Are There Differences Between the Parties

To a FB friend, who wonders about the parties, and their respective claims to truth and godliness. 

There are always multiple sides to every social/political/religious question, which is why there is no end to books, opinions, talking heads, and Ph.D. students! 

It's our task to weigh it all, and it's not easy. 

The greatest danger occurs when people in authority not only claim to have the truth, but demand subservience of their followers, the end of all questions, and such. Good teachers, and politicians, too, inspire thought and investigation; power-hungry leaders quash it all.

In reality, of the two political parties, in the last century, from FDR on, the Republicans have clearly aligned themselves with big business, meritocracy, militarism, and a reduction in the social safety net, and have joined their message with zealous evangelicals to reject gender equality, condemn homosexuality, and harbor white nationalism tendencies.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have tended to favor a strong pro-active government, in the style of FDR, for all the people - from roads to schools, from gender equality to marriage equality, from business regulation to banking rules and fair wages, to insure a safe and equitable life for Americans. 

The Dems are far from perfect. As individuals, of course, "all are sinners." But as politicians, and religious leaders, there are differences, profound, marked, obvious, and vital. 

Of a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Jerry Falwell, who would you choose to be your pastor? 

Of a Nancy Pelosi or a Lauren Boebert, who would you choose to be your representative? 

Of Barack Obama or Trump, who would you want for president? 

Republicans make different choices than Dems, for lots of different reasons - it's those reasons that need to be examined, and brought to light, so that we can think clearly and make good decisions. And to that end, we have substantial resources: good historians, theologians, psychologists, and pundits, to help us do just that. 

And frankly Tim, when a man or a woman stands to defend gender and marriage equality, and a strong social safety net, I believe, with all my heart, this is closer, far closer, to what God desires for God's world.

I may be wrong, but I suspect, you'd prefer to live in the world I envision rather than in one envisioned by Governor Abbott or Ron DeSantis.

Please excuse the length of this reply, but your question is a serious one, deserving as much analysis as I can muster. God's Peace to you and yours.

Dems Gave It All Away!

As much as I dislike the GOP, I fault the Dems for much of the current mess. Dems, of which too many were wannabe GOP, too many were willing to compromise, and too many just weren't paying attention to the local situation: school boards, library boards, town councils, state legislatures and governorships. Dems pretty well gave the whole damn store away, hoping that things would work out, failing to understand that the GOP was utterly predatory.

Who the Heck Are We?

1.22.18 Study Group

News yesterday: Chaos.

News the day before: Chaos.

News last week, last month: Chaos.

News today: Chaos.

News tomorrow? Chaos.

News: Chaos.

At best, democracy is always messy, as it should be, because no one is singularly in charge, but, rather, a whole lot of people, agencies, and entities.

But, and you knew a “but” was coming, these days strike me as odd, in the ferocity of their chaos … “no one is in charge” with a vengeance, and the party in power seems helpless to craft reasonable policies, either domestic or foreign, appointing people with marginal experience and often lousy track records.

Yet, I give myself away … for me, the role of government is vital to the wellbeing of the nation … it’s always, for me, the third leg of our strength: corporations, unions, and government, working together to bring balance and direction, paying attention to the past, yet knowing that the past is a done deal; what lies open to us is the future, yet right now, no one seems to be paying attention, while 45 deconstructs our government, unravels long-standing policies and throws foreign policy into chaos, playing to a rather small, but vociferous, and often violently religious, base.

I’m reading a remarkable book on FDR, A Political Life, by Robert Dallek … once again, I’m struck by FDR’s determination to use government to lift up the needy with emergency assistance, and job creation … while regulating big business and banks, in contrast to Hoover, who was a good and decent man, and stymied and saddened by the Depression, but held prisoner, or so it seems to me, by his Republican philosophy.

As FDR went to work, it didn’t take long for his detractors to start calling him a Communist, a Fascist, and a dictator, telling America through their newspapers (the wealthy owned nearly all of America’s leading newspapers) that FDR was going to ruin America’s democracy, destroy our economy and become a dictator like Mussolini (whom many of the rich secretly admired for his take-charge attitude, an admiration that would, but a few years later, include Hitler for his anti-communist stance - and both admired for their pro-business attitude).

