The Guilty Verdict: Bittersweet

The verdict is in; the former president has been found guilty of all 34 counts levied against him in the New York “hush money” trial.

I am glad for the guilty verdict, but my soul is not quieted. I am glad because this man has successfully eluded legal sanctions for his behavior over the years if what has been written about him is true, and has finally been held accountable. That is justice.

But my soul is uneasy. I find no comfort in the verdict because, in listening to this man, I have grown more disappointed in and disenchanted with the American system of government. The people in power have made a mockery of “the law” and the concept of “law and order.” They have supported disinformation and participated in the dissemination of disinformation. Although they talk about the United States Constitution, they are hell-bent, it seems, on dismantling and destroying it.

And if anyone was looking for a voice of morality to come from the church, more specifically the “Christians,” I am sure they are as disappointed as I am. The church – most especially white Evangelicals, but not exclusively so – has not only been silent when one would have thought it would speak up, but it has been painfully complicit in spreading the word that this man is the answer to the woes of our country. They see him as a savior, this man who is now a convicted felon, and many still plan to vote for him.

Their version and conception of Jesus have led them to believe that the former president has been picked by God to lead this nation. (https://apnews.com/article/trump-christian-evangelicals-conservatives-2024-election-43f25118c133170c77786daf316821c3#)

Even as I write that sentence, I shiver. I wonder how anyone who has read the story of Jesus can possibly believe that what the former president is doing is something of which Jesus would approve. How can anyone, who declares that he/she lives by the Bible, support what this man is doing? (https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2023/10/27/house-speaker-mike-johnson-evangelical/)

His followers do not care that he was accused of all that he was accused of in the hush money trial, and they are furious that he has been found guilty of those charges. They have made him the ultimate victim and they are not backing down or away. They are not concerned that he wants to be a dictator; in fact, many say that democracy has to end.

If he is re-elected, democracy will end and many will be happy.

We have all been “indoctrinated” with the American story – that this is a land where there is “liberty and justice for all,” that our system supports “one man, one vote,” and that this is the greatest experiment in democratic government that has ever been created.

But it is just that – indoctrination. There has never been “liberty and justice for all” because that was not the vision of the country’s founders. This country was conceived and designed to favor wealthy white men. Those in that group never believed that, according to Thomas Jefferson, “all men are created equal.” Jefferson’s lofty words placed him at odds with the wealthy, white men who had all the power and wanted to keep it, which was ironic because Jefferson never mean “all” men to include men who were not white. People of color were certainly not even considered when Jefferson wrote those words.

This country was all about money and power, from its beginning. The politicians and the clergypersons knew it. The state and the church leaned on and depended on each other for verification of their policies and ideologies. Jefferson’s words were not a consideration.

The church and its leaders fully bought into the idea that God created this country – or led them to create this country – to make it easier for men to make money. The politicians did not have to worry about opposition from the church! The beliefs of the two institutions became mortally intertwined, so that even today, religious leaders say and teach things like “Free market capitalism is God’s blueprint for growing a nation’s economy.”( https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/us-republicans-and-fallacy-biblical-capitalism). These religious leaders have aligned the church with the state – despite the fervent declaration that the U.S. Constitution demands a separation between the two. The church has always needed the government and the government has likewise always needed the church to support and increase the wealth of the nation. Jesus’ name is used, but Jesus’ commandments are not practiced. Too many Christians have a Christianity in which Jesus is absent.

The core of this nation – which was cracked from the beginning – was never strong enough to support the pillars of hypocrisy that made up its foundation. The power brokers were never satisfied with the “all people are created equal” narrative, and whenever it seemed that equity was creeping into the society, the more they used their power to squash it. (https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/nov/10) https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/wilmington-massacre-2/) They never lost their belief that their whiteness and their money gave them carte blanche to do what they wanted with the lives of the people on whose labor they depended for their wealth.

There is no institution to which to turn for help. The church, for the most part, has been compromised; church leaders who might speak up are silent; others are boldly in support of the former president and his policies. This impotent church is not new; Dr. King wrote of it in the 60s. (https://www.interfaithamerica.org/article/martin-luther-king-jr-s-hard-words-for-white-christians/)

The US Supreme Court – and many of the federal courts – have been compromised. Despite the cry against having “activist judges” the GOP/MAGA people are hell-bent on getting activist judges on the bench and those already on the bench are reducing the capacity of those in need of justice to trust the courts.

