A MOJITO, A TOAST, A BEQUEATH

Linda and I concluded 2012 by lifting a Mojito (a combination of rum, triple sec, lime, powdered sugar, and 7-Up), toasting to a better 2013, and bequeathing Philippians 3:13-14 to ALL: "Forget what lies behind, and press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ." Then, we watched the ball drop over Times Square and fell asleep.

To what do we toast?  To what do we hope?  To what do we work towards?  What is the goal, the prize, the upward calling of God in Jesus Christ?  What is the will of God? 

1.  A WASHINGTON, A STATE HOUSE THAT SEEKS THE COMMON GOOD: Commitment to the common good would pass laws, spread wealth around, seek justice, provide opportunity for ALL people.  

2.  CARE, SUPPORT, AND OPPORTUNITY FOR THE LEAST OF THESE: Medical support, educational grants, educational investment, job opportunities, healthy food to encourage growth in ability to contribute to society.

3.  GOVERNMENT THAT MOVES BEYOND GRIDLOCK AND IDEOLOGICAL RIGIDITY: Take the best from each political persuasion and blend actions which will serve ALL.  Listen to each other, learn from each other, and then let the well-being of ALL people be the moral guide for action.  Expect that elected officials seek the good of the ALL, see the big national picture as well as those of their constituents.

4.  ECONOMIC REFORM: Less supply side and more Keynesian economic practice.  Wealth does not trickle down.  Wealth builds out from the people.  Corporations exist for people first, not profit.  Find balance between people and profit.  Practice a balance between globalism and patriotism.  Create process for dealing with debt, yet to also invest heavily in the future.

5.  CUT THE FAT AND ELIMINATE OUTMODED MILITARY "TOYS" FROM THE DEFENSE BUDGET: We cannot be the "cops of the world" (to quote a Phil Ochs' song).  Expect other nations to shoulder their share for their own defense.  Free up more resources for human need and debt relief.

6.  CUT EXPENSES BUT PROVIDE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL: Discover creative ways to decrease medical costs while providing sufficient medical and mental health care for ALL.  Make deals with "big pharma", require providers to work as teams, pay for outcomes rather than number of tests.  Commit to addressing obesity epidemic through changing of diet and education.  Secure Medicare and Medicaid for the long-term.

7.  SECURE SOCIAL SECURITY: Social Security does not add one penny to our debt.  Do not cut.  Expect people to pay into SS at a higher level of salary.   

8.  ADOPT NEW GUN SAFETY LAWS:  Eliminate assault weapons, eliminate large ammo clips, require trigger locks, eliminate gun-show loopholes, require registration of all guns, provide mental health screenings and limitations.  More guns is not the answer to our national tragedy of death.  Work with the NRA and gun owners to design a safer national policy.

9.  IMMIGRATION REFORM:  Reintroduce the Dream Act.  Find ways for immigrants to earn citizenship, become educated, receive health care without having to live in fear, pay taxes, to remain in the USA and work for the betterment of our nation and their families.

10.  TAX REFORM: Require all people to pay their fair share.  There is a cost for living in a free society.  Increase tax rates for the upper wage earners.  Eliminate off-shore tax shelters, lower corporate taxes, limit deductions (not on charity support).  

11.  INVEST IN INFRASTRUCTURE: Spend more to repair our nations aging bridges, roads, schools.

12.  INVEST IN EDUCATION: Hire more teachers and upgrade our programs, buildings and technological requirements.  Internet for all! Discover ways for schools and districts to have adequate funding, not tied solely to property taxes.  Spread the wealth to all schools.  Invest more resources in lifting up the poor and least advantaged.  Learn from Finland and the Scandinavian countries.  Invest more in job training and retraining.

13.  STRONG COMMITMENT TO CLEAN-GREEN ENERGY: Investment in solar and wind energy, electric cars, greater building insulation, creative architectural designs that utilize natural lighting and rhythms, less reliance on fossil fuels, elimination of fracking.