William Shirer, in his autobiography, writes:

The General Strike in Britain that spring [1926] had shown the malaise in British society. Its failure had brought out the determination of the upper classes to keep the lower classes down on depressed wages, which were near the starvation level. Obviously, class war in Britain was far from over and the upper classes were winning [p.280, vol. 1].

Writing of France in the same time period, Shire notes:

I had begun to suspect that in France the possessing classes were even more greedy and venal than in Britain and at home. All through the crisis of the franc they had sent their capital abroad and thus further weakened the country’s precarious position. Appeals to their patriotism were in vain. The tax system was shocking, soaking the poor and sparing the rich [p.281].

And adds:

They feared that democracy in France, however badly it was served by Parliament, might continue to threaten their money bags. They began to look over the Alps at Italy to see if perhaps the rights of Big Business and Big Finance might not be better protected by a system of government the had destroyed democracy [p.282].

I doubt if any of us gathered around this table can comprehend the madness of wealth, the fears associated with losing even a dime of it. Or as Eric Trump said of his father, He’s not racist; there’s only one color he sees, and it’s green.

Then or now and throughout our history, there are those who look askance at democracy as a threat to their moneybags. And I think we’re deluding ourselves to ever hope that the possessors might think or behave differently. It is the disease of money that shapes their world view, and as long as the disease persists, so will their attitudes of greed and fear.

Such attitudes gave us, of course, the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression.

As Hoover helplessly stood by as the country slid into the Great Depression, one of his associates said, “Sooner or later the economy will straighten itself out” (good Republican thinking).

To which an associate of FDR replied, “People don’t eat sooner or later, but today.”

For many years now, beginning with Reagan, the mantra has been: Government is the problem, a theme which has resonated convincingly with many voters who unwittingly miss the point of just how helpful big government has been for them. Since Reagan, we’ve seen much of our government deconstructed (something Bill Clinton also abetted); the civil service greatly reduced, life-time employees devoted to their agencies replaced by political appointees, most of whom come from the very industries these agencies were created to regulate.

In a recent sermon, I offered the following:

Can we be hopeful today?

Can we we face the harsh winds of life and be brave?

 Can we speak truth to power, because we believe in the truth, the truth of Christ, the truth that really sets people free?

Can we look at the homeless on our streets and demand that the organs of government get their act together and do a better job for the needy and the downcast?

Can we look at our schools and demand that as a nation we stand by our children, we fund our schools, we keep them in repair, and see to it that our children are safe and secure?

Can we look at the elderly in our land and celebrate what Social Security has meant to millions of Americans, hard working Americans, decent and good Americans who need Social Security to avoid the abyss of poverty?

Can we celebrate the goodness of Medicare … for millions of Americans who need decent health care… 

Can we truly be patriots, and care for one another … 

Can we be Christian enough to know that we owe a debt of love to one another … and that God desires good government … God is the god of kings and queens and prime ministers and parliaments, and Senators and Legislators and Presidents, too … and all who hold the reigns of power will be held accountable before the LORD of heaven and earth, not for how much money they saved, but for how much money they spent, to make life better for children, for women and young mothers, for all who have needs, for all who are in want … God will not ask our leaders about walls built to keep people out, but bridges built to welcome the world! Not about war, but about peace. Not about exclusion, but welcome. Not about punishment, but forgiveness … and how we all cared for God’s good earth.

Both conservatives and socialists live in a world of ideals … focused on economic principles, with the former believing the market to be the ultimate arbiter of social wellbeing … and the latter believing that government regulation is the solution to social ills. 

Seems to me the strength of America has best been achieved when elements of both are combined into what might be called a thoughtful capitalism, or, as in Norway, democratic socialism … a reliance on the market, yet, also a realistic understanding that markets, left to themselves, ultimately result in the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, resulting in a growing economic and social disparity and the expansion of poverty, and only with careful and consistent regulation, can markets truly deliver the goods on social wellbeing.

