Some Questions for Both Sides of the Aisle

The current descent into the politics of intimidation and reaction is not serving our nation well. As long as the votes are there, the current administration doesn't give a fig about what the other party or even a majority of Americans think - they know better and they are counting on ignorance and neediness to fuel their agenda. The Republican and Tea Party reactions (not always the same thing) are sometimes cogent and sometimes incoherent, but they are powered by a deep anger rooted in the loss of liberty. The problem for the Republicans is that they have not demonstrated how to cover the uninsured cost-effectively and empower the states to roll up their sleeves and solve the problems. For every Republican who screams against the stimulus and big government, there is another one cutting a ribbon on a project funded by Washington.

I have some questions for both sides that may unite thoughtful people behind a real revolution of love and service.

Mr. President, will you please come clean with your history and dispel all the rumors about your birth, education, publications and past work efforts? You promised transparency and we are getting obfuscation. I think you may want a veil of mystery to demonize your enemies, polarize the web world and stay in power. Please open the files and all this can go away. I am a historian - I just want to know. I wish I could take your word for it, but Watergate taught me to be skeptical. Allay my fears and tell the truth.

Mr. Steele and the RNC, will you please offer solutions to real problems that unite instead of divide, demonstrate justice and compassion and the proper balance of federal and state power? Many in the Republican Party forget that it took the federal government to enforce the rights of millions to vote. It was Republican lawmakers, along with fair-minded Democrats, that gave President Johnson a Civil Rights Act and a Voting Rights Act. Along with individual and neighborhood initiatives with civil and religious groups, there is a place for the federal government - enforcing the inalienable rights of the Constitution. It was Eisenhower who intervened for education. It was a Supreme Court that ended the nonsense of "separate but equal." Stop railing and start offering statesmanship and perhaps non-white voters will see your side.

Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid, how about living with the same rules that you impose upon us? In fact, in the name of fairness and public service, how about having all federal employees live under the same rules the rest of us endure? How about having pension plans that reflect real money in, a normal risk and pay out what the rest of the hard-working population receives? Why are you exempt from the ethical and financial rules? How come your negotiations were secretive when you promised a new tone in Washington?

Dear Tea Party friends: In addition to protest and petition, blogging and electioneering, how about mobilizing business, civic, educational and religious leaders to transform neighborhoods, one friendship and one project at a time? You do not need to change your convictions. Your desire to "throw the bums out" and have new voices is refreshing. But your passions are hollow without concrete action.

To all "Progressives" - most of which are funded by global capitalists like Moore and Soros: While you continue your venomous attacks on Israel and the USA, on Catholics and Evangelicals, on conservatives and others who stand for liberty, where is your call for personal integrity and responsibility? Why do you have to excoriate a Democrat like Bill Cosby for his advocacy that Dads and Moms actually be adults? Why do you ignore the failed experiments of Soviet and Eurcommunism and keep advocating for more bureaucratic machinery? Why do you pile on ad hominem attacks on Sarah Palin while ignoring the lives destroyed by Rahm Emmanuel?

To all conservatives: Where is the fresh vision for the future that is more than nostalgia? Where are the real answers for immigration that protect us and open opportunity for hard-working folks? Where are the infrastructure resources going to come from? How can the free market be greener and unleash its creativity? Will you be more nuanced so we can defend traditional marriage while allowing others some legal way to share joy and suffering, property and posterity? Can we be completely pro life and not only defend the unborn and aged, but the working class from Walmart exploitation?

Americans are better than the current rhetoric. Let's prove it with renewed faith, new friendships and a future empowered by our Founder's principles.

The Coming Awakening

The collectivists have won a Pyrrhic victory with health care. Far from uniting Americans, The Obama Administration has unleashed a new level of histrionics and partisanship. The Chicago-style arm-twisting and pay-offs to drug companies, politicians and federal unions is not what we were promised in 2008. Conversely, the Republicans have failed to offer solid hope to the millions of uninsured and their leaders are all competing for attention while we sink deeper in debt and dependency. The language of both sides makes Watergate look like the Waltons.

