8/31/24 – Note: This post is not for canvassing or engaging Republican or MAGA voters. That advice was provided below. If you are having a hard time engaging with these voters in a way that’s helpful to the Harris Walz campaign, try a restorative practice, a circle, with people having a similar difficulty. Imagine that we are in circle, and the talking piece has been passed to me. This is how I, personally, would express my thoughts and feelings if asked how I feel about Republicans and MAGA supporting a certain person. (This post is longer than what I would normally say at one turn.)
I feel hurt and betrayed that Republicans would support a certain person. I thought that, as Americans, regardless of party, we have a certain understanding about who we are and what or who we support. I thought that we had a shared set of values that we weren’t willing to compromise on. That didn’t hold. A certain person came along, gave voice to the anger and frustration of many on the right, and what I thought we implicitly agreed upon fell away. For this reason and others, it has been a real challenge to not allow my judgments about a person’s character based on who or what they support to affect my feelings toward a certain person’s supporters, who are also my fellow Americans.
The most problematic aspect for me about a certain person has little to do with policy. I view him as someone who has no value for life, including human life. To me, he shows this all the time, particularly in how he treats our military, especially our wounded or dead members. In the framework of our shared values, I thought we revered them and treated them with the utmost respect. He doesn’t. They disgust him, and he calls them suckers and losers. Yet, on one of the most sensitive issues, one that is closest to my heart as a matter of honoring those who sacrifice for our nation with their bodies and their lives, his supporters continue to support him in spite of his disrespectful treatment of our military. To me, this is the greatest of betrayals.
Of the MAGA members who participated in the Jan 6 insurrection, it was the political counterpart since it betrayed our Constitution and what I thought was our mutual understanding of the necessary restraint required for successful self-governance. I understand that they think that they were cheated out of the win, but they weren’t. Joe Biden won fairly. At this point, after so much time has passed, yet they have persisted in the big lie, I don’t view a certain person’s supporters as actually believing the big lie, but as not wanting to believe the truth because it doesn’t conform to what they want to believe as true. It is as if they want to will a lie to be a truth. It doesn’t work that way for anyone. I feel that we have to have a set of shared values that we abide by whether they work in our favor or not, or our whole society and the American experiment falls apart.
I also feel betrayed by Christians, who are often white evangelicals, who support a certain person. Their support for him makes me question their faith, and I have to regularly remind myself to extend them grace. It feels like a lot of work, and at times, I feel quite exhausted by the amount of work all of this takes. As many defectors in their ranks have expressed, I feel that they sold their souls in a Faustian bargain. They say they value the sanctity of life, but they end up supporting someone who has no value for life. This doesn’t make sense to me.
Now, this person’s obvious lack of principles surrounding the sanctity of life, which has been there this whole time, is being expressed in policies that they don’t support (see his flip-flopping all over the place on abortion), and they might feel betrayed. From my perspective, they already betrayed the sanctity of life when they voted for someone who has no value for life. Value for life isn’t limited to a fetus. It applies across the board. Anyway, there is more I could say, but these are the points that cause me the most pain: my feeling of being betrayed by my fellow Americans and my brothers and sisters in Christ on core values that I thought were nonnegotiable.
8/31/24 – This election is shaping up to be very much about gender, but not really about things like trans. It’s about much more fundamental aspects of men and women. Are there differences between them? Obviously. Is it a good thing that there are differences between the genders? Yes, obviously. Now, let’s talk about abortion. This issue ends up affecting women more than men because there are obvious differences between the genders.
You can say, for example, that you don’t care if Walz can change a tire. You care about his character or his governance record, for example, on abortion. That’s fair, but his expression of being a good man is connected to his position on abortion because of this fundamental difference between men and women.
Think about men who have no respect for women. They tend to express this in two general ways: one, they don’t help them, and two, instead, they use them to help themselves, for example, for sex. Like most humans, women want to be loved, and these men exploit this healthy desire to serve their sexual desire. If the women get pregnant, they are the ones left dealing with the consequences of this exploitation and misplaced trust.
What liberal voters hear when conservatives talk about abortion is that they assert that there are fundamental differences between genders and simultaneously say that they don’t care how this impacts women even though it impacts the more vulnerable gender more than the more powerful gender. What they hear is an indifference to the challenges and pain of half of the world’s population.
