Senator Bernie Sanders has once again announced his candidacy for president of the United States. After his loss in the Democrat primaries to Hillary Clinton in 2016, he’s ready for another round in 2020 at the ripe age of 77. Along with the announcement of his candidacy, he released a campaign ad entitled “Vision” on February 19. In this ad, he lays out his, you guessed it, “vision” for his 2020 run against President Trump. But “vision” in this ad takes on a more ancient meaning. Laced with positive character traits quoted from various news outlets, the ad begins to paint a picture of Bernie’s political eschatology, starting the ad with this telling quote, “Real change never takes place from the top on down but always from the bottom on up.”
Bernie is painting a picture for the American people; a picture of a future that is fair for all races, genders, income-earners, and sexual orientations. He is arguing for a progressive future where “hate” and “bigotry” have no place and people get along with one another – a true utopia. He even goes so far as to suggest that he will help save the world from destruction with his climate change policies. The language that Bernie and his progressive party chooses to use is nothing new; its apocalyptic.
The word apocalypse simply means “unveiling” or “revelation.” On a surface level, Bernie isn’t revealing anything new to the American people, and his apocalyptic speech isn’t unique to either political party. Donald Trump used the same language (only with different enemies) in his 2016 presidential run. However, what Bernie seems to be revealing with his language is his populist strategy by which he will reorder society – revolution. This revolution won’t happen via armed militias or military coups but through language and democratic process. And like all apocalypses, there is an impending judgement awaiting those who do not take action, who do not believe. There is no room for hate.
In Bernie’s new ad, he explicitly describes what is at stake in this revolution – racial and economic equality, peace, and even the life of the planet. Bernie is a voice crying out in the wilderness of the American political landscape, “Repent for the kingdom of progress is at hand.” This kingdom of progress will bring about racial reconciliation, a cleaner environment, a comfortable wage, justice for all, free tuition for all, freedom from incarceration through educational means, and on and on.
In an interview following his announcement to run for president (CBS interview), he starts by labeling his greatest enemy to this “kingdom of progress” (Donald Trump) as a racist, sexist, homophobic xenophobe whose days are numbered. Like St. John the Baptizer, Bernie’s revolutionary vision comes with blessing for those who believe and judgement for those who do not, but he is not the revolution himself. No, he is merely revealing the one who is to come.
The revolution of progress will usher in a new era of political and social life provided by this new government elected by the people. Bernie is preparing the way for a “New Washington D.C.” where the people sit at the right hand of a “god of the people” to rule and reign for generations. In this New D.C. there will be only inclusion and prosperity (fair wages, rights for all, and free health and life). The apocalypse of the progressive ideology is the shining of the face of government on all aspects of human existence. It will create a new life for you, sustain you through it, and cause you to be a better human whether you wish to be or not. This revolution promises a better human society.
The issue with this language, for Christians specifically, is that we know it is not true; it can’t be true. The world promised in Bernie’s “vision” can never be achieved through grassroots political efforts, because a world free of injustice is only found at the end of history on the new earth with Christ ruling and reigning forever. In his closing statement within the ad, he claims, “If we are prepared to stand together, there is no end to what the great people of our nation can accomplish.” His true vision is to unite the country under one apocalyptic language, under revolution leading to a “people’s rule,” but this has been attempted before. The language of Bernie’s vision is Babelic.
And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” – Genesis 11:6 (ESV)
Babel was a revolutionary event in which a united people attempted to build not just a city but a name for themselves. This type of revolution is antithetical to the Christian life. And no matter how articulate Bernie seems to be when it comes to his vision, revolution in a post-Babel world is always inarticulate. You can claim to have the same language, but you will always have different goals, because the only common goal is defeating the enemy. We’ve seen this before in the French Revolution. No one really knows what they want until after the enemy is defeated, and it’s never the same thing. Revolution, in this case, is solely reactionary having no common end, only beginnings.
Since the Christian has his own apocalypse which has been seen in Jesus, we must resist the false prophets of our culture. Now, I understand that much of the campaign rhetoric is meant to be hyperbolic and stir up emotion in the hearer, but American political language has stepped beyond just stirring up emotion; it has stepped into the realm of prophetic voice. At the risk of over-spiritualizing or oversimplifying the relationship between church and state, the church should be the prophetic voice for our culture. When a politician speaks not of policy, of moral and practical governance, but rather of providing a source of health, life, and salvation, we should be wary. We should be wary of the false prophets of our day that promise what only Christ can promise, because they cannot and will not deliver.
The reason that Christians should be aware of this kind of apocalyptic political language is because it replaces Christ with a human collective, a government. Only Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The government can and will change depending on the desire of the people. Bernie believes real, substantial change to society starts from the bottom up, not from the top down, because in Bernie’s world there is no authority over the “top” of a society. To him, we are the gods who collectively create an all-changing god of government; we create our own god. And this new progressive society being built around us must have one language or it will not work, because competing languages means competing cultures. In Bernie’s vision, this means competing gods.
The Bible is articulate in its vision of the future and there is no debate about it. This future has been written already, and the Son of God has unveiled this plan for those who have ears to hear. Bernie and his political comrades have not revealed a final purpose to their progressive policies because there is no settled end to their history. There is