Critiques from the Left and Right are easy to find. Where are the voices proposing solutions that empower individuals and communities?

There is great news in the midst of the chaos and posturing. There is an awakening coming that we can prepare for and participate in. This awakening is moral, spiritual, political and social, with economic ramifications for generations to come. This awakening transcends ideology and policy disputes while upholding timeless ethical standards. This awakening is a gift and a demand. It is a grace beyond our control and it will cost us our arrogance and antipathy. This awakening will expose the oppressions of global elites and unveil our personal hypocrisy. We will be called to live with the paradoxical truths that humility is the pathway to honor and service the is the road to success. Narcissism - the pathology of so many public figures - has no place in this awakening. Ideologies and propaganda will yield to enduring principles and caring explanations of truth.

I am not speaking of some kind of nebulous "new age" cosmic consciousness. It is alarming that so many want ecstasy without ethics, spiritual flights with no relational integrity.

I am also not speaking of some kind of 19th century Christian theocracy. There are no "good old days" - only the mixed record of real people grappling with issues. For every great social reformer, we see colonizers and slaveholders defending their turf. For every awful moment of US hubris, we have many more moments of sacrificial love and service by people of all faiths or none.

The awakening I pray and prepare for is spiritual. I still believe the Good News of freedom and forgiveness proclaimed by Jesus. This said, there is an overflow of spiritual awakening that blesses all people and releases the best in humankind, whether or not we all believe the same thing. Yes, I want my friends to believe in the Cross and resurrection and find a good church. But I will partner with all people of good will and defend the rights of others to believe and worship as they see fit while we work for better neighborhoods and cities.

This awakening is moral. After 50 years of increasing relativism and secularism, we find ourselves without a private or public center that transcends the trends. Apart from abandonment, abuse and adultery, parents owe it to their children to face their issues and learn to love and respect each other. A loving marriage is the greatest legacy parents can give. Having children is NOT about personal fulfillment - it is about faith in the future and donating ourselves to the next generation.

This moral awakening includes an "off" button for the television and computer. Self-discipline is more powerful than censorship and marginalizing the purveyors of degradation is better than legal sanctions. This said, a real awakening will stimulate discussion over what we permit, prohibit and promote as a society. Will we have civil discourse or just keep yelling epithets at one another?

This awakening unites ecological sanity and economic stimulation. Entrepreneurial passions are joined with social responsibility for a better future. Private property is protected and reasonable local standards upheld. Governments and individuals learn to live within their means and discover the abundance that is available to help the less fortunate. Global capitalism and political collectivism are exposed and rejected in favor of ethical free market policies judiciously regulated.

Active peacemaking will humble the haughty in the State Department and restrain the militarists. In between the extremes of some forms of Zionism and pan-Arabist extremism are answers for Israel's survival and the thriving of Arab Palestinians.

As millions of Christians decide to live the red letters in their Bibles and walk with integrity, others will take time to consider their own moral and spiritual center. If all people of conscience live according to their highest aspirations, our world is a better place. We can still evangelize each other. But we should, in the words of St. Peter, do so with gentleness and respect, allowing our lives to speak more loudly than our words.

We do not control the will of the Almighty and the winds of awakening. We do, however, have the power to live each day with a view to God's glory and the good of others. We do have the opportunity to serve our neighbors. We can work together to educate, heal and protect one another.

For my fellow-Christians, let's humbly and tearfully cry out for Divine mercy as we serve the broken, poor and vulnerable. Let's stop warring over trivialities and let the truth of our beliefs show as we walk in faith, hope and love.

