Fear and Loathing in November

As readers of Panis Circenses (and that previous blogspot) will know, I have not engaged in secular politics on my blog. In fact, I rarely engage in politics elsewhere. I used to be a very big political junkie, but, three years ago, my thinking turned around on this subject after reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and I have never looked back. I mean, I still keep up to date with what is going on in the political arena but it is no longer a consuming passion for me. I’d rather focus on ministry and theology and literature and films. I am much, much happier.

On occasion, though, I have mentioned something political on my blog. My intentions have not been even remotely political but usually I mention politics because it dove-tails with another interest. Unfortunately, the reason often concerns my perception that SBC leaders are too much involved in secular politics.

Recently, I have noticed that I have put up a few more political posts than usual (three actually, now four), none of which are overly political. And, yes, this post will not be overtly political either.

The reason that I mention this is that I long ago came up with a win-win situation for elections. Yes, I conceived of a scenario in which no matter what happens in an election I will come out ahead. Really, I hate to lose, so it is only natural that I will try to come up with a way not to lose.

I begin by placing a bet against the candidate that I want to win. For example, if I wanted Abraham Lincoln to win the 1864 election, I would place a bet with someone (say $75) that Lincoln would lose. You see why? If Lincoln loses then I may be politically upset but at least I have the consolation of making $75. If Lincoln wins then I am politically happy but I only lose $75. And I would pay $75 to see Lincoln in office. I can’t lose.

To some of you this may seem to be a very negative and pessimistic way of doing business. It is, but it works. You see, you have to understand the beauty of pessimism.

The trick is to take a scenario that you hope turns out one way and predict that it will turn out its opposite. If the scenario turns out the opposite way you wished but exactly the way you predicted then you can say that you said so in advance. If the scenario turns out the way you wished but the opposite of the way you predicted then you can be pleasantly surprised. Regardless of the outcome, you have set yourself in a position to take advantage of whatever the outcome may be. It’s a win-win situation.

If more Americans applied this principle to their lives then most Americans would be happier. I mean, Americans love to win and can’t stand to lose, or so said General George S. Patton. We hate to see our favorite football team lose. We hate to see our favorite author or musician not sell well. We hate to see our party or our candidate lose an election. The need to win can either bring us to the heights of ecstasy or to the valley of the shadow of death. Why, last night I saw a documentary on PBS about the stock market leading up to the 1929 crash. So many people were so invested in the market and so many people were buying on margin that when the crash came they were devastated. Why did they do this? Greed? Yes, but it was greed and the desire to win, to win money, easy money. It was the desire to beat the Joneses and win the American Dream. Hunter S. Thompson in his book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, writes about this desire to win the American dream while not working. But what does losing at the American Dream bring … fear and loathing. It was fear that caused the crash of 1929, fear that the illusion of winning was over. A panic swept investors and they sold, trying to keep their cash and still win. Then came the loathing.

Faith plays an important part in the market. J. P. Morgan and company knew this. The big business barons knew that as long as investors had faith in the market then the market would be fine. But as soon as that faith was gone … then came the fear. Then came the loathing.

Take an example from the Bible. Adam and Eve were faced with a choice of whether or not to disobey God. The fact that they had this choice created fear or anxiety. In this situation they should have trusted God, obeyed His word, and then they would not have had anxiety. But they did not. They chose not to trust and obey God and instead decided to trust themselves and become like God. What happened? The realization of this really caused fear and then guilt and loathing. They fled and tried to camouflage themselves and hide from the Lord in the trees.

The same scenario happens with all who sin. When confronted with a choice to sin or not to sin, we become filled with anxiety. The proper response is to trust God but, instead, we believe that we can handle the situation by ourselves. We trust ourselves. We have faith in ourselves. We believe that we do not need God in this scenario and we make gods of ourselves. But then comes the realization of our sin. Then comes the fear and the shame, the self-loathing, and we try to cover ourselves.

Now faith in God and faith in the market are two different things. God never makes a mistake and is a sure bet. He is the only sure bet. God Himself is a win-win situation. One only loses if one does not place his full trust in the Lord and places his trust in something else, like ourselves or the market or political parties.

Now not everyone who invested in the market in 1929 lost. No, some won. How did they win? They invested in halves. Some invested half for the market and half against the market. What happened? When the market crashed they made a fortune. But what would have happened if the market rallied? They still would have won. You see, they never had faith in the market and this lack of trust saved their fortunes. This distrust of the process put them in a win-win situation.

What have we learned? If you want to win at the game then you have to have a deep distrust of the game. Therefore, if you want to win in the political process then you have to have distrust of the political process.

But if you want to win the Big Game you have to have complete trust in God.