Cory Booker’s Sermon
Let’s get fundamentalism out of politics.
Cory Booker addressed the Michigan Democratic Women’s Caucus luncheon the other week, and the senator’s remarks have been incorrectly described as a “speech.” However, the more accurate term is a “sermon,” and it wasn’t the fun youth pastor type sermon about how Jesus was the first influencer. No, it was real fire and brimstone stuff, an angry scolding of sinners who had turned away from God and would now face ruin and eventual damnation. It’s not even 20 years since Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, but we’ve gone from “Yes, We Can” to “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God.”
Parker Molloy at The Present Age explored Booker’s sentiments and explained why it wasn’t a compelling political message. However, I think Booker’s sermon reflects a disturbing “religious-political fundamentalism” within the Democratic Party. (Watch below.)
“I saw it with Kamala Harris,” Booker testified. “Too many people that say I don’t agree with her on everything. I mean, 90 out of 100 I agree with her. But those 10 I can’t do it. Well, you may disagree with her on 10% of her views but you let someone get in office who you disagree with on everything. You let somebody get in office who was locking up our children. You let somebody in office who’s taking away our health care. You let somebody in office who’s taking away workers’ rights. You let somebody in office who got rid of the Department of Education.”
Booker blames his own congregation for the Devil’s actions. Adam and Eve ate that apple so now women have painful childbirth and men have that little thing in our throats (Adam must have had a better lawyer.) Booker doesn’t hold Trump solely responsible, as he should, and it’s not as if Booker himself has stood firm against Trump’s regime. He’s voted to confirm some of his nominees, including Marco Rubio.
Notice that Booker says, “I’m calling it like it is!” — suggesting he’s a harsh truth teller like Donald Trump or Bill Maher but, like both men, he’s simply reinforcing pleasing narratives for his audience. Booker is confident that not a single person in the crowd doesn’t want to hear what he’s saying. They are delighted to hear him call out the sins of others. They are like the pious members of a church congregation who tingle with delight at every barb flung from the pulpit because they feel the true target is their neighbor.
What makes Booker’s remarks a tedious sermon and not a particularly inspiring political speech is that there is zero persuasion. Politics exist in the Mad Men world where clever ad executives convince people that a brand of soda is clearly different and superior to its competitors with appeals to emotion and invocations of nostalgia. (Watch below.)
“Advertising is based on one thing: happiness,” Don Draper (Jon Hamm) tells his clients. “And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK.”
Effective politics is a form of advertising that sells happiness. One could argue that a founding principle of the MAGA movement has been telling people who are afraid of the future, of social change, that whatever they’re doing is OK. It’s a negative message wrapped within a superficially positive package: “You are OK.”
If you talk to most liberals, they’ll express their contempt for this sort of messaging — especially when directed toward the dominant culture in America. This is because an increasing number of Democrats, like Cory Booker, fundamentally don’t believe that not voting for Democrats is a valid or moral choice. This makes persuasion unnecessary, a form of blasphemy. It’s not up to the church to change to keep the faithful from straying. Most ministers don’t feel as if they have to sell you on not serving Satan. Religion hasn’t failed the people who willingly lead godless lives. No, it’s the sinners who failed when they refused to embrace God.
This issue is not exclusive to centrists, either. The far-left is filled with political snake handlers who can’t accept anyone disagrees with them for legitimate reasons. Their opponents’ devil are corporations and billionaires. They insist everyone will support universal health care once they are “saved.”
Even the concept of “original sin” can apply to certain liberal rhetoric: People (well certain demographics, at least) are born inherently flawed and imperfect. Redemption only comes through embracing Christ or taking the appropriate anti-racist training. But someone can’t simply join the church without publicly confessing their sins as the congregation stands in judgement.
“How do we become born again?” Billy Graham once wrote. “By repenting of sin. That means we are willing to change our way of living. We say to God, ‘I’m a sinner, and I’m sorry.’ It’s simple and childlike.”
That’s what many liberals demand of “fallen” Americans who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton. The “fallen” must admit that their decisions weren’t just wrong, but informed by racism and sexism. They listened to the Devil on Fox News or TikTok. Anyone who voted for Trump but has now soured on him can’t be trusted unless they accept the damage they’ve willingly inflicted on everyone. Repentance must be total and all-consuming, like that scene from There Will Be Blood. (Watch below.)
Coca-Cola doesn’t care why Pepsi drinkers are considering making a change. They just welcome any new customers with open arms. MAGA tends to do this, as well. They don’t care about what former such as Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and future defector John Fetterman once believed. All that matters is where they stand today. It’s what makes cults successful.
Of course, MAGA, like its mad king, is notoriously without shame, but that doesn’t mean Democrats should trade in shame. “I am a sinner!” is what far too many liberals want to hear, but like Nietzsche, I distrust those in whom the urge to punish is strong.
A political party is not a house of worship. The winning coalitions for Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden contained true saints but also unrepentant sinners. Your motivations might determine whether you enter heaven, but they don’t matter when casting a ballot. Cory Booker’s sermon reveals a tremendous disconnect about how politics work. Politicians serve the people, not the other way around.
Fundamentalism is a cancer on religion and on politics. No one is perfect, which is probably why Jesus told his followers to take out of the branch from their eye before removing a speck from someone else's eye.
Sorry, but I agree with Cory on this, and I think a "come to Jesus" moment is just what the "she/he's not perfect" voters need.