Given this, I’ve long believed that America’s Middle Class is an artificial construct - thanks in large part to FDR, and subsequent administrations that understood America’s market system is fundamentally sound when sufficiently regulated to insure that those who have much won’t have too much, and those who have little, won’t have too little (2 Corinthians 8.15).

Jesus makes it abundantly clear that wealth is a problem, not a blessing, and those of wealth are likely to miss the meaning and purpose of life (the Kingdom of God). 

No doubt, elements in the Old Testament, and subsequent Christian tradition, celebrate wealth as a sign of God’s blessing, God’s approval, and poverty as a sign of moral failure and personal sloth and even God’s punishment. 

Sadly, this paradigm has taken root with a vengeance in American evangelicalism. But the New Testament, and the words of Jesus, give us a very different message, essentially ignored by many contemporary Christians and much of America, with our long-standing Horatio Alger stories, our love of wealth, our admiration for the wealthy and their power, our fascination with their life styles, and our continuing belief that the wealthy really have our own best interests at heart.

As a nation, we’ve not yet decided who we are, nor have we decided how to be a nation of 330 million, as we often imagine ourselves still a frontier nation, with all of our silly notions of guns, wilderness, wagon trains and toughness, flavored by White Supremacy (well established in our European ancestors), the legacy of Southern slavery, and States’ Rights, creating a maelstrom of American Exceptionalism, an illegitimate idea that can be defended only by bombast and the threat of violence, just to prove how righteous we are.

Into this mix, toss DACA and immigration issues (a long-standing struggle in America), and we have the perfect storm for bigotry, racial and religious violence, and the strange “election” of a man unfit for the Oval Office.

We have a real mess on our hands, and much of it is because we cannot decide who we are - John Wayne or Martin Luther King, Jr..

Hoover and FDR represented two radically different notions of government. While times change, and situations differ, the fundamental struggle remains between a Laissez-faire form of government that let’s the market (and those who profit most from it) have its way and a pro-active government willing to take on big business and banks and to provide welfare for the needy.

As for the needy, we will always have them, for a variety of reasons - DNA, drugs, hideous poverty, illness, the luck of the draw - and a nation unduly fussy about “putting them to work and getting them off of welfare” will ultimately become cruel in its social policies, as we have seen with many of our congressional leaders who endlessly fixate on those who are “abusing the system,” playing upon the sentiments of white voters on the bottom of the social ladder, who at least feel slightly better about themselves when they can still look down on others.

Yet, I contend, those who most abuse the system are the wealthy of this nation, the possessors, who have been able to buy our political system and manipulate it to funnel even more wealth into their pockets, wealth that creates very few jobs, because it’s funneled into exotic financial devices, likely overseas, hedged about with unintelligible language and an army of accountants and attorneys, making even more money for the possessors, but producing little of material value to society and changing nothing for the better.

Often, the conservatives talk about running the government like a family and its budget … while I fundamentally disagree with that notion, I might add this: many a family has a needy child, and because of physical or mental limitations, that child will remain needy to the end of her days. Does that family turn a cold shoulder to the child, reprimanding it for not working, not standing on her own two feet, making a living for herself? Not at all. But, rather, the family knows that it will have to provide support, nurture, and safety for the long term. If there’s an example from family life that has some bearing on the nature of our economy and those who remain needy, this works for me.

Prior to FDR’s election in 1932, he looked at the nation and said:

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it and try another. But above all try something.

Nothing works a 100 percent … but some things work better than others, and it’s clear to me that FDR’s efforts, and those of other administrations who believed in the role of government to effect positive social change while regulating the engines of commerce have more than proved their worth.

———————————

1. What parts of this paper caught your attention? … and why?
2. How free should our markets be?
3. Government as problem? What was Reagan, do you suppose, seeking to accomplish with this?
4. Evangelicalism seems to have lost its way … more in service to the wealthy than to Christ. ???
5. Where do Roman Catholic teachings fit into this?
6. Any thoughts about Social Security and Medicare?

The Dems Are Losers

Let's face it, the Dems are losers.

And deservedly so.

Dems lost state houses and governorships a long time ago, and along with state houses, the power to draw district boundaries - most often, it's gerrymandering, which now pretty much insures GOP control of the House for a long time to come.

