A Prayer for Wisdom During the U.S. Presidential Election

While I have refrained from posting political essays recently, readers of my blog will know my political views and hopes for the common good. In the closing days of a troublingly divisive political campaign on all sides, I have been tempted to post one more essay, as if I could write a clarion call to sanity for the days ahead. Instead of writing that essay, I found a beautiful prayer to share from Alden Solovy. Alden Solvoy is a liturgist, poet, and teacher in the Reform Jewish tradition.

For Wisdom During U.S. Presidential Elections

God of Justice,

Protector and Redeemer,

Grant guidance to our nation

As we select leaders,

Senators, Congresspersons and a President,

The men and women who promise

To uphold the Constitution,

To uphold our values,

To serve and to govern,

To bring prosperity to our land,

To protect our homes and secure our future.

Grant wisdom and courage to voters

To select a visionary President

And steadfast leaders,

People who will serve our citizens,

And all who reside within our borders,

With honor and integrity

To forge a flourishing and peaceful future.

Bless our future President with

Wisdom and strength,

Fortitude and insight,

Balanced by a deep humanity

And a love of peace,

Leading us to a time

When liberty and equality will

Reign supreme throughout the land.

God of Truth,

Source and Shelter,

Grant safety and security to all nations,

So that truth and harmony will resound

From the four corners of the earth.

Let the light of our U.S. democracy

Shine brightly,

A beacon of hope

For every land and every people.

© 2016 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved. This prayer is based on “For Wisdom during Democratic Elections.”

(From A Prayer for Wisdom During the U.S. Presidential Election | ReformJudaism.org)

[Solvoy is the author of Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. His work also appears in several CCAR Press books, including a forthcoming anthology of his work, This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day (Summer 2017).]



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Hoping for a Country that Works for Everyone

I have friends who really don’t want to have to vote for Hillary for president. They want to vote for Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders. “Hillary is too centrist,” they say, “She’s just as beholden to corporate America as the Republicans.” With Bernie in the race, they may get their chance to cast that hopeful vote.

I understand where my friends are coming from. We see the middle class being washed away and workers’ rights have been so eroded that we are all in danger of living only to serve the corporation. My take on the political primaries is a bit different, however. When the hype of political campaigns is over, the real test is the effectiveness of elected officials in implementing policies that can make life better for the people. I happen to like both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders – a lot. I just think both of them can serve the country better in the senate. That is where they have a better chance of influencing real policy change. 

There is a valid argument, though, for bringing Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders into the Democratic primary. Either one of them can insure that the voices of the people will be heard. Both of them have a proven ability to bring out the real issues of ordinary people being crushed by corporate America. They have the ability to bring hope for the common good into the national debate. Now that Bernie Sanders has declared his candidacy, we are sure to have some more excitement in the primary process, and it is more likely that the issues of ordinary people will be raised.

How Can We Make Things Better?

Whether the talk is about politics, religion, or social change, we often see heated discussions over how we can make things work better. Many are quick to point out the barriers that stand in the way, and who is to blame for what is lacking in our society. As with any presidential campaign, we are hearing various claims about which political candidate can best lead the country to greater things. The latest Rasmussen Poll reveals that 67% of the voters think the country is headed in the wrong direction, so clearly, the public wants something better than what we are now seeing. 

When I have discussions with some of my friends about the political scene and what this country needs, I often find that while we have disagreements we generally want the same thing. What we really want is a country that works for everyone. The real question is how to get there. The big issues that come up in the national discussion are often centered on jobs, healthcare, wages, and equal opportunity. From there, the discussion often goes to the question of whether these issues are seen as individual rights. For example, the question of healthcare is often framed in terms of whether it is a right or a privilege. This is the wrong question, and is often laden with hot-button issues. The real question is what is good for society?

Three Things are Needed

I have a short-hand guide that I use to think about what a healthy community needs. There are three basic things that make a society function well. Of course, there are many things that must happen to create a healthy society, but here are three essential things that must happen, things that we are not doing particularly well across the board in our society:

• Access to healthcare
• Access to education
• Access to transportation

Mayo Clinic image

By "access" I mean that one needs to be able to connect with the services that many of us take for granted. Healthcare is one example. Some people have limited access to healthcare because they live in a rural area where services are simply not available. Others may lack access due to economic limitations. We have seen with the Affordable Care Act how many more now have access to the healthcare system due to expanding insurance coverage. Even so, there are still many who continue to have limited access to healthcare. I would rather have seen a single-payer plan put in place, but that's another topic in itself.

