We Have a Republic, Ya'll

U.S. Capitol Building at sunrise (Shutterstock photo)

In the political world, it looks like we're stuck with each other. If you grew up with siblings like I did, there were probably those times when your mama said, "Yall are just going to have to work it out – don’t keep running to me!"

The day after Election Day, even as votes were still being counted, it was clear that there was no “red wave,” just as there was no “blue wave” in 2020. No party is going to sweep the board and make things right, nor will they burn the place down. At least for now, we see that public sentiment is not to have things go to either extreme. I was surprised to hear one of my work colleagues say, "I just voted for every Libertarian I saw on the ballot – I'm fed up with all those folks!"

The voters appear to be saying, "Ya'll are just gonna to have to work things out and get some things done for the country."

Most of the extreme Trumper candidates lost on election night, which gives me hope that Trump might start to fade away without the political turmoil of an indictment or a second Jan 6. Democrats will likely lose the house, but not by much. There was no clean sweep on anyone's part.

As distasteful as it may seem, we’re just gonna have to work together, ya'll. The bigger picture may be that we are living in a pivotal time and trying to make life work using outmoded systems, but for now, we can only do the best we can.

Rest well, Democrats, you held the course on an even keel. Be glad, Republicans, you live in a democracy where every voice counts. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, we have a republic – if we can keep it.

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Our Nation Divided

 Coming to terms with America’s original sin of genocide and slavery

Why is our nation so divided, split in half, as it were? Some cannot understand why almost half the country cannot see the evils of racism and bigotry. Others cannot understand why some people don’t have the common sense to keep things the way they are. Why don’t those people want to live up to our ideals? Why are these people tearing at the fabric of our society? 

The problem may be intrinsic to our system. Our founding fathers were white men of European descent who said, “Let’s build a great country based upon the noble ideals of justice, liberty, freedom, and democracy. All we need to do is to displace the native population and use the labors of enslaved black people of African descent to build our shining city set upon a hill. And God be with us.” 

They didn’t hear the cries of “God help us,” from the brown people being driven from their native lands. They didn’t listen to the pleas of “Have mercy” on the lips of the black people under the whip of progress. Today, we are living in a time of increased political polarization. We are faced with our own cries of God help us and Lord, have mercy.

Did the nation’s conflicted beginnings bring us to our current dilemma? We need not forsake our truly noble ideals, but we must acknowledge the evil fires that forged our nation. While privileged school children have been taught about "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and about how "we the people" came together "to form a more perfect union," black, brown, and Native American children have been systematically excluded from that grand vision.     

Is it any wonder that we find ourselves facing such conflict? We have promoted democratic ideals and humanitarian values while standing upon a legacy of genocide and slavery. Given such a tangled history, pat answers and motivational speeches will probably not get us through. Facing the questions, along with some difficult work, may help us to move forward. 

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Image: "Washington as Statesman at the Constitutional Convention" at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Artist: Junius Brutus Sterns
Medium: Oil on canvas

Date: 1856

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The Virus

We have a national viral emergency, and I'm not talking about the coronavirus, though that, too, is a national problem. I'm talking about a more insidious virus.

Have you ever downloaded a virus that affected your whole computer operating system? When we elected Donald J. Trump, our nation downloaded a virus. Not only do people feel free to openly hate those who are different, but we are also seeing a dismantling of systems designed to preserve the environment and support public health. Hatred and disregard are extended even to our environment and our communities.

Moreover, just as a Trojan virus might do, Mr. Trump has consistently cast doubt upon every major governmental institution and has done his best to dismantle the government's effectiveness by appointing inexperienced cronies and donors to head those government institutions.

How can we free ourselves from this virus that affects our nation's operating system? We'll have a chance at the polls next week.

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Monday Music: Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen)

And then there's Leonard Cohen. During this political season, pundits abound. Political pundits overall have a very weak track record for telling us how things will play out, but no one is better than Leonard Cohen for telling us how it is.

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Notes from the End of an Age

Photo by Charles Kinnaird

                       

As long as the sun and the moon are above,

As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,

 As long as rosy infants are born

No one believes it is happening now.

   ~ Czeslaw Milosz

   (From “A Song on the End of the World”)

This is how the world ends – not without struggle, yet so slowly and subtly that one can spend a lifetime in denial. Mislosz, in his poem, “A Song on the End of the World” depicts scenes “on the day the world ends” of everyday life that include a bee circling a clover, sparrows playing by a rain spout, and people going about their daily lives. He wrote as one who had indeed experienced world’s end, having witnessed life under two totalitarian regimes in Poland (first Nazi Germany then the Communist bloc). He gave us a clue about how world systems end.

