Whether it is in prayer groups that I am part of or during Sunday morning worship, I am hearing more prayer concerns about the precariousness of democracy in the United States. donald trump’s steady poll numbers show him leading President Biden and that is starting to scare people. The thought that someone so blatantly guilty of innumerable crimes and someone who is of such little character, seemingly absent of any fiber of integrity or compassion, and being so close to the White House is simply overwhelming to a lot of folks.

And I get it. The dude is a cartoon character and not the funny kind (though I do find plenty to laugh at to be perfectly honest). But when I hear concerns regarding his very viable return to the White House and that through his return our democracy will cease as we know it, I have to admit I am hesitant to join in the outrage.

While I share revulsion at the thought of him in a position of power again, I also can’t help but think that the fear of losing our democracy is a sign of our privilege, especially considering how the foreign and economic policies of the United States have historically had devastating impacts on democracies in other countries.

Let’s take for instance Guatemala. In the early 1950s the Central Intelligence Agency developed a covert operation to overthrow the democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz because he was too liberal and favored land reform and Guatemalan ownership of Guatemalan resources. Outraged that Guatemala would control Guatemalan natural resources, and worried that Arbenz might be a communist, the United Fruit Company lobbied intensively for his removal.

To overthrow the democratically-elected Guatemalan government, the US plan sought and gained approval from nearby right-wing dictators in countries like Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. The plan was not carried out until 1954 because the Secretary of State under Truman, Dean Acheson, was concerned that the coup attempt would damage the image of the US.

So, rather than work with Arbenz, the CIA waited until 1954 and then, under the direction of new Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who, with his brother Allen, were actually former lawyers for the United Fruit Company, gave the go-ahead to exiled General Castillo Armas and the coup was launched, fully funded by the United States.

This set in motion a series of US-backed oppressive military dictators in Guatemala and the devastation Guatemalans have suffered has been felt ever since and I doubt it can ever fully be accounted for. Hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans have been killed and untold human rights violations committed, which include massacres of indigenous populations, rape, and forced disappearances. Historians Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer have books that tell of this horrific and true story (Overthrow, 2006; The Brothers, 2013;  Bitter Fruit, 1999).

And Guatemala is only one country where, through the covert and entirely undemocratic actions of the CIA, our tax money was spent dismantling democracies in the name of US interests.

I share all of this NOT to dissuade our concern about the decline of US democracy. We absolutely should! But if we are to be people of truth, if we are to proclaim and advocate for authentic participative democracy, then we HAVE to be clear-eyed about what the United States has historically done to suppress democracy and oppress and marginalize the poor around the world. When we cry out about the anti-democratic leanings occurring in the country today we would do well to cry out in repentance for all the ways in which the United States has decimated democracy in the world.

Having one’s voice heard by people in positions of power is not a right that belongs only to people in the United States. This is a right given us by our Creator. Therefore, it is a calling for all who follow God. If we want to preserve our democracy, then we must also work to sustain the rights of all people throughout the world, especially those who have been harmed by the policies and actions of our past actions. There is no democracy if there is not a democracy for all.