Sadness, Concern, Dread - and Patriotism

I have always loved the Fourth of July. Like many of my childhood friends, and my  generation, I am the son of a World War II veteran. We were raised with a deep, almost genetically-based patriotism. It was not a political statement at that time, or at least I didn't see it that way. It was an awareness of how lucky we were to be born in this nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal." Patriotism meant loving our country for what it has given us- and more importantly- what we could do for our country.

That was a long time ago now. Half a century and more. But the Fourth of July- Independence Day- has never lost it's shine and excitement for me. Even in the midst of the Vietnam-era divisions, many of us remained deeply committed to the patriotic ways, although it soon became a political statement and not a healthy way of life. It became a point of contention as if to seek for greater exercise of freedom- the very fundamental of our country- was unpatriotic. But the flag leading the parade, a Sousa march, Fourth of July fireworks continued to make me feel a sense of hope.

Over the last several years I have had the added joy of being able to play in our local Fourth of July concert. To stand with the trumpets and play the closing section of "Stars and Stripes Forever" is a musical moment of patriotic joy; to play the Army field march takes me back to learning if from my Dad and I think of his service and sacrifice; the noise of firecrackers and the crowd having fun is what it is all about.

Last year, however, I had a moment in the middle of the concert that caught my attention. It was, of course, in the midst of the presidential election campaign. Donald Trump was ready to be nominated. I had the thought, "What if he wins? Is this our last truly free celebration of our independence?" I pushed it away, not out of denial, but of the hope and trust in our American way to do the right thing.

Trump did win. So far we have not lost our American way. I think we are still free. But the signs are not as hopeful as they were a year ago.

• We know that the Russians in some way or another have worked at hacking our election- the very foundation of our democratic process. (I still do not believe there was actual, active collusion between the Russians and Trump. I am not so sure of some of his campaign staff, however.)
• Fake news through social media and perhaps even the Russians has brought a division and an ongoing and escalating attack on the integrity of our freedom of the press- another basic foundation. 
• The President himself continues to take strange and seemingly irrational actions against anyone who may disagree with him. 
• Last week a commission has requested all voter data from all 50 states, including information that may not be public, potentially threatening the rights of privacy of our electoral process.

As a result of all this ongoing chaos in our national politics I almost started crying in the midst of the "Armed Forces Salute" the other night at a concert rehearsal. That's where we start with the Caissons Song. As I was thinking of Dad, sadness and even dread started to well up. What I am seeing in the things going on appears to be as great a threat to who we are as a nation than anything since the Civil War. Some of the very basic elements of American freedom and democracy are being challenged in the name of security. The advances in science we have enjoyed are being called questioned. Care for the poor and the elderly are being attacked.

Underneath those is the even deeper question that got Trump elected in the first place- the increasing losses of a healthy middle class. Instead of working on these together and developing new and creative plans for making a difference, we are expanding and exploiting the differences in the name of political gain. Add to that the just as deep issue of racism and the rise of white supremacy taking advantage of the divisions- and we have a difficult time to be living in.

This is not the country I grew up in. These are not the ways of greatness. They leave me with a sense of dread that I have written about here before. The courts have shown some ability to slow down some of the more troubling aspects. People have taken to the streets in mostly peaceful protests, interrupted only by, as usual, a small handful of those who are there only to make trouble.

There is not much I can do about any of this in action. I can write these words; I can talk to friends who may not agree with me and make sure I listen to them as much as I hope they will listen to me. I can, in my actions on a daily basis show that I am one who wants things to be different.

In the end I have to maintain my personal hope in the institutions and history that have allowed us to get to this 241st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The great American Experiment of freedom is still a work in progress. I pray that it continues to be alive and filled with hope. I cannot- and must not give up on that hope.

THAT is what patriotism is all about.

An Interlude: Dark Night Fears

I know that some of my conservative friends will accuse me of fear-mongering from my side of the fence. Or perhaps that my highly over-active imagination has gotten the best of me. Or even that age has finally caught up with my sense of reality and rational thinking.

Any of these may be true, but I don't think it is my goal to increase the level of fear in the world. In the posts on the Dark Night of the Soul that I have been doing my goal is to alleviate the fears and present ways that I, as a person of faith along with others of faith can find the light through what feels like a dark night. I will get back to that development next week. For now I wanted to take another interlude and talk about some of the issues that bring about fear. After 9 days in office, Mr. Trump has shown some clear directions.

