The Big Lie
On Saturday, January 23, 2021, something remarkable happened. Russian citizens flooded the streets of every major city as news broke of the arrest of Alexey Navalny. After generations of government corruption, cynicism, and oppression, a spark of democratic fervor flamed to life in the middle of a Russian winter. Images spread across the globe of massive support for a political prisoner and signaled the first legitimate challenge to Putin’s power in decades. Navalny seemed to understand that his personal example and sacrifice could light that spark. His decision to go back to Russia, even after an attempt was made on his life, is something more than brave.
The people of Russia are willing to risk their lives in the hope that one day they may have a chance at true self-governance, unencumbered by corruption, and at last participate in a free and fair election, one without a predetermined outcome. This event reminded me of the power of ideas, of the inspiring dignity of true courage, and that hope can be rekindled in a human heart at any time, in any place, no matter how dark things have become. It reminded me that change often requires serious sacrifice.
Domestic Violence
On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, something horrific happened. Far-right Americans (we ought to call them extremists) invaded our Capitol building, killed Brian Sicknick, injured hundreds, wrecked our federal building, and sent our duly elected public officials into hiding, preventing them from continuing to do the people’s business. After years of dog whistles, WWE style threats, months of seeding lies about election fraud, and eight weeks of lies and pressure campaigns aimed at legitimate public servants, the 45th President of the United States took the matches he’d been playing with and lit a fuse. It flamed to terrible life in acts of sedition that we watched in shock through our screens. Fortunately for all of us, the fuse was snuffed out before it reached a bigger bomb that might have brought our democracy to the edge of chaos. Seven people still died and hundreds of ordinary Americans have now crossed their own personal Rubicons, losing their status as average citizens and becoming (some unknowingly) insurrectionists.
Now, don’t lose the thread. Don’t get confused. Ask the obvious question: Why are free people rioting as if they are not free?
It has been a very long time since our Capitol was last breached. It has never been done by our own people. Unaware of history, oblivious to the privileges they already possess, fomented into outrage by their leader, conservatives in the United States were willing to risk their lives to rob fellow citizens of their lawfully counted and certified votes. They were willing to take by force what they believed had been stolen from them. They are suffering from the effects of a very Big Lie.
The Big Lie began as many do with rationalizations and denial, which was then supported by dismissive enablers, and accepted by people who were honestly confused, unaware of the routine realities of a national election and what is necessary to challenge the outcome. The enablers told the press on background that there is no harm in humoring him, with multiple members leaking to the press that they just thought he needed time to accept the outcome. “He doesn’t need to concede right away.” “What he does on Twitter doesn’t matter.” “What his lawyers say on TV doesn’t matter.” Day after day, news outlets and politicians gave the lie oxygen as trusting Americans heard it repeated on every platform, over and over again. Confusion reigned.
The Big Lie grew.
Suddenly, Senators with law degrees from prestigious institutions began to lie to their constituents, all because they feel the political winds shifting. They told themselves it’s just politics. They told themselves they have to do this. They told themselves it’s fine, it won’t matter.
The Big Lie consumed them.
The Lie of the Serpent
What happened on January 6 was a twisted inversion of what happened in Russia on January 23. There, oppressed people risked their lives to rally for freedom. Here, free people risked their lives because they wrongly believed they were not free. This is not ironic; it is tragic. It is also not a new form of lie, but merely an iteration of the oldest lie ever told in the universe: “You won’t surely die… you will be like God.”
Genesis 3 is fascinating to scholars for many reasons, but one easily missed by us laymen reading a translation are the twisted and deceptive details in the language. All the beautiful, insanely complex structure and symmetry in the creation narrative is jarringly broken. I can understand how easy it is to miss all that is happening; the subtlety can come down to a slight shift in the use of a single word. Numerous lies were told in those few words but the most curious lie was when the serpent tells Eve that she and Adam would become “like God”. The tragedy and deception of the moment come clear if you understand the significance of what came before. The serpent offered the first humans something they already possessed. The humans were already “like God”. Male and female, he made them both in his image. But they believed the lie and then they acted on their belief. (Those of you who have done Mental Health work, does this sound familiar?)
Again, don’t lose the thread: Believing the Big Lie leads to acting on that belief. Acting on that belief leads to sorrow.
The Biggest Lie that ever happened on this earth takes the same form as our current Big Lie: you do not have and are not what in fact you already have and are. It is a pattern with many variations in our world, and one most often practiced by abusive personalities. It creates a seemingly unbreakable spell in a victim, putting people in a prison of the mind and making them subservient to the abuser. The abuser is in control of their understanding of reality and the final arbiter and source of all Truth. “Only I have all the answers to your problems…don’t listen to anyone else but me.”
The 45th President of the United States told a Big Lie to the rioters. He needlessly destroyed their trust in their country by telling them they were not free. They believed him, rioted, and murdered a man. Some of those rioters will go to jail for a long time. The threat continues to roil underneath the surface of American life as warnings were issued that various extremist groups across the nation, who believe the Big Lie, are planning more violence.
Do you see it? Do you see the tragedy of it?
All of these people, these desperate and raging people… they are already free. They are fighting for nothing. It’s just a Big Lie.
The Burden and Privilege of Leadership
GOP Senators claim no rebuke is necessary. I don’t have a kind response to that, just a statement of fact. They may not believe the Big Lie at the level their confused constituents do but the Senators still believe something fundamental to the lie, that they are not free. Real or imagined fears of extremists in their own party, or just the threat of career-ending primary challengers and lost donations, loom too large in the battered psyches of too many GOP Senators. The lie they tell themselves is that it’s safer to just go along with it, and yet to do so will have the opposite effect. They forget why the United States doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.
To those GOP Senators, especially John Cornyn, I would say this: you are already free. You can speak the truth, even at the risk to yourselves and your political futures. No one is free of consequences in this life and yes, you may face consequences if you speak up. Alexy Navalny has paid a cost higher than any one of you can imagine but the hard truth is that you are not any safer or freer than him, not if you remain silent or passive about the Big Lie. It is the source of the violence threatening you and your people and it will not simply go away. It is in your house, your party, and it was propagated by your leadership. It is, therefore, your responsibility.
Until you unmask and destroy the Big Lie and reject the ones who tell it, the lie will control you and your people, motivating more and more violence and unrest, and making free people in a free country live as if they were in chains.
Senators, you are already free. Call out the Big Lie and you may be able to remember what your freedom feels like again. Call out the Big Lie and some of your people may snap out of this before they do irreversible damage to themselves or others.
Come back to the truth, even if it is costly.
To do anything less is derelict in your duty.