14.  CREATION OF A NATIONAL SERVICE CORPS: Require high school or college graduates to serve the well-being of the nation, either through their regular employment or through work programs provided by the government.  Everyone should be expected to work for the national good.  For those having difficulty finding work, the NSC would provide work and training.  

15. REGULATE WALL STREET, BANKS, AND INVESTMENT FIRMS:  There are limits to the types of investments these groups can formulate.  Transparency of investments, limits to hedge funds, taxing of capital gains.

16.  ELECTORAL REFORM:  All people need to be able to vote.  It is a basic right in our democracy.  Provide enough voting machines, initiate on-line voting, provide adequate time for voting, encourage early voting, eliminate unnecessary voter ID requirements, provide a common voting rights strategy for all states.

17.  CELEBRATE AND EMPOWER DIVERSITY:  The United States is a mosaic of cultures and races.  Discover how we can find joy in this diversity and empower the gifts of all within this mosaic for the well-being of all.

18.  REPENT AND REFORM: We need to kneel and beg forgiveness from God and each other for our failures to act justly.  Then we need to change our ways, to act anew, enabled and empowered by God's Good Grace.  God will GUIDE and PROVIDE.

19.  PRACTICE MERCY: A modern, unnamed theologian defines mercy: "Entering the chaos of another." The character of a government, of a nation, is how well we practice this action.

As Christians, we are called to seek and do the will of God.  To this end we toast and work.  Lift the glass and sweat!  Press on towards the upward calling of Jesus Christ!

Happy New Year!

Blessings and Peace! 

  

SANDY HOOK AND THE COMMON GOOD

The common good was not served at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday.  The massacre of 20 first graders, six staff, and one mother, plus the suicide of the killer, bloodied any notion of the common good shining brightly in the morning.  

I wrote on my FACEBOOK that day (with slight modifications): 

America loves violence.  Violence is our candy. Military 

commercials during football games, violent video games,

violent movies, violent rap music, bloated defense budgets,

9,000 murders last year, 17,000 suicides (both by guns), 

more mass killings than any other nation outside of a war

zone, 40% of gun buyers do not go through a background

check, no mandatory trigger locks, automatic weapons for

sale, feel welcome to buy a 50 calibre rifle for a long distance

kill, shoot a deer with an AR-15 or AK-47, join the growing

militia movement and practice war games on the weekends

in preparation to overthrow the government, require teachers

to arm themselves as part of their job description.  Merry

Christmas!  Silent Night until the next massacre.  Remember

Herod's massacre of the innocents and confess that it is

commonplace in America.  We are the new Bethlehem. 

O come, O Come, Immanuel.  Save us.  Indeed, You have

come.  I pray we do our part to save Your world.  Peace!

Many people ask "Why?" The police and news media are searching for the answer as they try to gather information from a smashed hard drive or the drawers in the killer's desk.  What are the clues?  He had Asberger's Syndrome.  He had little sign of empathy for people.  He was shy, withdrawn, yet intelligent.  His mother liked guns and took him shooting so he could practice firing a Glock, a 9mm, and a Bushmaster Rifle.  Why?  So he could do in real life what he had practiced?  For bonding? Practice makes perfect.  

Why attack the most vulnerable?  Why kill first graders?  Why kill unarmed women?  Why kill yourself?  Man up!  Face the wrath of the legal system and moral disgust of a community, nation, and world!  But no.  He must have known that there is no justifiable answer that would pass the common good smell test.  

Fox News told its minions to not talk about guns over the weekend.  Zero gun trumpeters in congress came forth for the Sunday news-talk shows.  0-31.  True courage!  Have the facts of the fruits of bowing to the NRA god finally revealed its paucity?  Is there a glimmer of truth that unregulated guns violate the common good?  

I emailed our Senators, Franken and Klobuchar, and Representative Michelle Bachmann, and told them to support "common sense gun safety" (thank you Jonathon Alter for this new phrasing of the way forward).  I also contacted our pastor and requested a meeting to talk about what our congregation can do about guns.  He said yes.  