What I see is an almost perverse style that wants to create chaos. The immigration orders from Friday are an excellent example. It appears on the surface that he simply put this executive order out and signed it without thinking through what needed to be done to implement it. Did it go into effect at that very moment is pen lifted from the paper? Was there any process of informing immigration points at busy airports what they should be doing? Was there any earlier consideration about what happens to individuals who are already here on green cards? What about those who had been here and were now overseas? Or those that were in the air at the fateful moment of signing? So far, I have not seen any information about that. (I hope we will get some answers to that!)

What happened was that somehow or another customs agents at places like JFK airport in New York just went ahead and implemented the order. The result was the chaos and fear at the airport. People who had already been upset by the order itself were mobilized through their networks of friends and family and protested. The court stepped in and put a stay on the order, as the courts had done with Obama's immigration order previously.

So, hold on to that image of chaos for a moment.

Something else has been happening in D.C. A pattern seems to emerge that when a highly public-impacting order comes out, there is also one that is more shadowy, that will get less publicity. In this case Mr. Trump also signed an order changing the personnel make-up of the "Principal's Committee" of the National Security Agency. Dropped from the committee was the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Huh?

Added to the Committee was Mr. Trump's controversial chief strategist, Steve Bannon. Double Huh?

Even George W. Bush knew better than that. He clearly instructed his chief strategist, Karl Rove, to never attend such meetings. It is not the way things should be done. Oh, I am sure Mr. Bush shared information with Rove. Of course he did. But Rove did not have a direct voice at the NSA table.

So then, these two things happened in the past 48 hours. In the midst of the uproar and chaos from the immigration order it may be hard to see the slippery move with the NSA. The immigration order impacts many, many people. It goes against the law passed by Congress over 50 years ago. (That says if the President doesn't like a law, he doesn't have to follow it?) It is probably unconstitutional even though it may not be as obvious as we think it is.

Hence, the NSA order doesn't seem to have the greater impact. Some might even be able to argue that removing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs enhances the civilian control of the military. Sorry, but national security is one of the important aspects of the military.

Some have used the word "coup" to describe what this means. I am not ready to go that direction yet.

Let's add another request by the President. He wants data that shows how criminal refugees and immigrants are. He wants a weekly report on that. Legal or illegal immigrants or refugees? It doesn't matter. These foreigners are a threat, is the message, even though statistics readily available seem to indicate that these groups have a lower crime rate than the national average.

But there have to be "alternative facts" and the President wants them. I am sure there may be those who can "find" them for him. This announcement came under the radar of his order to build the wall that Mexico will pay for- by Americans paying 20% more for goods made in Mexico due to a tariff. The wall made the news; the request for criminal data was secondary.

There are a number of possibilities of what could be at work here. He could be as clueless as these things indicate about what the repercussions of his orders are. I doubt that. He could be ignoring any advisor who warns him about these repercussions, because, Damn it! He IS the President of the United States and whatever he does is "legal."

He could also be attempting to satisfy his followers and will one day "pivot" and begin to make sense. We have been waiting for that since the nomination. I will be surprised if it happens in any significant way. Maybe he will step back some on the highly public issues and the other ones will have been slipped into place. Hardly noticed. Maybe he will "allow" his GOP Congress to turn these into some more sensible law as they seem to want to do in their own way with the Affordable Care Act. (By the way- I think all Democrats and Progressives should always refer to it as the Affordable Care Act. People don't want to repeal that. They want to repeal Obamacare!)

Here then is where the shivers begin to creep up the spine of many of us who know history, specifically the history of Germany in the early- to mid-1930s when Hitler could conceivably have been stopped. Some of this looks all too familiar. Most clearly the demonizing of a group of people. Hitler had his police report to him with all the crimes of Jews and these would be  posted. The Jews were not safe. They were criminals- even when they weren't. Before you knew it "everyone" believed that the "Jews" were bad for Germany.

The result was Kristallnacht.

But before that even happens, let's think for a moment about chaos. As protests increase- and they will- chaos will become more common. Already some state legislatures are eyeing laws to curtail the right of protest- even peaceful protest. Some of that already exists as a friend fond out when he and others were protesting the death penalty at the Supreme Court. They were in a very public area where no protests are allowed. He spent a night in jail. More of that will happen.

Chaos will increase because, as we have seen too often, there are those who use a protest to cause trouble. Riots make the news; they increase fear; laws will be enacted; protests will increase; etc.

The answer to chaos?

Martial law.

When will something occur that will be our equivalent of the burning of the German Reichstag?
I know that I am sounding like some of the more extreme critics of Mr. Obama over the last 8 years. I am very aware of that. As such, I DO understand where their fears came from, even though they were clearly unfounded, as history has shown us. These things did not happen. I hope and pray that in the end I am just as far off base as they were.