We have yet to see conservatives address abortion in a way that is coherent and compassionate toward both – by both, we mean both – of the most vulnerable of the three parties it takes to create new life: women and fetuses. Rather understandably, liberals prioritize the rights of the woman over the rights of the fetus for two main reasons: one, the woman is a fully formed human being and two, they think this is a decision that pregnant women (without whom the fetus would not survive) have the right to make. As it relates to this, the questions that conservatives have to answer are: Why do they think they are better suited to make this decision for women (by governmental fiat), and what gives them the right to do so?
8/31/24 – Humans are emotional beings by God’s design. There is no shame in it. Everybody has a right to express their anger and frustration. Do so with confidants or to the moon. Releasing negative emotions will help you stay sane and also prepare you to move into positive emotions.
8/29/24 – Nature is your friend. Love people, but also take breaks from them by spending time with the friend God created for us. Adam had Eve, and Eve had Adam. They both had the Garden of Eden. God sent us a message from the beginning. If you’re always doing something with technology, you’re not availing yourself of this natural therapy. God designed life to be complementary, but you have to spend your time in life, not doing unhealthy things in artificial life.
8/29/24 – Wise advice. Brooks also provides research that supports the values and actions in the Gospel. Changing oneself takes time and patience. We all have to keep working at it because changing ourselves and our world for the better depend on it. It’s not an end. It’s a lifelong endeavor that’s a blessing.
How to Influence People—And Make Friends
8/29/24 – The purpose of church is to worship the Christian God together. If you get too focused on other things, even really helpful things, like feeding the poor, you’re not doing the main thing you’re supposed to be doing. Worshipping our God is what unites Christians. Everyone is going to have their own way of being spiritual, but if you can, in the midst of hundreds or even thousands of people, kneel in a pew and pray with the rest of the world practically disappearing, you’re where you need to be. You’re with God. You have to nurture that core relationship before you can serve anyone else.
The Zoom meetings were unlikely to be the problem. Although they have their drawbacks, Zoom meetings also help people from all over gather together, and they can be highly effective. It was the way they went about the meetings. That said, if you want a healing circle, it is best to do it in person. They should never be contentious. They are sacred, respectful, healing spaces, and the facilitator needs to bring it back to this space if it moves away from it.
The purpose of this church’s Zoom meetings is unclear. What were they trying to achieve? The dynamic of the meetings also seems off. Was one or both parties hurt? Was one party excluded, and if so, how? Were there disagreements on the theology, for example, related to gay marriage? You need to clearly identify the harm first because it determines how to approach the healing.
In any case, having only this article to work from, it seems like it was unsuccessful, because firstly, the purpose of a church is to worship God together, and everything else comes after it. If you work from, we love the same God, and our God tells us to love each other, it’s a natural common ground. It also seems unsuccessful because they seemed to be fighting for their positions and not coming into the discussion in the spirit of understanding and reconciliation. To listen with the ear of your heart means that the ear and the heart has to be open. If they are closed, and your mouth is open, well, that’s not the idea.
Why Did This Progressive Evangelical Church Fall Apart?
8/27/24 – To our industrious, hand-working American women who know how to get things done, how to build things, and how to fix things, we salute you. You work alongside our industrious, hand-working American men, bringing your talents and skills to bear, and do the teamwork that makes our dream work. Thank you.
8/27/24 – To the men who mistake a certain person for masculinity, we want to tell you an obvious secret. He has soft, useless hands. You can tell this just by looking at him. He doesn’t know how to do anything – by anything, we mean anything at all – (it’s rather disgusting, actually) with his pampered hands. He doesn’t know how to change a tire. He doesn’t know how to repair concrete. He doesn’t know how to do anything with plumbing or electricity. He doesn’t know how to put up drywall. Nothing. The man can do nothing.
As a chick who knows how to cut tile with a tile saw, I would never let him do this precise aesthetic work. If you think it’s easy, try to cut delicately patterned marble tile. Basically, whether the task requires more brute strength, which many highly resourceful women end up delegating to their physically stronger counterparts (yes, gender differences as it relates to physical strength are real, and we’re more than OK with it, especially when the tradeoff is being able to create brand new mini humans), or more aesthetically involved work, a certain person would not be chosen for the task. He doesn’t even know how to, are you ready for this, prep and paint. Can you actually see him using those worthless hands to fix damaged plaster?
