“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”
Psalms 33:12
Director Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” was a movie whose theme was to remind a suicidal George Bailey that his hometown, Bedford Falls, would have turned out to be a pretty miserable place without his seemingly ordinary presence. It is shown that without some simple caring person like George Bailey, the selfish and power-hungry Henry Potter would take over. The end result would be a dreadful place called Pottersville.
In my view that is what has happened in America. Without the Johnny-on-the-spot, level-headed, freedom-loving American on the scene, a host of Potter politicians, Potter businessmen, Potter military leaders, Potter educators, Potter judges, and Potter preachers have taken over. Consider what our country might look like today if over the past 100 years the current administration had been in power. But such an administration has not been in power. Why? Because of guys like George Bailey.
In the movie, George Bailey was facing a perplexing financial situation and begins to wish he had never been born. Suddenly, an angel appears to George and shows him what life would be like, if his wish were to come true. George is awakened not in Bedford Falls, but in Pottersville. The angel takes him from one scene in that small town to another. The difference is stark. The town’s main street is a red-light district, crime is rampant, and life there is poor, hopeless, cold, and uncaring.
Now, I grew up in Bedford Falls. Not literally of course, but pretty close to it. It is hard today for us older folks not to draw an analogy between contemporary America and Pottersville. Our nation in the 21st century is the complete opposite of the Bedford Falls of my childhood. It has become a hateful, dark, and grumpy place to live in.
In the movie, George is terrified when he’s in Pottersville. He wants to get back to Bedford Falls even with its problems, which seem small in comparison to Pottersville. Most of us older folks would like to go back too. Of course, most younger people have lived in Pottersville all their lives, so they have no idea how wonderful Bedford Falls really was or how much our nation has really changed.
Back in Bedford Falls there was one person who was not happy, and he desired to make everyone else unhappy also. His name was Henry Potter. Potter did everything he could to insure people were a slave to his own power. Misery and financial bondage were the bill of goods he was selling. Most folks in Bedford Falls wanted no part of it, while folks in Potterville didn’t know how to survive without it. Potter controls all of the economic activity in Pottersville. Instead of owning nice homes, people rent tenements from Potter.
Instead of bookstores, restaurants, clothing stores, and houses of worship; Pottersville is dominated by bars, second run movie theaters, liquor stores, and dime dance halls. Public safety is maintained, not by the morals of the community, but by a strong police presence. It is in essence, every man, woman, and child for themselves. The people are also perpetually divided by race or class.
America today is Pottersville; ruled over by a bunch of grumpy Potter’s. America is all about power and control. It’s not about people like George Bailey and his family that just want to have a decent life. The Bailey’s were not asking for much, only the basics. They don’t want to be in debt, they want food on their table, they want their children to be happy, they want to live in a moral society, and they want to feel safe. They also appear to enjoy being free. Yet, all these things seem to be out of reach in modern America; just like they were in Pottersville.
The problem is that Mr. Potter doesn’t want to give them any of this. He wants them to be miserable because he is miserable. Potter was miserable in Bedford Falls, yet he is equally miserable in Pottersville. Potter is corrupted to the point where he is just a miserable wreck of a human being. In fact, Mr. Potter doesn’t even act like a human being. Potter wants to enslave people and hold them in bondage. This is America, it is a wreck, and it’s falling apart, just like Henry Potter.
While America falls apart, the George Bailey’s of the country are suffering. America could be a nice, happy place. The problem is that Pottersville is so deeply entrenched into our society that even George Bailey begs for Potter’s help. “Please help me, Mr. Potter. Help me, won’t you, please? Can’t you see what it means to my family? I’ll pay any sort of a bonus on the loan, any interest, if you still want the Building and Loan.”
Unfortunately, in today’s world there is no guardian angel to get everyone back to Bedford Falls. If America could look at itself in the mirror, it would see that Pottersville is not a good place to be. Pottersville was designed to horrify the movie audience of 1946, strange as it may seem to us today, it was horrifying back then. But today, Pottersville is the exact kind of town that most politicians and many foolish citizens wish to have. It is too close to reality to be frightening any more.