Okay, but now that I have gone this far down this dystopian road, let me make a few things clear.
First, I am not ready to say these things will happen. History, though, does have a way of following patterns and events. These are all way too much like what we saw in Germany in the 1930s. As such they can become a warning to us, not a prophecy. These events do not have to happen, but it is up to us, the people, to work as hard as we can to make sure they don't.

Second, a couple of my thinking conservative friends will tell me that this can't and won't happen here because of the way our laws and our checks and balances work. In theory I am in 100% agreement with them. Our Constitution and governmental form is set up to make sure these things do not happen. We have seen how it does work- and work well- many times over our 241 years as a nation. We came close in the Civil War. We came close in the 1960s and early 1970s. In the first it took a war. In the second it was a free and independent press and peaceful protestors being attacked that woke the nation up. In political theory, we should be okay. But theories can never take into account the insane ways we humans can find to screw things up!

I come back, then, to why I am working on the Dark Night of the Soul. This seemed like as good a place as any to enumerate some of the fears that underlie my search for direction. For me, any response and approach to these issues must be based in my spiritual life and my following the God I believe in, who can restore me to sanity if I trust that God with my will and life. The principles of the spiritual life must have something to say to how I respond to the concerns of the world I live in. If those principles are irrelevant to these, they are probably not relevant at all.

I believe they are. Thus the spiritual crisis, wrestling match, and ultimately pilgrimage of this series of posts.  I am working this out as I go along; I have no idea of where and what I will discover. I expect to be surprised when the light grows and I awake to what has been in front of me all along.

Back on the journey with another post in the next week.

Words (Sort of) Fail Me

Actually, it is not the words that fail me tonight, it is the ability to put them into sensible thoughts.

• Sadness- deep sadness over a loss in this less than hopeful election season just ended.
• Uncertainty- what will this change mean?
• Fear- what has this victory unleashed?
• Conflict- values and basic understandings of life and even of the role of our democracy in conflict- deep, divided conflict.

This will most likely go down in the long catalog of historic elections as one of the top game-changers. Nothing quite like this has ever happened before. A man with no public service experience, no government experience, no seeming understanding of how nations and governments are different from business.

More thoughts will come; more reflections will arise. We as a nation are in a different place tonight than we were when polls started closing on Tuesday. We have no idea what the next four months, let alone the next four years will bring. But yet, we are still the United States of America. We are all in this together.

Let me repeat the quote that I put on this page earlier today.

After climbing a great hill, one only finds

that there are many more hills to climb.

-Nelson Mandela

Actually, I chose all the quotes of these past two weeks at the very start. I knew that when we got to this day very little will have been resolved. No matter who won, I knew, we would have a very long way to become more united again. We have been deeply split; many feel deeply wounded. The voice of the people who felt left out has been expressed through Donald Trump. The wounded ones today are those who had other dreams of a nation living out its ideals.

It is not over. The great American experiment, the exceptional quality of this kind of democracy, is never finished. The pendulum swings from one side to another; one group is in the majority today, another will be in the majority next time. We must uphold that gift we have exercised for 240 years of a peaceful transition of power. Then we must move together to find the common ground, not allowing ourselves to get lost in recrimination, repudiation, vengeance, or just plain old apathy. There are many hills left to climb.

May we climb them together, even when we don't agree on what they might mean.

Thoughts Before the Fourth

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA

Over the past couple months I have been deeply aware of the political insanity we are facing this presidential election year. It has probably been the single meanest election since 1860 which ended with Lincoln's election and the secession of the southern states. It may even surpass the 1800 election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson for media mis-reporting, name calling, and downright uncivil discourse.

The only word I can use to describe my feeling about the election is

fear.

As I have said before we have two candidates who at this point are deeply distrusted by major portions of the electorate, including staunch members of their own parties. I have conservative friends who express great fear of Hillary becoming president. I do not share their concerns and believe that she will be an "average" president. The fear with her election is that the GOP will continue their 8-year blockade of Congressional action. They dislike her more than they dislike Obama, if that is possible. The Do-Nothing Congress will continue. Not her fault, but still a reality.

But Donald Trump terrifies me. For two reasons:

1) He is a loose cannon of a leader, incredibly narcissistic, and even delusional about himself, his power, his skills, the way a country can run, etc. For one who speaks of the future greatness of America, his statements often indicate that he is willing to move toward that greatness by dismantling what has made America great in the past. He is willing to undermine the very values, rights, and principles that are often pointed to as American exceptionalism. He has been doing this on a level of personal attack, insinuations, and downright lies. This incredible lack of respect for his opponents does not allow for any discourse. I have the fear that this and his  policies and ideas will disprove any idea of American exceptionalism. It could place us in the camp of demagogue-run nations. It is my opinion that one cannot reconcile an idea of American exceptionalism with Trump's ideas and truly low-ball values.