Obama used his hands to indicate a certain person’s obsession with “crowd sizes.” Well, don’t let a certain person’s obsession with “crowd sizes” detract from the real problem. A certain person claims to be so masculine yet he has soft, useless hands. In fact, he is so pathetically worthless, if you, a man working on say a home improvement project, needed someone who can actually help you with it, you might end up asking the delicate looking, artsy chick (they work at the home improvement stores, go talk with them) who actually knows how to use a tile saw, fix walls and do landscaping, you know, useful things. Thank you, and have a nice day.
8/26/24 – Believe it. “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13
8/25/24 – Lincoln quoting Jesus said, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” The full except from the Bible is: “So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.’” Basically, Jesus is saying that one cannot drive out darkness with darkness. We can only drive it out with light.
This brings us to two points. Firstly, Biden was not able to see what many of us were. The more he clinged to power, the more he became like a certain person, who we used to refer to as the evil one, the devil. His campaign became darkness and depended on voters’ fears to reelect him to the office even though he was no longer fit for it. Secondly, we have to remember to revisit our past and ancient friends. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The blueprint to get out of our predicament has been there this entire time. All we needed to do was read or remember it, and then apply it.
8/25/24 – Nobody wove “gird our loins” into their speech at the DNC, which is rather unfortunate. Imagine Michelle Obama saying it with her manicured finger and her facial expression, “gird our loins and do something.” Definitely a missed opportunity.
8/25/24 – Without being aware of it, Christians, perhaps especially Catholics, who regularly practice the faith correctly and have been going to church, have been getting valuable training their whole lives for free. (Be sure to tithe.) Use this gift given to us by Jesus Christ transmitted directly through the church and indirectly through our parents to make the world a better place. It is a gift that needs to keep giving. It was given to us by grace. Give it with grace.
8/25/24 – We hear that a certain person is in a funk. As Christians, we believe in repentance and redemption. At any time, this person is free to end his campaign to focus on the much needed spiritual and personal work he has avoided his entire life.
8/25/24 – On this Sunday, we would like to give a special thank you to the Republicans, especially the Christian ones, who spoke at the DNC. As an act of conscience, they broke with their party, and some also broke with their church. We understand the gravity of the loss. We appreciate their sacrifice and commend them for putting country above party. We promise you we will do the same if the tables are ever turned. Adam Kinzinger’s speech was great, thank you. We know it might feel not just awkward but also spiritually disorienting or lonely, but he did right by the Lord, which is the only thing that matters. Jesus said that he wouldn’t leave us orphaned, and he didn’t. He is always with us. Peace be with you, our fellow patriots and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
8/24/24 – The Catholic Church’s faithful who are practicing the faith correctly are primed to be peacemakers. The Church should offer training in restorative practices and dispatch the laity to areas of conflict, in their communities and around the world, to be repairers of the breach and restorers of the peace. This would be a valuable service to the world and a way to engage the faithful in one of the oldest traditions of the Church.
8/24/24 – The Democratic Party should never have abandoned rural voters. It was immoral, and political expediency doesn’t justify it. There are also many minorities and immigrants in more rural areas. Do they not matter just as much as the ones in urban areas? We should not take any Americans for granted or treat them as disposable. Their needs deserve to be met. Their voices deserve to be heard. And they deserve to be able to vote for candidates who genuinely care about them, not a demagogue who’s pretending to care about them. We also encourage urbanites to go to rural areas, hang out with your fellow Americans, or simply check out their cities and take in our beautiful countryside. We, as Americans, are so blessed. We are one country, for better or for worse. It’s like a marriage, and to make it work, we have to care about each other.
8/24/24 – To our beloved Ukrainians, Happy Independence Day! We know it’s hard. Our Revolutionary War went on for over 8 years. As we presently fight for our democracy, Democrats and others are fully aware that we’re fighting for yours too. To celebrate and to gird our loins (don’t you love Scripture), let’s quote some more Scripture. As Democrats reminded our nation a few days ago, “[W]eeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Keep the faith. You will prevail.
Psalm 30:5
8/24/24 – When Democratic volunteers go door knocking or calling, the temptation is going to be to talk about a certain person or get mired in policy. Don’t do either of these things. Instead, as we say in the Catholic tradition, listen with the ear of your heart. Listen to the person not to solve their problems, but to really hear them. Hear them with your heart. You can briefly provide the policy, but you’re not in a position to solve their problems. You’re in a position to love them, and how you do that is by really listening to them.
8/24/24 – The Democrats’ huge advantage is that they can, without contraction or hypocrisy, lean into a politics of love. When they interact with voters, of any political affiliation, they have one job and one job alone – to make the person feel loved. They are to be as teachers are with students, meet voters where they’re at. The Democrats might not be well-received. They might be met with hostility and anger, skepticism and cynicism, but they are to make voters feel loved, cared for, respected, and appreciated.
True Christian evangelicals know this well. You don’t convince people of the faith by fighting with them, mocking them, bullying them, appealing to fear, etc. You model the faith with love and compassion, as Jesus taught us and did, and then you keep walking. What is important is not that you convinced them but that you loved them and that they feel loved.
Warren got a standing ovation because Democrats know and appreciate how hard she’s fought for them. You might disagree with her politics. Some might find her to be a statist. But she has strong convictions about fighting for the poor and the middle-class. She works hard and is a tried-and-true policy wonk. God bless her for it. However, when Democrats engage with voters, don’t be a policy wonk. You don’t need to study plans, policies or anything else. All you need to do is connect on the most fundamental of levels with your fellow Americans. Connect with them as people with whom you’re building this amazing country and as human beings. Remember: love conquers all.
8/23/24 – During the DNC, there were so many great speeches. It’s obvious that people are putting their all into defeating a certain person, leveraging their talents as much as they can, in whatever way they can. Harris and Walz both did what they needed to do and then some. Their different identities, backgrounds and styles complemented each other well. The Obamas, dependably great, didn’t disappoint. Also, in their different styles, they gave the base expression to their own legitimate anger toward a certain person. It’s the Democrats’ Party and party, after all. Oprah delivered a moral perspective, as an Independent. And on and on. It was an embarrassment of riches. But one person, an entirely unexpected person, stood out: Gus Walz. He reminded everybody watching of the most powerful thing in the world – love. His father’s genuine expression of love was reciprocated with love and pride without self-consciousness or restraint, beautifully effusive, fully in the moment. And we loved him for it. At a political gathering to nominate the Party’s candidates, the people who the Party hopes to wield political power, this DNC will be remembered for showing the world the power of love. They say that Gus has a superpower. If it’s love, they’re right because that’s what it is.
8/22/24 – Well, well, well, what do we have here? Is that the…Democratic Party? Yes, in fact, it is. You would, however, be forgiven if you had mistaken it for the Republican Party in terms of optics and embracing patriotism. Why the Democratic Party ever ceded patriotism, flag, country, our military or anything else that is at the core of the American experiment is a mystery? That said, if the party had never given up these American things, we wouldn’t have noticed how prominently they were now put on display and the associated message: we are the party that embodies the American ideals in who we actually are, not just in words and optics. We waited to comment until the end of the DNC to see if it was a passing thing or if this was a new party identity and message. Not only did it not pass, it intensified as the convention progressed.
The party also made some more overt gestures with respect to faith. Scripture was quoted during several speeches, with the delegates, who were Biden’s, by the way, at least once reciting passages before the speaker. (See Hakeem Jeffries.) Delegates had them memorized, which indicates that the Christian faith has been there this whole time. Its expression within the Democratic Party was simply suppressed for some unknown reason.
We are the United States of America. We are not France, and we don’t want to be that country. We would never allow a vulgar mockery of the Christian faith, such as one of the most sacred moments, the Last Supper, during the Olympics. Yes, what a great idea. Let’s mock the moments before Jesus’s sacrifice, during which he washes the feet of his disciples, one of the most moving acts in his ministry, by referring to, wait for it, the pagan hedonism of pre-Christian times in the ancient European world, where men would rape young boys, like they presently do in Afghanistan. You know, the very activities that Christianity said was immoral and denounced. So liberal, avant-garde. No, it’s actually not. It’s European filth. The French call it laïcité. It’s not secular. It’s bigotry. It’s hatred of religion. It’s not freedom. It’s repression. It’s not inclusive. It’s exclusive. It’s not cool. It’s disgusting. And it is what we, as Americans, should never allow ourselves to become.