Without genuine Christianity – i.e., a religion that knows and practices the precepts of Jesus, without a society that believes in the worth of all people, without protection from the courts and law enforcement, including judges who rule against those who fight for equality liberty, and justice for everyone, America is in a dangerous place. The MAGA supporters want a man who has shown us who he is – and his supporters are all right with that. If those who believe in justice, equality, and fairness for all do not step up, the man found guilty yesterday on 34 counts will continue to walk in the arrogance of his whiteness and wealth, and mow down the possibility of there ever being “liberty and justice for all” in this country. There has never been, but this man will cement the pillars of injustice that have long characterized our government.

I hope people realize what is at stake and will do the work to make sure this convicted felon and any felon who comes after him will never step foot again in the White House. And I hope people who believe in the precepts of the Christ will take this existential threat seriously and work as they never have before to honor and respect the ways Jesus taught us to build community.

If we do not, we will reap a horrific harvest.

A candid observation…

What Happened to “Family Values?”

As I watch the shenanigans being played by the Republican party, I find myself asking over and over, “what values does the GOP stand for?”

There are two behaviors going on simultaneously, that are being displayed by the MAGA Republicans and the so-called conservative, traditional Republicans.

The MAGAs are continuing to spread their truth – which includes “The Big Lie” about the 2020 election having been stolen, and the traditional Republicans are being silent about what is going on and are therefore complicit.

As I was growing up, I heard nothing if not about the commitment to “family values” supported by the GOP. I never looked into what those values were, but I supposed they were much like the values my parents supported, including being honest, studying hard, being supportive of others and helping those less fortunate, getting married, and going to church, among other things.

The conservative “Focus on the Family” initiative (https://www.focusonthefamily.com) pushed their pro-life stance and supported prayer in schools. There were definitely some “values” with which I did not agree, but the core belief that keeping families healthy and whole was not different from the beliefs held by Democrats.

But now, MAGA adults are either participating in or being silent about such behavior as stalking parents of children who were murdered at Sandy Hook. As the call to ban assault weapons grows in light of continued mass shootings, some Congresspersons have taken off their US flag pins and replaced them with AR-47 pins. (https://time.com/6253690/ar-15-pins-congress/)

Some have created Christmas cards showing their families all holding assault weapons. (https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/christmas-card-guns-lauren-boebert-thomas-massie-start-new-culture-ncna1285709)

Members of the MAGA wing of the GOP are pushing for books to be banned, and are working to make it impossible for women who are in need of abortions to get them (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-block-bill-protecting-women-travel-states-abortion-rcna38301) and have even gone so far as to allow smoking in the Congressional chamber. (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/smoking-capitol-house-republican-majority-b2261232.html) .

So, what “family values” are we talking about? And if other GOP members do not agree with what is being said and done, why are they so silent about it? Their silence indicates complicity and it is sickening to observe.

I keep wondering, as they talk about ending Social Security and Medicare how they can be so unconcerned about the plight of people who have worked all their lives and depend on Social Security to live out the remainder of their lives. I wonder if they even think about the elderly people who need both Social Security and Medicare to have quality of life. My most basic question is, “What about the old people? What are your “values” as concerns them?” And I cannot understand why they have so little regard for the lives of children born into poverty. Medicaid enables poor children to get necessary medical care – as we as their parents – but these Republicans – who loudly say they are “pro-life” – seem not to care.

To add flavor to the cake they are making, they do all of this under the name of Jesus the Christ, and I keep wondering whose Christ do they honor? Certainly not the Jesus of the Bible, who taught love, community, and justice for all. Some actually say that support of social justice is anti-Biblical. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCDEjDs3Gr4 ).

All of this is disturbing on its own, but the fact that those in the GOP who do not agree are silent is even more disturbing. Where or what are their values? Why are they allowing this to go on, apparently mumbling behind the scenes but being silent in public? (https://people.com/politics/gop-lawmakers-privately-expressed-outrage-over-trump-after-jan-6-book/)

What I have come to believe is that the values they espoused were never the values I had. The family values to which they adhere do not include the lessons and principles of Jesus. The values they hold dear include oppression of the very “least of these” that Jesus taught us all to receive and care for. They are either participants in the abrogation of the rights of. all people, or silent as racism, sexism, Xenophobia, homophobia, poverty, and destitution guide their behavior.

