A divided America

 Believes, Does, Featured, Thinks  3 Responses »
Aug 022011
 

The recent and ongoing debate regarding the debt ceiling and how to handle the persistent serious economic problems facing Americans has clearly proven that there is a big divide between Americans. The language of the debates refers to this divide and the various issues that comprise it. These terms label various people that are divided from others in America by these issues: the millionaires , the middle class, the poor, the employed, the unemployed, the retired, immigrants, illegal immigrants, the “blacks”, Hispanics, whites, the college educated, non-college graduates, public schooled, home schooled, the insured, the uninsured, home owners, renters, those whose homes have been repossessed, the homeless, heterosexual, homosexual, married, civil unions, unmarried, children, youth, seniors, Christians, non-Christians, Jews, Muslims, liberals, conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, the Tea Party, Congress, the judiciary, the President, particular state residents, voters, non-voters, local, those who are “free”, those who are “oppressed”, union members, non-union workers, public/governmental, personal/private, lawful, unlawful, constitutional, unconstitutional, and other such terms that specifically denote personal differences between Americans and how they relate to each other.

A lot of battles, and even a war and lot of laws have been passed in our efforts to remove some of these issues that divide us, but the differences and their influences still divide us. The civil war did not remove the division in American society that was created by those who who were “free” and those who were “slaves”. It only removed the label of “slave” from some individuals and states. And it took additional efforts of violent and legal action to enable former “slaves” and their descendants to become voters. And we are still trying to learn how to relate to these individuals who are different. And it seems to be apparent that borrowed money cannot enable unemployed people to finance home mortgages or even the purchase of new cars. And it may not even encourage the rich to employ more workers for their products or to avoid the use of foreign “slave” labor to make their products.

“No one left behind” is a nice slogan, but history has proven over and over again that no government or social system has been able to bring all of the individuals under its control to the same standards of living as everyone else in their system. There are always some “poor”, some uneducated, some oppressed, some untreated sick and handicapped individuals, some unemployed, and other categories of individuals who are in one way or another “left behind” or are not able to participate in all of the opportunities that their national society provides. It is really foolish for Americans and our elected representatives to believe that we can eliminate many of these persistent personal differences and issues that divide us by “throwing money” at them or even passing laws against them. They will not go away by such efforts, and such efforts may only strengthen the divisions.

An implemented “debt deal” will not remove the issues that divide us. More debates and legislative actions by our politicians will not bring Americans together for their common good. I don’t believe that there is any “political” solution to this problem. I think that there must be a major reform within American people regarding how they regard each other and what they legitimately can do and should do to help each other in their civic and personal lives. Such a reform is bigger than just deciding the relative merits of “big” government or “small” government and spending cuts or a “fair” tax. And such reform is greatly complicated by our political processes that reinforce procedures and decisions that reward the “majority” even though they may be only 51% of the deciders. A ratio of 51% to 49% does not describe a united America or a united anything. We need a much broader reform within America if we are going to remove many of the issues that persistently divide us from each other!

What do you think Americans in their personal and civic responsibilities need to do to become more united and less divided? What needs to happen outside of the political arena and within it that will implement such personal actions by Americans? Let’s talk about this.

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 Posted by Bob1 at 2:48 pm  Tagged with: american economy, angry citizens, congress, debt ceiling, economic problems, economic stress, financial operations, government program, legislative processes, liberals conservatives, personal differences, personal efforts

Good manners

 Believes, Does, Says  2 Responses »
Apr 032011
 

Good manners are one of the primary supporting qualities for civilized behavior between people. Good manners provide attitudes and behavior that demonstrate personal respect for others, even those who are “different”. Good manners demonstrate a person’s respect for law and order between people and within groups of people, including neighborhoods, communities, and nations.

Good manners can seldom be consistently required by the force of laws. Parents or police departments cannot always require by the force of punishment that their children or the citizens of their communities treat each other with good manners. They can’t require others to say “please” and “thank you” when making personal exchanges of resources, doing business, or just trying to get along with each other. And they certainly can’t require people to say “I’m sorry” when they have been rude, disrespectful, or unkind to some one else.