Listening to experts and studying the issue have led me to the following conclusions: 1) Jesus would not have packed a Glock, a 9mm, or a Bushmaster Rifle.  He would not have told his disciples to so arm themselves.  His intent about knives was for hunting and cooking, not for killing people; 2) The Second Amendment was written during a time when America was young and we had no real national army.  So, citizens, arm yourselves.  Yet, guns are part of our national culture and always will be; 3) It is rightly legitimate to place restrictions on guns for the sake of the common good.  All people have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." When guns interfere with this right, regulation is justifiable; 4) Availability of all types of weapons teases the desire for usage; 5) Many aspects of our culture teach the legitimacy of violence.  Violence is our candy; 6) Violence is not consistent with the will of God.  Violence is Anti-Christ!

What can we do?  Pray that we not use guns.  Pray for the victims and those who would have a propensity for killing.  Refuse to have guns in our homes.  Teach the nonviolence of Jesus.  Work for "common sense gun safety laws", such as: mandatory trigger locks, mandatory background checks for all gun purchases, mandatory locking up of guns in our homes, mandatory gun safety courses, elimination of expanded ammo clips, mandatory gun registration, banning sale of assault rifles, limiting purchase of guns, banning across state-line gun purchases.  Stir conversation in our congregations and communities.  Demand action from our elected officials.  Demand action from the NRA. At least.

Enough!  President Obama concluded his remarks at Newtown with this beautiful quote from scripture: "Let the children come to me.  Do not hinder them, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven [God]."  It is beyond time to make life safe and loving for all people.  We are all Children of God.  Now is the time to act!

Peace!  

IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GOOD - III

Out of the grace of God, we create the COMMON GOOD by DOING GOOD.  Certainly, our attempts are fraught with sin, twisted motives, and outcomes that are mixed at best.  Yet, they are faithful efforts, and as Christians we are bound to try, called to try.  Faith without works is dead.  Faith active in love.  Not as we ought but as we are able.

Part III of the SEARCH will explore Matthew 6.  Within are Jesus' words for creating the COMMON GOOD by DOING GOOD. 

MATTHEW 6

GIVE ALMS: We choose to give generously to the poor, not to be recognized or to earn an award, but because the poor have need of it for living.  We love concretely without gathering attention for ourselves.  Alms giving is not about us, but about the other in need.  Indeed, God's reward, God's blessing of the giver seems contingent upon the quietness, the secretiveness behind the giving.  Pride and publicity in giving darkens the giving.  Blessings arrive through the back door.  Giving begets giving.  The COMMON GOOD is GIVING.

PRAYER: We pray not to be seen, but to address God.  Prayer is an intimacy, a privacy, an intense focus on our relationship with God.  It is this intensity that engenders trust.  Out of trust comes God's action in response to our going to God.  Yet, prayer also stirs our response to God's beckonings.  Prayer excites action in both directions.

The Lord's Prayer is Jesus' ultimate prayer.  Other than Jesus' prayers from the cross, the Lord's Prayer is the only noted prayer in the Gospels.  The COMMON GOOD happens as we live out the petitions of the Lord's Prayer.  Significantly, the Lord's Prayer can be prayed individually AND corporatively. Its scope is broad, beyond "me and Jesus" to "all and Jesus."  The pronouns are plural, meaning we pray with the entire family of God.  We pray not just for ourselves and the faith community, but for the world. Intercession is part of its plea.  We yield to God's will and not to the doing of our own.  We ask for daily bread, not for poison; for that which gives life, not destruction.  We ask for forgiveness and humbly forgive others, refusing to hold grudges nor the facts of a blighted history halt reconciliation.  We ask deliverance from that which would deter us from doing God's will.  Doing the COMMON GOOD is DOING the Lord's Prayer in real time through words and deeds.