MAGA Republicans and traditional GOP politicians are really no different because if one cannot speak up and speak out against injustice, it means that they fear the loss of power and control more than they value the lessons of Christianity.

I guess “family values” aren’t the same for all of us after all.

A candid observation …

In the Name of Biblical Principles

There was a lot that was wrong and immoral about the state of Wisconsin refusing to postpone in-person voting yesterday, forcing people out of their homes while the nation is under a “shelter in place” order due to the coronavirus.

The sight of the people standing in those incredibly long lines, where they remained for hours, wearing masks and gloves and standing some distance apart so as to honor the social distancing requirement was troubling because what we have learned about this virus is that it is vicious, tenacious, and is no respecter of persons. I wondered how many people would get sick and/or die because the government forced them to make a choice between their right to vote and their health. They chose the former.

It was and is admirable that the Wisconsinites want to honor their right to vote; it was and is admirable that they decided that they weren’t going to let “nobody turn them around” when it came to taking charge of their lives.

But it was a slap in the face of Christianity, a religion which many claim but others basically ignore even as they lift up their belief in “Biblical principles.” As I looked at the images of those people, who, I later learned, stood in line even as heavy rain and hail pelted them, I suspected that it was Christian Nationalists who were responsible for their being there, and not who I will call “traditional Christians” I wondered which “Biblical principles,” according to Christian nationalism, were being respected or honored.

I especially wondered as the speaker of the Wisconsin General Assembly, in full protective gear, said that voting on that day, in those spaces was “perfectly safe.” (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/07/politics/wisconsin-robin-vos-protective-gear/index.html) If it was so safe, I wondered again, why was he completely covered?

Obviously, the insistence of the government that the primary election not be postponed was a decision made without conferring with God, right? Probably not. It is safe to assume that the Republicans – many of whom might be evangelical Conservatives, did confer with God, did pray and decided that they had heard God say “go ahead.” The god of the Christian Nationalist movement believes, supports, and pushes those issues which they believe will “return” America to her greatness; they have, according to author Katherine Stewart in her book The Power Worshippers, a “biblical worldview” which “also happens to serve the interests of its plutocratic funders and allied political leaders,” she says.

“The fear of Christian nationalists is that this country has strayed from the truths that made it great,” Stewart notes. Part of the truths was that everyone had his or her place – blacks, women, Native Americans, immigrants – but over time that established order has been destroyed, and one of the group’s goals is to restore America to her mythical “greatness” by concentrating the power in the hands of those who best know how to run a government.

So, yes, those who ordered that the election – the in-person voting – go on as scheduled probably felt fairly confident that they were doing the will of God. They would probably say that they were merely following a “Biblical principle,” because they believe that “legitimate government rests not on the consent of the governed but on adherence to the doctrines of specific religious, ethnic, and cultural heritage,” says Stewart.

When people or groups do things in the name of God – be the group American Christianity, Christian Nationalism, Islam, Judaism or Zionism – it is nearly impossible for them to consider that they may, in fact, be wrong. Neither the Wisconsin General Assembly, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, nor the United States Supreme Court saw anything wrong with exposing large numbers of people to a virus that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. So entrenched are they in their ideology – which they call religion – that they seemingly did not even have the capacity yesterday to worry or care about the people whose lives they put in danger. Christian nationalism, says Stewart, is not a religious creed, but …a political ideology. What they want is power – at the expense of anyone who is in the way, and by any means necessary.

The Biblical principle they leaned on yesterday was probably the one that says the people are to follow the directions of their elected leaders, something Paul, in the Christian Bible, did advise people to do – but somehow I don’t think the God of us all – including the Christian Nationalists – would have approved of putting all those people in physical harm for the sake of attaining a political goal.

A candid observation…

The Scariest Thing

The scariest thing about all that is going on in our country politically is not the antics and behavior of the president – although he is a troubling reality – but it is the people who are lining up behind this man, willing to throw away everything they worked for in order to prove themselves to be “loyal” to the president. Continue reading “The Scariest Thing” →

Politics Aside, Sexual Harassment is Unacceptable

Like many, I have been troubled by the eruption of the political scandal in Virginia, made public by revelations of racist behavior by the state’s governor and attorney general, and of sexist behavior by the lieutenant governor.