2) I am also afraid of what the election has so far shown us of the deep divisions within our country. Trump's appeal to a generally white, male, older electorate intent on a narrow nationalistic view of who we are places this in the same class as the 1860 election. I don't believe a civil war will erupt if one or the  other gets elected, but the strong opinions are certainly worrying. Americans have often been able to see through demagoguery. But when the levels of anger are stirred and even encouraged as they have been by Trump's style, we are in a different ballgame. Some of it has even slid over to part of Sanders' support. If Hillary wins, this anger will only intensify by the actions of her opponents. If Trump wins, all bets are off on what will happen.

We survived the election of 1800 and are still working on the fallout from 1860. There is a deep, intense fear that we may face many years of uncertainty and anger with this one. I was recently looking at the video I produced last year for the Fourth of July which is posted for Monday. It is a celebration of America the Beautiful,  a wonderful, exceptional country. It is a country I am proud of and deeply grateful to have been born in. We are a country with a rich heritage of hope for immigrants (all my family, even those who came over before 1776!) We are a country who has survived through the wisdom of the founders developing a three-branch government with checks and balances and a principle that we can adapt the founding document to meet the changing times.

Yet, as I watched that video again I found sadness and a nagging sense of urgency. The thought came into my mind that this could be the last Fourth of July with the freedoms we celebrate every year. Things could get ugly; things could get uncertain; rights could be seriously negated. All in the name of national security or alleviating fear or, worst, expressing anger.

Some of my friends have told me I am overreacting. Others have said that they have the same fear. One conservative friend said that in the end he isn't as worried as I am. We survived Obama, he said. We can survive either Hillary or Trump. I keep saying I have great faith in the American people to make the best decision. I have not lost that, but the forces allying themselves against us are great.

It is a long time until Election Day. Much will be written and reported, presented and mis-presented in these four months. May we be open to discourse and discussion. May some sense of civility lead us to act as the citizens of the leader of the free world, modeling the power of democracy to do what is right.

That is the heart of my celebration of who we are this Fourth of July 2016.

The Need For Two Strong Parties

We need a strong, healthy two party system. So said Barack Obama on The Tonight Show last week. He was expressing sadness at what he sees happening in the GOP. Two healthy parties are necessary for the dialogue that is part of America's greatness. We have not had that in a number of years.

The current version of this started with Newt Gingrich and his Contract With America during the Bill Clinton presidency. The ideologicalizing (my word) of American political parties really expanded to a mania. Everyone had to pass a litmus test for their party. As time moved on, compromise became a dirty word, a sign of capitulating to the ideological enemy. Good and bad, right and wrong, all became political fingers pointing to the opposite party.

This election cycle has brought to light all the dysfunction in the GOP and, to a lesser extent, the Democrats. I am not so deeply versed in political history, but I have a hunch it has been a very long time since the leaders of a particular political party try to support and distance themselves, simultaneously(!), from their party's standard bearer. That is a deep division! If they lose in the fall, they will blame Trump (and probably Obama) for their defeat. They will not see how 20+ years of deepening ideological litmus tests they have brought it on themselves.

The GOP convention starts one month from tomorrow. The sideshow will continue as it appears Trump has no plans on easing-up his message, become more "presidential" or even seeking to truly bring his party together. What will happen next month? In this election cycle, all bets are off.

In the long run we, as a nation, need two parties that can work together to govern in spite of differences. We need leadership! That is what has helped us remain the United States.

My wife commented the other day that perhaps we are on the cusp of a new reframing, a new adaptation of the American Dream. There was, obviously, the Civil War with post-Reconstruction taking a step backward from some  of those gains. There was the Great Depression leading into World War II that realigned many idea. That began to fall apart in the 60s and we are now seeing the results of that era, Watergate, etc.

Each time we have made positive strides. We need to work together on doing that again.

Flag Day Salute

I am well aware that in some ways we Americans turn our flag into an object of worship in ways many nations do not. But we have developed a love for the metaphor it has become. It is a metaphor for us- all of us. It is a metaphor for our history in the 13 stripes; it is a metaphor for our extent and diversity (!) with its 50 stars. I am offended when conservatives take the flag and wrap themselves in it as if they own it.

They don't.

It is the flag of my ancestors:

• German, Jewish, Scottish, and who knows what else.
• It is the flag my Great-uncle Jacob died carrying in the Civil War.
• It is the flag under which my Dad treated wounded or dying comrades in the Battle of the Bulge.
• It is the flag of the country and we liberals are just as strong about it as conservatives claim to be.

