On Thursday, my little world in the San Francisco Bay Area was rocked and rolled in a most un-Grateful Dead fashion. A warning came screaming out of my cell phone regarding an approaching tsunami caused by a massive earthquake off the upper northern California coast. Fortunately, the tsunami did not come to pass as the earthquake tore the land beneath the sea horizontally rather than vertically. Still, it served as a handy reminder of how puny humanity is in the face of nature’s fury and, on a deeper level, how utterly puny humanity is in the face of an Almighty God to Whom the nature He created is puny.
Despite the tectonic plates’ growl, this time through, nature averted horror. Sadly, this was not the case with humanity earlier this week with the murder of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City. As of the time of this writing (December 5, 2024), the assailant has not been identified or caught.
Thompson’s murder has caused obscene glee among some elements of the left, including self-appointed renegade journalist Taylor Lorenz, who wrote:
Instead of issuing mealy mouthed platitudes about civility and scolding social media users for getting emotional about an issue that materially affects their lives, Democrats could recognize the widespread public sentiment surrounding privatized healthcare and push for more progressive policies like universal coverage.
In the meantime, as the journalist Malcolm Harris put it, "[the] every life is precious" stuff about a healthcare CEO whose company is noted for denying coverage is pretty silly."
An astonishing level of hatred, yet sadly not all that astonishing. It is a prime example of how one element of identity politics, namely self-identification with a cause or purpose to the point where it becomes necessary to demonize any who think or act differently to justify self-righteousness, has become pervasive within the progressive community.
There is danger in defining identity politics as strictly over-identification with a particular political figure or movement. It is far more heinous and pervasive than that. As noted, it is also self-identification placed within, or if you prefer, rooting self-identity within, a particular political figure or movement. This demands 24/7 fealty to an ideology or creed, regardless of how doing so clashes with basic human decency.
One of identity politics’ fatal flaws is its inability to engage in dispassionate analysis. To the mind corrupted by excessive ideological insemination, entertaining, let alone balancing, arguments varying in the slightest degree from held beliefs is impossible. Everyone who and everything which, in any fashion, no matter how slight, disagrees with, or, worse yet, directly disproves cherished theories must be attacked on as vicious and personal a level as possible. It is necessary to dehumanize the other person, never realizing that in doing so, the only dehumanized individual is oneself. It turns anyone who acts and believes this way into a little god, one totally unfettered in terms of casting judgment upon others while admitting no wrong themselves, for within themselves, they can find no wrong.
An authentic analysis of the problems with health insurance would immediately dismiss the “evil health insurance executives” shtick, instead starting with one fundamental question: Why is healthcare so expensive? A complete evaluation of all elements of the present healthcare system, including physician care, pharmaceuticals, and all other aspects, is vital for a proper understanding of why things are the way they are and how joined efforts can transform these things into a scenario where the average American does not have to skip on proper healthcare because of cost.
The mind unclouded by political hatred welcomes upcoming efforts, such as the Elon Musk-led DOGE, to root out government waste. Such efforts promise to find more efficient ways of spending taxpayer dollars with the ultimate goal of taking fewer dollars from the taxpayer, thus allowing them to spend the money they have earned on themselves, family, and loved ones, thereby organically bolstering the economy. The possibility of the government acting as a reinsurance agent for private insurance entities, with proper oversight and strict punishment of those who would flaunt the law, should be explored. Far too often, the government thinks it can do the job of private industry better than profit-motivated private entities competing for business. It cannot. However, it can use its position and power to provide a necessary line of defense against using cost overruns as an excuse for denying coverage. Yes, I know how alien it sounds for the government to be a bulwark against cost overruns, but it can happen.
Such analysis can be debated pro and con. It is how conservatives form and refine policy. The progressive mind cannot entertain such notions, as once it latches onto an idea, nothing can dissuade it, especially those pesky facts.
Taylor Lorenz is the living embodiment of the spoiled rich girl, one for whom her family‘s money and power have successfully extricated her from any and all responsibility for her actions. Her words betray her belief that she can say anything with total impunity. One wonders what she would do if she personally encountered United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s widow and children. It probably wouldn’t go very well. Even should this never happen, one cannot avoid the consequences of his or her actions, be it in this life or the life to come. As the writer of Hebrews succinctly puts it, it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
MORE: Taylor Lorenz, America's Online Bully, Gets the Twitter Files Treatment
Yet even for Lorenz, there is the offer of grace and forgiveness extended by the nail-scarred Hand. The Almighty can reach even the hardest heart, one seemingly eternally entombed by self-righteousness and pride. As Jude instructs us:
Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
We serve an awesome God, One with far more mojo than the Taylor Lorenz’s or identity politics–saturated left can ever comprehend. So, while we must unfailingly oppose those who seek to dehumanize, we must also reach out the hand that says, “There is a better way.“
