Time to grow up America

by Johnny Zokovitch

I’ve been contemplating this column, falling as it does on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, for some time. I’m old enough to remember the bicentennial year, 1976; although I was only eight, I recall a different mood, a different sense of celebration, than what I am seeing now.

But I’m neither romantic nor nostalgic about the past. (I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, after all, and, well, you know, that’s at least partially responsible for how we got here…) I’ve learned enough over the years about the complicated past of my country, and I’ve been lucky enough to have been enlightened by so many who have experienced this nation through lenses other than my own. And I’m grateful for those who continue to call this nation – and particularly our leaders – to account while appealing to ideals that have often been more aspirational than actual, even as they have been excluded from the realization of those ideals.

One idea has continued to gnaw at me as this anniversary has approached: It is time for the United States to grow up. The current administration exhibits the behavior of a spoiled rotten child (without any of the accompanying cuteness, innocence or sweetness that has helped many a parent get through, for instance, the terrible twos.) President Trump – in character and maturity – certainly qualifies as the fullest embodiment of this. But what we are seeing on full display today has, in many ways, been the truth of this nation and administrations throughout our history. And overwhelmingly the people of this nation have suffered because of the developmentally-stunted policies and worldviews of its political, business, and religious leaders.

Like toddlers throwing fits, our national arc has been characterized by the selfishness, aggressiveness, territorial behavior, pouting and defiance, short-sightedness and impulsivity of leaders we have elected, made rich, and celebrated. Our economic and military power have functioned to keep us stuck in a developmental stage that has eroded our overall health and stunted our growth. Our national narrative around “American exceptionalism” bolsters this childish understanding that our nation is inherently superior, special in a way that sets us apart and over the rest of the world.

In light of this, I’ve been contemplating a number of stories from Scripture which seem to speak to this moment and orient us to what kind of spirit we might cultivate as we approach this anniversary. 

Earlier this week in a liturgical reading from the prophet Amos (5:21-24), for instance:

I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the Lord,
I take no pleasure in your solemnities;
Your cereal offerings I will not accept,
nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings.

Away with your noisy songs!
I will not listen to the melodies of your harps.
But if you would offer me burnt offerings,
then let justice surge like water,
and goodness like an unfailing stream.

Or a favorite reading from Isaiah (excerpts from 58:1-12):

They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the judgment of their God;

“Why do we fast, but you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, but you take no note?”
See, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers…

See, you fast only to quarrel and fight
and to strike with a wicked fist!…

Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking off every yoke?

Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own flesh?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed…

If you lavish your food on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then your light shall rise in the darkness,
and your gloom shall become like midday…

Imagine living in a nation that prioritizes feeding its people, especially those who are hungry? Or caring for all of its sick ones? Or housing all of our homeless sisters and brothers and their families? Imagine welcoming those who come to our borders fleeing violence and poverty and offering them comfort and succor?

One might ask practically where we start. How about we start by reallocating a significant portion of the US military budget to serve these needs? As St. John Paul II reminded us in his 1991 encyclical, Centesimus Annus, 

“Enormous resources can be made available by disarming the huge military machines which were constructed for the conflict between East and West…”

The United States spends more on military spending than the next nine countries combined, and almost twice as much as the rest of the world outside those nine.

How about, as a modest start, we take 10 percent of the military budget and reallocate it so that every sick person in this country doesn’t need to worry about getting the care they need because of the cost? 

Let’s start right there. And let this anniversary be the one where we demand our nation grows up, starting with electing leaders who behave like mature, caring, responsible adults.

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Johnny Zokovitch is the former executive director of Pax Christi USA. He currently serves on the board of the Pax Christi International Fund for Peace and is in pastoral leadership at St. Cronan Catholic Church in St. Louis. Read more from Johnny at https://johnnyzokovitch.substack.com/ and sign up there to receive his articles directly to your email inbox.