FASTING:  I am not a good "faster" in the traditional sense!  I love to eat!  Yet, I can say that I "fast" by denying my body too much junk!  I used to regularly eat Frito's and potato chips and  drink Mountain Dew and Pepsi by the quarts as a chaser, then top it off with a hamburger and fries. I stopped when I realized this regimen was negatively affecting my health.  Now, I eat salads regularly, enjoy soups, avoid gravies and fried foods, and drink ample glasses of water.  I do, however, indulge in a morning cappuccino or occasional Starbucks, Dunn Brothers, or Caribou mocha lattes!  Is this fasting?  I think it is showing a greater respect for God's gift of our bodies.  I had to learn to say "No" to certain in-takes and "Yes" to others.  I am not a purist nor a "vegan", but I am better.  We must take care of our bodies because they are not our own plaything.  God's body gift works best when we learn its rhythms and honor the proper fuels it needs to function as God would will.  Doing the COMMON GOOD means doing what is best for our bodies.

STUFF:  The NRSV uses the word "treasure." The admonition is to realize that people and things of this world may hinder our relationship with God and our ability to do the COMMON GOOD.  Asceticism is not the goal, but awareness of how our choices in gathering people and goods within our personal sphere affect our discipleship, and are therefore matters of concern to God.  Consumption may be the engine of our economic growth and satisfy personal longings, but it may also lead to an addiction of hoarding and obsession with possession, for our sakes alone.  "Stuff" may be a symptom of our narcissism, blocking our ability to care for the COMMON GOOD.  We become collectors and not protectors.  Compassion is sacrificed on the altar of consumption.  Christ calls us to weigh the cost of our possessions.  Do our possessions hinder our love for the other?  Do my "toys" shield me from generosity?  Doing the COMMON GOOD means shedding whatever stifles our doing justice.

THE SOUND EYE: What do we look at?  When we enter the Internet world, what sites do we visit?  When we go to a book store, what books do we lift to look?  As we walk through a mall, what stores do we enter?  When we watch television, what programs grab our attention?  How well could we do our jobs if our sight was impaired?  Most of what we learn happens through our eyes.  Our eyes are our life receptors.  Our eyes can nurture or poison our spirit.  We can choose what we look at.  Will we look at the hungry, the poor, the persecuted?  Will we look at the realities of life rather than be obsessed by entertainment visuals?  What is our visual balance?  Do we see the cross of Jesus in daily life?  Do we see the joys of life that beckon us to participate?  How we use our eyes reflects the COMMON GOOD.

TWO MASTERS: "You cannot serve God and wealth."  Serving the COMMON GOOD means putting wealth towards serving people's well-being.  Too often the focus is on profit before people.  People are the means for profit.  Profit means another home in the Hampton's, or southern France or Aspen, Colorado. It means a car elevator.  Focus on wealth creates them and us, I have and you don't. Focus on wealth creates power in the hands of the few, leading to oligarchy, plutocracy, and fascism, all which lead to despotism and oppression, poverty and injustice.  Wealth is created for everyone, to be shared, to provide enough for all, to lift-up equality and opportunity, to ensure quality health care, to educate, to nurture joyous living.  To serve God is to share the wealth.  Sharing the wealth is serving the COMMON GOOD.

WORRY NOT: If I am hungry, I will worry.  If I am about to lose my home, I will worry.  If my country is invaded, I will worry.  If I have cancer, I will worry.  We are human, we will worry.  The worry that Jesus is talking about is worry that crushes our faith, crushes our worship, crushes our efforts to make real the Kingdom of God, crushes our compassion, crushes our quest for justice and peace, crushes our engaging the challenges of today, crushes our hope, crushes our love.  It is Christ that gives us the grace to live each day to the fullest, in the midst of the shadows, among the cries of life, doing what we can because we know we are loved.  The act of pressing on gives witness to the COMMON GOOD, because we never give up, we are persistent, we have an audacity for life, today.  Out of the grace of God, we create the COMMON GOOD by our commitment to living fully for others, now.

Peace!

 

IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GOOD - II

What is the COMMON GOOD? Last week the focus was on Genesis 1-11.  This week the focus is on Jesus' SERMON ON THE MOUNT in Matthew 5.

