Thankful… for….?

It doesn’t quite seem like it should be Thanksgiving.  The weather has been too warm (until this weekend), the time too early, the election far too fresh, the mood not quite right.  And yet….here it is.

On an individual level, I struggle with giving thanks.  Life is not as I wished, not as I expected.  My life seems less full, just plain “less” than others.  And yet… and yet.  I have my health (not withstanding plantar in my feet and SAD in my head).  I enjoy my job (mostly). My apt is nice and sunny and cozy, lined with books.  Benny has been a great joy, all 14 lbs of feline affection that he is.  Mom is still alive and healthy, even having barreled past 90 a few years ago.

Nationally, I struggle as well.  I’m concerned both with the outcome of the election and with the tone of the country during the election.  And yet…..despite the challenges, our election was peaceful, our protests within the bounds of what has been done in the past.  In this respect we are far better off than Greece, and their last round of protests. Or any number of African countries where elections lead to coups or riots that destroy have of a capital city.  We are far better off than Syria, in the midst of a civil war longer than ours.  Or Iraq, being slowly carved apart literally and figuratively by ISIS murderers. Or Venezuela suffering through catastrophic economic issues.  Or El Salvador with gang murders. Or North Korea with…..nothing for anyone but Un dear leader.

Are things great?  No.  But I am thankful that they are as good as they are.  That I have the ability to appreciate that, and the ability to change what I don’t like.  That I can take a day (or more) out to thank God that I have been blessed….if I just open my eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving.

http://www.organisedlifeandmind.com/thanksgiving/

No, God didn’t….

One of the more disturbing quotes I’ve seen since the election came from Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and an evangelical leader in his own right. I have, until now, had the greatest respect for Franklin Graham and the great good that has been done by Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child.  However, his politics has become increasingly far right in recent years.   The quote I found upsetting was “….I believe that God’s hand intervened Tuesday night to stop the godless, atheistic progressive agenda from taking control of our country.”

http://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-millennials-hold-your-nose-vote-donald-trump-interview-171370/

No, God didn’t.  At least not the God I’ve known and worshiped.

I do not believe that God intervened in the election  on the politics of one side, because it would mean that God would be endorsing the politics and morals (or lack thereof) of the winning side. I do not believe that God intervened for the prayers of hundreds of thousands of Trump evangelicals and ignored the prayers of the hundred of thousands of anti-Trump Christians (yes, you can be Christian and be anti-Trump). I understand that the political evangelical community supported Trump over Clinton because of Trump’s anti-abortion stance (although it’ll be interesting to see how that works out).  I understand that many of that community would support a perceived pro-Christianity/anti-Muslim stance (from a man who has said he hasn’t had to ask God for forgiveness, because he hasn’t done much wrong, according to his own words in the campaign).  But did God intervene in the election to support a man who doesn’t need to involve God (Trump’s words)? A man who was unfaithful to his first two wives? A man who failed to render unto Caesar what was Caesar’s in his taxes, or render unto God what is His? A man who has said he has little to ask God’s forgiveness for? Or whose whole campaign was the antithesis of the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control)?  A man who used blatant lies about a birth certificate and faith to denounce, challenge, and belittle an intelligent, faithful man?

I am tired of the evangelical “christian” community invoking God’s name for all manner of things to make some political statement, usually one with some aspect of hate, division, self-righteousness.  This isn’t the first time the evangelical community has done this.  It has happened with California droughts, with AIDS, with Katrina, with Sandy.  And now this.  I see no respect for God or His word in this politicizing of events, especially in a case where the alleged benefactor is so totally an anathema to the Gospel of love and grace.

I wonder, though.  Perhaps the evangelicals should consider a case where God did answer the prayers of a people…prayers that were perhaps as equally based politics.  The Israelites wanted a king, they wanted one badly.  So God gave them one, Saul.  He was not what they hoped for, and in their answered prayer their relationship with God was forever altered, for the worse.

