Differing Visions for America

Been reading "Undaunted Courage" as of late, about the Lewis & Clark expedition to the Pacific.

At the time of their adventure, 1803, the nation was already struggling with competing visions - the Federalist and the Republican, and how to read the Constitution.

The differing visions polarizing today's politics are not much different, though within each of these visions, there is always some degree of fluidity - e.g. Rick Perry's GOP and that of George W. Bush.

Jefferson, a Republican, a strict constructionist on matters of the Constitution, nonetheless played his hand big when it came to financing Lewis & Clark and making the Louisiana Purchase.

I find it encouraging to read, simply because it encourages me to stand firmly for my view of things, even as I consider other points of view. Yet the vision that energizes me has long been a part of our nation's conversation.

It doesn't help, as some conservatives suggest, that Obama is a Marxist. Not at all, for Obama's vision is very much rooted in the American Dream. No doubt, Rick Perry's vision is rooted there as well, or even that of Paul Ryan.

America's unique political climate has allowed these competing visions to grow and prosper at varying times in our history, enriching our national experience.

Pushing deeper, these competing visions seem to be rooted in human DNA.

And they are clearly reflected in the Bible as well - with it's competing visions: the expansive world of Isaiah and the narrower world of Kings and Chronicles - each asking the question: What is God's vision? For Kings and Chronicles, God's vision is "Israel First." For Isaiah, the whole wide world is God's objective, and Israel is a tool toward that end, and never the end itself.

When Jesus enters the scene, he clearly goes with Isaiah, and when Paul begins to write, he, as well, aligns himself with the larger picture, seeing the church, not as an end in and of itself, but rather as a tool, a means, toward the larger picture of God's love for the whole wide world and the eventual redemption of creation!

We'd all like to think that our view of things is the best, and if we're readers of Scripture, that our understanding of the Sacred Text is more accurate that someone else's.

Who knows ... but this much can and must be said: there are competing views of the world in the Bible, views similar to the current debates in our national and local politics. Not that there's a direct correspondance (there never is), but enough similarities that allow us to compare and contrast.

For most of my adult life, I've tried to read the Text fairly, and I've tried to learn something of American history, even as I've searched my own life-experience and story to discern how I've been shaped and why I value what I do.

In the long run, I think it's a mystery - as Paul puts it, "Now we see in a mirror darkly, but then, face-to-face."

In the meantime, it's incumbent upon all of us to stand where we stand and to affirm the values we hold dear, even as we try, with all our might, to hear what others have to offer, and to learn from them, modifying our own views as we go along, yet to sharpen our views, too.

It's a great debate, and much is at stake.

May God grant to all of us a certain generosity and kindness.

But courage as well. The undaunted courage of solid convictions founded upon the bedrock of knowledge acquired through the discipline of research, with reflection upon such knowledge in long hours of consideration and conversation.

Republicans promote Costa Mesa as a pension-slashing leader

Republicans promote Costa Mesa as a pension-slashing leader

In this morning's LA Times, a fine, though disturbing, article revealing the heart and soul of the GOP - or shall I say, "heartless and soulless" - as they continue their Grant-like "march to the sea," burning their way through our Middle Class. Be sure to check out the accompanying picture - "bowing for prayer."

Pious Frauds at Work

I added my comment to the Times' thread, and here's what I wrote:

Nothing new in the latest GOP outbreak in Costa Mesa, but what stirred me deeply and made me sick was the accompanying picture - these pious yahoos, "bowing for prayers," beneath the hollowest motto ever coined, "In God We Trust." Baloney! These simple four words have been used, and mostly abused, to justify "high crimes and misdemeanors" of every sort.

The word "god" has no inherent meaning. For folks like these, it's the GOP god, a ruthless god without mercy, a god of wealth and power. Under the banner of such a god, the GOP god has overseen the largest transfer of wealth known to history - from the pockets of the many to the bank accounts of the few.

"Bowing for prayer" in this picture is beyond ludicrous; it's nothing less than illusion masking cruelty. I suspect most of these insipid politicos would call themselves "christian," likely "evangelical christians." Well, I'm a Christian, too, and a pastor for 44 years, and what these pretenders support is just plain wrong, deeply contrary to God's will expressed in both Testaments, contrary to Roman Catholic social teaching, and a contradiction of core Pauline economic theology - 2 Corinthians 8.15.

The GOP is bound (enslaved to its own ideology) and determined to undermine the foundations of Democracy and destroy the Middle Class. They are terrorists of the worst kind - RAVENOUS wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7.15).

Labor Unions for the Wealthy?

