When I think about the current state of American political discourse, I am reminded of a scene in Star Wars: Episode III. The metamorphosis of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader prompted the Sith Lord, Sidious, to say: "I can feel your anger. It gives you focus!"
That may work for those who wish to embrace the dark side of the Force, but it is hardly the path that leads to an improved nation.
Anger is warranted. According to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, a mere 19 percent think the country is headed in the right direction. But does anything rest behind the anger?
According to a Newsweek poll conducted in June, 52 percent say their personal economic situation makes them nervous. Forty-eight percent say it makes them anxious, 44 percent say it makes them upset and 30 percent say it makes them angry.
Seventy percent of Americans are nervous about their retirement because of their personal economic situation; 45 percent are nervous about being able to put their children through college; 31 percent are nervous about starting a family; and 29 percent are nervous about being able to afford to buy a home.
What's more, the latest Fox News poll reveals that only 22 percent approve of the job by the Republicans in Congress, 29 percent approve of the Democrats. In this light, President Barack Obama's 44 percent approval looks like President Franklin D. Roosevelt circa January 1942.
Anger is more than enough to get people into the streets as the tea party and Occupy Wall Street movements attest. However, anger is not a principle that can be used as a cornerstone for governing.
There appears to be a collective angst against government without the requisite clarity of the statements made.
Doesn't "Take back the country" or "Return to what the Founders intended" require some explanation? Depending on where one stops on the historical continuum of the United States, such statements could be the justification of subjugating women as well as others to second-class status who were not included in the wisdom of the founders' original intent.
Underneath these statements is a desire for some government, but not too much. The trick is defining what constitutes too much.
For 67 years, banks decried the government regulation imposed by the Glass-Steagall Act. In less than 10 years after its repeal, banks were back at the government trough asking for a bailout.
It is easy to lampoon the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, fueling more anger. According to The Detroit Bureau, however, government's involvement in the automotive industry saved 1.14 million jobs and $96.5 billion in personal income in 2009.
The study also says that in 2010, about 314,400 jobs were saved by the bailout and that, in total, the loans to General Motors and Chrysler allowed $28.6 billion in Social Security and income taxes to be paid back to the federal government.
The so-called 99 percent are justified to speak out against the injustice that is systematically turning America into a have/have not society that will have the phrase "middle class" referred in the same context as the Edsel, Sony Betamax and New Coke. Likewise, the tea party movement ought to be concerned with runaway government spending.
But the anger in America is bigger than both movements. It is a toxic concoction that is one part fear, one part uncertainty, and one part hubris. Anger, especially when it is misdirected, can cause a portion of the electorate to think that business experience alone qualifies one to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It wrongly assumes that anyone who works on Wall Street is inherently evil.
Perhaps the most harmful element of the current anger is its ability to rob us of an appreciation for nuance. Certainty in the position held, fueled by anger, can blind us to the fact that few of the country's most pressing issues are accompanied by an absolute solution.
If the country remains mired in its current anger, it will enhance the possibility that the electorate will gravitate toward reactionary candidates based not on ideas to move the country forward, but by their ability to placate the anger.
If that were to occur, the results would be obvious: the problems would deepen, gridlock would continue, and the country would become angrier.
Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist. He is the author of Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War. E-mail him at byron@byronspeaks.com