Here is the video I put together last year for Flag Day. In celebration of who we are, I present it to you again. Enjoy.

Memorial Day

You will never do anything in this world without courage.

It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

— Aristotle

Why I'm Afraid

We were listening to a public radio program the other day that was reviewing where the 2016 election cycle is at this moment. One of the comments was that even the most hard-core and experienced political observers are at a loss to explain what is happening this year or to begin to sort it out. In short, they are even more confused than usual. All the conventional wisdom of the past seems to be irrelevant. This is especially true in the GOP race where Donald Trump, with no political experience, is leading.

At first they (the experts) said he was a flash in the pan, stands no chance, will start tanking once the lack of truth or the extreme bombast of his message is seen.

Now they (the experts, again) are saying he could very likely win the nomination.

Then there's Dr. Ben Carson, another inexperienced politician and Ted Cruz whose colleagues find little good to say about him.

A look across Facebook indicates a deep and indescribable divide in the nation. Sure, the extremes, left and right, get the press. They yell the loudest and make the most outrageous statements and therefore you notice them.

But this seems different this year. Deeper, more contentious. While I am not an expert, I am an old political science major who has lived through, watched, and participated in political campaigns in one way or another since 1956. That's 60 years of watching and I have to admit that for the first time in all these years, I am afraid of what is happening.

Before going into detail let me say that some of my friends will tell me that I am overreacting to the early ups and downs of this crazy political season. They will remind me that Pat Robertson and Mike Huckabee have previously won the Iowa caucuses. We are a long way from the conventions, let alone the general election. A lot can- and most likely will- happen.

I hope that is true. I pray that is true.

I also hope and pray that the GOP doesn't do something even more stupid than nominating a Trump, Carson or Cruz. I hope they don't find a way to play with their own election rules to keep Trump from winning. The divide will only get worse.

Having said all that, back to the fears.

The only other time I remember being afraid in a presidential election was in 1964 when Barry Goldwater came across as an extremist, ready to go to war. "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!... [M]oderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!" he famously said. We had been on the edge of our seats since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 when we knew we had been only a blink away from a nuclear exchange. Here was Goldwater seeming to be a saber rattling politician.

This seems different. The fear is coming from within our national psyche. It is division and hate that seems to be taking the upper hand. It is name-calling and prejudice and stereotyping people of all types from both sides of the political divide. I have previously talked about why some of these issues are so important. The depth of the anger and prejudging of others by the color of their skin or the way they worship or the type of clothes they wear is taking over the news and airwaves.

• We have Sikhs being attacked because some people can't tell the difference between them and Muslims.
• We have people claiming that "white lives matter" as a way of denying that African-Americans are often profiled and attacked simply because they stand out.
• We have presidential candidates wanting to deport all Mexicans, build a wall on our southern border and close all borders to Muslims.
• We have many who don't believe that Obama was born in the United States and that he is a Christian.
• We have seen a rise in what used to be called "nativism" the idea that native-born and established residents take precedence over immigrants.
• We ignore the fact that our police forces are made up of human beings, some of who can and do make mistakes and commit crimes, while most are just like you and me- trying to do a job the best they can. Yet both sides refuse to accept that. Police are either demonized or placed on pedestals.

None of this is new. These prejudices and policies grow out of our history. We have seen them before. The KKK wasn't just anti-Black. They were often more vehement in their hatred for Jews and Roman Catholics. Italians and Irish were persecuted, stereotyped and harassed. Some of our current presidential candidates are playing on these deeply-seated fears. They are fanning the flames with language that is as incendiary as they claim the "Black Lives Matter's" language is.

With this increasing polarization and ramping up of the rhetoric what might happen if, in the end the extremist views lose? Or win? In a loss they will claim persecution. In a win they will gloat and rattle their own sabers more forcefully.

Either way could spell danger to our very democratic ideals. In search for security- ultimate and complete security- we can easily be convinced to give up more and more of our liberties. Abraham Lincoln famously said:

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Either the left or the right could accomplish this. Any extremism that seeks to reduce our freedom and liberty for whatever reason can accomplish this. And it will be done in the name of preserving our democracy. Remember we are the nation whose military leader once commented that they had to destroy the village to save it. The language and logic of extremist views of either side is neither safe or logical.

That is why I am scared for this next year. 2016 may very well be one of those watershed years of our history. It may be one where we make decision that will set a direction for the next 50 years. This nation- and our democracy- the "shining light to the nations" we have claimed to be- is being called to make some important decision this year. The level of anger and hate and horrific rhetoric may prove too toxic for us to survive the way we have.

