In today’s shifting political landscape, the architecture of ideology is constantly changing, much like the moveable floors in “The Disappearing Floor.” As political parties realign and values appear to transform, the essence of personal beliefs remains steadfast. From witnessing Mandela’s rise to navigating modern-day U.S. politics, one thing is clear: the floor beneath us may shift, but our core values do not.
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By Chuck Stephens
In my youth I read a Hardy Boys book called The Disappearing Floor. These young crime investigators kept returning to the same house to find more clues. But on each visit, the architecture of the house had changed. It was not a ghost story, the house just had moveable floors. This made it hard to solve the mystery. But the intrepid Hardy Boys finally figured out this architectural wonder.
That story came to mind as a metaphor as I thought the content of this article through. Because I have this deep sense that I am the same guy at 73 that I was at age 53 and age 33. I haven’t changed my political views much, although my physique has changed. I have no more control over the metabolic syndrome that has changed my body, than I have over politicals. Let me explain.
When critics questioned why Kamala Harris was changing from an extreme leftist to a centrist, her response was that her values have not changed. I heard Tulsi Gabbard say the same thing when a podcaster asked her why she crossed the floor from the Democrats to the Republicans. She explained that she still stood for the same fundamentals, but that the Democratic Party of today is no longer the same as the party of John and Bobby Kennedy. In fact, I have heard Robert Kennedy Jr say it too – that there is a major realignment going on in politics.
So I never crossed the floor! The architecture of politics changed. Let me share some insights.
I was born and raised in the Belgian Congo, where my parents were medical missionaries. In 1959 at age 9, I attended my first political rally in Bunia. The speaker was Patrice Lumumba. He was very charismatic and got me thinking about changing the status quo. Within a few months, the Simba Rebellion started and we were evacuated back to Canada, my parents’ homeland.
I did not become an immediate fan of rock music, but I loved folk music. Especially the likes of Peter Seeger and Johnny Cash. There was a lot of daylight between these two singers politically, but they shared one feature – a heart for the poor. As I missionary kid, I resonated with that and learned songs like If I Had a Hammer and Ira Hayes. Songs of solidarity and vision.
In Canada, Tommy Douglas had run five consecutive provincial governments in Saskatchewan. He had introduced Medicare and several other policies which have since taken root across the country. His Canadian Cooperative Federation (CCF) was the first democratic socialist government in North America. But he was no Marxist! In fact, he was a Baptist pastor with a heart for the poor. When the CCF took over in Saskatchewan he inherited a deficit from the Conservatives. When he moved into federal politics 25 years later, he left a surplus. I admire fiscally responsible socialists.
After graduation, I spent some years farming before returning to Africa as a missionary in 1982. I voted twice during that decade – both times for the Liberals. They were centrists, not leftists. But they had a way of coopting leftist policies as their own – like Medicare. This resonates with my Christian values.
When I returned to Africa as a missionary, Nelson Mandela was still in prison. I became an anti-apartheid activist, which was not hard in either Angola or Zimbabwe, the two countries I served in first. I was so delighted to see Mandela walking out of the gates at Pollsmoor Prison, holding hands with Winnie. Beside the couple on each side were Cyril Ramaphosa and Gwede Mantashe. Then after the first free and democratic elections in 1994, I moved to South Africa. I have lived in the Lowveld ever since, for thirty years. Still serving as a missionary. Same beliefs and values.
But there was a disappearing floor! Mandela united the nation, but it started to shift under Mbeki. By the time Zuma rose to power, his cabal brought us State Capture. A lost decade. State organs were weaponized. I found myself being a whistle blower and a corruption-buster. I didn’t change, but South Africa changed. Like Pete Seeger sang “It’s the hammer of justice, it’s the bell of freedom, it’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land.” I marched with Save South Africa.
My beliefs and values had not changed, but I welcomed realignments in politics. I attended the Congress of the People in Sandton, hoping that COPE could reverse the trending. Then came a proliferation of opposition parties, culminating in this year’s Government of National Unity. Totally new political architecture. Why am I preaching to the converted about this?
Because it is happening in the USA, the oldest democracy on earth. The party of JFK and RFK has become the bastion of the rich and famous elite. Symbolically, Donald Trump has chosen the son of a hillbilly to be his running mate. What is that about? Because that ethos resonates with Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash. Thus they call Donald Trump a populist! That is silly because he is a rich city-boy who inherited wealth. He is very smart, but he is a big threat to their cabal. Yes, they have one too, and it is probably worse than Zuma’s. For one thing, it spans both parties. They call it the “deep state”. That is why you see Republicans like the Cheneys saying they are going to vote for Harris. The cabal of US politics is deep-rooted. One analyst says it goes back 40 presidencies into history! The first president who would not bend a knee to the cabal was the 45th – Donald Trump. So he has enemies in his own party as well as in the opposition party. Double jeopardy.
Let me share two things about Kamala Harris that the mainline media has kept under wraps. First of all, she spent her teen years in Canada. Her mom was a researcher at McGill University. They lived in Westmount which is a posh area – upper middle class. So her claim to know the hardships of working class life is overstated. Second, her father was an Economics professor in California. He taught Marxism. So at the very least, Kamala Harris is well versed in the ideology that both American parties say they hate. A quote from Marx even slipped out in one of her speeches: “unburdened by what has been”. Not being well-read in Marx, or else to keep it under wraps, the mainline media called it a “word-salad”. It was not. It was a Marxist steak.
I am not saying that Kamala Harris is a communist. Neither do I believe that Donald Trump is a Fascist.
The best of the four names on the two tickets is JD Vance, son of a hillbilly. That population of West Virginia and Kentucky always voted Democrat. But ever since Clinton and NAFTA, they feel sold out. They may vote for Johnny Cash instead of Pete Seeger? They are still poor, maybe more than ever, it is politics that changed.
It is telling that Robert Kennedy Jr. has endorsed Donald Trump. This is part of the Disappearing Floor. Like Trump, but coming from a Democrat background and the Kennedy dynasty, he found the Democratic Party of today to be captured by the deep state. He clearly articulates this, saying that only a populist like Donald Trump can stand up to the cabal. They don’t use the phrase “state capture” in America, they talk of “weaponization”. But it means the same – you can use state organs and resources to fix up your Inkandla kraal or to interfere in the 2024 election campaign. That’s the way it works.
You can switch candidates mid-stream when you realize one has gone senile. You can stand in for a senile president and run a country even though you were never voted into office. And you can be nominated to be a party’s candidate without primaries. This party is in the cabal’s back pocket.
My own values have not changed, but today I call myself a “welfare capitalist”. I am no longer a “market socialist”. They move the goalposts, but I am still trying to break up their ball possession.
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