I was on a retreat recently and the issue of the decline of the institution of religion was part of the discussion.

Less than half of Americans are members of a church, and a far smaller percentage regularly participate in services or activities.

Religion isn’t alone. A majority of Americans are increasingly skeptical and untrusting of their government, despite enjoying the fruits of our “democratic experiment” which is unmatched in human history. They will accept any accusation of their government without effort to discern the truth – exactly as Jenna Ellis confessed during her guilty plea in the Georgia election corruption trial.

This is not the first time there has been widespread suspicion of institutions. 

In medieval times, there were as many as three popes, each supported by a different king. The bubonic plague arrived, killing half the world’s population over the next 100 years. People were dying so fast, including priests, that Last Rites couldn’t be performed. 

Knights were coming back from crusades raping and pillaging – the only skills they had. There was a Hundred Years War, imposing ongoing slaughter and requiring unsustainable tax support. 

There is a reason we call this time the Dark Ages.

Today we have corrupt priests, COVID, Iraq and Afghanistan, emerging cold wars, economic wars, mass asylum migration away from unlivable countries and mass starvation. And we have populism, which is a political stance that emphasizes the idea of “the people” as opposed to “the elites,” and is usually associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment.

Like the Dark Ages, history teaches us lessons about populism and the destruction it can wreak. 

The French Revolution immediately followed the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson was a big supporter, expecting a similar outcome. Alexander Hamilton was a skeptic, knowing that populist rage can displace high-minded ideals.

He was right. The French Revolution quickly devolved into mass guillotining and civil war that would cost 300,000 lives. Reason and compromise had been displaced by a murderous rage.

We’re not immune. In fact, we’re there. We have friends and family with which we can’t discuss politics, lest a fight erupts. Thousands stormed our U.S. Capitol, violently mauling the police trying to maintain order. 

“All in government are corrupt!” “Coastal elites are killing America!” So-called patriots deny our elections, which ironically is actually insurrection against the country they profess to love.

Hillary Clinton once called Donald Trump supporters “Deplorables.” She was wrong. People were expressing that their government wasn’t listening or being responsive and were trying to send a message to Washington.

The real “Deplorables” are the people our populists have sent to Washington to represent us. They have no idea how to govern. They mimic our discontent to get elected. But all they know to do is to answer the echo of the French Revolution – “Off with their heads!” – and shut government down by refusing to compromise with other representatives also elected by the people.

Do you think I’m exaggerating? 

We have a majority party in the U.S. House that can’t pick a leader, much less work with a minority party that only has a few less members. 

We can’t fund expenditures our government has ALREADY MADE. 

Two countries we are allied with have been invaded and we can’t agree to send them arms to defend themselves. 

Does anyone doubt that China and North Korea are watching this and deciding that we don’t have the stomach to react to their increased aggression?

Hamilton foresaw what we are living today. 

As one of the Fathers of our Constitution, he tried to define a government where the best and most capable of us would represent us in government. Congressmen would represent people in a geographic area, but the calling was to collectively lead the country down the best path.

Yes, you could call them elites. The fact is, our Founding Fathers were elites. But governing requires the intellectual depth to reason, the empathy to compromise, and the courage to stand for what is right when the mob is shouting “Off with their heads!”

Our “democratic experiment” is dying, not from declining morality but from “we the people” and who we are sending to govern us. 

It’s time to look in the mirror and have the courage to recognize we are killing what we profess to love. We need to elect capable people regardless of their ideology.

And a big first step back may be the humility to go back to church and admit to God that we’re screwing up his gifts.