It seems more and more likely that politics and patriotism have become separated at both body and soul. This is not unique to any one party or level of governance. Today, for example, the President is speaking at the United Nations and, politically, is undoing what appeared to be his operating moral imperative of working to bring the parties in the Israeli-Palestinian situation together by means of a negotiated solution, he has “discovered” that many of the GOP leaders have developed a crush on supporting Israel to the extent of denying foreign aid to the Palestinians.
This follows concerted action and actual military support of insurgents in Arab nations such as Egypt, Libya, and Syria to overthrown established governments in favor of who knows what. It even meant deserting a friendly leader, Mubarak of Egypt.
This discontinuity of moral fiber has undermined our national security, further corroded our financial picture, and put American military and civilians at considerable risk. Why? can you say politics? Let it roll off the tongue… politics.
This has become par for the course in the United States. We see it everyday in our domestic policy. Our President has surrendered any shred of respectability for what the Greeks called “hubris” or excessive arrogance and pride. The GOP seems to be running on the Evangelical slate and again, we have God speaking privately to selected folks in cowboy boots or living in the frozen north. There seems to be no exit, no way out of this dilemma. Ideology has always proven to be the disease that has destroyed nations and that appears to be the road most traveled in this day and age.
I wish it could be quarantined to Washington so we can begin fresh with strong state and local governments remembering and refreshing our faith in community and family. But that seems to be a blocked path as well. If we get citizen movements they seem to suffer from the same afflictions. Military veteran groups, most often consisting of people who served post Viet Nam, form and indicate a blind preference for ex service members. Unions walk the path of members only and the more affluent among us have their own membership requirements generally fronted by political contributions and lobbyists.
Somewhere the oil has gone out of Diogene’s lamp; you remember him I think — he carried a lantern looking for an honest man. No oil no light. No collaboration, no principle, no moral turpitude, no salvagable world and livable society.
Even the format and formula for easing our tangled economic and “values” webs are warped and easily discarded by the next poll in line. The deficit, the budget, the recommendations for building up the job base in our society is frankly, so warped, so incomplete, so inadequatedly labeled and defined, that you can easily trace who defended what by what is said in opposition or defense of an idea. Obama’s latest version is two years late, dead on arrival, and totally a non-starter. Forget the merits if any….. it is immoral to raise the expectations of people out of work and those suffering economically by offering false premises and hopes simply for political gain. The disloyal opposition is no better — they are defending a system with language like “job creators” which has its own false premises and hopes — jobs are created but created elsewhere in this global economy and the only creation is the fattening of the cash-heavy balance sheet and wallets of the business leaders and their support systems.
I have said and continued to say that when the President and Congress threw the Simpson-Bowles report under the bus of politics, they did irreparable harm to our citizens. This committee was comprised of loyal, experienced, and bi-partisan Americans who knew how to think critically and act in the best interest of our nation.
I suppose I have become perhaps too pessimistic, even ugly in my denouncement of governance and the political theater. The theater is comedic in part, but the tragic element outweigh that diversion by more than I care to think about at this point. It is especially heart-wrenching when you reflect upon the last 60 Minutes broadcast where the incredible, “insane bravery” of Sgt Dakota Meyer and his colleagues was highlighted. This man risked it all, lost 4 fine comrades, rescued well over a couple of dozen of his Afghani mates, and did it despite a bureaucratic lack of field support from the upline command structure. Sounds like they threw him and his surviving herioc comrades under the bus as our leaders have done too often with our political comrades in other nations. It also irks me when so called “social progressives” introduce many programs, places or things as being “diverse.” Another code word for a benign racist attitude from my point of view. Sgt Meyer’s mates were the best we have to offer in American; a number of the survivors received the Navy Cross and were African American and Latino; the dead were of similar backgrounds as well as Afghani. No hint of “diversity” there; only patriotic Americans doing their duty and actually disobeying the bureaucratic stranglehold that contributed to the loss of life by taking matters into their own hands at great, great risk.
So, in a future blog, I will speak about one or two politically driven bottlenecks, road blocks and just plain porous planning and decision making that mar our abiity as a community to move collectively forward. What I see is marginally representative of what I see nationally, but the stakes are no less real here.
Finally, I most vehemently object to the mocking of God by those in office who would tout a “special calling” or relationship with the Creator. I would hold them responsible if that extended to the mockinig of people who doubt or disbelieve. Nothing at all wrong with that… people must find their own road and it is rocky indeed. New Rochelle needs to gather up all people, regardless of race, religion, nationality or lack of religion for that matter under the banner of true patriotism which is not “sunshine patriotism” but recognzing what our Founding Fathers and those from abroad recognized as our uniqueness and greatness…. our acceptance, individualism, tempered and nourished by our willingness to join together for common causes and common good. The Church leaders have to unloosen their collars and robes and hit the streets. Parents must parent and children must understand more than a rejection of what they perceive as an unjust society and build, not tear down, but build.
We have Habitat, we have Community Enrichment, many neighborhood associations, and, I think many more honest people in office than we think or I suggest by this prose. The problem is largely working to be re-elected not working for the community. It is ignoring the basic needs in favor of the more “hubris” driven legacy needs. Echo Bay is an important idea for 2015 after we provide safety and service for downtown and build a midtown or downtown vibrant retail based community. Ancillary eductional experiences, such as music, theater, dance, are necessary, fulfilling but are not as important as Science and Math. Our new immigrant children, documented or otherwise, must be integrated into our society and that goes well beyond demanding teachers do the impossible. They should not be raising children, they should be instructing and energizing young minds. We need parents, guardians, and neighborhoods to raise children and the religious community to undertake the oversight and spiritual guidance path.
Remember God will not be mocked! And remember still, as Carl Sagan said, “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” So in the tent of New Rochelle, the United States and the world there is plenty of room for believers and skeptics alike. Just don’t think you are “special” if you are part of either group.