For my friends of other faiths or none: I really do want you to believe and receive the Gospel. In the meantime, let's be friends, work together where we can and debate our deepest differences with mutual respect. My "narrow road" is not intolerance. In fact, as you survey where freedom exists around the world, you will see some influence of the Judeo-Christian perspective (as well as Classical and Enlightened thought). That said, I stand with you to oppose all forms of bigotry and hatred. We will not agree on everything and sometimes our exchanges will be heated. But we can find common ground to build something better for our children.

This awakening will not be one event in one place, led by one leader. I think it is already beginning in thousands of hearts and hamlets. Thank you to all the humble clergy and laity, educators and social workers, executives and workers who are part of the solution.

"Bring Him [Her] Home"

The haunting lyrics and music of "Bring Him Home" in the musical Les Miserables provide the context for consideration of U.S. foreign policy and the deployment of our military around the world. The moment family and friends say farewell to our women and men in uniform, the longing for return is present. We celebrate the courage and sacrifice of those who are in harm's way, while lamenting the circumstances that place them there. I have spoken to many military officers and to a person they aim to protect their soldiers while fulfilling the mission.

Since World War II, the USA military has been present around the world. In some cases, we are welcome, as we provide the first line of defense for smaller nations against totalitarian aggressors (think South Korea). In other locales, we have born the brunt of the cost of freedom while historic allies rebuilt their economies (NATO). At other times, we have engaged in controversial conflicts with mixed or negative results (Vietnam, and multiple Caribbean and Latin American interventions) that fuel anger and distrust.

The foci of our efforts since 9/11 include defeating terrorism overseas and defending allies from regimes bent on their destruction (Afghanistan, Iraq and other Middle East deployments by air and sea). The results are mixed. Bush-haters point to the loss of life, fiscal black hole and animus toward the USA. Conservatives respond rhetorically with, "Well, no one has attacked us since 9/11, have they?" and they point to recent intelligence materials that reveal a complex web of misinformation on WMD's.

President Obama rode a wave of disgust toward the Bush years as well as a tsunami of historic hope all the way to Washington. He also pledged to bring American troops home as soon as possible, declaring Bush policies a failure in their current constructs.

Well, the exigencies of governing in the real world bring us to our current state of confusion. How do we confront terrorism, without egregious loss of life, unending occupation of other lands and spiraling deficits?

We need a Third Way for 21st century military action. Without being the world's policeman, a neocolonial occupation force or reverting to "fortress America", we can forge a sane policy. The answer is to target specific locations of terrorism, intervene with overwhelming force and hand over the reigns to local leaders in weeks, not months. Terrorism knows no geography and is no respecter of civilian and military opponents. Our military actions must fall within very specific boundaries of just war theory. We must reject the preemptive philosophy of Bush and the contempt for the military that is just under the surface of the current Administration.

We should station strike forces strategically so that we can respond to known threats in consultation with allies. We should also bring home all but essential personnel from any lands capable of defending themselves. NATO needs us as one ally, not the bank roller and burden-bearer that lets the EU develop her competitive economy while we bear their military costs.

We should help create an Iraqi Confederation that will defend itself soon and keep some troops there (as part of a real Allied force) to respond to serious threats. Afghanistan is almost intractable. She has resisted multiple empires and seems organically incapable of moderate self-rule. The best we can hope for is a UN presence and thousands of business and charity agencies establishing sufficient critical mass so that the major tribes can resist the Taliban. Let's turn over the nation-building to public and private civilian agencies and charities made for that purpose and bring our troops home. Let's bring most of our European troops home. Let's streamline our systems, give our great soldiers the support they need for care and transition and start rebuilding our domestic infrastructure.

