Episode 334: The Wall, the Shutdown, & the Immigrant w/Matthew Soerens

Confused about the current standoff in Washington over the president’s border wall? Matthew Soerens, U.S. Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief and National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table, is back to help us make sense of it all. He explains how the failure of immigration bills since 2013 got us to this place, and why neither Democrats nor Republicans are pursuing a common sense compromise. He also offers his thoughts on why so many Christians fail to see immigration as a biblical issue. Also this week: Phil pokes Mary Poppins, Trump is evangelicals’ Goliath, and the international competition to build the tallest Jesus statue.

16000 border patrol agents, 400,000 apprehensions.  2 apprehensions/month/agent  (1 hr 9 minutes)

Many people who voted for Trump didn’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigration.  They want lower immigration.

The threatening statistics don’t hold up under scrutiny.

Episode 335: The Past, Present, & Future of Politics with Jon Ward (Holy Post)

Jon Ward is back! He’s the senior political correspondent for Yahoo News and the author of the new book Camelot’s End about the 1980 primary fight between Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy. Ward unpacks the current dynamics within the Republican and Democratic parties, and what to expect as we move toward the 2020 election. Also this week: Christians freak out over “McJesus” in Israel, social media freaks out over Catholic teens with MAGA hats in Washington, and is the 400-year-old white Western Christian bubble bursting?

Skye Jethani: Christian Nationalism and Nominal Christianity

Christian nationalism is the biggest predictor of Trump support.

There is more emphasis on saying “Merry Christman” than loving one’s neighbor or living out other Christian values.

More voters want America to be a nominally Christian nation than to display any actual Christian values.

Neither the Trump campaign and RNC thought Trump would win.

The RNC thought Trump had a 20% chance of winning.

polarization, entertainment, epistemology, Neil Postman

systems, structures, incentives – probably the best bet for change

  • gerrymandering, political parties, role of money, power of parties to select nominees: elites vs voters
  • in order to be more democratic it needs to be less democratic

How Democracies die: in Latin Americans use democracy to destroy Democracy.

mediated vs direct democracy.

The founders rigged it to keep too much power out of the hands of the rank and file uneducated masses.  Thinking that we need the elite to insulate ourselves from ourselves.

Since 1968, there have been reforms away from a balanced system, has swung towards the will of the people deciding almost everything.

The “unwashed masses” — not that the voters are stupid, but they are not experts.

The average voter should not have to know the difference between mandatory and discretionary spending.