresaw the Information Age and the media's need for a steady flow of information to feed the populace. Media would therefore gravitate to covering centers of power. Politicians would be willing accomplices, because they'd gain fame and clout. All of this has happened, creating what Ellul's prophetic book, The Political Illusion, predicted: the idea that every problem has a political solution. This, he warned, leads to increasing dependence on the state by ordinary citizens and decreasing citizen control of government.

From Kennedy's New Frontier to LBJ's Great Society to President Bush's No Child Left Behind education initiative, challengers promise new programs, and, when elected, try to deliver. The result: Programs pile upon programs, agencies upon agencies, and the whole structure of government becomes so unwieldy it can hardly function. We saw this happen in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and I fear we might see it again during another terrorist attack.

While political obsession may be entertaining, the people are the ultimate losers. Virtually everybody has to deal with government, whether to obtain a driver's license or to open a business. We often end up mired in bureaucratic gridlock, even over minor issues—precisely as Ellul predicted.

Even Christians can succumb to the political illusion. Several years ago, a Christian leader blurted: "I think we have been legislated out of the possibility of a spiritual revival." Some Christians seem almost defeatist when "our" candidates lose.

But the real evil of the illusion is that it distracts us from other aspects of life. Politics are important, of course: Christians have a duty to be the best of citizens, bringing concerns of justice and righteousness into public life. The importance of being active in the political realm becomes clear when we realize that two Bush appointees to the Supreme Court made the difference in the Court's decision to uphold the ban on partial-birth abortion. But we must keep political activity in perspective, seeing that it fulfills its proper role in what Dutch politician and church leader Abraham Kuyper labeled "sphere sovereignty"—each sphere (family, church, government) carrying out its own responsibility before God.

This means we must guard against government encroachment on other spheres and not let the political illusion blind us to what makes life rich and meaningful: family, church, and community. In short, culture.

Politics is, after all, only an expression of culture. It cannot be the ultimate source of meaning and influence in any society if people wish to remain free.

Ironically, while Western nations appear to be in the grip of the political illusion, the developing world is more realistic. A few years ago, political observers were convinced that South America's poor would embrace liberation theology with its Marxist promises of justice and wealth redistribution. But to their surprise, the people rejected it. The reason: They knew governments were corrupt, and they distrusted political messiahs.

They chose instead Pentecostalism and conservative Christianity. Women discovered that conversion meant their husbands would stay home with them instead of going to taverns at night, and thus they became great evangelists. The church delivered the goods, and that was far more attractive than the vain promises of politicians.

Perhaps, after this exhausting, multimillion-dollar presidential campaign, Americans may be so gorged on politics that we will finally say "enough!" Then we, like our neighbors to the south, will reject the promises of political messiahs in favor of building up the crumbling cultural infrastructure: our families, our churches, and our communities. We who have historically kept politics and culture in balance can help open our neighbors' eyes to the same realization: A far richer life is ahead once we reject illusory campaign promises.