It is easy to point to
instances in which elected government-officials stage political theater for
effect, for in the domain of politics, perception has a political currency that
can leave a real imprint almost as if the staged were actual rather than pretense.
When the leader of one group takes over as Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives from a person of another partisan group, for example, it is
customary for them for the mallet literally to be handed over. In the U.S.
Senate, its president, who is also the Vice President of the U.S., may sit in
the presider’s chair during a vote if a tie is expected; the Senate President
can vote only to break a tie. A certain depth of political meaning can go along
with the actual presider presiding. Sometimes, however, an arrangement
can have a depth of meaning as well as carry actual political weight. The
Senate’s vote on additional economic sanctions on Russia on July 28, 2026 is a
case in point, for the synchronicity itself could have caused goose-bumps on exposed
skin. Even so, even profound political meaning (and fulfilment) is a far shot
from religious belief and experience. Distinguishing these is important in this
case, for the day of the vote included a very relevant funeral at the National
Cathedral that many senators no doubt attended, and could be expected to ponder
their own mortality and what may lie beyond.
The full essay is at "A Temporary Alignment of Politics and Religion."
