TELECONFERENCE WITH REP. MICHELLE BACHMANN

I was asked to participate in a teleconference with Rep. Michelle Bachmann this Thursday in her office.  Yes, THE Michelle Bachmann.  I have been pondering what to say as the participants have been informed that this is primarily a "listening session" on the part of the congresswoman.  

Rep. Bachmann is a former Wisconsin Synod Lutheran who now attends a nondenominational church. I have no doubt she is a sincere Christian who bends to the Far Right, think Tea Party, in her politics.  Yet, she is our representative who has a mouth and a following.  Thankfully, we live in a country that still has whiffs of democracy, meaning she still has to listen to her constituents, even those from the Far Left who happens to be an ELCA Lutheran.  What should I say?  I think it will be part sermon because I will speak as a Christian and we have common ground, and part policy comment.

First the sermon.  I will urge her to remember Romans 13:1-7.  Paul writes of the function of government as being "God's servant for our good."  There is a legitimate place for government, and that place is to provide for the common good.  The issue is not more or less government, but the proper duty of government to do its proper job for the sake of the good of the people.  Less government is not necessarily good government.  The government has a duty to "order" society in a manner insuring equal justice and opportunity for ALL.  Interestingly, Paul frames these verses with urgings to "love."  I would suggest that the duty of the government is to facilitate love for and among the people.  

I will lift-up sections of Acts 2 and 4.  The verses focus on the people of God gathering to pool their resources and share with each other according to need.  Call this socialism or in the words of Jose Miranda of Liberation Theology fame, COMMUNE-ISM!  God wills everyone to have enough to live. We all have a responsibility for each other.  Ayn Rand selfish individualism is contrary to the Spirit of Christ and the purpose of the Church.    

I will refer her to the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:13-21.  This guy was a first century CEO who had done well.  He probably had a villa over-looking the Sea of Galilee and an early version of a yacht in his private harbor.  He was wondering what he was to do with his wonderfully abundant crops.  He decided to build new and larger barns to hold all of his wealth.  He decided to keep it for himself so he could "relax, eat, drink, and be merry."  Luke writes that God called him a "fool" and told him he was going to die that night, meaning he would not have any use for his new barns and wealth.  "So it is with those who store up for themselves but are not rich towards God."  To be rich towards God is to be generous towards the common good.  Unharnessed capitalism is anathema to God.  No one has the right to suck wealth and resources out of the world and leave the rest of us breathless.

I will speak of the "Blessings and Woes" in Luke 6:20-26.  The poor, the hungry, the weak are blessed. On the other side, the rich, the full, those who laugh are given the "woes."  In Luke's Sermon on the Plain, greed is not good.  The greedy are given the "woes."  Greed is the greatest sin in our society and is the prime reason for our economic disparity.

Finally, I will tell of Jesus' version of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46.  Jesus is saying that the stranger, the hungry, the thirsty, those in prison, the naked, the poor are "members of my family."  Jesus zings us with "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."  Jesus does not mean life to be a joust of survival of the fittest.  The faithful life is about caring for ALL.  People before profit.  Or, profit for people!

Then I will turn to policies.  I will urge her to support and improve on the Affordable Care Act.  The ACA is a strong yet incomplete step towards health care for ALL.  Don't waste time getting rid of it.  The vast majority of parents like being able to keep their children on their insurance until they turn 26. People like not having any pre-conditions eliminating them from coverage.  People like having no limits on coverage.  Seniors like the closing of the donut hole, giving them cheaper drugs.  I will urge her to support a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, to urge conversation with no pre-conditions, to halt settlements on the West Bank, to not blindly bow to the injustices committed by Israel against the Palestinians.  I will urge her to not privatize Social Security and not cut benefits because Social Security doesn't add one cent to our national debt.  Quit stealing from the Social Security Trust Fund.  I will urge her to improve on Medicare and health care reform by instituting the health care models of the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.  I will urge her to reject the Ryan-Romney budget because it unkindly and unjustly harms the middle and lower classes and makes the rich even richer.  I will urge her to support legislative humility, to work with those across the aisle, to compromise, to unite the best of our ideologies for the sake of the common good.

Pray for us.

Peace!

Ron