It is right to focus on the COMMON GOOD as God-Jesus' foundational ethic because the Divine is about ALL.  Justice - peace - nonviolence are for ALL. As we are created for God-Jesus, so are we created to be brothers and sisters for each other, for ALL.  Faithfulness to God-Jesus means peace-justice-nonviolence towards ALL.  What does this mean concretely?  How can the quest for doing the COMMON GOOD become real? 

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount

1.  Jesus takes the INITIATIVE to speak to the people.  Do we take the initiative to speak a word of hope and love? 

2.  Jesus begins with a word of grace: BLESSED.  Some say HAPPY, but BLESSED has more depth. BLESSED is God's goodness, God's character given to us at the beginning.  Why at the beginning?  Because we can now start the journey of discipleship fresh, forgiven, and free!  BLESSED is God giving the initial push, providing the initeria for continual movement of PJNV (peace-justice-nonviolence).  A basic law of physics says that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  God-Jesus desires us to stay in motion for PJNV.

3.  We are BLESSED to provide for the COMMON GOOD.  We provide when we MOURN, are MEEK, HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, show MERCY, are PURE IN HEART, make for PEACE, accept PERSECUTION for God's sake.  To mourn is to show empathy.  To be meek is to be obedient to God's will and to listen to the other side.  To be passionate for righteousness is to seek to live rightly in our relationship with God and value relationship with each other.  To show mercy is to be kind and forgiving.  To be pure in heart is to love God, love each other, and love ourselves. To accept persecution is to give all for God and others in the pursuit of PJNV.

4.  Christ says: "You are the salt of the earth."  Salt gives flavor and provides taste to make eating more delightful.  Salt also preserves.  We are to preserve God's creation, all of life.  We are created to bring delight to life, not to destroy.  We cannot escape responsibility for life!  We are told: "We are...."  It is not a matter of us choosing to be responsible, WE ARE....  So, BE the LIGHT!

5.  Jesus says: "You are the light of the world."  God wills that we see the world, see each other.  To see is to understand, to acknowledge the value of the world, to bring PJNV.  "The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light."  The Light is Christ.  We are created to be the presence of Christ, to reflect Christ's Light.  We reflect Christ's Light as we be who we are created to be, as we use our talents for Christ's sake.  As a colleague once said: "Things left in the dark get worse."

6.  We are graced and called to FULFILL THE LAW.  God-Jesus give us guides, parameters for living, for discipleship.  The Ten Commandments are a piece of the Law.  We are to honor them, look to them, make them real in our daily living.  Yet Christ gives us the Greatest Commandment to guide us: love God, love each other, love ourselves.  

7.  We are given the gifts of FORGIVENESS and RECONCILIATION.  Christ came to mend our brokenness, and we are graced and called to be "menders" of personal and global relationships.  PJNV have their roots in forgiveness and reconciliation.  Indeed, there can be no PJNV apart from their reality.

8.  We are given the gift of HONORING MARRIAGE, respecting the commitments we make to our spouse, working to enhance the quality of the marriage relationship, being generous in forgiveness, honest in feelings, open in truthfulness, being willing to repent and change.

9.  We are given the reality of COSTLY PRICE.  There is a price to pay, a painful cost when relationships are broken.  Relationships are not to be taken lightly.  Share the suffering.  Risk sharing the price of brokenness.  When one suffers, all suffer.  Recognizing there is a costly price in relationships makes us more cognizant of commitment, and a willingness to try and work out differences.  Yet, when the flames of love are out and the reality of the end is clear, let us realize that we have injured each other and kneel for mercy from God and each other.  There is no room for pride and satisfaction, but a painful good-bye in hope of new life for each other.

10.  We are called to be TRUTHFUL and CLEAR.  Resolution to conflict necessitates clarity of motive, expression of grievance and of desired ends.  Put all on the table.  Be honest.

