America First

America First, a patriotic phrase capable of stirring the heart of even the most apathetic member of society, almost as if it were the cry of a great general leading his wearied, yet re-invigorated troops into an all-or-nothing battle with less than favorable odds. One is tempted to conjure up images of a tattered Old Glory, barely visible through the hazy mix of gunpowder smoke and mist, the sound of the trumpet foretelling the impending doom of both friend and foe.

Yet I must confess that this is not the first image that floods my mind when I hear the phrase. There is another image that precedes it. It is the image of a pubescent first-born proclaiming Me first! as he thrusts his corpulence in front of a younger, less voluminous sibling at the dinner line, asserting his familial preeminence. This adolescent embodies all the hopes of youth, his thoughts and will still predominantly guided by visions of glory and perhaps even super-humanness.

There is an irony in both the individual me first and the corporate America first. Neither of these phrases bring to mind one who is in a place of weakness or a person who has been on the receiving end of abuse and oppression throughout his or her life. That is because these words are ever only spoken by those who have tasted what it is to be first, who have been in a position of dominance in relation to others. The first-born has experienced what it is to be put first, because in his family he really has been first. One does not typically think of the youngest and weakest sibling making this demand, and if he or she does, it is more a cry of despair, a reminder that, “hey, don’t forget me, I too am here”. The younger ones, along with the weak and oppressed, have never aspired to being first; nay, they are content in merely being taken into account.

And so it must be with the nations. A nation can only demand to be first if it already has been first. The nations that have been dominated rather than dominate have other prides. They may laugh at death, they may look down on those that sense that they need to be great, they may take pride in their own trials and suffering, but they have no aspirations of being first. The present circumstance is no different. To give some perspective: the United States spends more on its military than the next 9 nations combined¹, has a GDP nearly 40% higher than the next country on the list, a GDP per capita 30% higher than any of the countries with the top 10 highest GDP² (perhaps an aside, in addition to these, the United States is blessed to be neighbored by only two nations, which happen to be very peaceful ones). The United States is also home to 8 of the 10 richest men in the world³.

One might imagine the response were Mr. Elon Musk, Mr. Bill Gates, Mr. Jeff Bezos, or any other of the billionaires in the world, to go on strike declaring that they had been mistreated and victims of injustice. While there could undoubtedly be some truths to those claims, and each of those men or women no doubt has received some mistreatment during their careers, it would be laughable to place those claims side by side with the laborer who has had to work overtime every week just to put food on the table, or the person that has been persecuted for her faith and unable to get a job for that reason. But the point I am trying to make applies here too. Experience tells us we would be much more likely to hear one of the people on the billionaire list demand Me first! than we would the person being persecuted or the person struggling to get by.

As I write this, there is a moment from history⁴ that refuses to leave my mind. It is the image of the aged Russian General Kutuzov facing up to an emperor who was also leading a nation in its adolescence, for it was a nation in its age of rebellion. Perhaps aided more by weariness than military adeptness and experience, Kutuzov coaxed Napoleon deeper and deeper into Russia even giving up Moscow without a fight. And as those who are in the midst of their coming-of-age often do not know when to stop, so also Napoleon, leading a nation in its coming-of-age and also guided by visions of glory and super-humanness, did not know when to stop. And so the Man of Destiny discovered that he was indeed a man subject to destiny. And as I ponder the world stage today, considering the only two world leaders from among the modern global superpowers who seem to have been unable to shake off the expansionism of a couple of centuries ago, I can’t help but wonder if history is repeating itself, even if in a more metaphorical sense.

As a glory-bound young man will eventually grow to realize that he is a mere man among men, so must a glory-bound nation come to terms with the historical fact that a nation is merely a nation among nations, even if it has had its glory days. So as we think back to that first image that was presented, I wonder if the vision was not in fact of Old Glory, but rather a vision or premonition of Faded Glory. And what we confused as gun smoke and mist was in reality dust, like the dust that settles as a giant falls, as in a dream of Nebuchadnezzar. And as every man strives to cling to his youth, so a passing world power may, in despair, try to cling to its past and bring back its glory days. But as with the man, so with the nation; youth is fleeting, like a flower of the grass that passes away.

But just as rules tend to have exceptions, so this rule has one as well. In this case, however, the exception serves not to prove the rule, but to break it, bidding us to do the same. For there is One who truly is first, who was in the beginning, and to whom certainly does belong the demand of preeminence. And herein lies the true irony, the paradox, that He, the God-Man, to whom belong all honor and glory, was He who uttered the very words “The first will be last and the last will be first”⁵. Yea, it was the Sustainer of all, the Alpha and the Omega, the Firstborn of Creation who, instead of demanding that His disciples bow before Him, Himself bowed down and washed His disciples feet, even demanding that it must be so. Therefore, so too are we bid:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [ Philippians 2:3-8 ]

I urge my brothers and sisters in Christ to look to this text for our demeanor towards others, and not too the current direction our culture seems to be swayed. For we have a higher purpose than the exaltation of any single nation, as we consider the reason that the God-Man chose to empty Himself:

…so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [ Philippians 2:10-11 ]

Let us not give up our eternal calling for a temporal one.