By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Kind of a banner week for the nation’s military this week, and over the last month or so. The Navy birthday was October 13, and the Marine Corps birthday is November 10. And, of course, Veterans Day is November 11—not because of these birthdays, but because, as Winston Churchill noted, it was on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month that the armistice was signed effectively ending World War I—a war with a toll of 15-22 million deaths and 23 million wounded. So tragically, the war which would take an even great many more lives would begin only about twenty years later.

Veterans Day is for honoring all those who have served for the defense of our nation, having seen violent conflict or not … as opposed to Memorial Day which honors primarily those who died in such conflicts. Each day, of course, is a perfect day to pray for peace in our world, and maybe become of little beacon of peace in our own circles. After all, if we can’t make peace with our own neighbors, how can we expect nations to do so?

Remembering Veterans Day leads into the events of last week and the election; after all, it’s the military which has kept the wolves at bay these 248 years since the Declaration of Independence. And everyone who serves in the military takes an oath to “defend and support the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”—the Constitution which has been a model for democratic republics throughout the world.

Yeah, yeah, I know … the election, and all the hubbub which surrounds it, is often tiresome, often disappointing. But the system works when followed, and has worked well these two and a half centuries. We tend to think that one of the best things about elections is their end—a respite from the omnipresent propaganda, at least. But elections are how the governing “[derive] their just powers from the consent of the governed.” So we as the governed must be careful what we ask for.

Naturally where there are differences of opinions there’s both anticipation and trepidation in elections, depending on the “side” you were on. Yet, despite defeat or victory, we ought remember that we are of one nation, and we should work for the best for it—not meaning to have to agree with everything being done, but to work for improvement or change through a just and moral framework, not by subversion and underhanded practice.

For if we work contrary to the good of the people, are we not working contrary to the good of the nation as a whole? It’s quite sad to see many on post-election social media plotting ways to sabotage what the nation has elected. Some of the more histrionic are even calling for the deaths of not only Trump supporters, but Trump himself. I imagine that Secret Service investigators are going to be quite busy over the next few years.

By happenstance I was listening to one of Jack Carr’s “Terminal List” series on Audible this evening and the character who is the president states of opposing political classes: “Divisive rhetoric has become the norm. They’re going to do whatever they can to undermine executive initiatives, simply for political gain.”  (“Only the Dead”, Ch. 84). Tragically, that sounds much more than vaguely familiar. But to undermine what people have elected is to undermine the system of government and the majority of the people as well.

Now, we all have ideas of what is best for the nation though those ideas are often at odds. But that’s what the public forum is for: it is the crucible by which ideas are at least debated, purified and found plausible or not. If an idea can’t stand up before logical argumentation, and certainly if it has proven unsuccessful in the past, what’s the point? Screaming to silence opponents certainly doesn’t help; in fact, it indicates indefensibility, even irrationality. Anyway, we who are older have seen the constant back-and-forth in the country’s politics, the cycle of hearing “such and such election is the end of this or that party.” Politics pendulums back and forth.

Christians in particular ought remember the letters attributed to Sts. Peter and Paul instruct the faithful to obey the governments over them, seeking peace and amity. “Losing” in an election gives no carte blanche to hate and insult (“… whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire…” said Jesus (Matthew 5:22)). When you think of the time those letters were written, it’s rather striking, for the Roman government was none too friendly to the new Christian faith. And then Jesus tells us to “give to Caesar what is Caesar, and to God what is God’s”—to God we owe humility and the seeking of peace and goodness in our world and for those around us.

After all, in four years, the pendulum may very well swing back; so rather than have a “Hatfields and McCoys” perpetual (and spiralingly destructive) feud, let us learn to live with one another despite the differences of opinions. Honor those sacrifices of veterans who sacrificed significant portions of their lives upholding our long-successful system of government.

So, hug a vet this week!

Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.