Peacemaking is more than Sate Department elites engaged in endless conversation. Peacemaking is more than military intervention. Peacemaking requires the courage of millions to say no to fear, stand up to intolerance and forge a better future. Where are the Palestinian leaders who will unequivocally acknowledge Israel as a legitimate nation and future partner for peace? Every truce, every accord has come with an offer of friendship, yet the radical leaders refuse. Will thousands of Arab Christians and moderate Muslims finally say, "Enough!" to Hamas and others and decide to renounce all terrorism, all extermination language and secure a place for their children to grow up without hate? The media focuses on the 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem and misses the self-destruction of Gaza after the Israeli withdrawal. The fences bring derision, while unreasonable demands are couched as part of "negotiations." How about mobilizing thousands of Afghan Muslim women to say no to the Taliban? What about waging peace with massive business development and relief efforts in Iraq that will reveal the paucity of radical alternatives?

We need more peacemaking, more private investment, more charitable action and more moral courage. We do not need more government programs with all their corruption and inefficiency. Let's bring our brightest minds from all fields together, work on plans that will work and watch the real genius of liberty transform what look like intractable situations into opportunities for freedom.

Health Care: Too Important to Rush

Why are the Democrats determined to ram through a health care package, regardless of the fiscal impact on anyone who makes a decent wage?

One answer: Do it now before the conservative backlash leads to a loss of influence and seats in November.

Second - and more nefarious - answer: Do it now before the economy rebounds and people have other things on their mind. Create a dependent class that will vote for you in perpetuity.

Third answer: Health care is a moral imperative and now is the time.

I wish answer # 3 was the driver - then real dialogue and a better way forward can be mapped out. Thoughtful Democrats and Republicans want people to have medical coverage that is reasonable. The problems stem from how it is administrated; in other words, where the money goes.

The Democrats have offered nothing on legal liability (tort) reform to protect doctors. The Republicans need to rise to Obama's bullying and offer a comprehensive, decentralized and ethical set of ideas that hold private enterprise accountable while avoiding a federal system.

The arrogance of the current administration eclipses anything in US history, save FDR's attempts to circumvent the Constitution and pack the Supreme Court.

Republicans are equally to blame for failing to curb spending since 1980 and failing to hold business accountable for their over-speculation. While collar felons need to experience the same prison conditions as pot dealers on the street.

This morning's headlines made me shudder. The "in your face" attitude of those in power in contrary to everything we were promised in November 2008.

The people in power today were educated and mentored in the post-Vietnam deconstructionism, revisionism and neo-Marxism of the 1970s. They really despise traditional values, make back room deals with certain capitalists, and consider themselves smarter than Joe the Plumber and anyone else in flyover country. They despise the Tea Party movements (using their own "AstroTurf" pejorative) while failing to listen deeply to the concerns underneath the slogans. They insult Governor Palin mercilessly while ignoring Obama's refusal to have a real press conference for over seven months. They think they can rewrite the moral order, redefine the family and re-educate students to be global citizens. Unfortunately, most of these folks failed Econ 101.

Some conservatives have not helped things with reactionary histrionics and timeworn cliches. We can reduce some military spending. We can assimilate immigrants judiciously. We can affirm the traditional family while creating space for other domestic arrangements. We can unleash wealth creation that has the community and environment in mind. It is time to stop reacting and start offering real solutions that provide real jobs.

Health care reform is needed. But it is too important to rush. My only hope is that it can be overturned by a wiser Congress after the 2010 or 2012 elections. Read the details - most of the provisions kick in gradually and many after 2013. The presumption of power is frightening and should be a cause of concern to all thoughtful people.

Ethical Innovation: Economics and the Environment

The "climategate" news is fueling the "deniers" of global warming (or climate change)and causing environmental advocates to find other ways to raise money for their overhaul of the world economy. Meanwhile, China, India and Russia continue to grow their economies on fossil fuels, thumb their noses at any binding climate agreements and the good people of the USA wonder what to believe. Even President Obama is speculating about nuclear power (and he pronounces "nuclear" correctly).

I think it is the height of hubris to think that humankind can seriously alter climate cycles. But it is also the depth of foolishness to ignore the serious environmental issues of the 21st century.