To return to the point, at the convention, there were many “God bless,” or “God bless America,” especially at the end of speeches. We are our own country, and that’s who we want to be. This country started with Christians who were persecuted in Europe. The Judeo-Christian values of our first settlers are the bedrock of our nation. When we say, “God bless you,” we need to mean it. Go through the stories of community and neighborliness shared during the DNC. We have those stories because that’s how we live. Whether blue or red states, that is the American way of life, even now during a more individualistic period. We still help each other. We are still there for each other.
The Democratic convention was a success because it didn’t do what France did during the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It didn’t offend other people’s sensibilities and faith. It didn’t impose misguided values, packaged as “artsy,” on a diverse audience with differing values. It stuck to positive, inclusive messages that defined our nation to unify us. What the Democratic Party was doing before was not as overtly offensive as what France did, but it definitely pandered to a certain limited sensibility that is more interested in being a caricature of cool than in simply being a good, helpful, kind person. Great job. Good night. Now, win by respecting your voters and earning their votes. Win by reaching out to voters who are different from you and showing them that you care about them and that you will fight for them. That’s our country at our best.
8/18/24 – The Democratic Party needs to improve its processes and have competitive presidential primaries every four years. Period. No more turns or next in line. The definition of stupid is to keep making the same mistakes. However, Klein’s general point and observations hold. The Republican Party never pulled together to get rid of a certain person. That’s what it should have done. A certain person is a danger to the Republic. Regarding the role of government, the hatred on the right of the government makes no sense. We pay taxes. It’s not a handout. We collectively pool our money and give it to the things our country and its people value.
Spending Americans’ money on ourselves is the role of the government and the financial expression of our rights as citizens of this country that we build together. We would like to give a shout out to all the beautiful “cat ladies” who have chosen not to have children, for whatever reasons. Maybe some just didn’t find a suitable partner, and as is the Catholic tradition, they didn’t want to engage in the Sacrament of Marriage without feeling certain it would be for life. Maybe they wanted to marry someone of the same faith and the same tradition so that they could raise their children in the faith and the tradition. Maybe they are responsible, careful adults who take marriage and parenting very seriously. Maybe criticisms can go in both directions, and it’s best to just generally stay out of other people’s business. To return to the point, thank you to the “cat ladies” for paying for the well-being and care of other people’s children. We applaud you. Thank you also for not contributing to an overpopulated planet and climate change in this way. (The Pope might want to consider more deeply the inherent contradictions of some of the Vatican’s positions as it relates to these matters.)
When we pay our taxes, which is a patriotic act, we’re saying to our fellow Americans, we are in this together, and we’re going to put our money where our mouth is. It’s all well and good to talk about patriotism. It’s another thing to put your life on the line or to contribute your money to your fellow Americans because you care about them. In many respects, taxes are like insurance. Some of our taxes will benefit all of us, some of us, and some will benefit only other people and not us. We are good with this arrangement because strong countries have people who support and contribute to the collective good, not just to themselves.
Defense is very important, and this is where the left lives in its own idealistic world. We have enemies who will destroy and enslave us if we aren’t able to defend ourselves. One can wish it weren’t so, but it is so. Deal with it. We can have debates about the size of the defense budget and whether those contracts are being granted in an unbiased manner, and such. There is room for improvement on both ends, too much spending and too little, for example, on our Navy fleet.
The Republicans are disgustingly selfish and greedy when it comes to taxes. Their approach is designed as a winner-take-all system. It’s effectively a lottery that impoverishes the rest of the country and turns our economy into a plutocracy and a kleptocracy. Nobody is so smart, talented, or hardworking that they can justify this inequality. Those people need to stop lying to themselves. It’s unbridled greed. It’s an addiction and a moral weakness.
It is also a deficiency of our economic system. The Republicans talk about communism. Look at the Russian and Chinese economies. The Republicans’ diminishment of “big government” would turn our economy into what communist economies have become. It is a mystery why Republicans who aren’t ultra rich fall for such a scam. These wealthy Republicans’ immoral ambitions are also reflective of what we discarded, a monarchy with its royalty amassing ill-begotten wealth and crumbs left for the peasants whose labor did not go to their needs but to fund the extravagance of the lottery winners, whose positions were often acquired through military might and violence. One could go on at length on this topic, but it is Sunday. Remember: give to Caesar what is Caesar’s (not for Caesar but for us, Americans, and our collective good) and to God what is God’s. Jesus loves you. Happy Sunday.
Donald Trump’s Gift to the Democrats
8/16/24 – Whenever you feel lonely, think about Jesus. We are never alone. He is always with us. Let’s fill our beautiful churches with our loneliness. Let’s fill our beautiful world with our loneliness. Especially to those struggling with addiction because of loneliness, you are not alone. In fact, you’re in good company. Instead of turning to a drug to relieve the pain, turn to God and to someone who can walk with you, a fellow broken pilgrim on a spiritual journey to reconcile with God. We can say with certainty that restoring your relationship with your creator will make you whole. Christians, let’s remember our fellow sojourners in the present and in the past, our ancient friends who have made a similar journey. We don’t have to cure ourselves of our loneliness. We just have to be with each other and with God, just like the Apostles and so many Christians who came after them. May God bless you and keep you.
8/16/24 – Christians, let’s nerd out alone and together for a bit. Although categorizing Jesus’s relationships comes with some dangers, it is an interesting question whether his more, let’s call them, intimate relationships were actually outside of his relationships with his disciples, which were characterized by a teacher/student dynamic instead of a confidant/companion one. This podcast also provides some food for thought about loneliness and community versus companionship.
Embracing Loneliness and Finding Your People
8/15/24 – Regarding “Republicans’ language,” it was never their language. It has always been Americans’ language. Freedom. Democracy. Constitution. Our creed. City on a Hill. This is what Democrats and many Independents believe in and are defending. We believe that America is more than just an economic powerhouse or the most powerful country in the world. We believe in this country’s ideals. Like the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., we believe that our country can live up to the words our Founding Fathers put on paper. We believe in the American people, that we have the perseverance and the commitment to these principles to realize our ambitious calling. Similarly, the Christian God doesn’t belong to any one party or people. The Christian God was not white. He was a poor, brown Jew from the Jewish homeland. These values and the Christian God will always belong to the people who truly believe in them.
8/14/24 – Although it would be a treat to see the first not just woman but also woman of color beat a certain person, the race the country deserved to see was two Indian-American women with different political views battle it out. Instead, we have to listen to a certain person ramble on nonsensically, 99.9% of the time about himself. Get serious, America. Let’s have real debates. Let’s have representation that is worthy of our greatness.
8/12/24 – We don’t want to indulge in it too much because we might jinx it. But we’re feeling too joyful to not indulge in it just a little bit. It’s just too good. Like when you eat one small bit of ice cream and then a little bit more, and then you stop. “The prospect of not just being beaten, but being beaten by a woman of color, has sent Trump into a frenzy in a way almost nothing else could.” And trolling the crowd size. It’s been fun and so so good.
Trump Can’t Deal With Harris’s Success
8/9/24 – “They will not replace us” takes a new meaning. Biden, a white man, chose Harris, a woman of brown color (not orange brown but actually brown). Then, Harris chose Walz, a white man. Flanagan chose to mentor Walz. Walz chose Flanagan as his Lieutenant Governor. If he wins, she will “replace him” as the Governor. So, they will actually replace us, but it’s in a mutually beneficial and supportive way. Maybe support more, cook more, hate less. Happy Friday.
8/9/24 – Make democracy fun again.
8/9/24 – Both Harris and Walz seem to love food, but that’s also just normal. Most people love food and love talking about the food they love or even just food in general. A good argument could be made that if 90% of the world’s conversations ended up about food, we might also end up sharing a table and solving our problems the easy way. We just stop caring about winning the arguments and start cooperating.
Usha Vance also brought up food in her speech, but she’s Indian, and the world would be disordered if she hadn’t. When you focus on hate, as a certain person does, there is no room for anything joyful or enjoyable. A certain person’s “power” depends on everyone being miserable, angry and hateful. It’s some weird s—t.
Well, Democrats, for all their intellectualism, abstractions, and such, which can get a little out there, are showing the country that they also just enjoy life in the most elemental yet diverse of ways, with food.
Food is also a celebration of our incredible diversity, which, of course, a certain person hates. Sure, maybe hotdish, lefse or lutefisk is not your cup of tea, but when in Rome…. (By the way, when in Rome, one must have a cup of Italian coffee and fresh Italian pasta.) Food is our collective cultural legacy. It nourishes our souls and our cells. Many restaurant owners go into the business because they want to share that love and culinary and cultural history with others. One of the greatest things about America is that even a smaller city can have food from all over. Our diversity is our strength. God bless America.
The Hotdish Ticket
8/8/24 – Make democracy great again.
8/8/24 – Walz’s knowledge of agriculture and agriculture-related legislation is a real asset. Is he using it to win over voters in swing states? Also, rural Americans like public schools. He can lean into that part of his background and knowledge also.
8/7/24 – Some thoughts for Republicans who don’t like a certain person, Independents who also don’t like a certain person or are undecided, or moderate Democrats who find the Harris-Walz ticket too liberal. It is a very liberal ticket, but let’s breakdown the substance. (We will return to Cass’s points soon…. There’s just been a lot going on in the news.) But until we incorporate his criticisms, consider:
Climate change is real, and they have both been strong on enacting policies to address it. If you’re in the Cass camp, we can find middle ground as it relates to the timing and the weighted mixes of various energy sources. We don’t want people to have to choose between providing for their families or protecting our planet, which all children need, including theirs as well.
On economics, inequality is also real, and Harris and Walz are both champions of the poor and the middle-class, which is critical to a well-functioning society. Giving corporations and the ultra-wealthy more tax breaks won’t create more jobs, and the last tax cuts went too far. So, anything Harris-Walz does regarding them would just rollback that imbalance. (To rich people: stop with the greed. It’s unhealthy for you and harmful to our society.) Also, both sides should remain open to compromise as it relates to economic policy. Be creative. Be flexible.
Regarding unions, although there is always the potential for abuse, as there is for any similarly structured organization, unions help support a strong middle-class. We also want our citizens to be fully engaged in the communities we build together. Union participation and activism is one way to inspire civic engagement. However, unions should not alienate their members, who have different political views, as is their right, and should try to be inclusive and balanced. Unions are good for everybody regardless of class, race, geography, etc.
We need to address abortion like reasonable people. We understand that this is a sensitive issue, especially for some religious people. However, everybody needs to stop being all or nothing. Find a middle-ground. That’s what is required to have a well-functioning pluralistic society.
Complete non-issues:
Free school meals, taxes should go to keeping kids well-fed so that they can learn. This is not controversial. It’s basic to any decent society. On healthcare, we’re not going back. Our citizens deserve better as it relates to a safety net if they fall ill or have preexisting conditions. This is also basic decency. Paid family and medical leave, again, basic, and just aligning us with the rest of the western world. This is what our taxes are supposed to go toward: food, healthcare, families.
Where they go too far:
They are too liberal on certain social issues, such as trans, drugs and such, but ultimately, these polices affect a small percentage of the population, and there is an argument to be made on letting adults make their own decisions. These are not make-or-break issues, and over time, the country will come to a reasonable place on them via the democratic process, the vote, and via the culture itself. Trust the wisdom of time and your fellow Americans to work it out.
Decision by comparison:
Education – Changes do need to be made in K-12 and post-secondary. However, we are not “abolishing the Department of Education.” That’s absurd and crazy. On this issue, the other side is not even in contention. Theirs is not even a plan, leave alone one worthy of consideration.
Immigration – The Biden-Harris administration did not do enough on it. It’s been weak on the border. Our immigration policy is a mess, and the border is a free for all. However, the other side is not just weird, but truly bonkers on this issue. We need to be compassionate, true to our values and agree on and enact responsible policy. We need actually competent adults to do so, and the other side isn’t it.
Foreign policy – Last but not least, we need responsible, thoughtful people who can be leaders without over-extending our citizens and resources or acting irresponsibly. The other side is a disaster on anything related to foreign policy. God help us all if they win, especially as it relates to this issue.
8/6/24 – The other candidates were also excellent. There is a great bench of talented, competent politicians on the Democratic side if only the party could get its act together….
8/6/24 – Minnesota is doing very well – very well – and Governor Walz cares about everybody. If you want competent, compassionate governance, that’s what it looks like. He also chose a Native American Lieutenant Governor, Flanagan, who has been a strong advocate for our indigenous brothers and sisters. That’s very important in a state like Minnesota. We don’t agree with all of his policies. He has been too progressive in some areas, but that’s OK. We live in a pluralistic society. Nobody gets everything their way. There have also been some other mistakes, but that’s inevitable. Nobody is perfect. He has our full support. He’s kind, inclusive and governs well. That’s the point. You vote for the person to do their job well, not undermine our democracy, indulge their narcissism, or focus on appealing to a certain person, to a party of one instead of all of their constituents. If the country votes for him, he will help MAGA also because that’s just who he is. Congrats to him!
8/4/24 – Some related articles to read.
The Christian Case Against Trump
A new movement aims to remake evangelicals’ relationship to politics
8/4/24 – Today is the feast day of St. John Vianney. It’s a good reminder for Christians who are seeking earthly power instead of divine humility. The Jesus Way is not about power in this world. It is about faith, hope, love, humility, compassion, caring for the least of these and so on. Also, Jesus doesn’t force the Way on anyone. They choose it because they love him. While Napoleon sought empire, or a certain person seeks to make our democracy into a dictatorship, Vianney led his flock away from sinful ways to Christ not with political power but simply by living the faith. He started his priesthood by scolding people about their sinfulness but later changed his approach to tirelessly working in the confessional. To our MAGA evangelical brothers and sisters, you aren’t serving God with your approach. You aren’t saving souls, and you aren’t changing hearts. You’re pursuing the wrong thing in the wrong way. Evangelization means living the faith, walking humbly with Christ as a sinner yourself, but trying to do as he asked. It’s about pursing the right thing in the right way. It’s hard work, and it’s definitely not about worldly power. Happy Sunday!
Saint John Vianney
8/2/24 – There are few people whose DNA are “pure,” meaning almost entirely from one genetic ethnic group. These people are usually geographically and/or culturally isolated or come from generations of tightly controlled marriages, such as in India, and have been procreating within the same ethnic group for a long time.
It is absurd to treat all Europeans as if they are all the same ethnic group. They are clearly not. Their differences are also obvious linguistically and culturally. Almost all Europeans are mixed. Also, when Scandinavians, some of the “whitest” people in the world, first started immigrating to the US, they were not treated like the English immigrants who had arrived first. The Scandinavians were treated more like indentured servants.
So, “us against them” is pure fiction and fantasy. The truth and reality are that white people, just like most groups of people in the world, are not a monolithic group, and their DNA proves it. The reason a certain person wants to create an us (white people) versus them (nonwhite people, who are obviously quite diverse) narrative is that his modus operandi is to divide and conquer. It is a time-tested strategy. It often wins, and the people always lose when they fall for it. Don’t be a sucker. Don’t fall for it. It is scientifically and historically baseless.
8/1/24 – Such a sad story. Think about how many elderly and/or disabled people are being “thrown away.” The madman Modi has been so fixated on fueling divisiveness and hate among Indians, he’s neglected important problems, such as India’s growing elderly population and the inadequate infrastructure and support for its citizens to help take care of them. The Hail Hindutva Party has been busy enriching the rich and powerful and turning ordinary Indians against each other with religious bigotry. They and their dear leader, monster Modi, have made the disgusting rich disgustingly richer with disgusting weddings while the poor have gotten poorer. Shame on them! It’s a disgrace!
The elderly are also God’s children. All of us belong to him. It’s unconscionable to treat them this way. No people at all are disposable. It’s a violation of God’s divine order.
As India ages, a secret shame emerges: Elders abandoned by their children
At a home for India’s unwanted elders, faces of pain and resilience
