Tribute to Senator John McCain

When someone like John McCain takes leave of us, it gives us all a chance to consider what makes a human being worthy of our regard.

I suppose, in some sense, everyone deserves recognition for just making it through another day, and coming out on the other side most intact.

Some seem to take a darker route, like Whitey Bulger, or the like. I recall doing a funeral many years ago for a small-town, small-time, crook. Everyone said, in their own, "Glad the SOB is gone." And then chuckled looking me, "What are ya' gonna say Pastor?"

But McCain is of the highest order.

As many of my friends have said, "I didn't always agree with his politics," but never once questioned his integrity or his desire for the welfare of this nation.

He stood in the breech at some critical points; I will never forget the moment in a rally when a women claimed that Obama was a Muslim and so on. And McCain cut her off; he had no allowance for such idiocy, and spoke kindly and eloquently of his opponent's good character.

McCain knew how to cross the aisle ... the divide between red and blue was not that great for him. There were no ditches dug that couldn't be crossed; no walls so high they couldn't be climbed, or usually, a door found that the wall builders knowingly and wisely included.

His job is done, but not finished.

In the end, he declined further medical heroics and claimed his fate, as all of us must.

RIP John McCain ... your record speaks for itself ... you were a man tested by life, and you came out on the other side intact, with high commitment and clear, level-headed, patriotism.

You served your nation well!

America's Character

Great nations argue about their character with a rich range of voices, and right now, we're engaged in a mostly serious, and sometimes raucous, discussion about who we are.

At the heart of our conversation are two elements:
1. The long-standing conviction of some that America is always pure and clean, that we're innocent at heart, driven by the highest ambitions and the best motives.
2. Historians and essayists who do their careful work, who see not only our best, but our worst, who hold an honest mirror before us, celebrating our virtue and confessing our sin.

Christians, and all people of faith, have a role to play here - especially Christians of the Reformed tradition (read Calvin) who are no strangers to the pervasive power of sin - that relentless self-interest which destroys marriage and family, brings down great corporations and distorts a nation's purpose. Calvinists never flinch from the terrible realities of sin because of an overarching confidence in God's mercy.

God surely loves all of us as we are, and allows for a great deal of latitude in our growth and development - God's ways with us are gracious and kind, but God's love also holds a mirror before us, and for Christians, the mirror is Christ - in his face, we see a picture of humanity, a portrait of what it means to be a human being.

Though God's love for us is gracious and gentle, God's love is also honest and transformative - God loves us as we are, but God loves us too much to leave us as we are!

So it must be for Christians and their regard for the nation in which they find themselves.

The great sorrow of Nazi Germany is that too many Christians paid no attention to the drift into darkness - the Fatherland was their be-all and their end-all. Germany could do no wrong. Germany was under attack by Jews and Communists and homosexuals. Germany needed to do what it needed to do, to protect itself and provide for its people. The German Church largely failed - they were Germans before they were Christians, and Hitler and his gang knew how to manipulate people of faith. Much of what Hitler said had the ring of religion about it - God and country - what a powerful combination, and when the German Church closed its eyes and signed on with Hitler, the Church lost its way.

Christians are Christians first, before they are a citizen.

Yet in America, the distinction between Christ and citizenship has been terrible blurred in some churches - where the American flag and the cross of Jesus are intertwined in a strange form of piety and power - where guns and conquest are celebrated, where the nation is exulted, and like the German Christians, vision is obscured by power, and the church loses its way.

Some voice immediately: "We're not like Germany! It's different here."

Well, it's always different, that's for sure.

But here we are - debating our nation's behavior, our character, our soul.

And it's a good debate, and it's important?

Did we do wrong? That's the question.

If we exclude that question from our conversation, we do great harm to our soul.

As a nation, it's in our best interests to look honestly into the mirror of history, to listen to our allies, to seek the opinion of the world.

And if we're people of faith, to add to the conversation a special courage to face ourselves and, when and if needed, to fess up and make amends!

Great people do this all the time ... and so do great nations!

Daschle and Taxes

Who are these guys?

They get away without paying their taxes ... but if my wife and I missed a year, they'd be all over us.

As much as I have liked Tom Daschel, I'm glad he pulled his name, whether by choice of pressure. We need women and men of character, who love this nation enough to pay their taxes, who can set a model of behavior worthy of the name American.

Why would a man like Daschle not pay taxes?

Is it greed?

Is it carelessness?

Whatever it is, it's wrong.

Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes said, according to Justice Frankfurter, "I like paying taxes. With them, I buy civilization."

Biden was right: paying taxes is patriotic, and more importantly, taxes go way beyond charity, which is a good thing, but only rarely can charity confront and change the sources of human suffering, a task only good government can bring about.

A New and Genuine Patriotism

From Huffington Post ... after touting Obama as unpatriotic, seeing his election stirring the heart of the nation with lofty visions and high ideals - according to the right, this shouldn't be happening.

How wrong the right was!

Great piece ... click HERE.

Patritotism

Naomi Wolf has a new book, an excerpt of which is posted HERE.

It's all about patriotism, the real kind, or the fake kind.

And we've had plenty of fakery as of late.

Don't miss this fine piece of writing ... and the extraordinary Second Inaugural address by Lincoln.

Joe Biden - True Patriot

The following was written in reply to a ton of snotty remarks made about Biden's take on patriotism and taxes - see original story HERE.

I wrote:

Americans are sick when it comes to taxes, and we can thank Reagan, the Great Liar, for the disease. We expect the moon, and keep borrowing money like an adolescent child, putting off responsible policy for another generation. Yes, it's patriotic to pay taxes. All of us need to pay a little more and spend a little less on our toys and personal pleasures, most of which end up in next summer's garage sale and leave us wondering why in the world we ever bought it.

Corporations need to pay more in taxes, to make them lean and thoughtful - do they really need billion dollar mega-buildings, and tens of millions paid out to executives who are just as inept and clumsy as the rest of us?

The sickness of greed always results in disdain for the poor ... but I wonder how many of the blather-heads who've written their scalding notes about poverty know anything about it, how infected our economy really is, and the sickness of greed.

Patriotism?

We don't know what it is, and we haven't known for 50 years ... we've been on a silly lark of spend, spend, spend. Even as the Trade Towers were falling, Bush said, "Go out and shop." Shop till you drop, and we've dropped now.

Can we really be patriotic? Can we stand together with one another? Can this nation recover its regard for one and for all? Can we spend less on ourselves and more on our infrastructure, health care, education, and green technology?

Patriotism is all about sacrifice, and it's been a long time since we've had any help in learning the lessons of patriotism. We’ve settled for a fake instead: flag-waving and god-bless-america stuff without thought about the flag and what it really means, and what it really means to invoke the divine for our wellbeing.

Joe Biden is right. But the truth hurts, and the snotty retorts reveal just how tender the spot it. We’re selfish as hell. Our raw capitalism has fed the coffers of the wealth while depleting our treasury.

It's time to undo the lies of Reagan; it's time to recognize the falsehood of the Repub/Neo-con mantra, a philosophy of lies that has undone our greatness, ruined our reputation, sunk our economy, mired us in a senseless war, filled our minds with empty rhetoric and worsened the infection of greed.

It's time for us to pay attention to someone who has the guts to tell the Bible thumpers and the so-called shoot-'em-boys the sobering truth.

Joe Biden is a patriot of the highest kind!

Patriotism - a Christian Take

Check out this fine piece on patriotism from a Christian pastor ... click HERE.