Good manners are taught to children and reinforced with adults by lessons for good manners that are conducted by living day by day in families where good manners are consistently practiced. Individuals are not going to be taught such lessons in schools or in on-the-job-training workshops.

And lessons for good manners may not even be personally learned and put into practice if they come from the teachings of various religions and groups of their practitioners. Centuries of history have demonstrated how difficult it is for Christians and Jews to consistently live in close proximity to each other without them experiencing some incidents of prejudice or disrespectful behavior. And the examples of this difficulty become more evident when the groups represent Christians and Muslims or even Protestants and Catholics. It appears that many people, including many Christians and Jews, have not really learned the lesson that Jesus was trying to teach the crowd of people who followed him around that they should “do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). And his summary of God’s laws, with the second summary commandment being to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31) has not been easy to keep for any of his followers.

Two recent incidents in distant communities and cultures demonstrate the consequences of people’s failure to practice good manners in human civilized behavior in our world. The burning of a copy of the Quran by pastor Wayne Sapp, an associate of pastor Terry Jones, at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL on March 20, 2011, was used by a group of Muslim in Mazar-e Sharif Afghanistan to stage a riot and to attack a group of innocent residents killing many, including some humanitarian workers from the U.N. Violent riots like these in Afghanistan and disrespectful protests like that of these pastors in Florida are common reminders of the consequences that we all face as we try to live with other people who are “different” from us without practicing good manners.

Good manners have a lot to do with respect for what people consider to be “holy” in their lives. They teach respect for “doors”, personal property, and borders. They serve as guides for good communication, even between people who may not agree with each other regarding the matter being considered or discussed.

Why is it so hard for individuals to learn and to consistently practice good manners with others? What needs to be done to more effectively teach the lessons regarding personal respect for others and law and order in our civil lives together that are represented by good manners? Let’s talk about this.

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 Posted by Bob1 at 5:29 pm  Tagged with: angry citizens, consequences, good manners, good neighbors, law and order, peace on earth, personal attitudes, relationships, violence, wise words

A good revolution

 About Christianity, Believes, General, Thinks, Wants  8 Responses »
Jan 302011
 

The people of Egypt are engaged in a revolution to make some major changes in their government, that is in how the business of their civic lives is managed. It is a noble cause to seek to be free from oppressive forms of government. We here in the United States understand that perfectly well. We engaged in a violent war to secure our independence from the colonial empire of Great Britain, so we understand the value of such freedom.

But we also understand that the benefits of such freedom are not easy to achieve or to maintain. Rules of law and order, even those written into a Constitution and established in a republican or representative form of government, are not always perfect or effective in meeting the changing needs of citizens. We know about this challenge, because our people got engaged in another war to remove the oppression of slavery from our society, but even then there were later riots in our streets with people being killed and property being destroyed to remove some of the causes and effects of prejudice from our society. And these problems are still not completely solved. So we are currently engaged in a “war” of words and political strategies to determine how to make our freely established form of government more responsive to the needs of our citizens and their role in the world.

Personal freedom is nice, but its real value is determined by how well free individuals get along with other free individuals, how they manage their corporate processes when they all have to work together, and how well they are able to get along with their neighbors.  And many individuals in the “free” world are concerned about the end  results of this revolution in Egypt, and others like it, because it is not always clear what form of government is going to be in “power” after the change is made and how effective it will be in enabling the citizens of Egypt to meet their personal needs and to live in peace with their neighbors in the other nations of the world. These concerns are always important, because our world is composed of a lot of “different” people who have a lot of different needs and wants and levels of personal and corporate resources to meet those needs and wants .

There is a very interesting conversation reported in the gospel of John (chapter 3:1-21) in the Bible that touches on this matter of “kingdoms” and civic “saviors”. The conversation took place between Nicodemus, a legal expert from the ruling body of the Jews in ancient Jerusalem, and Jesus whom he recognized as “a teacher” who had “come from God”. So Jesus was someone whom Nicodemus would respect as being wiser than some other consultant or expert in such matters. Jesus makes it clear to Nicodemus in this conversation that Nicodemus is really not able to recognize who it is who comes from “heaven”;  and he really can’t mentally grasp the difference between what is “true” and what is “evil”, that is between what is “light” or illuminating and what is a matter of “darkness” or worldly, in accord with the “heavenly” system of operating a “kingdom”. Jesus tells Nicodemus that in order to understand these matters he would have to be “born again”, which means that he would have to start all over with a basic change in the way he thinks. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that in order to understand the nature of a good “kingdom” or who might establish such a one on earth he would have to have his life and the disposition of his mind changed by “the Spirit” that is from “heaven”, that is from God.