11.  Reject RETALIATION.  Retaliation brings only retaliation brings only retaliation brings only retaliation.  To paraphrase Gandhi: "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind."  Instead of retaliation, RESPOND with a call for conversation, a coming together to eat and drink, tell our stories, share our grievances.  A Native American colleague says: "Transformation comes through sharing our stories."  Take violence off the table.  Make the other person feel the guilt and bear the sorrow of violence. 

12.  We are graced and called to LOVE THE ENEMY.  The enemy is the one who believes differently than us and acts counter to our beliefs and values.  Spend time with the enemy, try to become friends.  As Lincoln said to his Secretary of War who wanted to punish the South: "Do we not destroy our enemies by becoming their friends?"

Making REAL the COMMON GOOD is living in the grace of God.  The grace of God empowers us, calls us, and opens us to DO the COMMON GOOD.  In Matthew 5, Jesus gets specific about how to make the common good come alive.

And there is more....

Peace!

Ron

IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GOOD

Much has been said and written about the COMMON GOOD.  I have been having a FACEBOOK conversation with friends about the COMMON GOOD.  What is the COMMON GOOD?  For me, the wide-ranging answer begins with the Holy Bible. Future blogs will focus on a Biblical revelation of the COMMON GOOD. I invite your comments to the conversation.

GENESIS 1-11

The COMMON GOOD is about God creating the world and being very pleased with the result. Chaos ruled before creation.  God created order to tame chaos.  Out of creative order evolved light, sun, moon, plants, water, animals, land, and human beings in the Image of God, male and female.

"And God saw that it was good."

The Biblical word for the place of creation, Eden, was SHALOM, meaning harmony and balance.  Eden and creation were not about war or competition, but living together, co-existing in a oneness of relationship.  Creation is described as being a GARDEN.  Gardens are places of sowing, growing, and harvesting.  Gardens are quiet places which teach patience and need tending.  People are to do the tending.  Hence, within this Eden, human beings were to have "dominion" over everything.  To have dominion is to be "care-givers," not exploiters for our pleasure or progress.    

Human beings were to live in relationship.  We were created for each other so each person would not be alone.  The Image of God is characterized by people living for the other in a relationship of naked trust, meaning no secrets, but transparency.

But we are not to simply do what we want to satisfy our curiosity or feed our appetites.  We are accountable to God.  We are to listen to God and obey God's Word to us.  We have a will, but it is a will bound to obedience which we all too frequently violate.  We tempt each other to violate God's will for us.

The story of Cain and Abel teaches us that we murder or snuff-out life because of jealousy or for what seems reasonable and right at the moment.  We learn that "Yes, we are our brothers and sisters keepers."  We learn that families are indeed imperfect, even families growing up within God's Voice.

Noah teaches us to obey God's Word if we want to survive.  Noah didn't take life, but protected life to insure its longevity. God is pro-life!  Animals are precious gifts.  God wants us to insure the natural world against extinction.  Again, we are the caretakers.  We are accountable to God, to the preservation of life.  Noah also teaches the universality of God's world.  Noah's off-spring populated the world.  We are all related!  All brothers and sisters!  No one is a stranger.

The Tower of Babel teaches us that God's Truth is global in purpose and understanding.  The Tower  teaches us that building towers in commemoration of our egos are gravestones.  The Tower teaches that pride divides and scatters, and is anathema to community.

So what is the COMMON GOOD according to Genesis 1-11? Harmony and balance, living together, caring for creation, valuing relationship, trust and transparency, recognizing that yes we are each others' brothers and sisters keepers, killing is counter to God's will, all the diverse cultures make-up our global family, each equal, welcome all people, celebrate all languages, learn from each other, live for the life of the other.  The COMMON GOOD is trusting that God's grace leads us into the future and we are called to obedience.

The validity of the COMMON GOOD as revealed in the first eleven chapters of Genesis is not lessened by the critical argument that these chapters are only literary creations, borrowed from other traditions.  They reveal THEOLOGICAL TRUTHS validated by God's grace and received in faith. 