Signs and Symptoms

We have seen and heard clues in the stories we tell. For example, those who give credence to the existence of ghosts often explain that ghosts are people who have suffered tragic deaths and linger in this world because they cannot accept the fact that they have died. This concept was skillfully presented in the 1999 film, Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis where we see a story of reluctant transition.

Could it be that the reason for our fascination with such tales is that those stories are signals from our own unconscious that the world as we know it has already passed? Our history books tell of civilizations that have come and gone, but how many who lived in those past civilizations realized that they were at the end of one age or at the beginning of another? Did the Fall of Rome make much difference to the fisherman and the farmer, or the weaver and the candlestick maker?

In our own day, the U.S.A. seems to be in the midst of transition. Half of the country wants to “protect our way of life” (as they see it) while the other half is frantically concerned with “preserving democracy” (or their understanding of it). Each side, while at odds with the other, looks back with reverence to stories of our founding fathers.

What we are seeing, however, is a society whose institutions are failing. Our educational institutions are increasingly ineffectual, our religious structures seem hollow even as they attempt to be relevant, and our government is paralyzed. We have a congress that for many years has been unable to legislate. The best they have been able to do is to go along with the executive orders of whoever happens to be president, to reluctantly pass 11^th hour budgets, and to frantically seek reelection. The truth is, so much of what we know is in the process of dying.  

Many of our major institutions – government, banking, schools, and churches – were born during the Industrial Revolution. We are living with 19th-century institutions and have not yet figured out how to organize ourselves in the post-industrial 21st century.

It is unthinkable for most of us to ask at what point the broken becomes past mending. Are we now living day to day, unable to see that the world we thought we lived in has ended? What would we do if we realized that the system has failed? What if the government which all parties left and right seek to rectify is beyond rescue?

Life at the End of an Age

Living at the end of an age might simply mean that we are caught between the times. Old societal structures are giving way to new structures more suitable for where society is moving. But where is society moving? It is difficult to tell when you are living between the times as we are today.

Looking at the sweep of history, one can get a sense of what structures were needed for different stages of our social development. What served the hunter-gatherer tribes was not sufficient for the agrarian city-states as urban life became possible. The Roman Empire was one of many organizational structures that arose as civilization continued to advance toward a global as well as urban orientation.

Just as those living at the end of the hunter-gatherer period or at the end of the Roman Empire could not see that they were at the end of an age and heading toward another, neither can we fully grasp where we are or where we are going.

Finding Our Way

This is how the world could end – with struggles over outmoded systems. One person honors the old while another celebrates the new – neither knows the outcome. Neither understands that the world has ended. Both are unable to see the dying embers. How then do we find our way?

When things fall apart, perhaps we can learn from those who have made a life in the margins. Minorities, refugees, and other displaced people often must learn to find connections within a society whose structures do not necessarily work for them.

Or perhaps we could think of what we do at the funeral wake or when sitting shiva. We tell stories of life; we pay our respects; we connect with friends; we learn the art of letting go; we heed the admonition to prove all things and hold fast that which is good.  For those who find themselves between the times, death throes and birth pangs are comingled. It is in our own small daily encounters that we carry our lives from one world to the next.  

                                                                                                                                     ~ Charles Kinnaird

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Being There

I saw Being There, starring Peter Sellers, when it was first released in 1979. I only saw it once, but it was the kind of film that makes a lasting impression.  I recall that at the time it was quite an intriguing film. It highlighted the influence of television on our society, and the artistic quality of the film created a unique environment in which to explore the dynamics of human perceptions and relationships.  

The story follows a simple-minded gardener named Chance who is thrust out into the world at midlife after having lived his whole life on a wealthy estate where he knew nothing of the world except gardening and what he saw on television.  When the wealthy estate owner dies, Chance is on his own for the first time.  His initial encounter with an urban street gang prompts Chance to point his TV remote at them, as though to try to change the channel. That moment, as much of the film, evokes both humor and a poignant sense of pity. 

Chance soon finds himself taken into the family of a well-to-do senator in Washington after the senator’s wife bumps into him (quite literally with her car). Chance’s simple observations about the only thing he knows, gardening, soon make him the toast of the town as the people and the television media put their own spin on the words he speaks. 

