Foolish hope

Eyes often roll when I talk about taxes, budgets and morality in the same sentence. That may change, however, after this moment in North American history. Moral and ethical questions about the Big Beautiful Budget Bill in the U.S. have gone mainstream, from Tik Tok to Substack. “Cruel and inhumane,” “no empathy,” and “unjust” are ethical terms being used to describe reducing taxes for the wealthy while cutting basic services and adding trillions to unsustainable debt levels for the next generation. Expanding a militia that only reports to the President, and detention centers where immigrants will be forced to work for the owners raise ethical questions more than financial ones. In Canada, tax cuts and huge increases in military spending without a budget to show where the money will be found give rise to different ethical questions. These are not the usual trade-offs in budget debates that center on balancing the dollar signs. Facts about costs and impacts are contested in both countries, as are priorities.

Unholy foolishness

What’s common in both contexts is the low level of rational and technical analysis that usually characterizes budget debates. The 2025 budget season seems to be all foolishness rather than rational discussion. Citizens are left to discern what is unholy or holy foolishness in the chaos of current public fiscal policy. As the impacts filter down to individual people, especially in the U.S, there will be even more moral and ethical questions about who suffers and who benefits. Time will show the folly of cutting solar power and promoting fossil fuels, as well as the loss of common services that allow all people to flourish in local communities. I fear the outcomes will be more unholy than holy by most measures.

On another level, perhaps Christians need to become the champions of reason again. The Apostle Paul was challenging the Greek confidence in reason and rational thought when he promoted other sources of wisdom that the Greeks considered foolish and irrational. Throughout history, Reformed Christians have criticized liberalism’s over-reliance on evidence and reason. Now that we live in a time of extremely irrational and ill-liberal public policy, I hear more Christians standing up to defend reason and the use of evidence more than ideology as a basis for good public policy. Using facts and careful analysis are consistent with Biblical teachings about justice and seeking the common good for all people.

Hope is holy foolishness

Summer 2025 is anything but relaxing as the impacts of trade wars, dramatic budget shifts, climate change and global conflicts create uncertainty for everyone and real-life harm for the less powerful among us. For myself, it is the extravagant beauty of flowers in my garden, evidence of the regenerative power of creation, that gives me hope, when logic suggests despair. Hope in 2025 is holy foolishness.