Tag: President Trump

Still A Long Way to Go

I went to bed around Midnight last night.
I was “electioned” out and it was clear updated results would be slow in coming.
I was right.
I am (like everyone else) still waiting.
But one thing is clear.
Nearly half of our country voted for Donald Trump.
I understand policy differences and debates.
In healthy organizations and democracies such debates often lead to better outcomes and decisions. But what I don’t understand is how so many can disregard and be silent about the President’s behavior. In one article I read today a person who voted for President Trump said “he understands that Trump rubs some people the wrong way, but that he agrees with his fiscal and deregulation policies which is why he voted for him.”

“He rubs some people the wrong way.”
No.
It is much more than that.
Much worse than that.
His behavior is wrong.
His racism harms a significant portion of the population he has sworn to protect.
His demeaning words and actions harm women who are more than half our population.
His name calling and lies give tacit permission for others to do the same which tears at the fabric of our democracy.
None of that is okay.
None of that is “rubbing others the wrong way.”
All of that is wrong.
Period.
If I had done or said what the President has I would have lost my job in a heartbeat.
If you had done or said what the President has you would have lost your job in a heartbeat.

Each of them said this in their own way.
Plato. Lincoln. Ellie Weisel. Einstein. And others.
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty of the bad people, but the silence over that of the good people.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

The silence or made up justification for the harm he has done of those who voted for President Trump may be politically expedient, but it has been morally damaging.
I don’t know how to get from where we are to where I think we should be.
But what the last four years and the last 24 hours have proven to me and to many others is we have a long, long way to go.

I Am Not Going To Watch

I am not going to watch tonight.
Or tomorrow night.
Or Wednesday night.
Or Thursday night.
I am not going to watch the Republican National Convention.
I have heard it all before.
A thousand times before.
The false bravado.
The name calling.
The mockery.
The innuendos
And more than that the accusations.
The accusations that people like me who have a different understanding of family and community and country and world are somehow dangerous and not to be trusted. Yet, it is my experience that it is people like this who are the ones who volunteer at the food pantry or give a blanket to the homeless or help immigrants integrate in our communities. We even support our temples and mosques and churches, and take our faith seriously.

But what I don’t get is this.
When did it become okay to cheer on a lie?
When did it become okay to clap when someone calls someone else a derogatory name?
When did it become okay to laugh when another person is mocked?
I want to ask…
When and where did you learn that?
And, what if it was your son or daughter
Or your granddaughter or grandson
Who was being singled out that way.
Would it still be okay then?
Would you still laugh and clap and cheer?
Would you still walk by maybe saying something like “It is what it is.”

I don’t know about you, buy my parents taught me better.
And, my church taught me better.
And, the community in which I grew up taught me better.
And, the country I care about stands for something better.

The Wall

What started out as a rhetorical device has hardened into an actual concrete or steel wall. With that transformation, President Trump has backed us into a corner. It’s hard to imagine that the wall, as envisioned by the President, could work. Resourceful and desperate people would find a way over, under, around or through whatever type of wall we spend the money to build. And that doesn’t begin to take into account the geographic and ecological issues in play in building a wall. Or the fact that, at least some of the land where the wall would go is privately owned.

While President Trump created current problem, the larger fault lies with Congress who has refused or avoided dealing honestly and openly and in a bi-partisan fashion with the whole issue of immigration reform…for nearly 20 years (and maybe even longer than that). And, only Congress can fix it. To move us forward it cannot be the Democrats in the House coming up with a plan and passing it without Republican input and ideas and votes. In the Senate, it cannot be the Republicans meeting in a room by themselves and writing a bill and passing it without Democratic input and ideas and votes. Immigration reform will require bi-partisanship and leadership and courage which right now appears to be in short supply in Washington.

I am neither a politician or a historian, but I do pay attention and I do follow the news and, over the last 20 + years, have spent time in Central America. Here is my list of what needs to be included in comprehensive immigration reform. I am sure the list of issues and concerns is longer than this, but maybe this is a place to begin.

A path to citizenship or some form of legal status for the 15 million immigrants already in our country most of who have been here for years, have a family, have a job and pay taxes.
The same for the DACA students, most of whom were brought to this country as children and this is the only home they have ever know.
An economic policy which improves the stability and economic viability of Central American countries. In the past the United States supported Central American dictators who terrorized their citizens because it was in our economic interest.
A strategy and process to deal openly and speedily with those who are fleeing the violence and repressive politics in their home country.

Please, Congress, be courageous enough to do your job.
Together.