I don't believe that the American people- US- the USA- will go that direction. We have a deep and enduring sense of what is right and wrong- and I believe we will maintain that. We were created as a nation with flaws and, yes, sins. But we have worked and grown and embraced change as it was needed. We have sought often to move away from the "bad" and more toward the "good."

• Democracy works on compromise, on discussion, on listening with open minds and ever open hearts to our fellow citizens. 
• Democracy works to protect the rights of the minority as much as the rights of the majority.
• Democracy works to preserve values and principles and is an ever-changing, ever-evolving process that seeks to discover what can be done next.

I for one will be watching closely and praying often for our sanity and future. I hope and pray I am overreacting and that my ultimate faith in our country will be be made real. I will keep writing about it.

Your Patriotism? Mine? How About Ours!

When I look across many posts on Facebook, especially around national holidays like Memorial Day, it would be easy to get the idea that only those on the right-wing are patriotic, only Republicans truly care for the country, and only those who served in the military are the truest patriots. On top of that, "liberals" are out to undermine the country, tear it apart, make it into a third-class nation. They don't care about veterans or the future of the "average American."

So I looked up the definition of patriotism:

love for or devotion to one's country.

Pretty basic. It says nothing about being in 100% agreement on issues. It says nothing about being liberal or conservative. It says nothing about serving in the military. It says nothing except that a patriot has love for one's country.

Now I realize that calling an opponents patriotism into question is an age-old political tactic. It has been used shamelessly for  centuries. It has been used to undermine, libel, persecute (and at times kill) those who have differing opinions.

It has been, at many times, disgraceful, mean, and unpatriotic. Yes, I said that. If my patriotism is dependent on putting your understanding down, then my patriotism does not support the democratic ideals and values that built this nation. In that case, I am not very patriotic! Yet we see that all the time. We attack, we point fingers, we put others into a place of "them" which means we don't have to listen to them. We don't have to dialogue with them if they are obviously unpatriotic and therefore not worth much.

How sad.

Liberals get moved by seeing the flag or singing (or playing) the Star Spangled Banner.

Liberals eyes tear up while standing on the hill at Arlington Cemetery at the thought of the veterans who served and died.

Liberals are just as much real Americans as anyone else.


Let's just stop this insanity. If anything is tearing this country apart it is our intense actions that divide us! It will not be ISIS or Al-Qaeda that cause us the most problem. In our day-in and day-out relations with each other it will be how we treat each other- and especially those who disagree with us. It will be in our using our "party lines" as human barriers to working together.

Sorry- that will not cut it in this world we live in. Never did, but it's more dangerous now.

Can I Start a Trend?

I posted this from another Facebook user this morning.



My explanation that went with it was:

OK- I'm hoping to start a trend among Liberals like myself. It is time to reclaim patriotism from a one-sided view of the USA! I'm very proud to be an American, the son of a WW II Vet.

Just because my politics isn't right-wing does not mean I don't like this country!!

Just because my theology isn't based on fundamentalism doesn't mean I'm not a true American.

Just because I don't agree with Ayn Rand does not make me a socialist.

So I do share this post, proudly, as a Liberal!

So let me go further since this is my blog and I have the space.

Just because I call for the outcast and the poor to be taken care of by a just society, does not mean I am not patriotic.

Just because I continue to be afraid of an endemic racism in our greater society, does not mean I think we have failed as a nation.

Just because I do not blindly follow whatever leader is in power AND which you or others agree with does not make me a traitor.

Just because I believe that a two party system calls for differences- patriotic differences- does not make me any less proud to be an American.

I could rant on this one for a long time. I am offended by those who question my patriotism because I do not agree with right-wing politics, right-wing greed, or right-wing religion. As a citizen who has voted in every national election since I was of legal age, I still believe our nation is doing the best we can at any given moment to live up to our national ideals.

Yet we must remain steadfast in those ideals and not let them be co-opted by the wealthy who are now buying our elections or the voices of paranoia crying in their own wilderness or the politicians of either/both side who are simply looking to further ideology as opposed to American ideals.

Sure we have our faults. The United States is made of human beings- and none is perfect.

My goal, then, by posting the above picture is to hopefully start a small trend. May those of us who are liberal be proud in our citizenship. Let's take the flag pins and flag pictures back from the right-wing. Let's be willing to admit that the National Anthem still stirs us (and I wish the fans could sing it at sporting events, not celebrities!)

Let's find all these right-wing co-opted symbols and bring them back to stand for ALL Americans!

Rant - far from over.

