Questing Parson

A Civics Lesson

Congressperson, About Gun Control

Dear Congressperson:

Ooops, I gave myself away right off the bat, didn't I? I mean, using that politically correct saulation of “Congressperson,” you know right off the bat I'm a liberal. However, liberal that I am, you appreciate me. At least that's what your regional assistant told me when he was present for the agency my church partners with to provide for transitional housing reveiving a million dollar grant from the Veterans Administration.Until that photo op I didn't know you were interested in the project.

At any rate, since your representative at that function informed me that you read my newspaper column, I thought I'd take the opportunity to write to you. { Note to staff member reviewing this letter to see if the Congressperson actually gets to read it: Your boss reads my newspaper column! }

I want to take a few words to address the gun control issues that are about to confront Congress. Now, let me say from the start that I'm aware I'm a liberal and you're a Tea Party leaning Republican. But, nevertheless, you do read my column, so please consider the following:

Congressperson, if arming more people would make us more safe, the United States would already be the safest place in the world. Think about it.

And, please don't take this personally, but if you need a semi-automatic rifle with a thirty round clip to hunt deer, please don't hunt them in the forest bordering my property. Instead, take some time to go to a target range and practice.

I do note that even though they give you an A+ rating, the National Rifle Association did not contribute one dime to your reelection campaign. Good for you. At least your'e different from the congressperson in the district bordering ours who also was practically unopposed and who accepted their contributions. So, I'm holding on fervently to the possibility you have a bit of maturity that is needed in these considerations.

Congressperson, you and I will never agree on most things. Let's agree that that is the case. As such, I simply ask you this: When the negotiations begin on this crucial matter of gun control, will you please make your Mama proud by being the adult in the room.

Briefly, Let Me State

So, here's the deal. I've made a pact with myself to resume posting daily. Then I got slammed with pastoral stuff. It's late. I haven't posted. I've been sampling the wine someone gave me as a gift.

I had planned to make some theolgoical observation about the election. I'm too tired, or too ... well, you know ...  so let me sum up my feelings in this way:

Donald Trump is the north end of a south bound horse.

Letter To A Granddaughter On Election Day

Dear Ansley,

I wanted to write and let you know about something I just did, something that was really important. I voted. Yes, I voted once again. I've been making a habit of doing that since 1960. Every two years beginning that year I've marched myself off to the polling place and cast my vote for the candidates I thought would best serve the interests of our country. The last seven times I voted I also cast a ballot for the candidate that I thought would best secure your future. Yesterday was significant. It's significant because the next time there's an election for the President of the United States, you, too, can vote to secure your future.

That's why I'm writing. I've never asked much of you over the years of your young life. In fact, your mother says all I do is give things to you and your sisters. It's time for you to give me a little payback. You can do that by taking out your smart phone right now. Click on your calendar. Go to August, 4, 2015. Make a notation on that day that reads: Register to Vote! On that day you will be old enough to register to vote in the next presidential election. And vote in that election you should do.

Voting is important, Ansley. By exercising your right to vote you can have an influence on the path of this nation in our relationship with other nations, in the manner this country provides for the unfortunate as well as the fortunate. By exercising your right to vote you determine who represents your interest in the halls of Congress, at the state capitol, and in the county commission meetings. By exercising your right to vote you have something to say about the war making powers of the country, the speed limit on the roads, whether or not the pot holes on those roads get patched. By exercising your right to vote you determine the quality of education your children, my grandchildren, receive. In short, sweetheart, by exercising your right to vote you will be making your mark upon the future your children will possess.

So, you will be doing me a great favor if you will mark your calendar now to register to vote in 2015. Getting you to promise to vote is the best thing I can ever give your children.

I do have to warn you, however, that voting can sometimes be frustrating. Sometimes the person you vote for does not get elected. Sometimes the other candidate gets elected. Don't let that discourage you. Even if the other candidate gets elected, that candidate will know you're watching every move and you'll be back at the polls the next time around. In that way voting is a brake on the excesses of that other candidate.

And, should your candidate win, do not gloat. For the winner is also the representative of those other voters. That's the beauty of our system. Once the candidate is elected that candidate becomes the representative of us all.

As I write this, I don't know whether my presidential candidate won or lost. I won't know that for a few more hours. But I do know: Whomever is elected will be my President as well as the President of the others. And giving allegiance to the one elected is the American way – one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

A Looming Issue

There's an election tomorrow. Have you heard?

The pundits still say it's going to be a close one. There's even the possibility of one winning without the majority of the popular vote, again.

What disturbs me most about this election is the possibility one man will win and we all will lose.

We have become a divided nation, a nation of dogmatic positions, of uncompromising demands, a nation of “my way or the highway.”