Similarly, the COMMON GOOD is given by God's grace which we receive through faith.  Grace and faith define the character and reality of the COMMON GOOD.

Peace!

Ron

A Fork in the Road

Our nation is at a fork in the road.  This election cycle will dictate a significant philosophical direction for years to come.  Given the blurring of issues and numerous nuances and shadings offered up by each party and candidates, if we look at the balance we can notice the differences.

THE LEFT FORK:  Committed to maintaining the social safety nets of Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, keeping the Affordable Care Act and a lengthier unemployment support.  Support stem cell research.  Increase taxes on the upper 1-2% and lower taxes for the rest of us, including lessening of corporate rate.  Tax capital gains and eliminate off-shore tax shelters.  Address deficit through a balanced tax and cut method.  Cut defense so to address present day military needs, focusing on Special Forces and smaller strike units. Commitment to energy independence through development of alternative forms of energy such as solar and wind, while also developing new oil sources and "clean coal".  Support for truth of Global Warming.  Support for Planned Parenthood and women's choice on abortion are strong, as well as promotion and enforcement of the Lilly Ledbetter - equal pay for equal work act.  Tweak Social Security by increasing the income eligibility ceiling and perhaps increasing the eligibility age.  Do not privatize Social Security. Spend more on infrastructure development and education.  Internationally, work with other nations through the United Nations and Eurozone.  Get out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 yet continue to train Afghan forces.  Maintain strong relationship with Israel yet push for a two state solution.  Prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.  Continue global trade.  Push through Dodd-Frank Reforms.  Support for gay marriage.  Repeal Citizens United disaster!  Everyone should get a fair shot at success.  Build the middle class.  More concern for the common good and sharing the wealth.  Support for education and expanding Pell Grants.  Opposed to voter ID/suppression methods.  Believes in Keynesnian economics which more trickle up, middle out economics.  Supportive of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

THE RIGHT FORK:  Tax cuts for everyone!  Increase military spending.  Lower corporate tax rate.  Eliminate some deductions (everyone gets a bucket to fill with their choice deductions).  Begin cutting back on Medicaid and food stamps by turning them over to the states through block grants.  No change in Medicare for those 55 and over.  Begin turning Medicare into a voucher program, giving recipients a choice of coverage.  Energy policy is "drill, baby, drill!" Continue developing coal with no conversation about "clean coal."  No support for Global Warming idea.  Lessen regulations for business and Wall Street.  Eliminate coverage for Planned Parenthood and NPR.  Oppose stem cell research. Repeal the Affordable Care Act.  No support for abortion.  Will move to overturn Roe v. Wade.   No marriage for gays.  Support Citizens United.  Anti-Lilly Ledbetter Act and will move to repeal.  Let the markets decide the welfare of the nation.  Maintain off-shore tax shelters. People left more on their own.  Strong Libertarian leanings. Supportive of voter ID/suppression methods.  Don't touch the upper 1%.  Believe in trickle down, supply side economics - Friedmann and University of Chicago economics.

Certainly, there are Christians on both sides.  Yet, I ask some good Lutheran questions in making a decision about which fork to travel: Which is best for everyone?  What will serve the common good? Which serves the poor and oppressed with the most compassion?  Which says we are our brothers and sisters keepers?  Whose interest is this supporting?  Who will benefit if this proposal is implemented?  Which will allow humans and the earth to flourish?  Which shows concern for the earth?  Which would please God?  Which reflects the Spirit of Christ?

I'm turning left!

Peace!

Ron

Tyranny of the Right

Democracy in the United States is in peril.  The peril comes from the Right Wing Republican Party. For a party that espouses less government, less intrusive government, less expensive government so that people can have more freedom, all as the panacea for the ills within our nation, their actions actually create more intrusion, more poverty, and more division between the rich and most vulnerable, and less freedom.  Tyranny on the Right means fewer people have more power to take more for themselves at the expense of the other 98%.  Concern for the common good is not even on the table.

Let me count the ways. 

