What Can One Person Do? Reflecting on Katherine Stewart’s Money Lies and God

I sit with Katherine Stewart’s quite readable Money, Lies, and God: INSIDE THE MOVEMENT TO DESTROY AMERICAN DEMOCRACY and I don’t know what to do. I’ve read a fair amount of this book. I agree with page after page of factual insight after insight.

I’m horrified at what I learn. Is this what some people with money are doing? Telling lies and more lies so they can make yet more money? Get more people to support and agree with them?

From Money, Lies, and God:

“The big story of our time is the rise of an antidemocratic political movement in the United States. Like any such movement, this one is diverse and complicated. It brings together a collection of people and ideas that in ordinary circumstances would not dream of sharing a bed. It is united in its profound rejection of the Enlightenment ideals on which the American republic was founded, and it represents the most serious threat to American democracy since the Civil War. It is best described as a new and distinctly American variant of authoritarianism or fascism. This movement—or more precisely, my investigation into this movement from a wide but necessarily limited range of experiences and perspectives—is the subject of this book,” p 2.

Now read this:

“But in recent years a political movement has emerged that fundamentally does not believe in the American idea. It claims that America is dedicated not to a proposition but to a particular religion and culture. It asserts that an insidious and alien elite has betrayed and abandoned the nation’s sacred heritage. It proposes to “redeem,” America, and it acts on the extreme conviction that any means are justified in such a momentous project. It takes for granted that certain kinds of Americans [the rich, the religious] have a right to rule, and that the rest have a duty to okey. — This movement has captured one of the nation’s two major political parties [Republicans], and some of its leading thinkers explicitly model their ambitions on corrupt and illiberal regimes abroad that render education, the media, and the corporate sector subservient to a one-party authoritarian state.

How did such an anti-American movement take root in America? That is the question I aim to address in this book,” p 3.

The best I can do [and this means getting personally involved] is quote the closing page of Money, Lies, and God:

“Ultimately The Question I would like to address is the one I am asked repeatedly when I discuss the antidemocratic movement in public settings: What can I do? What can one person do in the face of such a powerful and well-funded threat?

To which I can only say: Put this book down and get to work now! Support your school community. Get involved in local governance. If you belong to a church or house of worship, work to bring your fellows to the side of justice and democracy Find others who are committed to protecting the vote or involved in voter engagement and education campaigns. Reach out to those who feel politically disenfranchised. Tell them democracy matters. Tell them the republic is theirs—if they can keep it,” p 245.

Thank You for reading, JoAnn Lordahl

Reading, Writing currently consumes most of my dwindling energy. Till Next Time. . .Stay safe, stay healthy, be kind.

Dr. Jo Ann Lordahl is a lifelong author, poet, novelist, and speaker whose work explores empowerment, aging with grace, and the deep questions that define our lives. Her books and reflections — from historical fiction to meditations on creative living — encourage resilience, reflection, and positive transformation.

If this post stirs questions about moral courage, shared humanity, or the work of healing in hard times, consider exploring Dr. Lordahl’s writing — especially her essays and books on reflection and personal transformation. Her voice reminds us that even in upheaval, there is a path toward patience, insight, and compassionate action.