By Rudy Barnes, Jr., September 6, 2025
America’s culture is corrupt and we have a broken democracy. Can they be restored? Only if Americans can rediscover the altruistic values that gave birth to our nation, and both parties in our polarized two-party duopoly seek altruistic standards of political legitimacy that provide for the common good; and that will take a new birth of American libertarian democracy.
Donald Trump and his dominant Republican Party have undermined the Constitution, and the Democratic Party is unable to function as the loyal opposition. The first step to restoring the checks and balances of the Constitution is to fix America’s broken 2-party duopoly. A one-party system cannot produce the political choices needed for freedom and democracy.
The Founding Fathers who drafted the Constitution were committed to religious freedom in the Bill of Rights, and did not promote any religion. Until the 1960s many red states had one-party (Democratic) politics. As an independent from South Carolina I can vouch for the need for political competition at all levels of government to provide political legitimacy.
Non-partisan politics can depolarize partisan politics; but both parties are opposed to doing that. And since popularity is the measure of success in both politics and religion. partisan polarization has been exacerbated by nationalist forms of Christianity, That has allowed popular forms of Christian nationalism to corrupt both politics and religion.
A one-party system cannot produce the choices needed for freedom and democracy. While some churches have avoided politics altogether, others have supported demagogues like Trump, further polarizing partisan politics and preventing the church from being the moral steward of democracy.
In 1787 the Constitution was approved, and George Washington was elected America’s first President. The Civil War divided politics in America, but afterward both parties promoted candidates committed to reconciling major political differences. But In 2016, Donald Trump was elected President and re-elected in 2024; and that changed everything.
The challenge for the church is to acknowledge its role as the moral steward of God’s universal Word as taught by Jesus in the greatest commandment, but without promoting any political party or individual candidates. That’s a challenge in all religions; even ancient Judaism provides examples of competition for belief between sects supporting secular idols and Yahweh.
Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian. His teachings are universal and altruistic moral standards of legitimacy for all people. While the church has taught that Jesus was divine and that belief in Jesus as God’s only Son is the only means of salvation, Jesus taught that we love God by loving others, including those of other races and religions, as we love ourselves.
Notes: The church can be a moral steward of democracy by promoting the moral teachings of Jesus without promoting a specific party or candidate. See Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Virtues and Vices of Christian Morality. Of course, every voter can individually promote whoever he/she supports.
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