I can't tell you which program it was, but on a National Public Radio program in the last few days they reported on the extremes to which we've gone. One family was having a cookout, barbequed ribs on the grill. But the husband of the host family told his brother-in-law he would have to bring his own ribs if he was going to vote for President Obama.

I'm not sure exactly what the implications of that conditioned invitation were, the thought a vote could be bought for the price of some ribs, the proclamation of “you're not welcome unless you conform to my views,” or simply “I'm the north end of the southbound horse married to your sister.”

I am sure of this. We are a house divided. We have become a people who believe that those who disagree with us are the enemy. We have little patience for those on the opposite side of the political issue.

Sadly, much of the division is based on a particular religious perspective. It's one I'm not comfortable with, one based on dogmatism, a certainty of the will of God. It is that position that makes me uncomfortable. What kind of God would be a God whose absolute will I could comprehend?

Years ago, I read Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom Coming, The Rise of Christian Nationalism. In this book she illustrates how an increasingly uncompromising fundamentalism is gaining traction in our political processes. She illustrates the ever-widening gap between the believers and the non-believers. I have this dread that, whatever the results of the election, we will be drawn more and more into this divide and the possibility of bridging the chasm will become more and more difficult.

There are times when I feel part of the problem is the hesitancy of those less fundamental, more tolerant of other views, lest prone to wish for some type of oligarchical outcome of the electoral process, never standing up to the fundamental assumptions of the other side. And yet, to stand up with any sense of insistence, would move toward the same intolerance that makes the other side unattractive.

I don't have an answer here. I just raise the question. And I'm firmly convinced that whatever the outcome, whether Mitt Romney is elected or Barack Obama gets another four years, it will not be either of the candidates abilities that determine our future. It will, rather, be our ability to confront, deal with, and resolve the divide between the religious right and left.

An Election Observation

Okay, I confess it: I'm a political junkie. As such, I watched every minute I could of the Republican National Convention. And now I've watched the first day of the Democratic National Convention. I've come to a conclusion.

Now, I try, on this blog, to be politically neutral (although I'm aware if you've read more than a dozen of my posts you may be able to deduce where my political leanings lie). Having said that, I offer this political assessment

I watched every day of the Republican National Convention. Now, I've watched only the first day of the Democratic National Convention. I have come to a conclusion: 

Apparently a course in Effective Public Speaking is not a prequisite for being a player in the Republical Party. 

An Election Observation

Okay, I confess it: I'm a political junkie. As such, I watched every minute I could of the Republican National Convention. And now I've watched the first day of the Democratic National Convention. I've come to a conclusion.

Now, I try, on this blog, to be politically neutral (although I'm aware if you've read more than a dozen of my posts you may be able to deduce where my political leanings are lie). Having said that, I offer this political assessment

I watched every day of the Republican National Convention. Now, I've watched only the first day of the Democratic National Convention. I have come to a conclusion: 

Apparently a course in Effective Public Speaking is not a prequisite for being a player in the Republical Party. 

Bill Moyers Challenges the NRA

The Problem With Politics

I don't know about your neighborhood, but where I live every corner, every intersection, and scattered about the county in the front yards of homes are these signs. They are large signs, sometimes. They are small signs, most about the size of a real estate “For Sale” sign. All these signs have three things in common.

Not one of the signs is proclaiming support for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. Every one of the signs contains the word “Elect or Re-elect.” And every one of the signs promotes a candidate for local office. From State Court judge to District Attorney, from Probate Judge to Chief Magistrate, from Sheriff to Count Commissioner, people want to occupy public office.

Tip O'Neill, the legendary Speaker of the United States House of Representatives said, “All politics is local.” That's the essence of democracy. And it is also the most scary thing about democracy.

Here's the thing. I'm not an uninformed person on the issues facing my local community. I know more that three dozen people around here. I know and am known by the Mayor and the Chairman of the County Commissioners. I write a column for the local newspaper and through those writings have met various people.

I'm troubled by those political signs stuck in the ground at every major intersection and in various front yards. What troubles me is I don't have the slightest idea who the vast majority of those people seeking to become my public servant are. And it's not just me.

I said to a friend the other day, “I see you have a sign to elect Jerry Somebody as Chief Magistrate in your front yard. Tell me about him.”

“Oh,” said my friend, “I don't know much about him. Shirley Cramer knows him and she asked me to put the sign out.”

If the election were held tomorrow I'd go into the voting booth blind as a bat. My selections on the ballot would be multiple guess. I'm starting to scare myself.

“All politics is local.” And because it is, and because I'm so ignorant about my local politics, I'm beginning to understand why so many state legislatures are passing such idiotic bills. “All politics is local.” And because it is, the problem with politics today is me.

A Bill Moyers' Moment ~ Howard Zinn on the Power of Ordinary People