1.  It is the Republicans who have unanimously pushed unfair Voter ID laws which will disenfranchise millions of voters who have honestly voted in the past.  ALL the Voter ID laws have been created by Republican leadership without Democrat in-put.  A multitude of studies have consistently proven that voter impersonation, voter fraud is a canard, a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, where the purpose is to suppress Democrat votes.  Remember the Pennsylvania legislator who was caught on camera boasting that because of their new Voter ID Law, Romney would now win Pennsylvania. Now that's what I call real democracy!  Tyranny of the Right.

2.  The Republican tax plan calls for less taxes for the top 2% and increased taxes for the rest of us.  This is the Ryan budget which Romney says is the plan he believes is right for America.  Why?  So the "job creators" can create more jobs!  Well, tell me, how are those Bush tax cits working for you?  Aren't the "job creators" doing a great job for you by creating jobs overseas?  And how about middle class wages shrinking or staying level while the wages of the top 2% soaring to the moon?  How is that working for you?  How about the RWR wanting to eliminate even more regulations on banks and Wall Street?  How has that worked for us since the elimination of Glas-Steagall in 1999?  Forget about any conversation about opposition to "banks too big to fail."   How do you like American democracy becoming an oligarchy and plutocracy?  Who has the political power?  Tyranny of the Right.

3.  The Citizens United decision ceded the power of the government to the highest bidder.  The wealthy are the connected.  Power now belongs to the corporate boardroom, the big banks, the wealthy lobbyists.  Money controls the media and the message so the wealthy and powerful can shape a protective and deceptive message of "liberty and justice for all" while they pull the levers of greed and relegate the 98% to being pawns or puppets.  Tyranny of the Right.

4.  Romney chose as his running mate the person who: voted against equal pay for equal work, wants to slash food stamps, eliminate access to abortion care, speaks against birth control, wants to defund Planned Parenthood, cut Medicaid spending by $700 billion over ten years, increase defense spending, turn the highly successful Medicare program into a voucher system which will mean less quality health care, is against OSHA, spoke against the "Bring Jobs Home Act", is anti-union, wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act which will cover tens of millions more people, wants to ban in-vitro fertilization, wants to privatize Social Security (2008) and sponsored Privatization of SS Bill in 1995, wants to cut or make deep cuts in Pell grants so fewer students can get low interest loans from the government and must instead go to private institutions and banks who will charge a higher interest rate.  Tyranny of the Right.

5. The Right Wing Republicans kowtow to big oil, big gas, big coal, all which increase our carbon footprint and stimulate global warming, for the sake of profit, yet putting the majority of Americans and people of the world at greater risk.  Tyranny of the Right.

6.  The Right Wing Republicans have taken pride in being the party of "No", preventing progressive ideas that would be more friendly to the middle and lower classes from becoming law.  Their purpose over the past four years has been to oppose Obama and put the nation at risk.  How's that for patriotism for a party that likes to wave the flag while in reality they spit on it behind your back.  They are not patriots, but tyrants, dressed in red, white, and blue.  Tyranny on the Right.

7.  The rights for women are seriously imperiled.  They want to overturn Roe v. Wade, cut funding for Planned Parenthood, cut funding for birth control, less health care for women and children.  Tyranny of the Right. 

8.  The Right Wing Republicans love of Jesus is belied by it disregard for the most vulnerable and neglect of the common good.  Even the Roman Catholic leadership derides Ryan's budget as being contrary to the ethic of Christ.  Meanwhile, John Hagee the Bigot of Texas, praises Republican principles.

9.  "Progressives are a cancer."  Paul Ryan.  Aren't there two parties in the United States?  Do you mean to say that progressives do not count for any good?  Only Republican ideology is valid?  Only one party?  Tyranny of the Right.

There is no talk of justice in the Right Wing Republican vocabulary.  I never hear the word in their speeches.  Only empty promises that are geared to protect the powerful and deceive the people.  Democracy in America is in peril.  Resist this tyranny!  Speak and act for justice!  Time is short.  

Peace with Justice!

Ron