During the recent national election, Dems lacked coherence ... too many were complacent, too many stayed home, too many, in some fit of purity and self-righteousness, cast pro-tRump votes by voting for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson or write-ins for Sanders.

With too many office-holding Dems, throughout all layers of our government, who look and sound more like Repubs than Dems; and why would anyone want a Dem pretending to be a Repub when they can have the real thing?

So, now the GOP controls all three branches of government, and will soon comfortably control SCOTUS as well, and if one of the liberal judges should retire or die, then tRump will appoint another "originalist" (read ideologue for the right), and absolutely control SCOTUS, casting the die for a loss of Roe v. Wade and virtually all the other hard-won freedoms and civil rights achieved since Brown vs. the Board of Education.

The party that defeated the Slave Empire is now hellbent for fury to reinstate it, with its Right to Work laws, and everything else to roll back voting and civil rights, marriage equality and social safety nets like Social Security and Medicare and just about anything else that smacks of "government interference" in our "personal freedoms."

The party of T. Roosevelt that broke up the monopolies and laid down the law on regulation to protect the people is now the party of the Plutocrats, who will strip away all regulations and rebuild the economy to suit the hyper-wealthy.

Tie this in with the 81% of evangelicals who cast their vote for je-e-sus, and their love of guns and war, and their hatred of LGBTQ persons, and we have a juggernaut, a tsunami of madness.

So, there is no stopping the GOP right now.

Not until the American People get sick of the avalanche of greed and aggrandizement.

Not until Dems get serious about local government.

Not until Dems get serious about a coherent vision for this nation, the FDR vision, the Obama vision, and if Dems want to pretend to be Repubs, then do it the Lincoln way, or the way of Teddy.

Until then, the Dems are losers.

Repugnants? I Mean Republicans!

Sorry about that ... and though I want to be pro-active and positive, what's up with the repugs?

Another half-million jobs lost in January?

Can they not see how their policies have led directly to this American Tragedy?

Tax cuts for the wealthy have never energized an economy, simply because wealth at the top is too concentrated in $25,000 hand-hammered copper bathtubs and corporate jets ... and tax cuts for big companies only puts more dollars into management hands and (big) investor pockets, fueling an ever-greater concentration of money into the hands of the few, shrinking the pool of available dollars for the rest of us.

Look, it's only middle class money that fuels an economy, but, then, do the rich and their repug (short for repugnant) minions understand this? Of course they understand this, but the point is, they don't give a damn. Never have, never will.

Which is why it's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than a person of wealth to enter into the kingdom of God.

Nothing inherently wrong with wealth, but wealth concentrated into the hands of the few becomes a poison to the soul of a nation.

The repugs hide behind protests of porkbarreling (yeah, they ought to know) and other such complaints.

Granted, nothing produced in Washington is likely to be free of it, but we've got to do something, and tinkering with percentage points, all dressed up in the repugs' silly protests about less spending and lower taxes is nothing short of ludicrous ... after years of high spending and growing deficits and an economy now crashing and burning, their complaints are nothing less than treason.

They've been found out and can't stand it.

They hide behind principle, but their principles are self-serving and designed only to feather the nests of the few while pillaging the resources of the land and siphoning off dollars for their own pleasures and parties.

This isn't just about political parties, but about a President of vision trying to lead this nation out of a morass of fiscal insanity promoted by both parties for a long, long, time. Whether it be Daschle and his non-payment of taxes, or Boehner's silly posturing about taxes, this is a first-class mess to be laid at the feet of both parties and the Washington Culture of greed and power.

Obama was elected, not because he's a Democrat, but because he's a man of vision, and heaven knows that's what we need right now.

I pray that both parties will clean house, rally around this man of vision and do what the vast majority of our population seeks - "justice for all."

The Amazing Republicans

The amazing Republicans - they're still touting their failed philosophy of tax cuts as the only way to restore the economy.

Are they brain dead?

Have not those policies proved bankrupt, literally? As our nation  teeters on the brink of a deep economic disaster, thanks to Bush and Gang, with John Boehner now carrying this guttering torch?

They haven't a clue.

