Brad compares the current moment to other times in American history when crisis and conflict led to a new normal. What will be our new normal after COVID? Will myth or policy drive us forward? On one hand, the Dems are tepidly putting forward legislation on COVID relief, voting rights, and protections for the LGBTQIA+ community. On the other, the GOP is driving the Big Lie forward, along with culture war items like Dr. Seuss and Potato Head. Which story--and which future--will prevail?
Brad and Dan also discuss how 1/6 was an inside job and an Evangelical adoption agency deciding to work with LGB families.
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Axis Mundy Welcome to Straight White American Jesus.
I'm Brad Onishi.
Faculty and Religion, Skidmore College.
Our show is hosted in partnership with the Kapp Center, UCSB, and I'm here with my co-host today.
I'm Dan Miller, Associate Professor of Religion and Social Thought at Landmark College.
It's good to be with you, virtually or in any other way, Brad.
Well, we're getting to a place, Dan, where things are opening up.
People are talking about schools.
If you're in Texas, everything is open, whether that's wise or not.
Dan, maybe someday we will podcast in the same room once again, like we did in the old days.
We'll have to see what life holds.
Anyway, we've been talking this week about a lot of sort of major policy and other issues that are coming up in our nation, and I think today we want to talk about myth versus policy.
And we're going to explain what that means here, but here's how I look at it, Dan.
We're at a turning point in our nation's history.
Like our normal has been upended.
I think all of us don't need explanation of that.
It's been a year now.
Some of us have not, you know, some folks out there, I know I had a friend post today that went to get a vaccine today, had not been in a retail store since March 7, 2020.
So normal has been upended.
We're now trying to figure out what the future looks like as we move on, hopefully from the pandemic.
And honestly, we're all recovering.
Many of us, at least.
From the Trump era and what happened on January 6th, right?
So what I have been thinking about a lot is what's going to win out over the next couple of months?
Is it going to be myth or is it going to be policy?
And you're like, what does that mean?
In my mind, what that means is we have a chance to really have a new normal, right?
To not go back to the status quo, but to go back to, I'm sorry, but to create something that is different and more inclusive and more helpful and equitable for all Americans.
We also have a situation where there are myths floating around on the right that are threatening to sort of undo that or not let it happen, right?
This is not new in American history, Dan.
So, before I go into what's happening right now, 2021, let me just give you two examples.
One is the Civil War and Reconstruction, right?
The other is the Depression, World War II, and the New Deal, okay?
Both those periods and events led to the reshaping of American democracy, but they were marked by battles between myth and policy.
So, after the Civil War, slavery is abolished, the Emancipation Proclamation happens, Lincoln is assassinated, but nonetheless, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are passed.
We see the end of slavery, We see black men given the vote, and we see a situation where no matter your economic situation, or if you used to be enslaved, or whatever, you are supposed to have the right to participate in our democracy.
That leads very quickly, right after the Civil War, folks, if you go read this, and I know many of you know this already, but if you read about what happened right after the Civil War, we have a situation where the United States government starts to look a lot different.
Freedom, suffrage and representation are offered to black men.
And so in early 1870s, South Carolina has a black majority legislator or a state legislator, right?
State legislative body.
We have black men being elected to Congress.
It seems as if we're on this path where we're going to have a drastically new country and it's going to look differently in terms of representation.
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