Category Archives: progressive politics

Dear Bernie – Stay and do the work

musings, progressive politics, Uncategorized

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Dear Bernie,

I’m not going to be very popular when I say this, but I am pissed at you. Here’s the thing, when you come into a group and work for change, when you get a seat at the table, when your influence is felt in every facet of the party, then you need *f—king* stay and do the work.

I was so proud of you and our party at the beginning of this election cycle. You and Hillary were able to state your cases without trashing one another. You refused to descend into name-calling. I listened to your ideas and hers and was pleased when my party moved closer to its progressive roots. I felt like we couldn’t lose no matter who one the nomination.

Now I wonder. Now I am thinking of all the bills you didn’t sponsor in your 30 years in the Senate. I’m remembering when I gave you a pass on some issues that are important to me because I thought you could be moved along, much in the way Hillary’s policies moved to the left. Whichever way things went it was clear that we would be working to find common ground on the places we disagree.

You came in and shook up the party. Great! I mean it. This nation needs two strong, opposing points of view to move us to find ‘a third way’. We lost our strength in those kinds of negotiations when we moved further and further to the right of center. It’s kind of like we had a reboot. I thank you for that, Bernie.

BUT YOU NEED TO STAY AND DO THE WORK. I was part of an organization in which energetic and well-meaning people stepped in, made large decisions that affected the very existence of the organization… and then left without doing the work of the things they set in motion. I resent that you are doing the same thing. You are not taking responsibility for your actions.

Actually, I am glad you are not the nominee because we need someone who will do the work. The tough, boring work of brokering change. Speeches are moving. Ideas transcend. But if  you are not willing to work with people with disparate points of view, if you are not willing to walk the long, tedious walk required, then you just used us.

you used usyou used usWe deserve better than that.

Take A Stand

everyday theology, musings, progressive politics, Uncategorized

images-7The rise of Donald Trump and the ‘tea party’ is frightening at best and prophetic about the path this nation is on at worst.

The last two weeks I posted about listening. I believe that we must listen to one another. But we must also honor the times we are moved to speak.

I am a long time student of Nazi Germany and the Second World War. I did focused study on the time period in college. I took courses on post holocaust ethics in seminary. I visited Dachau as a child living in Germany and was profoundly changed by the experience.

Donald Trump is dangerous. His followers are dangerous. They play fast and lose with our code of law- Trump even suggesting he could ‘shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any votes’. Hyperbole? Perhaps. But completely indicative of an entitled and sociopathic mindset. His minions (more than one, more than two)  suggest that Hillary Clinton should be murdered. That does not include the trolls on social media.

In my naïveté I once believed that what happened in Nazi Germany could never happen here. But we are no different than any other nation unless we insist that we live by the code of law and cherish our constitution rights (even expanding them as we gain deeper understandings). This is what made our nation- not necessarily our ability to fulfill the vision set out in our constitution, but that we consistently return to the values of freedom and justice. Our military takes an oath to defend the constitution, not the president. Our president takes an oath to defend the constitution. The constitution is a great big deal. Donald Trump and the tea party seem to have forgotten that.

People are afraid. We are afraid of terrorism. We are afraid of one another. We blame others rather than take responsibility for the trauma our nation is experiencing. Fear does horrible things. It drives us to dehumanize others- other races, other religions, other world views. It isolates us from one another. When we live in fear it is almost impossible to trust one another and we need that trust as part of our social contract.  Of course there are people who are untrustworthy and there are scary people out there but we must not allow our  fear co-opt our commitment to freedom and justice.

Before World War II broke out, Neville Chamberlin, then Prime Minister of Britain, pursued a policy of appeasement with Hitler, giving in to his takeover of Austria and later, Czechoslovakia. Chamberlin believed Hitler had been reigned in. Hitler’s hunger for power was fed rather than appeased.

Why am I bringing up poor Neville Chamberlin? Because DONALD TRUMP and his followers must be stopped. They have already tasted too much power. And they gained their power by tapping into the worst part of ourselves: the parts that fear and hate. If fear of the other manifests in deleting the constitutional rights of our citizens, if hate takes root in our political landscape, the momentum will be almost impossible to stop.

Donald Trump and the tea party are dangerous. What happened in Nazi Germany can happen here. Don’t believe it can’t. Take a stand. Vote as if all our lives depend on it. They do.