Whether in direct actions by the new President, or in the inevitable backlash of the rest of the country, I wonder if this “intervening” will work out the way they think.

#HoCoFaith

Civics

I wonder if perhaps we all need a serious civics lesson.

http://www.civics-online.org/

Not a lesson in civility (although God knows we desperately need that!) but in civics, the study of American government. I don’t know when they stopped teaching it, but it seems they must have abandoned its teaching sometime after I took it.  Watching the news and the protests, it appears that many have forgotten all about what the system is about, how it operates, what checks and balances are and why they are important.

http://slideplayer.com/slide/6060098/

I first became aware of this with some of the extreme right, and their fears.  The fears expressed were that the power of the President was sufficient to allow him to ban all guns, and to outlaw Christianity.  Of course, if the President had that power, I suspect some (several?) would have used it.   These, interestingly, are the same people who think the President can unilaterally build a wall and deport aliens.  Uh, no.  On all of those topics.  But I see a thread, that the fear of the power on one hand gives rise to its being used on the other.

On the other side, there seems to be some belief that the outcome of the election can be changed because it isn’t what some wanted, it isn’t what some desire.  Again…uh,no.  We have elections, and we have outcomes.  The outcome remains regardless of whether you agree with it or not.  The outcome was (in this case) arrived out without election fraud, bribery, hanging chads, or any illegal means.  Not liking the outcome and having it overturned for that reason….that just leads to anarchy, because once you do it to the candidate you don’t like the opposition will do to the candidate you do like that they don’t.  Total anarchy.

I suspect that it’s too much to expect an understanding of civics in a country where the most divisive and contentious election in memory fails to move 50% of the population to bother to even cast a vote (including a knee-taking quarterback and several quoted demonstrators on the west coast). Maybe that explains why half of those that did apparently think the President can do all manner of actions without regard to the law, courts, or Congress.

Maybe we need to bring Schoolhouse Rock back

 

#notmypresident is wrong

One of the forms of protest that I’ve seen has been #notmypresident.
That is totally and completely wrong.

http://wjtv.com/2016/11/09/notmypresident-trending-on-twitter-after-donald-trump-win/

I was not a fan of either candidates during the election, and was shocked and dismayed at the outcome.  I dislike practically every aspect of him — his attitude, his policies, his campaign, his political knowledge, his crassness.  But despite this, there is no way I can tolerate a protest like #notmypresident. I may not like it, but he IS our president (or will be in January).

Our democracy is built on the election of our representatives, including the President, by the people. I may disagree with the direction of the people, I may think they have made a terrible mistake, but I have to live the decision.  Those who would scream that he is not their president, especially since there was no hanging-chad basis for claiming somehow that the results were wrong, are no better than he who would claim a rigged and stolen election before it even started.

When we fail to follow the legitimate outcome, we destroy the democracy we profess to want.  We end up in unstructured governmental anarchy, or as we have recently seen, gridlock.  That has been the result during the last 8 years, a self-serving gridlock generated by those who raised every conceivable contrivance and slanderous falsehood to deny the legitimacy of the President.  The end result has been a total loss of civility in the political arena, and inability to cooperate to the point that just before the election the Republican party was not even able to govern itself (a condition I suspect will continue going forward).  We cannot afford to continue this trend, to sow such seeds of discourse and destruction into the country.

If you want a rallying cry, find another one.  They should be easy to create and popularize.

#notmypolicies

#notmyvalues

#nomoreracism

I do not agree with Trump’s platform.  I did not vote for him.  However, he was legitimately elected; he IS our president. The “rules”of America are that the outcome of fair elections are observed and respected.  If you can’t live with that until the next election, go to another country.

Or stay and engage in legitimate, loyal opposition, and use the role of loyal opposition to ensure that all perspectives are heard, all rights observed, all people valued.  But don’t make the matter worse by saying he isn’t our President.