Image is EVERYTHING

Once again, I'm surprised by the appearance that image is everything - particularly in the current political climate. A big example is the GOP position that Democrats are for big government - the fact? Current levels of federal government involvement in our lives is a direct result of 8 years of GOP control of the whole legislative system, and building a continuing influence through appointments to the judicial side of government.

Watching Hardball with Chris Matthews tonight, I was struck by the clips he played of Presidents and Senators from both parties going all the way back to Tricky Dick. Health care reform is an old and continuing need for this nation. It is an embarrassment that while we call our nation the best in the world, we are one of a very few, if not the only, industrialized nation without a national health care system that provides health care to all citizens.

It's also embarrassing to hear health care providers admit they defraud the insurance companies by overcharging for supplies! And we wonder why health care is so expensive? Why is it that our representatives cannot come up with enforceable regulations to stop fraud in our health care system? Lobbyists!

That old evil that has always been around, and that we are warned about even in the Hebrew Bible - the love of money -- increase the bottom line over all other concerns - short cuts in production of medicines, in treatment programs, over-charging insurance companies or the government, turn away the people who most need the coverage to help with the cost of conditions that just soak up money because of our system. That is just wrong!

Blind Bigotry

One of the on-going sources of pain in my faith life is the manner in which Israel seems unable to see or feel the pain they cause the rest of the world by their blind, unthinking, unfeeling, arrogant hatred of the Palestinian community - nor can they seem to see how they perpetuate the things done to the Jews by the way they treat these people they displaced much as the Germans displaced people when they were in their wars of conquest. Nations like the US try to reach out and find a peaceful way to allow Israel and the Palestinians to live, each in their own lands, and Israel plays a teasing game of "Of course we'll enter peace talks," and "Hurry, build another invasive settlement in direct violation of previous agreements!"

And tonight I saw another story that just confirms this. The Vice-President tries to restart the peace talks that Israel said they wanted to restart, and they announce the start of construction on another settlement. To quote a show my son used to loved to watch on TV, "Doh!"

I recall an incident from some years ago, when a colleague of the Episcopal persuasion went to Israel, returned to the states and spoke of his experiences, describing the treatment of Palestinians that at the time were still allowed into Israel for work and shopping - and comparing some of the tactics he saw as similar to the Gestapo treatment of Jews under Hitler - dragging people off buses because they were Palestinian, stopping them on the streets for no other reason than that, brutality, insensitivity to persons acting normally. A Jewish colleague came to me later and demanded to know if that other had called the Jews Nazis. I spent a good bit of time calming my Jewish colleague and finally was able to get the concept of "treatment similar to" across.

Many of the Jews I've known in this country are as perplexed by Israel's policies and action as are non-Jews. And I find myself simply unable to comprehend that inability to see how badly they are damaging their image in the eyes of the world - and another analogy of current affairs lifts its ugly head, that of the Republican party that cannot seem to see how out of touch their views are with the majority of this nation's citizens, while they continue to plow the same furrow over and over again, offending more and more people by lies, hate, bigotry and so on.

God gave us brains to think with, hearts to feel with, and hands to help our brothers and sisters in this life. When we won't think, can't feel, and hurt instead of helping - what message to we send to our God? What message do we send about our so-called faith?

Peace!

Civility in Public Life

What is it with people in our society that have lost power? I'm thinking of a story I just read on Yahoo News about a "Tea Party" speaker from eastern Washington state who said a Democratic senator from her state should be hanged, then claimed her remarks were taken out of context. Out of context? Lady, if you said it, you should be so ashamed of yourself that you withdraw from public life completely!

We claim to be the best country in the world, but we have lost the sense of civility and the understanding that we only accomplish our full potential as a nation when we work together respectfully! When the so-called leaders of our government feel free to use such language, when one party or the other decides they will become obstructionist rather than loyal opposition, then we fall from our perceived lofty heights. If we, as a nation, want the world to look up to us, we need to rediscover what it means to be a nation that can reach out to all our many parts, we need political commentators that are able to see the good in persons of leadership rather than tearing at them and their positions like mad beasts, we need to stop seeing surface things like skin color, party affiliation, gender, mental or physical ability, or even sexual orientation or religion - WE NEED TO SEE THE PERSON - and accept them as another member of our great big extended family - because we all know we don't get along perfectly with our family members, but we still love them and seek to keep good relationships with them. That also needs to be part of our civil discourse!

I have been a member of both the Republican and Democratic party, and I've complained about the actions of both. But I have never been more ashamed of a political party than I am right now with the Republican Party that has become, truthfully, the party of NO! And how they can continue to let hate-mongers like Limbaugh and Beck and O'Reilly to speak for them, fill their public image with insane, unthinking and unceasing lies about what is currently happening in our country - I'll never understand. There are bad people in both parties, and no politician is every above the law - though some obviously think they are - so we truly need, as citizens and voters, to show that we will no longer stand for those who deal in hate, lies and deceit. When a politician lies, cheats, or is shown to be in the pocket of special interest, we need to vote them out of office!

My father became so disenchanted with politicians years ago that he stated would no longer vote for and incumbent, because incumbents seemed to always be in the pocket of someone. I'm not ready to go there, but I do believe we need to send a strong message to Washington and our state capitals that we will no longer tolerate the current climate of hate and distrust. I do not believe Evan Byah was doing his best for the country this last little while, but I do believe his comments about voters needed to send a stronger message to Washington, specifically the Senate.