There is one scene that stood out as a significant side commentary and surprised most of the audience where I saw the film. It is a scene where the black former housekeeper from the estate where Chance had lived saw him on television and gave a pointed soliloquy about how “You only have to be white to make it in America.” (see below)

I happened upon an article from 2017 that speaks of the continued relevance of Being There:  “Being There: Still funny, but newly grim and topical,” by Ben Sachs.  A couple of quotes from the online article are in order:

“Many have called Being There, both the book and the film, a premonition of the Reagan revolution, which came to power, in part, on the strength of Reagan's ability to communicate on TV. The deathlike air of the film certainly connotes the end of something big, while the humor comments on the timeless human desire to be deceived by something that sounds good. These opposing elements give Being There an enduring complexity, although sometimes it's too bleak in its outlook to be laugh-out-loud funny.”

“In its deep cynicism about American media and politics, Being There may also have a renewed topicality in 2017. The film's penultimate moment finds a D.C. insider proposing the idea that Chance runs for president himself. I suspect that … at least one audience member will want to discuss what a Chance the gardener administration might look like and whether it would be preferable to the one that's currently running the country.”

Being There was Peter Sellers final role (he died a year after the film was released).  It was also Hal Asby’s last cinematic success as a director, having made his mark with previous films such as Coming Home, and Harold and Maude.

For those who want to see a little bit of what we’re talking about in Being There, below are some clips and film commentary on the movie.  The second clip is the soliloquy about "You only have to be white" that I referred to earlier. 

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The Soul of America -- A Chat with Jon Meacham

There are some days when I want to write an essay about the things going on around us, and other days when I want to write a poem to express my feelings about life. Then there are those days when I think that our time would be much better spent listening to Jon Meacham.

Here is an excellent interview in which Jon Meacham talks with Willie Geist about his book, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels. Thoughtful, articulate, and intelligent discussion on our history as well as the times we are living in.

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The State of Our Nation

We are now in the middle of a growing national crisis that half of the population seems to be troubled by, a third of the country seems to celebrate, and the remainder seems to be standing idly by. Yet all seem powerless to effect any change in national trajectory, a significant investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller notwithstanding. Even so, there are numerous resistance groups and that continue to offer some hope that at least a moral voice can be heard.

President Trump’s recent statement casting vulgar aspersions upon Haiti and all African nations has raised the ire of many in the U. S. and across the globe as he exemplified racist and fascist attitudes long recognized from the beginning of his presidential campaign. Jonathan Alter, in a recent article, has called for Congress to censure Trump for “conduct unbecoming of a president.”

It is only the latest of disturbing trends that we have seen over the past year.

Ominous Parallels

I am reminded of my college days as a ministerial student at Samford University. It was the mid 1970’s and some of us were beginning to do some serious examination for the first time. Our parents had been part of “the greatest generation” that combated Hitler’s regime at great personal costs as they bore the brunt of the horrors of war. I remember one of my classmates commenting that Germany was the most Christian and most intellectual country in the world, and yet they were responsible for such unspeakable evil and darkness, plunging the world into the most violent and destructive war in history.

My friend’s comment did indeed reflect a great irony and a big question that we were still facing 30 years after a war that to us twenty-year-old novices seemed like ancient history. The irony was that even then, any serious theological study involved extensive reading of German theologians (and anyone pursuing a doctorate had to be able to read three languages: Hebrew, Greek, and German). It was a huge question in our minds from that day until now, “How could Hitler’s rise have happened in such a civilized, educated, and Christian country?”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was included in our studies and he was admired for his stand against Hitler when most German churches, Catholic and Protestant alike, were in support of the Nazi regime. Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church movement saw the problem early on. Those were difficult  times that we could hardly fathom, and perhaps none of us imagined ever having to endure such times in our lifetime. An article in the February edition of Sojourners Magazine asks if this is not a Bonhoeffer moment for American Christians. The authors point out:

[Trump’s] “Make America Great Again” nationalism seeks to close the borders and recover some idealized picture of what America supposedly used to be, a picture steeped in white supremacy and the misguided ideology of “separate but equal.” Disturbingly, large numbers of white evangelical Christians share in this longing for Mayberry.

The fact that today I can see a correlation between our times and those times in Nazi Germany indicates that the question, “How could this happen in such a civilized, educated and Christian country?” is not as mysterious now. That is not to say that I have any clear answer to the question. I do have a few observations, and would welcome any other observations from anyone who would care to comment.