We need a new environmental ethic that thoughtful people of all faiths and nationalities can embrace. We need guidelines for planet care that do not destroy our fragile ecosystems while ensuring resources for future economic growth and sustainability.

There are three axioms and eight action steps we can affirm and pursue as we choose to cooperate rather than compete as a global community. There is room for entrepreneurship and private property while we provide for environmental regulation and the collective good.

Axiom One: We are stewards of an amazing planet and have the power and resources to destroy or improve many of its systems. Though I am skeptical on some aspects of climate change, the evidence of history reveals the impact we make on our cosmic sphere. When I was a child, the Great Lakes were unswimmable and the symbol of all that was wrong with capitalism. Today, they are much improved due to environmental regulation, economic ingenuity and the discovery that all benefit when we think long-term about earth care. I challenge my free market friends to not just rail against regulation - design products and services that have a softer footprint and renewability. You will be richer and our world will be here for our descendants. I challenge environmental advocates to realize that wealth is created from the judicious use of resources. Over-regulation will ultimately dry up the grants and taxes you depend on for your livelihood. Stop hating business and private property and see the connection between economic and political freedom.

Axiom Two: The economics of earth is not a zero sum game. Wealth can be created. Our planet is not one pie that must be sliced into seven billion pieces. There are some finite resources. But we are constantly discovering new ones and new ways to generate products and services. Rapaciously clearing the rain forests of Brazil is foolish. Those same rain forests have renewable resources that are making our lives healthier. An almost deforested Ohio is now awash in beautiful forests, with more trees that in 1900. We can heal and renew some ecosystems. Some cities in China (yes, China) are working to limit pollution and recycle resources.

Axiom Three: We must balance personal freedom and opportunity with local and global community cohesion. We know that over-centralized, state-owned and state-operated economies do not work long-term. We also know that unregulated global capitalism does not care one bit about the lives of locals. Recent Copenhagen climate change leaders wanted it both ways - a share in carbon-trading firms and Tata motors while urging the rest of us to live on less! At the same time, my father and friends are diligently resisting over development in a county that can barely sustain its current population.

Once we are past the Either/Or fallacy (community vs. private; freedom vs. regulation, etc.) we can take judicious action and build a better future. Here are some action steps that can improve our national economy - not at the expense of the planet, but in support of the long term good of the world.

Action Step One: Unleash current energy sources while developing greener ones. The USA has massive coal and oil reserves. Let's use them wisely AND develop the greener technologies. The Right rejects alternative fuels because of their expense ind infrastructure problems. The Left wants us all on bicycles until we have solar cars. I am using hyperbole to make a point. We can drill, develop carefully and unleash creativity. We can even consider nuclear options. One of the hypocritical realities about our European friends and rivals is that much of their energy is nuclear. It is easy for them to tell us to stop drilling while their fuel rods animate their economies! All of this activity must be done with real standards in place - enforced by the USA, not the UN.

Action Step Two: Localize and regionalize economic development. Take the decisions out of the hands of Washington, D.C. and place them with people who actually live there. We must rediscover City Hall and our state capitals. Our representatives in Washington need to stop boasting about their delivery of D.C. pork and start working to reduce the size of the federal government and unleash the creativity of local leaders. Republicans should be ashamed of voting against stimulus spending and then cutting ribbons for projects funded by the same dollars. Democrats need to balance a budget, period.

Action Step Three: Increase education concerning the environment, but do not make free enterprise or Western civilization the only evils! The consequences of seventy years of communism in the former USSR and Warsaw Pact is evidence that a centralized system can pollute much more than capitalism! At the same time, the Love Canal and Erin Brockovich narratives remind us that there are no "acceptable" human costs when there is prior knowledge of risk. The Sahara Desert is growing every year. This is the result of centuries of deforestation, warfare and short-sighted thinking. It will take private-public partnership to reverse this.