Please Speak Up

I know I am not on your radar screen.
Or your email distribution lists.
Or your social media feeds.
Even if I was I am not important enough or influential enough to catch your attention.
But I am a Christian.
And, a pastor.
I have been both most of my life.
And, I have done and do my best to take the Bible seriously and to follow in the way and the spirit of Jesus.

We differ on many issues.
Abortion.
The death penalty.
The way we treat immigrants.
Our fellow Christians and community members who are LGBTQ.
Even on how we read and understand the Bible.
I get that.
I don’t know what to do about that other than to live out the values of my faith in the best way I know how.
But….
And, here is my question.
How do we understand and live the statement of Jesus:
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

You were at the White House dinner the other evening.
I was not.
The President said that if those who were more liberal than you were elected violence would be the result. He and others are now walking back on that statement trying to say, “This is what the President really meant…” What I need to hear from you is not your trying to explain what the President meant or did not mean when he said that. What I need to hear from you is that violence as a way to resolve issues is not a part of the values of our faith. Whether is the violence of those associated with the antifa movement or the violence of the KKK and white supremists movement or the violence of those whose response to anything which threatens them is to pick up their gun. I need to you stand up and to speak up and to say, “This is wrong. This is not who we are or who we are called to be as People of Faith.”

But, you are not saying that are you?
Here is the price we will both pay.
Those outside the Christian community who are trying to understand who we are and what we value and if and how that might fit in their lives;
Those who look at the violence on the left and the violence on the right and turn their back on both;
All those people are going to hear your silence and never hear my voice and turn away.
Forever.

What If….

What if every time the President called someone a name, all the news channels cut to something else. Someone doing something positive to address the issues and concerns which face us.

What if every time the President said something that was clearly not true, the news channels cut to a different political leader responsibly discussing an issue.

What if every time those who speak for the President dismiss legitimate questions or blame someone else we all turn the station or the page or just walk away.

What if we just quit feeding the frenzy or participating in the craziness?

I know.
The stakes are high.
And, I don’t know what the balance is.
But is it news when the President makes fun of people or calls other people names or intentionally says what is not true or has all this become more a soap opera?

Years ago, I had the privilege of serving as President of our local Board of Education. There were three or four people who at each meeting got up to “air their criticisms and critiques of the decisions we were making.” They often did so in a derogatory fashion which included calling us and school administrators names. After a while I told them they were free to express whatever opinions they would like, but if and when they began to use language which we would not allow students to use I would cut off the microphone and and the video and stop the meeting. They didn’t believe me until I did it. After several meetings, they got the message.

Advent Still

Fires surround Los Angeles. And, three months after Hurricane Maria much of Puerto Rico is still without power and water. And, while they are no longer in the news I am sure communities in Texas and in Florida continue the struggle to rebuild after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. And, families down the street from where I live are still hungry and wondering if they will have enough food for their family. And, it is still Advent.

In announcing his pending resignation from the Senate, Al Franken commented on the irony of his pressured resignation and the fact we still have a President who has been accused of and admitted to sexual abuse. And that a self-professed Christian in Alabama who has been accused of abusing teenage girls and yet who continues to have the backing of his party, and whose supporters dismiss the charges of abuse and a concern for personal morality by saying what they are engaged in is a war is still running for the Senate. And, it is still Advent.

DACA students begin to take their finals as they complete another semester of college holding onto dreams which, as they study, hang by a thread. For most they have known no other home than the one they will return to in another week. What will happen next? They wonder. What will happen to their families? And, it is still Advent.

China issues instructions to its citizens who live along their border with North Korea about how to survive a nuclear explosion. Kim Jong-un issues a statement saying war on the Korean Peninsula is inevitable. President Trump continues to taunt with tweets. And, it is still Advent.

Terrorist strike and terror still kills.
Syria.
Los Vegas.
Pakistan.
New York.
Afghanistan.
Paris.
Just as it did so long ago in Bethlehem.

And, here I sit.
Slogging through, sometimes buried in, the headlines in the news.
And in the fear.
And in the need.
And in the anxiousness.
And in the hate.

One of the consistent refrains in the Biblical texts which we read this time of year is “Fear not.” Two words said over and over again.
To Mary.
To Joseph.
To the shepherds.
To you and me.
That doesn’t mean the reason for the fear goes away.
Caesar still rules.
Brute force still is used.
People still flee for their lives and become refugees.
The neighbor down the street is still hungry.

Looking around.
And feeling the knot in my stomach.
I don’t know how not to be afraid.
And angry.
But it is still Advent.
Believing what I do
I will do my best to hold onto those two words.

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Several things I believe: