Just Came To The Boiling Point...

Okay, I know I keep saying, "Don't get distracted," but this is too much for me to take.

Yesterday, Mark Halperin was asked what he thought of President Obama's press conference in which he pretended to address the budget and debt crises.  Halperin said that he thought the president "was kind of a d*** yesterday."  And...he said it on live TV.  And...he said it on MSNBC.

Halperin clearly was expressing his opinion of how the president behaved during a specific press conference.  He was not smearing the president's character.  He was not personally impugning his intelligence or morality.

The White House was outraged.  MSNBC was outraged.  Time Magazine was outraged.  Halperin was suspended "indefinitely".  Which, incidentally, means he could be back at work tomorrow morning.  Or he might not ever come back to work.

The president has the bully pulpit.  He can address the entire world at a moment's notice.  He certainly has the power to respond to disparaging remarks.  In fact, he can respond so effectively that, in many cases, he cannot sue for damages caused by slander or libel.  Because he cannot be damaged.

But the president - even The Anointed One - is only one person.  Gauge the level of outrage heard today against that heard in 2009.

What was 2009?

If you'll recall, since 2009 liberal media personalities have referred to those who adhere to Tea Party principles of individual liberty, low taxation, and restrained government as "tea baggers".  This is a particularly disgusting monicker that has reference to a fraternity hazing ritual performed, ironically, primarily at the Ivy League colleges liberals attend.

The White House, the leadership of MSNBC, even so-called Tea Party leaders, were not outraged.  In fact, it was kind of a 7th-grade joke that liberals giggled at on news shows for months.  But, hey, sticks and stones, right?

But there is no one to speak for the conservative person who has been maligned and misrepresented; insulted on the basis of intelligence and moral fiber.And liberal talking heads all over America picked up the personal insult and repeated it endlessly, smearing more than 60,000,000 American citizens who have no voice but the ballot.

And there was a collective yawn....

MSNBC's mea culpa was especially ironic, given that the "tea bagger" thing started with them, "We strive for a high level of discourse, and comments like these have no place on our air."

My Thoughts on "Left" and "Right": Two Roads to The Same Place...

Now, in considering this, please do not think that I am a centrist or a moderate.  This is not the case; for the choice is not between Right and Left. 

The choice is between Liberty and Tyranny.

I stand firmly on the side of Liberty.

Liberty is not to be confused with libertarianism.  Liberty requires law, order, civil society. 

Civil society requires some allegiance to the "greater good."  Civil society requires willing sacrifice on behalf of others.

Civil society is neither Ayn Rand nor Friedrich Engles.  It is Thomas Jefferson.  It is John Adams.  It is Alexander Hamilton.  It is George Washington, and Ulyses Grant, and George Patton.  It is Confucious, and Jesus.  It is Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mohatma Ghandi.  It is environmentalism, and equality under the law.  It is free enterprise and a meritocracy. 

Civil society is the aspiration to humanity and the acknowledgement of human failings.  It does not expect perfection and it does not tolerate apathy.  Civil society is the rule of law and the mastery of self.

Marx, Lenin and You...

Karl Marx is famously misquoted as having said that "Religion is the opiate of the masses."

His actual words give us more accurate insight into his thoughts on religion.  "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions.  It is the opium of the people."

In Marx's opinion, people developed religious faith because the human condition drove them to it.  Absent oppression, religion would be obsolete.

Vladimir Lenin said similarly, yet almost admiringly, "[The masses] are taught by religion to practise charity while on earth, thus offering them a very cheap way of justifying [the capitalists'] entire existence as exploiters and selling them at a moderate price tickets to well-being in heaven."

Lenin recognized that if "the masses" could have their senses dulled by "spiritual vodka" as he called it, they could be cajoled into doing anything, or abused at the will of the masters.

Religion was then a powerful tool to be used wisely by the masters.  And, as Lenin and his cabal became the masters of Russia, they used the false religion of the State to stupify their subjects.

In America, though, we love to boast of our "freedom" and our "liberty". 

My father-in-law grew up during the Second World War and the 1950s.  One evening as we talked of politics he looked at me and said, "You think you live in a free country.  If you could see the America I grew up in you wouldn't even recognize it!" 

His implication was that the culture and condition of "Americans" had evolved so radically that the "freedom" we thought we enjoyed in the 1990s was a shadow of the virtually unfettered liberties of the early Post-War years. 

The prosperity of America following World War II and through the 1990s allowed for leisure time.  More leisure time than mankind had enjoyed in history.

And entertainment became the new American Religion.  Focus shifted from interdependence to independence.  Independence deteriorated in the 1960s and 1970s to dependence - dependence on drugs, on illicit sex; on entertainment. 

The goal of the behaviors driven by dependence is, ironically, to distract oneself from one's dependent and pathetic condition.

As the "opiate" of entertainment stupefied Americans, a few who were alert took advantage of their compatriots' condition.  They rose to positions of power and authority in education, industry and government.  Some of them called themselves "conservatives" or "Republicans" and others called themselves "liberals" or "Democrats"; some called themselves "pure capitalists" and others called themselves "corporate citizens".  They pretended to aim at widely divergent goals.  Some cried for individual liberty, and others called for compassion for the less fortunate among us; some talked of shareholder interests, and others preached social responsibility.

In truth, their drive was shared.  They were all motivated by greed and the will to amass personal power; to gain control and keep control. 

Today we are so restricted in our individual liberties - and so well accustomed to those restrictions - that we think little of the fact that the Indiana State Supreme Court recently ruled that police officers do not need a warrant to enter homes in the state - regardless of probable cause or iminent danger (or the lack thereof).

We think nothing of US Senators serving 6, 7 or even 8 6-year terms in a row. 

We collectively lack the intelligence to question any idea presented as "fact" by an "authority".  The slogan so popular among Baby Boomers, "Question Authority!" now draws stern reproach from those "Boomers" because it now threatens their own standing in society.  It threatens to expose their own hypocrisy and deception they are now perpetrating on America.

So, I say, "WAKE UP, AMERICA!"  Kick the entertainment habit. 

While you are distracted and dulled you have lost your country!  If we do not do something NOW, we risk having lost the ideal of "America" forever.

Karmic, Cosmic and Metaphysical...

A while back someone in a position to really hurt me and my family did just that. 

In the moment I tried to have - and succeeded in having - a dignified and restrained response.  Following my family back to England in the mid-1800s, it's that stiff upper lip, and all.

It was also the WWJD thing that we learn from childhood in Sunday School.

Anyway, I did keep the outward appearance and behavior of calm professionalism. 

Inside and at times when I was alone I ran the gammut of emotion. 

I was euphoric because I was out of a situation that was uncomfortable, unproductive, unrewarding and stressful.  I was resentful because I felt misunderstood. 

I was peaceful because I knew that, contrary to the old addage, God's hand is in the details of our lives.  I was anxious because now one of my prime responsibilities would be much more difficult to fulfill. 

I was excited because a whole world of opportunity and options lay open before me.  I was frustrated because there were no opportunities open to me. 

I was compassionate to the person who had done this and their associates.  I was filled with rage and hatred for that person and everyone who surrounded them.

And over time, I felt that my inner feelings were getting more in line with what my will would have them be.  You see, I want to be a person who is magnanamous, charitable, kind and unflappable in every situation.  I admire Sir Thomas Moore's response when he learned that his friend's inattention had led to the destruction of his manuscript for the history he'd been working on for 2 years or more.

I want to be that guy.

Today, as I sat working on my new "opportunities" I started to think about some of the details around the event in question.  I started to see how some of the things had not been right. 

I don't discount any part I may have played in the troubles.  I'm sure, because I've examined it, that I could have done more and done differently. 

But the real insensitivity and the real injustice and the way I perceived that they were dragging out the agreed upon act of doing right by me started to eat at me this afternoon.

And I could feel the very real event of positive, creative, generative energy leaving my body and it was replaced with a dark energy.  An energy that brought with it lethargy, anger, a hyperactive sense of "justice", and malice began to fill me.

I knew I needed to change my place - both spiritually and physically.  So, I went out to a lake near the house.  I sat in the shade and focused on the nature that surrounded me.  I listened to the wind and watched the birds.  I searched my heart and I talked with God. 

And in the process I felt changed. 

I'm not describing some rebirth or powerful cleansing.  It was a subtle change.  The edge came off my anger.  Some cloud obscured my certain view into the intent of the soul of another.  And just as clouds pass and blades are sharpened I knew that this change was fleeting.

I knew it was a change I needed to keep, though.  And I understand it's a change I need to repeat continually until, at last, Grace has place in my heart and drives out bitterness and despair forever.

Where Has He Been...?

President Obama just warned us that, if the debt ceiling is not raised, the country could be in line for a financial crisis....

Where has this guy BEEN since his election!?

Follow this link to the Reuters news story.

The Mormon Exodus...

This past week I had a chance to participate as an adult leader in a brief and highly modified reenactment of the Mormon handcart pioneer trek.

For those of you with teenage children who may participate in such a trek, I will warn you here that I may spoil some of the surprising aspects of the experience, so allow them to read this at your discretion.

The Mormon Exodus is a mass migration of epic proportions, and one largely ignored by history in America.

It involved thousands on thousands of men, women and children from around the globe.  Initially, the Exodus began in flight.  Comprised primarily of Mormons, or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, entire communities became ghost towns as local, state and federal governments refused to provide protection to the Saints against mobs of militia, ruffians, and neighbors.

Persecution was intense.  The first "Gathering" of the Mormons was to Kirtland, Ohio.  There, a small country crossroads became the headquarters of the newly formed church and the Saints began building a temple in anticipation of the restoration of the rites enjoyed in ancient Israel.  Local opposition resulted in the Church establishing a secondary center on the fringes of the United States, in Jackson County, Missouri.

Hatred for the new church and its members was even more intense in Missouri.  The governor of the state issued what became known as the "Extermination Order" which stayed in force until 1976.  This order declared Mormons enemies of the state and authorized the militia and any citizen to drive the Mormons from the state or to kill them in the effort.

Mobs fought battles with Mormons at Crooked River, Missouri and Haun's Mill, Missouri among other places.  The result of these battles was that the Saints were forced to leave their homes in Jackson County and were relocated to Caldwell and Clay counties and then, in the deep of winter, were forced to leave the state of Missouri altogether.

They crossed east into Illinois where residents were initially kind.  From Quincy, Illinois they moved north to settle in a disease-infested swamp called Commerce.  The Saints drained the swamp, established a settlement, and again began construction on a temple.  They intended to stay in what they renamed "Nauvoo" for a long time.

As Nauvoo grew to be the largest town in Illinois, concern about the political power of a Mormon voting block grew also.  Persecution followed.  Outlying farms were vandalized and their occupants were terrorized. In 1844, seeking to put an end to a religion that they viewed mistakenly as a cult of personality, a mob with the tacit approval of the governor of Illinois murdered Joseph Smith the church's founder, and his brother Hyrum the church patriarch.

Contrary to expectations, this murder was seen as "martyr" and the Church continued to grow.

Mob pressure was relieved somewhat, but state pressure on the Mormons to leave Illinois grew until, in 1846, the leaders of the Mormon church were notified that the state could no longer ensure the safety of the Mormons.  They were told that they would need to leave the state that year.

In the winter of 1846 thousands of members of the Church packed their belongings into wagons pulled by ox or horse teams and moved across the frozen Mississippi River into Iowa.  In the muddy spring those same Saints pulled 300 miles across Iowa and across the Missouri River into Nebraska (Indian) Territory to establish Winter Quarters near what is now Florence, Nebraska.

In spring of the next year Brigham Young led an expeditionary party more than 1,200 miles across the Rocky Mountains and into Mexico's valley of the Great Salt Lake.  Here, beyond the reach of the United States government, the Mormons hoped to live in peace.

By 1849 the pace of emigration had become deliberate.  Wagon trains were organized and supplies were laid in.

In the following 20 years, until the railroad extended to Utah in 1869, more than 60,000 converts to Mormonism would leave their homes and make the trek of thousands of miles to "gather with the Saints" in the Intermountain West.

By the mid-1850s the cost of wagon travel had grown and emigrating Saints needed a less expensive means of travel.  Brigham Young and other Church leaders conceived what they termed "the handcart plan".  Rather than loading all their possessions into heavy wagons and using draft animals to pull them slowly across the plains, new emigrants would be allowed no more than 17 lbs. of luggage and would pull relatively light handcarts across the well-traveled road into the Great Salt Lake Valley.  It was estimated that the Saints could pull 15 to 20 miles each day and move faster than the plodding oxen.  Whatever they needed for living would be available to them when they reached the Valley.

Further, the handcart pioneers would not carry with them all the food they would need on the trail.  Resupply wagons would be sent from Salt Lake City to meet them a little more than halfway between Winter Quarters and Salt Lake.

Of the 10-or-so handcart companies, only 2 ran into any significant trouble.  It is the immense sacrifice and the tremendous dedication of these pioneers that the handcart trek reenactments seek to memorialize.

In our recent reenactment a mob (historically out of context, as handcart pioneers faced no such persecution) came to drive us out of our camp one night.  They threw our gear around, took our food, and generally terrorized the group until we were forced to move.

As I looked into the faces of these mobbers, I recognized many of them.  Some were even my friends, parents of friends, and young people I knew.  I called them by name and tried to reason with them, but my efforts to calm them were unheeded.

And it struck me there, that this was just how it was for the early Saints who did experience mobbings.  Their neighbors, people with whom they traded, people they thought of as friends, were among the paint-faced cowards now trampling their gardens and burning their barns.  They would have seen the faces of prominent members of the community and clergy of other churches as they were dragged from their homes to be beaten, tarred, and feathered.  And they would have called to them, just as I did.  Tried to reason with them, just as I did.  And failed, just as I did.

That was a powerful realization for me.  As a child I was bullied incessantly from 4th grade until I started high school.  To recognize my tormentors was too familiar to me.  Primal feelings came to the surface during that experience as I recognized the mobbers.  The instinct to fight, the ability to do so, and rage met in a perfect storm that I could barely control.  (The "mobbers" later referred to me as that "mean Mormon".)

The rest of the experience was, I imagine, just as hundreds of other pioneers experienced it.  Long days of hot and dusty walking.  And thinking.  And wondering about what lay ahead....