Shutterstock photo

Education, a key factor for one’s well-being, should be available and accessible as well. Years ago, even when I was a teenager, I heard that there were those who questioned why taxes should come out of their pocket to support schools when they had no children in public schools. Of course, the short answer is that if we have an educated public, then everyone benefits. If some segments of society are deprived of an education, then we all suffer as a result of that lost potential. Most will agree that education is key to success in life, yet many do not want to invest what is needed to see quality schools for all come to fruition. Look at how many of us move our families to the best school districts, or pay for private school while those who have no other option are left to fend for themselves in failing school systems. The poorest neighborhoods are then lacking in both hope and opportunity due to the lack of funding and support for their schools.

AL.Com photo

Transportation is certainly important for success. It is often taken for granted by the affluent and underfunded by local governments. I will never forget a conversation I had with a young man when I was working in social services. He lived in “the bad part of town,” which was where he could afford to live, and had gotten a job as a dishwasher at a nice restaurant in one of the “good parts of town” that was several miles down the road and a good thirty minute drive in traffic. He was in a jam because the clunker of a car that he used to get himself to work was broken down and he had no way of getting to work. The bus system in town had gone through a series of curtailments because the community had consistently voted down tax measure to support mass transit. First the hours of service were cut, and then the number of routes was cut. The young man I met that day had the good fortune of finding a job, but the misfortune of having work hours that were not served by the limited availability of public transportation. Ironically, the young man’s employer suffered as well when transportation was not readily available for his employee.

If the basic provisions for healthcare, education and transportation are in place for the population, then we can have a workforce healthy enough to contribute to society, educated enough to the job, able to get to work in the first place. At that point, we can realize that the question of whether these things are individual rights or privileges is indeed the wrong question. It becomes obvious that optimal health for all citizens benefits the whole of society. Education for even the poorest communities and adequate mass transit will benefit us all as well. If everyone in every strata of society has access to these three things, we all benefit. Look at any disenfranchised segment of our society, and you will see that one or more of these three elements has been hindered.

Common Good vs. Corporate Greed

We are divided in the United States on how to achieve these big three benefits for society. On the one hand, there are those who say that the only way to achieve the common good is for all to work together in community. On the other hand, there are people who say, “I worked hard for my college degree, my BMW and my Blue Cross coverage. If others want it they should work hard too.” 

In this country we are so afraid that some “undeserving” person may get some relief that we turn our backs on the widespread suffering and poverty that exists right here among us. That is the reason I am re-framing the question from "is it a right or a privilege" to "is it good for society?" For those who cannot stomach supporting those at the fringes of society, maybe they can get on board with a plan that will make a country that works for all of us.

There are some people who are fighting against injustice, and there are indeed others who realize that everyone benefits by living in a society that works to the benefit of all. Too many, however, have been willing to partition themselves off from the needy and the working poor in an effort to not have to deal with the problem.

The trouble in Washington D.C. is that corporations are spending millions on politicians in order to keep their own interests secure with little regard for the common good. Whoever the candidates are in the presidential primaries, both Democratic and Republican, let us hope that the national debate does not lose sight of the common good, and that we continue to raise the questions of how to best serve the whole of society so that everyone benefits. In the final analysis, it is not so much what the politicians are able to do as it is what we the people are willing to do.

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To hear some suggestions from Robert Reich about some things we can start doing now, go here.


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My Best Wishes to the Republican Party

I did a blog post a while back, How the Republicans Could Win by Losing. The point of that essay was that the Republican Party has changed over the past 30 years by increasingly catering to the radical right wing and that a loss in the presidential election might cause the party to steer back to what it used to stand for.  The next couple of years may reveal whether the Republicans will do some soul searching or simply redouble their strident and provincial efforts.

We have seen the Republican Party veer from its staid roots of business and enterprise to embrace the religious right and oust some of its most solid members. Long time Republican senator Richard Lugar of Indiana was rejected during this election cycle by his party in favor of a Tea Party radical as was Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania back in 2010.  In Indiana’s case, that senate seat will now go to a Democrat.  The radical right-wing element of the Republican party has made it clear to long-respected  moderate Republicans that they are no longer welcome.

It is Time for a Divorce

The union between Christian evangelicals and the Republican Party has not been good for either.  I grew up a Southern Baptist and have friendships with evangelical Christians that have continued to this day.  I chose to leave the Baptists but continue to claim my Christian heritage.