1. Uncertain Times

With Trump’s election in November of 2016, I became more aware that fascism seems to be the default mode of government that people tend to fall back on during times of uncertainty. It never ends well, but it seems to be a basic tribal response of people when they are confronted with fear and uncertainty. We want to be with people who look like us, and we demonize the other (whoever looks different). I have watched evangelical Christians I grew up with and worshiped with expressing such fear and hatred, especially after the nation elected its first black president in 2008. I have seen them making political decisions based upon fear and hate rather than on faith and love.

2. The Paralysis of Single Issue Voting

I understand that each person must make his or her own moral choice in civic matters when going to the polls. Unfortunately, voting on the single issue of abortion blinds many to the wider issues at stake.

I attend a Roman Catholic Church and have utmost respect for Catholic social teaching regarding human dignity and the common good. I have been shocked, however, that so many of my Catholic colleagues have allowed the issue of abortion to paralyze their ability to discern other issues concerning the common good. I was dismayed to hear a colleague say with some resignation, “I guess I have to vote for Trump because he is pro-life."

I would not choose abortion, but I realize that my choice for life has not been hindered in my entire adult life since Roe v. Wade.  I also realize that the practice of my faith does not hinge upon the reversal of established law – a law which allows options for young women in dire situations.

Through the years, I have seen Catholics vote for people who have no knowledge of, or interest in, Catholic social teaching and whose agendas are even counter to that teaching. The best way to support life is in our teaching, values, and actions. We can abide by the law of the land and still uphold our faith values without thinking we have to reverse legislation in order to live a moral life.

3. The Desire for Political Power

Another factor that cannot be ignored is that with the success of the religious right in political campaigns, beginning with Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and continuing on with groups like Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, has progressed to the point where the religious right seems more concerned with political power than Christian principals.

Apparently, some conservative religious groups are now seeing Donald Trump as God’s chosen one for America. It is beyond me how a thinking, committed Christian could come to such a conclusion, but the founder of Charisma Magazine stated in an interview that Christians should tolerate no dissent when it comes to Donald Trump. If that is the case, what has become of the prophetic role of the church? Are we simply a willing arm of the state, no matter how corrupt the state becomes?

How Will We Respond?

These are a few reasons that Christian America has somehow embraced a president with no visible moral compass, no claim to a Christian faith, and has exhibited little grasp of the responsibilities of the Presidential office. The fact that we are now facing such a national moral dilemma is distressing to many and should be a call for those who are able to offer some kind of resistance, each in his or her own way. The question is, how?

I don’t think there is one way or one answer. I do think that it is important for us to affirm the better angels of our nature, our higher aspirations, and our nobler national purpose. We can do that through the arts, by way of community action, and by voting at the polls. Some of us can engage in politics at the local level, all of us can write our congressional representatives. People of faith can consider the golden rule and seek to practice acts of love, compassion and concern. In other words, churches can renew their commitment to their higher calling and “not grow weary with well doing.”

Those of us who are part of a faith community can consider the challenge that Dietrich Bonhoeffer offers us from his witness in Nazi Germany. I would challenge you to read the article in Sojourners Magazine by Lori Brant Hale and Reggie L. Williams, “Is this a Dietrich Bonhoeffer Moment? Lessons for American Christians from the Confessing Church in Germany.”

Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, made an observation worth noting that gives me some hope for a way forward:

  “Donald Trump did us a favor, because he shows us how active and significant white supremacy is in this country. I mean, we needed to know it. We needed to see it. We needed to punch a hole in the mythology of post-racialism, because we need to deal with it. I mean, we think about an oncologist — we don’t want our oncologist telling us a little lie that we don’t really have cancer.”

What are your ideas? How do you see the times we are in today? I would welcome any comments reflecting your thoughts or actions in light of the current state of our national life.

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Photo: Night time view of Washington, D.C. (Public Domain)



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A New Day in Alabama

Sunrise on Orange Beach, Alabama (National Wildlife Federation photo by Pam Smith)

It was a closely watched election throughout the country last Tuesday. In Alabama, some of us were beginning to wonder if we could ever elect a Democrat again. When I first heard that Doug Jones was entering the race for senate, I was thrilled that such a decent, honorable and capable man was putting himself forward for a statewide office.