Business did seem to flourish in Pottersville. The streets were lined with business; mostly nightclubs, bars, and girly joints. There was a greater police presence as you might imagine. I guess miserable people need some kind of outlet. Whereas Bedford Falls seems to have pretty much rolled up its sidewalks early in the evening, not so at Pottersville. Nice and peaceful neighborhoods, like Bailey Park, have given way to shacks and slums. That is not to say that Bedford Falls was a boring place. On occasion, Bedford Falls was quite lively, but it seemed to be a decent kind of lively.
Bedford Falls was a place where people walked calmly along the tree-lined boulevard, but now, the street is filled with drunks, prostitutes and police wagons. Pottersville had totally adopted Henry Potter’s values of greed, power, and selfishness. Potter facilitates activities that appeal to people’s base desires and drains the town of its shared community values. Morality has plummeted.
It appears that our society has adopted Potter’s values and transitioned from the Bedford Falls of my youth into a modern day Pottersville. How did we get here? A simple answer is that no one kept Henry Potter reigned in. So, he was able to shove his agenda down our throats. Where are the George Bailey’s when you need them?
The red-light district has grown because the Potter agenda downplays the importance of Biblical morality. Slums exist because that is the type of communities that Potter likes to build. Poverty reigns because Potter has manipulated the money supply. Freedoms have eroded because Potter has promised security if we surrender our freedom. Hopelessness prevails because Potter needs it to keep his subjects in check. I am not saying that all the world was always like the idyllic Bedford Falls, but at least back then we could at least imagine living in such a place. Today we can’t even imagine that such a place could even exist in America.
Moral and economic change certainly are not the only cause of the decline of families. However, it is a cause that has been overlooked by too many people. A Bedford Falls society cherishes families rather than neglecting them. It sees, rather than ignores, the poor and the outcast. It is a well-ordered society where the greed of the Potters are reined in, and where communities are generally safe and the working poor can still find the American dream.
The spirit of Mr. Potter has long held much of the world, but today it thrives in America. That is why modern America seems more like Pottersville than Bedford Falls. So ingrained are the attitudes of Pottersville into our psyche that we hardly recognize them as morally deficient. Think of the state of our lives in America today. It seems to me that our sense of community is at an all-time low. To many, life seems to be harder than ever, and as a result, we are less charitable and tolerant of our neighbors.
Mr. Potter seems to me to be an illustration of the leadership in today’s America. It is a short-sighted leadership, seeking every advantage in pursuit of current power and profits. Potter is always seeking ways to limit competition and thereby choice for the people of Pottersville. He wants them to be beholden to him for their lives. Does that sound familiar? Doesn’t government want us beholden to them for everything?
Maybe I am so deep in the bubble of my own life that I am misinterpreting the things I see around me. After all, most of the people I know are hard-working, caring, and generous people. It’s just that I can’t escape the fact that I feel that America has become a much harsher place than I remember. Even the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” has been impacted. Once upon a time it was shown 100’s of times a year. Then the rights to the movie were acquired by NBC, and now it gets shown far less, because it is far more expensive to air.
When I was in high school, we used to worry about living in a world like the one in Orwell’s “1984”. Orwell’s writing described a world of violence, control, and power. He frightened us all with the prospects of living in a dark and sinister world where even our thoughts were controlled. We were right to be frightened, but perhaps we should have been warned that the precursor to “1984” was Pottersville. “It’s A Wonderful Life” premiered in 1946. Orwell’s work was published in 1949. Pottersville comes first, perhaps “1984” will follow.
I am not smart enough to have all the answers, I know that. And even George Bailey resisted listening to the messenger sent from God. But I do believe this; if America could find its way back to two important documents; one of them perfect, one of them imperfect but still good, it would go a long way to helping us find our way back to Bedford Falls. The most important document is the word of God.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”
Psalms 33:12
The second document is the Constitution of the United States, a document that most all leaders have promised to honor and defend. But it is also a document that most leaders seem to ignore once they get in power.
Merry Christmas America. It is unlikely I will live to see it, but it is my prayer that one day, like George Bailey, you too will cry out “I want to live” and then perhaps find your way back home.
Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry for over forty-five years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries and Christian Bible College