Increased levels of Hate and Fear

The marked change that I have noticed among evangelicals that is most distressing to me is the level of hate and fear that I see coming from them. There was a time when conservative Christians tried to be a light to the world wherever they happened to be.  When the Republicans co-opted the “Religious Right” and snagged them into the political system, many of those Christians, so it seems, became so identified with the political party that they lost the heart of their own faith-identity. Instead of seeking to preach the love of Christ, the Religious Right began to see political opponents as enemies. Never mind what Jesus said about loving one’s enemies, the Religious Right began to see their true mission to be a political cause that would seek to vilify and remove anyone with different view.  I have been appalled by the levels of fear and hate projected throughout the social media on the part of my religious friends, many of whom I have known since their younger days when they had better judgment.  

Unsavory Appeals to Matters of Faith

If right-wing politics has distorted the faith of conservative Christians, religion has been just as bad for the Republican Party. I can remember when Democrat Jimmy Carter was running for president and spoke freely of his Baptist faith as a born-again Christian. Gerald Ford was his Republican opponent and his Episcopal tradition did not quite know how to respond to such born-again talk. Since those days, the Republicans have capitalized on the sentiments of born-again Christians. They have expanded on Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy to bring the Southern white voters into their fold, and the evangelicals were just one element of that strategy.  By convincing Southerners that their party was the place where traditional values were honored, white evangelical Christians came in by the thousands, first as “Reagan Democrats,” then as registered Republicans as the Southern states shifted from Democrat to Republican. 

Today, politicians freely appeal to the religious values of voters with buzz words like “right to life,” and “family values” while instilling fear that Democrats would take away our religious freedom if given the chance to serve in public office.  The result has been that many conservative Christians have bought a political package with an agenda of selfish exclusion and myopic hate. It is time for Christians to look to the rock from which they were hewn and it is time for Republicans to return to the examples of their more staid and responsible leaders of the past.

Regroup and Retool

My point is that I have seen better examples of faith and better examples of political action than has been exhibited by the Religious Right and the Republican Party over the past few years. The presidential election this year has demonstrated that a significant number of Americans are rejecting the fear, hate, and exclusion demonstrated by the new Republican Party. I hope that this means that we as a country have made a turn. I hope that we can continue to put racism, enmity and division behind us and begin to work together to build a country that works better for the common good.

Unfortunately, the election result also shows us that a significant number of Americans are fine with racism, enmity, division, and provincialism. There are still a lot of people who will vote to cede power to wealthy corporations and think that they are securing their own liberty. There was not a “landslide” political win.  My hope is that we will begin to see a more reasonable Republican Party that does not kowtow to the radical right. I would love to see responsible Republican opponents who respect science and education.  We need a healthy two-party system, not one of gridlock and bitterness.

Whether the Republican Party will rethink its options or redouble its narrow efforts is yet to be seen.  Nevertheless, my hope is that in our current struggle we can rise to our better angels (to borrow a phrase from another Republican: Abraham Lincoln). My best wishes go to the Republican Party. I hope that they can return to the political arena with a healthier message and a true concern for the country that is not clouded by fear and hate.     

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How the Republicans Could Win by Losing

(Full disclosure statement: this is the essay that my wife did not want me to write. She said, “Don’t tell anybody! Keep this one under your hat!”)

First of all, does anyone think that the Republicans are serious about winning the presidential race this year? The only serious candidate I see is Jon Huntsman, a man who seems to understand government and diplomacy, and he also seems to respect what science and education have to offer. He also cannot seem to get himself heard above the din and cacophony within the Republican Party.  All other players have nothing that appeals to voters for more than a week or two of sound bites on the campaign trail.

This is why I don’t think the Republicans want the White House this time around. Why should they? They have gotten just about everything they wanted under the Obama administration while being able to blame all the ills of the country on the Democrats.  If they play things right, however, they could stand to win big later by losing this year.

If the Republicans continue with their current field of candidates and the disarray within the Party, they will likely lose the 2012 presidential election. They may even lose some seats in congress. However, a loss could play to their advantage for the next election cycle. If Obama is reelected, then the Democrats will not be able to run an incumbent. They will have to find a new presidential candidate, of course. This will create a more level playing field for Republicans and Democrats. But there is an even better possible turns of events. The Tea Partiers may fall out of favor with the Republican Party leaders.