Action Step Four: This is a principle more than an action, but it is vital to our future. We must build our future on faith not fear. For two centuries, from Walden Pond to Rachael Carson, from the delusions of Rousseau to the follies of Paul Ehrlich, we have been assaulted with the immanent end of the world. At the same time, the Industrial, Information and Internet Revolutions, for all of their good, have also depersonalized work and dislocated millions of people. Being a Luddite is not the answer, nor should we capitulate to being cogs in a global capitalist scheme. We must affirm the dignity of each person, the sanctity of labor and the liberty of private property and entrepreneurship. We must also increase the visibility of those companies that believe in integrated social entrepreneurship that places community transformation as a primary mission.

Action Step Five: Refashion the United Nations and make it a forum for real economic and social discussion instead of a place for elites to live well, bash the USA and Israel and avoid looking at the structural evils in their own lands. A large percentage of the current committees and panels are a joke, especially with nations like Syria critiquing the USA on human rights! We do need the UN. But it needs to be a place to engage in solving real issues instead of allowing despots legitimacy and passing toothless resolutions. To my conservative friends: I agree that the UN must be improved; however, its elimination is not the answer. To my friends on the Left, let's stop all talk of "global governance." This is a code phrase for an elitist totalitarianism that will redistribute wealth and enrich a select few. Interesting fact: George Soros, darling financier of the Left, is heavily invested in Brazilian offshore drilling that will benefit China. So much for his environmental credentials. His aim is nothing short of the piecemeal destruction of the USA. Conversely, history is littered with the impact of international capital ruining self-sufficient agriculture and industry in the name of "development." Ask the former family farmers in Central America what they think of the United Fruit Company takovers of the 1930s to 1950s.

Action Step Six: Customize and localize unemployment benefits so that there is both compassion for the needy and a compulsion to look for work. The Right forgets that some localities simply have no jobs - so who pays for re-education and relocation? The Left forgets that human dignity includes a sense of productivity, not reliance on handouts. When a mill shuts down, real people are left destitute. The answer is not a paean to "free markets." On the other hand, the late Democratic Senator from New York, Patrick Moynihan, spent decades critiquing the failure of the welfare system and the generational dispositions and structures that are the consequences of an impersonal bureaucracy.

Let me inject a personal note here. I have spent years helping people who fell in between the cracks in our system. Some were injured at work and had to wait months or years for reasonable care. Others had addictions that were never treated. Many made poor choices and were on the streets. In all cases, they faced case workers who were either overwhelmed or uncaring. Welfare and workfare, care for families and the vulnerable needs to be local and involve the whole community, with public and private agencies cooperating to make a real difference.

Economic assistance is an environmental issue - we are interconnected and the good of all is a moral imperative. Karl Marx delivered scathing critiques of how factory workers were treated; however, his cures were - and are - worse than the disease. Adam Smith promoted the "invisible hand" of the free market - but he knew its operation required private and public virtue. We need to prosecute the white collar thief just as severely as the local drug dealer.

Action Step Seven: Unleash creativity and offer tax incentives - not just taxpayer cash - to companies and inventors who improve our lives and create wealth. Encourage local banks to start lending to enterprises that are innovative and demonstrate integrity.

Action Step Eight: Let's be part of a moral and spiritual renewal that offers hope and help, faith and action. I am a Christian and I want others to join me in my faith. That said, all people of humility and moral integrity can unite to enhance the lives of all around us. If we share wonder and a work ethic, we can partner in powerful ways. If we can have civil debate on our deepest differences, we will still be able to be peacemakers. If we will be accountable for our actions and affirming of the good of others, we can accomplish much. It is time to stop being victims. It is time to oppose totalitarianism in all forms. It is time to eschew homogenization and learn to live with our different universes next door, even while we cooperate where we can.

I am no fan of our current USA administration. I was not a fan of the previous three presidents, regardless of party. The office of President matters; however, he or she is not the key to the future we desire. The key is each of us deciding that a better future is possible.