They lost, and they lost big! The American people have spoken, and after the election, with Obama's growing approval rating and Bush's further decline, more and more Americans realize just how flawed the Republican philosophy grew under the guidance of an Alan Greenspan, for example. In all regards, economically, diplomatically, militarily, the Repubs have failed.

But rather than rising to some higher level of compromise and cross-aisle conversation, they seem intractable. Abandoned by the likes of Colin Powell and others, can they not see how isolated, how irrelveant, they've become.

It's a new age for us ... and we finally have a real President for the real America, and America of compassion and wisdom, where all religions and races are welcomed, where the power of diplomacy is understood and practiced, and we work together to achieve the American Dream, even as we celebrate the dreams of other nations, as well.

We have been thinking small for a long time, and small thinkers only grow smaller.

Expansive thoughts, intelligence and reflection, a grasp of history and a compelling vision of justice for all - we have a President who embodies the best of this nation's history.

I return to Joe Biden's comment: that paying taxes is patriotic!  Taxation compels business to reinvest rather than pull profits and limits the irresponsible spending patterns promoted by a crass consumer capitalism.

Taxation is a means of redistributing the wealth, and only government has the means to do this justly! And I can't think of anything more patriotic than helping every citizen of the land have a fair and decent chance.

For too long, we've headed the cry of the super-wealthy, and for what, so they can spend millions dollars to refurbish their offices?

Come on Repubs ... get your act together. I think it's time for you to turn off Limbaugh and listen to your own story told well in the work and life of Senator Dirksen who, at a critical moment of debate, joined hands with the Dems to help Lydon Johnson pass his massive civil rights legislation.

We have a chance now to rejoin the family of nations, even as we restore our economy, move ahead on health care, promote stem cell research, expand infrastructure construction and safeguard the right of woman to choose.

We have a chance. It would be nice if the Repubs could join the effort.

Karl Rove?

Karl Rove's Wall Street Journal op-ed piece about recent Republican House loses,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121081030507093579.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

is an interesting read, as he chides his party for lack of clarity. Simply calling someone a liberal, liberal, liberal, he writes, will no longer work; Repubs have to create clear distinctions, built upon the high stakes in Iraq and that a GOP approach - lowering taxes, open trade, and pro-biz policies - will result in an improved economy.

I chuckled.

Karl Rove?

The man who gave us Bush and Gang?

Telling us that a Bush third-term (incarnate in McCain) would solve the Iraq War and bring our economy around?

Of course, what else can he say?

Nonetheless, he raises some interesting questions about Obama's ability to reach the masses and offers some interesting analysis of American voting patterns. Something to which Dems need to pay some serious attention. I think Rove is partly right - the fall election is not going to be a turkey shoot for the Dems.

But now I'm wondering: Would John Edwards serve as VP? Would Obama even ask him? Could his populist appeal strengthened the Dem ticket? How would John Edwards play out in West Virginia? Ohio? Could he capture some of the sentiment carried now by Hillary?

But getting back to Mr. Rove ...

Karl Rove and company planned and carried off the great American heist - stealing our character, our national reputation and our brains, giving them to a cabal of neo-cons driven by thoughts of empire.

Thank you Mr. Rove.

I hope when all is said and done, he ends up in Crawford weed-whacking beside his buddy.

California Auto Emissions

Excuse me.

California can't impose it's own standards on auto emissions because this would cause confusion among the states?

I see.

But states acting alone on the matter of abortion is just fine! Because it fits the hyper-evangelical strategy to divide and conquer.

Hmmm.

Why does the RP speak out of both sides of its mouth - touting states' rights for one thing and denying them for another?

I don't think I have to answer that.

Everyone knows already how bankrupt is the RP leadership under Cheny and gang! What with its diabolical arrangement with hyper-evangelical Christianity and its devotion, never to people, not even to this nation, but only to corporate profits and power.

Enough already.

It's time to put them out to pasture, and I don't care who the Dems nominate ... whoever they put forth, she or he is likely to embrace a larger vision and a far richer compassion! It's time for the United States to shed the shackles of Scrooge's greed and reclaim its greatness!

May it be so, and it can't be soon enough!