I really think that these revolutions and political discussions,  like those in which the people of Egypt are engaged and even those in which we citizens of the United States are currently having,  are going to be basically futile and ineffective until people are basically changed into individuals who can recognize wise leaders who can lead them away from what is “evil” and help them to establish civic forms of government that are basically loving.

One of the basic difficulties in achieving such basic changes is that they can’t be accomplished through laws, that is through legislative political processes. There is no law that has ever been written or even conceived that can make free individuals love others or love those who “rule” over their civic businesses. In religious terminology we don’t need more revolutions, we need a good revival of human transformation in order to become “children” of our “Father” who is in “heaven” who know how to live in peace with their “brothers” and “sisters” in this world.

What do you think of these revolutions that are taking place around the world and the current discussions that are taking place among the citizens and politicans in the United States? What do you really expect them to accomplish? Let’s talk about this.

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 Posted by Bob1 at 2:59 pm  Tagged with: angry citizens, controversy, government program, legislative action, oppression, personal freedoms, political matter, political strategies, wise leadership

A good king

 Believes, Consumes, Does, Wants  3 Responses »
Dec 232010
 

Let’s pretend that you have become king of a vast domain with millions of people under your rule and lots of natural resources available to you and your subjects. You have absolute authority to make the laws and a judicial system to enforce them. Your term of rule is for as long as you are able to function or are forced out of your position by a more powerful individual or you choose to retire from the “throne”.

What laws would you make sure are on the books? Whom would they be designed to benefit and protect? Who would pay for the costs of their provisions?  What priorities would you have for their enforcement? What benefits would you hope to see from their enforcement during the next decade or so?

Perhaps you can recognize that this is not simply a “pretend” situation. Because of your power and authority as a voter, you do have the ability to influence the legislative processes of a “vast domain”. And the consequences of the rules that are set by those to whom you have given legislative power will be felt by the citizens of your realm for decades to come.  As a nation of diverse people we are going through some difficult times and changing circumstances for our lives as individuals and groups of working consumers. And we are expecting our “rulers” to rule wisely, but there may be some real differences between us in regard to what we understand to be good rules of behavior for our common lives and commerce.

Let’s talk about this. How would you answer the above questions? We are entering a time of crisis and change, and how you answer these questions may have some serious consequences for all of us during the next few years. OK “king” what is your will?

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 Posted by Bob1 at 3:39 pm  Tagged with: american economy, angry citizens, congress, consequences, difficult times, financial crisis, government program, legislative action, legislative processes, political matter, wise leadership

What is the common good?

 Wants  9 Responses »
Jan 202010
 

Apparently a large number of independent voters in Massachusetts decided to vote for Scott Brown, a Republican, on January 19th because in his campaign for Ted Kennedy’s Democratic seat in the US Senate he offered a political agenda that was more in line with what they recognized as being for the good of more Americans than the agenda and legislative programs that were being pushed and proposed by the major political parties. Many commentators have noted that the citizens of MA as well as a majority of people throughout the country are “angry” with Washington and the direction that President Obama and their representatives seem to be taking us. It seems to be assumed that legislation, even including that for health care reform, will have to be more in keeping with what is the center of concerns for Americans rather than what is seen to be in keeping with the agendas of either the left or right political positions in our political operations. I think that this is a sensible strategy for our representatives in the Senate as well as in the House of Representatives to take, but I’m concerned that they may not have a very clear perspective on what is really good for all Americans, what is the common good for all of the citizens that they represent. It has been noted by some commentators that Washington may not really understand “main street” America. What do you think is the common good that our president and our representatives in Congress should be seeking to implement in our daily lives? Let’s talk about this.

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 Posted by Bob1 at 11:09 pm  Tagged with: angry citizens, congress, legislative programs, related news topic
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