The economic news is shameful ... no, I'm talking about the crisis at hand, although that's a part of the picture - I'm talking about the rape of America: yes, a brutal word, for sure, but that's exactly what has happened in the last 40 years, as the wealthy have sucked the nation dry, draining off tons of money for their foolish life styles, extravagant investment schemes, furthering their strangle-hold on politics, the economy and even religion.

This fascist-like rape of the economy has resulted in the greatest transfer of wealth ever seen: from the pockets of the many to the pockets of the few.

America has suffered the downsizing of the means of production in our nation - starting with seamless pipe in Pittsburgh - in the mid-70s, when we were building the Alaska pipeline, America had already lost the capacity to manufacture 60-inch seamless pipe, and I ask why?

The sad mantra of big biz has been to blame the unions. This is just a bald-faced lie! Their greed is fault! And with the take-over of big biz by Wall Street, the pace of greed has accelerated to the speed of light, I'm afraid.

And along the way, our titans of business have feathered their own nests at the expense of The People. Yes, the People. What a quaint idea - The People. Of the people, by the people, for the people. Yeah, and the moon is made of cheese. Big biz and its government toadies have been at war with The People ever since FDR won a few rounds The People. Big Biz and its government goons set about dismantling the middle class for no other reason than Haman's decision to kill Mordecai and eliminate all the Jews in Persia. Why? Because Haman didn't bow and scrape before Haman, so Haman's pride was injured. Big Biz has always hated the unions, and it's a matter of foolish pride driven by a distorted sense of entitlement and greed.

The assault on the middle class is nearly complete, and America is more vulnerable than ever!

I write as a religious person, specifically a Christian.

And from the perspective of faith as I see it, all of this is shameful.

And now the latest news from the Census Department - the income gap widens even further.

This is a crime, and if it were committed by some little sleazeball on the street, we'd haul 'em off the hole and lock the door.

But these criminals are lionized and admired, although they've taken a few hits lately.

But they're well-protected; they sit on one another's boards and take care of each other. Talk about unions. THE WEALTHY HAVE THE MOST POWERFUL LABOR UNION IN THE WORLD, and they have a huge chunk of Congress and the Courts coming to their defense - check out how FedEx had laws passed to protect FedEx from organized labor.

The American economy will never recover until we bring justice to the table.

And what's justice, you ask?

The Apostle Paul had it all figured two millennia ago:

The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little.

There's always going to be gaps, but it doesn't have to be this wide. Indeed, it shouldn't be this wide.

An economy so badly divided against itself is fractured, and it's failing, and until we address this shameful injustice, the economy will continue to deteriorate overall and we'll witness the further decline, if not the disappearance, of the middle class.

We can do it.

We must do it.

Justice calls for it!

Bubble Up Economics

Money, like hot air, rises.

Eventually ending up at the top.

Some have suggested that, once at the top, it trickles down.

Wrong.

Once at the top, there it stays, as we have witnessed in the last 40 years, with the growing hyper-concentration of wealth in upper ranks of American families.

The wealthiest 1 percent of families owns roughly 34.3%  of the nation's net worth, the top 10% of families owns over 71%, and the bottom 40% of the population owns way less than 1% (Click HERE for more info).


Trickle-down economic theories are one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated on the American public. The fact is: once it bubbles to the top, as all money does, it stays there. Period.

Unless the federal government does what good government should do - tax the wealth at the top and put it to work by infusing it into the lower reaches of our society - pumping it into the renovation of our schools with good salaries for our teachers; improving our roads and light-rail systems for our cities; supporting our cities; funding the arts; promoting research on global warming; cleaning up the environment; wind turbines; alternative fuels, and with single-payer health insurance, the money would go directly to the providers of health-care rather than the billions currently siphoned off by the insurance companies and their high-salaried CEOs.

Money always bubbles up.

Unless appropriate taxation helps return billions to the lower reaches of a society, the poor will only grow poorer and the wealthy, of course, will only grow wealthier.

The United States stands alone with its infantile fixation on trickle-down economic theories and its fear of taxation.

We have to pay attention to how the rest of world handles its wealth,  by sustaining a positive flow of cash from the top to the bottom, and letting it bubble up through all the layers of a society, and when it returns to the top, appropriate taxation starts the cycle all over again.

In a such a society, there are still wealthy families, and there are poor, as well, but the gap is smaller, as it should be.

The terrible and growing gap in our society between the wealthy and the poor is an affront to God, the deepest kind of violation of justice. If Christians are biblical (and what's the alternative?), they have to face these alarming trends, and as followers of Christ, work to keep wealth flowing throughout a society rather than allow it to rise to the top and stagnating there, even as more flows upward, finally starving the economy for 90% of the population.

As Paul the Apostle wrote:

I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written,
      “The one who had much did not have too much,
      and the one who had little did not have too little.”