While it appears that the revelations were politically driven, the fact remains that what we learned was troubling. To be honest, I leaned toward wanting the public to give Gov. Ralph Northam a pass. White folks have put on blackface ever since I can recall and have kept live their association with the Ku Klux Klan, though they’ve wanted to keep it a secret. The picture in the yearbook was taken over 30 years ago and to be honest, as this government has given so many accusations of egregious behavior a pass, I shrugged it off. From all reports, Gov. Northam has been an exemplary person and has worked for racial justice.

I was glad that he at first admitted that it was him in the picture we all saw. He apologized and I was done with it. But then he changed his story and I also paid more attention to the “when” of the story. I had originally chalked his actions up to youthful foolishness – something of which we are all guilty – but this picture appeared in the governor’s medical school yearbook. Presumably, the governor and his friends were in their mid-20s, too old for such pranks. And I took issue with the fact that a medical school would even publish such offensive images. And so I changed my mind about chalking it up. And while I believe in the Christian mandate to forgive, I wonder what forgiveness looks like in this instance.

I am still wrestling with what I believe should happen. Something should happen, but I am not sure if I believe it is resignation.

That situation was enough to have to absorb, but then we were hit with the accusation of sexual impropriety toward a young woman by Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax. In this era of the #MeToo movement, this type of behavior perpetrated by powerful men has been revealed as being all too common. In spite of how some men have gotten a pass in light of accusations, as was the case with United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, many of the men who have been exposed as having been involved in this kind of behavior have lost their jobs, their reputations, and in some cases, their freedom.

I was clear, though sad to feel this way, that Fairfax should resign.

Why am I wrestling with the fate of a white man and resolute on my belief that the black man should resolve? It is partly because with the blackface accusation, I am convinced that many to most white men have a history of racist behavior. It is part of our culture, and I am convinced that many who engaged in such behavior did as they did because of peer pressure. To not join the crowd would set them up to be ostracized from their friends and kids do not handle separation from their friends easily. Even though Northam was older when he allegedly engaged in the prank that was caught on film, it is quite possible he was just trying to “fit in,” and if the Christian mandate to forgive is genuine, we must forgive, not hard to do in light of Northam’s public record of service. Where I shudder is the idea that a medical school, preparing people to take care of all kinds of people, blacks included, would sanction and publish the picture. I would not want to be treated by any doctors from that institution.

But in the case of Fairfax, as much as I want to defend him, I cannot, because sexual aggression toward women has for too long been sanctioned and accepted. Powerful men have for decades abused their power by using sex to intimidate and manipulate women. Their sexist behavior has caused far too many women too much pain, a pain which has been exacerbated by a general tendency in society to disregard the women’s claims of sexual assault. Men have had no reason to curb their impetuous sexual behavior and have taken advantage of the same.

If Fairfax did what he has been accused of, who is to say he would not do it again? In all honesty, there are women who are willing to compromise their bodies and their values for the opportunity to connect with a powerful man, and the men know it. The only way to get men to understand that having male genitals does not give them a pass to do whatever they want is for enough of them to have to face the music and lose something that is important to them. The sex drive is powerful, but it has to be controlled.

I am still offended that Brett Kavanaugh got off and was put onto the US Supreme Court in spite of Christine Blasey Ford’s compelling testimony. Worse, I am still offended that Clarence Thomas was likewise elevated to the nation’s high court in spite of Anita Hill’s accusations against him. Men have for too long gotten away with being sexually arrogant, reckless and impulsive. They have not had to pay the price for damaging so many women (and children as well, both male and female). We have to deal with racism and have always had to; it is systemic and cannot disappear because we want it to. We have to stay on the battlefield and fight against all the ways in which it impacts people of color.

But sexual recklessness, carried out by men, some powerful, some not, needs to be stopped. Men are too willing to give themselves a pass on what they do with their bodies, while they have a little too much to say and opine about what women can and should do with theirs.

As my son would say to his sister when they were little and she was trying to boss him around, “You’re not the boss of me!” so too, we as women, have to be consistent and say to men who disrespect us, “you are not the boss of us!”

A candid observation …