Why Do I Care???

I share the work of Dr Heather Cox Richardson, because I happen to care about the welfare of my nation. 

And why do I care?

I suppose a lot of reasons, but at the base of my life, a singular reason, my Christian Faith ... a faith that strives for honesty and thrives on the truth of whatever matter may present itself ... from the proper temperature of a stainless steel pan for searing a steak in butter, or the Jan. 6 Insurrection ... not that these two events are of the same magnitude, but both require truth ... an improperly heated pan will result in a ruined steak, and ignoring the skullduggery of the GOP will only add to their effort to reshape this nation as it was in the Antebellum South.

With this conviction: that religion, Christian, Jewish, or Hindu, thrives best of all in an environment of honesty and truth, a Democratic environment of equality, respect, and opportunity. 

Religion never thrives in an autocracy - if it cooperates, it soon takes on the meanness of spirit inherent in an illiberal form of government. If it resists, it suffers - sure, it'll survive as Christianity did in the Eastern Bloc nations, but I'm not talking about bare survival; I'm hoping for an environment in which people of any faith or philosophy will be able to engage with their faith in freedom, and will be able to practice the tenants of their faith without fear, yet with restraint, lest religious fervor warp the believer into a totalitarian view of things, "my way or the highway," at attitude always possible in any form of faith or philosophy. 

So, my thoughts on all of this, my regard for a truth-teller like Dr. Richardson, my support of the Jan. 6 House Committee, are finally and fundamentally driven by my faith in Christ.

You probably already knew that, but I felt the need to say it again this morning.

To all who read this, God's Peace - not the peace of some soporific, but the peace of engagement, truth, and, sacrifice, in the service of neighbor-love. And those who serve the neighbor serve God at the very same time.

Mitch McConnell - Packing the Courts

Why does Mitch McConnell care only about packing the courts?

The GOP plans to run the nation for the next several decades even if the GOP should lose the next several elections, maybe even the Senate for a time. 

The GOP has in place, now, judges who will turn away progressive, common-good, laws, including civil rights, voting rights, and rights for women - anything for the common good, which is generally termed “socialism” or “communism.”

All “rights” involve what the GOP sees as a “transfer of wealth” from the white rich, the elite, the Oligarchy, anointed by gawd to govern the rest of us, to those undeserving or unqualified.

And just who are the undeserving, the unqualified?

People of color, immigrants, non-christians, women and children, the elderly, and those with challenges, and in some instances, the list even includes Jews.

And poor whites, as well. 

If you want to see a picture of the GOP’s white America, check out the 1920s and 30s - millions of white families living in abject poverty - from the Dust Bowl to the  urban jungles. And did the rich care? No way at all, because poor whites were fodder for the factories, and could be counted on to side with the rich when it came to matters of race.

It’s ultimately the subjugation of African Americans , the symbol of everything the South lost after the War.

Jim Crow laws and voter suppression is still the modus operandi of the GOP - to realize their dream: as the world was before “Gone with the Wind.”

Mitch McConnell is nothing more, and certainly nothing less, than an antebellum southern elite.