I Love Diversity

One of the fun things about living in a city like Rochester, MN, is that it is a highly diverse community. Thanks to a number of reasons there are lots of different ethnic groups here. It is not unusual to be sitting at one of my Caribou Coffee shops with people of different nationalities and languages. It keeps me aware of the incredible ways we are all different and yet all the same. Ever since I helped out on the Race Exhibit that the Science Museum of Minnesota developed when it was here in Rochester, I have been grateful for the ways we can share and live side-by-side here.

A couple weeks ago as Ramadan came to a close, Eid al-Fitr is the official name of the end, I happened to be downtown near the local Mosque. I parked across the street and did my errands. As I returned to my car, a gentleman I assume to be Muslim was walking along the sidewalk. He looked at me and broke into a big smile. No, he didn't know me. But he was excited about Eid al-Fitr and wanted to share it. He didn't speak English, but instead mimed that he was happy to be able to eat normally again- the fast was over. At first I was taken aback until I realized what he was doing. He smiled some more and expressed the joy of the end of the fast again. I smiled back and indicated I shared his joy for him.

That is what the wondrous picture of the United States is all about! The idea of a "melting pot" is a non-truth long ago disproved. While we do meld together in what we call "American" it is not a bland mixture of all kinds of different people from places far and wide. There is NOT this thing called "American." It is far more wondrous than that. It is a tapestry, a work of art that has been able to take all these different styles and ideas and personalities and ethnic backgrounds and make it into something of beauty, woven together with common desires for freedom and hope.

Which is why I get so upset at so many who think they have defined being a citizen of this country by a certain ethnic background. There was a time, and it is far less than a century ago, that the "true American" was a northern European. Oh- and Christian. Italians? Jews? Even some Spaniards? Chinese-no way. Japanese? Forget it.

Thank God we have these cross-currents to influence us. We have the ability to interact with people and cultures on a day-to-day basis. We are not diminished as a country by this. We are enriched. Perhaps we can even be a beacon of hope to a world still struggling with differences that lead to war.

As I have been sitting here writing there are some Egyptian-looking men speaking Arabic, some Muslim women wearing beautifully colorful clothing, an Asian-American studying for some exam, a guy with gray hair, young blondes, and others coming in and out.

What a beautiful place to live.

Since It Is the 4th of July

For the week of July 4 I stopped by my neighbors, the Bald Eagles over by the Zumbro River. They were both at home and posed well for some pictures. So, for the 4th, here they are, from my own neighborhood.

Veterans' Day 2013

Thanks!

Shame on You Us

Hey- no one is perfect.

Follow link for statistics of each state.

Link

Still Celebrating

There is nothing wrong with America

that cannot be cured

by what is right with America.

~William J. Clinton

A Video for the Day: Robin Williams Salutes

An Inauguration Day Quote

It was 52 years ago yesterday that John Kennedy uttered these words. 

They are as true as ever- and perhaps as needed to be heard as ever.

Liberty Bell

Independence Hall

Philadelphia. PA

August 2012

Remembering

A Long-ago Winter

Valley Forge, PA, National Park

What an Incredible Experience

Lincoln (5 !s are not enough. This movie stands alone.)
(Tomatometer: 91%)

How can I put the experience of this movie into words? There are few that can do it justice. Steven Spielberg and crew have produced one of the masterpieces of American cinema. Let's take it from the top:

• Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln. Lewis is probably one of the greatest, if not THE greatest actor in movies today. He hasn't lost an ounce of his powerful screen presence in the 24 years(!) since My Left Foot. He channels Lincoln and no one will ever look to Raymond Massey's portrayal as definitive anymore.

• Tommy Lee Jones is abolitionist congressman Thaddeus Stevens (PA). Jones never fails to engage as he grabs the screen and won't let go, even in a supporting role and wearing a God-awful ugly wig.

• Sally Field brings new life and insight to Mary Todd Lincoln. She has always received bad press and bad history. Mental illness and deep depression are her anchor weights. But they also hold down a remarkable woman in her own right.

• David Strathairn, versatile actor that he is, becomes Secretary of State William Seward, famous otherwise for Alaska. A fine political operative, he is led by Lincoln to do the impossible.

• The three arm-twisters uh, lobbyists, strike just the right comic relief. (Obviously John Goodman wouldn't have fit into this movie!)

• Steven Spielberg is still at the top of his game. Perhaps only Schindler's List can stand above Lincoln. In all these years he manages to find the heart and soul of the important story and let us experience it.

• Tony Kushner has certainly continued to hone his art. From Angels in America to Lincoln he is amazing.

The use of light and shadow is spectacular and almost miraculous. The ambiance of the movie grabs and carries you into the story. Storyteller Abraham Lincoln has his story told in great fashion.