We have many citizens who proclaim that they are "a bright blue dot in a deeply red state," but the fact has remained that we are indeed a deeply red state. Last Tuesday's political upset that will send a Democrat to Washington has been an occasion of rejoicing for those bright blue dots scattered about the state.  

While I am glad that the Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, won the Alabama special election for senate, the graph below is a sobering look at where we are in this state. 72% of white men voted for Moore, 63% of white women voted for Moore! In a statistic elsewhere, a majority of college educated white voters voted for Moore. Evangelicals disregarded their own moral standards to back Roy Moore as well.

(source: http://www.cnn.com/election/2017/results/alabama-senate )

The Evangelical Factor

Elsewhere, an editorial in the premier evangelical publication, Christianity Today,  rightly took evangelical voters to task for their support of Roy Moore:

“No matter the outcome of today’s special election in Alabama for a coveted US Senate seat, there is already one loser: Christian faith. When it comes to either matters of life and death or personal commitments of the human heart, no one will believe a word we say, perhaps for a generation,” the editorial explained. “Christianity’s integrity is severely tarnished.”

I stated a similar sentiment in November of 2008 when in a blog post I lamented the corruption of both the evangelical Christian witness and the Republican Party. It was then that I wrote: “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.”  In that blog essay, I was appalled at the level of hate and fear coming from some of my fellow Christians. 

Moving Forward

Doug Jones, in a news conference on Wednesday, stated that “No matter whether you’re a United States senator, whether you’re a member of Congress, whether you’re a City Councilman, all the way down, all too often, we forget those people that did not vote for you, to put you in office. Those people can’t be forgotten.”

He seems to be a man of integrity who will take the high road and who will indeed represent everyone in Alabama. An article in the Religious News Service outlines some key factors in his life of faith and public service. Most notably, he has been an effective prosecutor for justice as a U.S. Attorney in the case of bringing the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombers to trial. Moreover, as a Methodist layman who attends church regularly, he believes in living his faith by caring for everyone, even “the least of these,” and treating people fairly.  Doug Jones can be a leader for all the people of our state, and a light in Washington, D.C. 

We will rejoice this day, but know that there is much work to be done, and it will be an uphill terrain from here onward. Let this day be our marker, and let us go forward, not backward in our efforts to pull our state out of ignorance and bigotry.

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Another Look at Faith and Politics

The following essay was first posted on November 8, 2012. It was titled, "My Best Wishes to the Republican Party," and it was an appeal for the party to return to its roots that had served our country well. We had a balance in the "point-counterpoint" between the Democratic and Republican perspectives. At the time, I saw increased levels of fear and hate in our public discourse with the advent of the Tea Party and the Republican's catering to their movement. At the time, I understood the fear and hate in our national dialogue to be a hindrance to our ability to come to a consensus in matters that are important for community and national life.

I stated at the time, "The next couple of years may reveal whether the Republicans will do some soul searching or simply redouble their strident and provincial efforts." As we have seen with the Presidential election last November and the continued support of Roy Moore in my home state of Alabama, the Republicans have indeed doubled down in their appeal to fear and hate along with the promotion of white supremacist views.

The Alabama senate race between Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Roy Moore is at the moment a statistical dead heat. Whoever wins the special election next Tuesday will depend upon who turns out to vote. In my 2012 essay below, I expressed dismay over both the faith and the politics that were at the forefront. Today my dismay is only increased when I see how professed people of faith can simply disregard their own values in their efforts to win a political victory. In the case of Roy Moore, even before any of his interests in teenage girls surfaced, he was not fit for the senate based upon his record as a judge, his white supremacist views, and his misunderstanding of church and state.

Here is that essay from 2012. You can judge for yourself how well it still applies to our current state of affairs.

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 views.  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 [in 2012 when this essay first appeared] 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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Our Political State ~ Not Business as Usual

LIA sticker from Left in Alabama

When I began this blog, Not Dark Yet, I first described it as “an odd mix of poetry, political commentary, and spirituality.” I later emended that to “poetry, social commentary, and spirituality,” because I realized that it is social commentary rather than political agenda that drives my concern in this blog space. I then decided that I would create a separate satirical blog, The Vidalia Onion “Fake News Rooted in the South” which I would reserve for the occasional political commentary for a satirical take on what is going on in the world of politics. (I should note that I used that term “Fake News” in 2013, before Mr. Trump began using it for the mainstream media). I had some fun with that site when I needed to express my exasperation over what those politicians were doing.

