9.20.24 My Faith and My Politics

 I was a Christian long before I became political ... God was in my life from the beginning ... I knew that ... a Presence, kind and loving, always there, for little Tommy Eggebeen.

I was a Christian long before I became political.

And when I became political, it flowed out of my heart, full of the Christ that lived, and still lives, in my heart.

Was I good little boy?

Hardly ... and I'm still far from good ... but God is as close to me as ever ... "I am with you always!" ... and that's the light of my life, it's my hope, and my peace, in the midst of this and that and everything else.

My commitment to Democracy grows out of my earliest commitments to Christ ... my sense of compassion for the bruised and the beaten flows from the love and grace of Christ ... my commitment to good government working for all the people flows from God's creation purpose - a love for all, a desire to redeem and make everything new ... can I be any less in my world view than God?

All that I am politically flows from all that I have always been in Christ, "before the foundation of the world" ... primordially, eternally, and infinitely.

I was, and am, and will be a Christian, by the grace of God, the very same grace I believe embodied in our best dreams and highest virtues ... 

I've a long way to go, and so does my nation, and on this side of the great divide of time and eternity, we may never fully reach the goal, but I'm not about to give up, I'm not about to surrender my values, I'm not about to go backward into the darkness, but forward into the light.

So help me God ... Father, Son and Holy Spirit ... Mother, Daughter, and Divine Love ... Creator, Redeemer, and Giver of Life ... Above, Within, and Beyond.

Republicans Have a Chance

For 8 years, Republicans have screamed at the top of their lungs that given half a chance, they'll make America great again.

Well, they have a chance, and so far, it's been a first-class mess.

Transitions are always marked by some confusion, but this transition takes the cake because the current office holder believed that the scrawl of his pen would change the world and everyone would cheer.

Perhaps it works that way on the top floor of the Trump Tower, but not in government.

I have long suspected, and history backs me up on this, that Republicans are unable to govern ... given power, which America has a need to do now and then, they always end up the same way: more for the rich and less for everyone else.

This is not a governing philosophy, and, for me, flies in the face of my Christian Faith.

As for the faith, I've been at it awhile ... with all the requisite work of prayer, study and consultations.

So, I'm comfortable with where I am, as opposed to offering opinions on the status of Pluto or the latest in Hip Hop.

Getting back to the Republicans: the depths of confusion and scandal show no signs of letting up, and plenty of signs that it's going to worsen.

This is what money does. And it seems that the Republicans are all about money, their money and my money, too - i.e., taking my money and giving it away to the mega-rich.

The Republicans hold to a philosophy destined to ruin this nation (it's happened before); a philosophy that cannot govern, but only plunder.