I cried five times during the movie, starting in the very second scene as soldiers recite the Gettysburg Address to Lincoln. I cried at the passage of the 13th Amendment and at Lincoln's words in his second inaugural address. Why did I cry?

First and foremost this is the story of my country. This is the story of what finally made us THE United States of America, a single country, not a collection of states. I am at heart a crazy patriotic, American romantic.(The Battle Hymn of the Republic still brings tears!) I continue to believe strongly in the ideals and hopes this nation represents. Without the 13th Amendment banning slavery we would not be even as far as we are today.

Which is the other reason I found myself crying. This is nearly 150 years ago now. Yet the ideals for which Lincoln worked so hard, the prejudices and hatreds are often just barely under the surface today. Sure, sometimes they are hidden and draped in words that sound sane and patriotic. But they are neither! Racism, the continuing legacy of a nation built on slavery of one group because they are different, is real. It has infused our nation. It is still a poison in our system.

Sure, it is better today. Some even believe that racism has disappeared. Don't be so sure. Evil has a way of winning souls to its side through cunning and double-talk. I am a white, Euro-American. I grew up in a middle-American mostly white, European ethnic community in the 50s and 60s. Civil rights was THE #1 issue in my youth. (The close second was war.) Perhaps I am still too ready to see racism under every tree and around every corner. I hope so.

But this movie has reminded me of what I see going on today. It has shown the power of politics to distort and manipulate. In the midst of that Lincoln himself had to do his own manipulation. He knew, HE KNEW, that passing the 13th Amendment held the key to our national future. Sadly he didn't live to make his dream a reality.

But in this magnificent portrayal, Spielberg, Day-Lewis, Jones, Field, et. al. have reminded us of the great calling that

all men are created equal!

All!

And not just men.

(Argo, Flight, and Lincoln down. Life of Pi is next.

Post-Election Thoughts (1)

Secession?

Isn't that a little extreme?

The White House website allows for people to petition the government even to request permission to secede. Some don't bother with the "official" way, they publish their own harangues. Like this one from Texas:

We must contest every single inch of ground and delay the baby-murdering, tax-raising socialists at every opportunity.... Why should Vermont and Texas live under the same government?

Pretty strong feelings wouldn't you say? Some people are really upset by Obama's re-election. Probably especially since they really believed the GOP hype (and media polls) that it was going to be a nail-biter of an election. Then came the crash of the morning after.

Four more years of an enemy to the nation? That's how they felt.

And otherwise rational, red-blooded Americans begin to say,

Hey, he's not MY president.

None of this is new, of course. And I don't mean the Lincoln election of 1860. But, as I have said in different ways before this, I am one who has NOT lived under the president I voted for or supported most of my adult life. In fact, it would only be 16 years since 1968. One Carter, two Clinton and one Obama term. That's just a little over 1/3 of my adult life. The rest, well, there was Nixon and Reagan and Bush 1 and Bush 2. I have had to learn how to live as part of the "loyal opposition." That, by the way is essential, repeat ESSENTIAL, in a democracy. One party systems are not the basis of a republic or a democracy.

But secede? So I went to the White House site and saw the simple petition from Texas:

Peacefully grant the State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.

The US continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government's neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending. The citizens of the US suffer from blatant abuses of their rights such as the NDAA, the TSA, etc. Given that the state of Texas maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th largest economy in the world, it is practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union, and to do so would protect it's citizens' standard of living and re-secure their rights and liberties in accordance with the original ideas and beliefs of our founding fathers which are no longer being reflected by the federal government.

Very calm and straightforward. It's bi-partisan since some of what is opposed is from Republican administrations and some from Democrats. It makes a kind of odd logic.

Except it would begin a process that would see those freedoms and rights undermined. We would no longer be the United States. And what so many have fought and died for will be lost. Perhaps forever.

Yes, I know some believe it is being taken away by the Federal government. I have seen it happening to civil rights under both parties' administrations. The Constitution was abused by Bush and reaffirmed by Obama. Individual rights are curtailed for one reason by the conservatives and for another by the liberals.

Which is why I am glad to always be part of a loyal opposition, even to the president I helped elect.

Will I take the blame if Obama blows it big time? Of course I will have to. I voted for him and I will admit my mistake. Will he still be my president?

OF COURSE, just as Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan was. They were no less MY president than Clinton or Obama. THAT is what my dad fought in World War II to protect. Not to have people want to secede or ignore the way democracy truly works.

I am glad, no I am deeply grateful, that I live in the United States. Sure, I said crazy things back in 1973 when Watergate was falling down around the president, like

Don't blame me, I voted for McGovern.

But I stayed here, an American, and proud to be one. Let's try to do the same in the next four years.