This year, however, that satirical blog has been silent since January. Real life politics has seemed so much like satire that it seemed almost a sacrilege to try to make it funny. Instead, I began a project on this blogsite that I refer to as Journalistic Poetry. I stated at the time that “The best thing that poets can do is to bear witness to the times – articulate what is happening in the moment; speak to the real life experiences of your people ... My thinking was that if I could write one poem a week there would be some chronicle of our sacred/tested/doubtful union.”

 High Stakes and Low Ebbs

Today I am stepping more into the realm of political commentary because of the increasingly high stakes at the local and national level. On the national stage we are seeing a dangerous dismantling of of our grand experiment in democracy as corporations strengthen their oligarchy while using the nation's “culture wars” to further ensconce themselves into the political fabric. 

Commentator David Brooks has been an astute observer of our national divisions. He recently pointed out that “The acceptability of Trump must also have something to do with millions of religious voters being willing to abandon the practical wisdom of their faiths — that what exists inside a person is more important than what is external, that no bad tree yields good fruit, that you should never trade spiritual humility for worldly ferocity because in humility there is strength and in pride there is self-destruction.” (1)

That abandonment of basic tenets of faith while publicly proclaiming religious beliefs has been on national display in my home state of Alabama. In a special election to fill the senate seat vacated when Jeff Sessions became Attorney General in the Trump administration, we have a choice like we have seldom seen. We have Doug Jones, a true statesman running as a Democrat. The Republican nominee is Roy Moore, a twice-removed state supreme court judge whose claim to fame is promoting his own brand of religion while presiding in court. 

Roy Moore (NBC News photo)

For years our state has had to deal with the embarrassment of Roy Moore. He was removed from office TWICE for defying lawful court orders. I don't see how that did not disqualify him from running in the Republican primary. The big problem is that so many in our state hear someone shouting the name of Jesus and wearing God on their sleeve and say “Let's get God back into the government. He's our man!” They turn a blind eye to the unethical behavior and lawless acts because, “he is one of us, he believes in God.” By our actions, we have abandoned the faith we attempt to preserve.

Religion professor Randall Balmer correctly states:

Moore claims to represent “family values” and, more broadly, evangelical Christian values. Aside from the disquieting specter of a 30-something Moore trolling shopping malls for teenage dates, Moore does not represent the evangelical movement he claims to herald. Historically, evangelicalism once stood for people on the margins, those Jesus called “the least of these.” Evangelicals in the 19th century advocated public education, so that children from less-affluent families could toe the first rungs of the ladder toward socioeconomic stability. They worked for prison reform and the abolition of slavery. They advocated equal rights, including voting rights, for women and the rights of workers to organize. The agenda of 19th- and early-20th-century evangelicals is a far cry from that of Moore and the religious right.(2)

Doug Jones (Birmingham News photo by Joe Songer)

Doug Jones, on the other hand is a statesman who would serve honorably in the senate and would represent our state well. He is the attorney who successfully prosecuted the bomber Sixteenth Street Baptist Church more than 40 years after the tragic bombing. He represents an opportunity for our state to rise above mindless rhetoric and to rationally address the real problems facing our state. Not since Gov. Albert Brewer has our state had a man of such stature and integrity to run for public office. (Albert Brewer completed Lurleen Wallace's term as governor when she died in office, and much to our state's detriment was defeated in his bid for a full term in office by George Wallace's racial scare tactics and demagoguery).

Time to Repent and Vote 

We Alabamians have tarnished the word “Christian” and have corrupted the concept of democratic government. I am sad that our corruption and ignorance have not only gained the national spotlight, but that same corruption is tarnishing the country at large. It is time for us evangelicals to repent and make restitution for our sins.

December 12 is election day in Alabama. Our choice has never been clearer. How we will choose is unfortunately still up for grabs. We could take the high road of justice and compassion, or we could choose hate, bigotry, and racism at the hands or a morally corrupt judge masquerading as a “religion and family values” man.

The sad part is, I cannot tell you today how my state will choose.

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1. "The Essential John McCain," by David Brooks, October 19, 2017, The New York Times, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/opinion/the-essential-john-mccain.html

2. "Religion Professor Says Roy Moore Is a Fraud," by Randall Balmer, The New American Journal, retrieved at https://www.newamericanjournal.net/2017/11/religion-professor-says-roy-moore-is-a-fraud/. (Originally published in The Washington Post, November 17, 2017, under the title, "I know Roy Moore. He’s always been a con artist."



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