The Tea Party Line

As a Southerner, I can plot out a line from the provincial southern attitude to the Tea Party movement. The Tea Party has Dixiecrat written all over it (I know, it also has the Koch brothers' money all over it, but stay with me on this one). It all began in 1948 when the Southern Democrats decided to launch an alternative presidential ticket. There was only one viable party in the South back then – the Democratic Party. They formed a third party, the Dixiecrats, set on preserving the Southern racially segregated way of life. The official name was The States Rights Democratic Party and they wanted less federal government regulation (sound familiar?). Strom Thurmond from South Carolina was the presidential nominee, with Mississippi governor Fielding Wright as his running mate. Like all third party endeavors before and since, the Dixiecrats failed to win the election, and subsequently went into remission for a season, scattering back into the woodwork of the Democratic Party.

In 1964, the Dixiecrats' ire was raised again with the Civil Rights Act. President Lyndon B, Johnson, a Texan, stated upon signing the civil rights legislation, “We have lost the South for a generation.” He knew the legislation was the right thing to do, but he also understood the political fallout – he probably even underestimated the inherent racism in the South. Nevertheless, the Democratic Party began to lose ground. Richard Nixon quickly used this to his advantage with his “Southern Strategy” which would play upon the dissatisfaction of the segregationist South without overtly stating race as an issue. The South was still firmly Democratic in Party orientation, but held on to the hope of being different from those liberal Democrats in the north and on the east coast. 

Ronald Reagan was the next Republican to welcome disgruntled Democrats. With his election, many in the South and elsewhere proudly proclaimed, “I'm a Reagan Democrat.” And thus the sands beneath the Democratic Party in the South began to shift. Now it was not just okay, it was politically viable to be a Republican in the South. South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond (that Dixiecrat candidate) was one of the first to move from the Democratic to the Republican Party. The dominoes continued to fall. Some would get elected as a Democrat, then change party affiliation while in office, as did Alabama Senator Richard Shelby.

Today, the Republican Party is strong in the south, almost a one party system again, just like in the old days.  That one party continues with the flavor and essence of the Dixiecrats. The difference is that the Dixiecrats are all Republicans now. With the election of Barak Obama, that old Dixiecrat dissatisfaction came to the forefront again and was seen in the Tea Party movement. Just as the Republicans embraced the southern Democrats into their party to increase their power base, they have kow towed to the shouts and demands of the Tea Party extremists.  Even Mitt Romney, who as Massachusetts governor seemed sensible, recently said on the campaign trail “I am the logical Tea Party candidate.”

Back in 1948, the country was wise enough not to go with the Dixiecrats (and admittedly, many Dixiecrats wanted to make a statement rather than win an election).  Today, we have an even more diverse and pluralistic population in the country. I don’t think the country as a whole will be comfortable with the Tea Party in control. With virtually every Republican presidential candidate claiming Tea Party affinity the whole of the Republican Party seems captivated by the Dixiecrat/Tea Party reaction to a just, modern and informed society (with the exception of Jon Huntsman who accepts scientific findings and refrains from knee-jerk reactions to the theory of evolution and global warming).

The End of the Line?

By fielding a gaggle of none-too-viable candidates, and by staking such hopes in Tea Party voters, a stunning loss might wake up the Republican Party. It could bring the whole Tea Party reaction to a head, ready to be cast out with yesterday’s newspaper. It is not that the Tea Party's voice should not be heard, but it should not be the controlling dominant voice to the exclusion of all others (and to the exclusion of all reason).

The Republicans could actually become Republicans again.  Even though I will vote Democratic for the foreseeable future, I would love to see a true Republican stand for office.  Where are the likes of Everett Dirksen, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt, Jacob Javits, Gerald Ford, and Nelson Rockefeller? These were sensible people, they were pro-business to be sure, but they knew they had to make accommodations to other views. Even Richard Nixon knew that with Republicans in charge, the water still had to be clean, pollution still had to be reduced, worker’s rights still had to be recognized, and taxes still had to be paid.  They were who they were. They did not claim to be speaking for the people while destroying unions and shipping jobs overseas. They had not heard of the absurd notion that corporations are people. They wanted a strong country and were willing to have some give-and-take for the good of the country.

So all of this is to say to the Republicans, if you lose, don’t be faint of heart, you may well see a great win ahead that could even benefit the country (if you quit your low down ways). And it is to say to the Democrats, if you win, don’t spend too much time gloating or resting on your laurels, you may yet see some real Republicans come to the forefront. 

                                                                                                                               ~ Charles Kinnaird

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