We recently elected a new President and administration. Our Republican Party was filled with corruption, deceit, cronyism, and a philosophy that allows the forces of society to govern themselves without interference from governmental agencies and economic forces. That is, except for War Powers, which they maintain at a high level.
An overwhelming Democratic party, more in tune with the populous than the privileged, took hope in the message of Barack Obama, as a black man, as a man of potential faith, and as a man proclaiming the audacity of hope (with change). Although the Democrats have their own corrupt viruses, the majority of the nation smelled a breath of fresh air and elected Mr. Obama overwhelmingly.
The current power struggle in Congress reeks with the negativism of H. L. Mencken who once defined hope as a pathological belief in what is impossible and a strong hanging onto past practices, be they productive or destructive.
On the other hand, Mr. Obama has rallied more people into the process than we have ever seen. This in itself is a threat to the entrenched, but it at least offers a promise of hope, and a hint of change. Stanley Jones questioned back during the WWII years: “Can the government of this country be Christianized?”
Jones claimed the ballot box is simply the registrant of individual character and concluded “if the character that comes to that ballot box is weak, selfish, or uninformed, then the resultant government will be weak, selfish, and uninformed.”
Mr. Obama’s administration is not perfect--quite human, and not without some of the same flaws we are trying to correct, as seen in 3 of his cabinet selections. Having said that, Our effectiveness as a nation for the next four to eight years will depend upon us ... and how we empower the President’s Administration to maintain the status quo for the self-defeating individualism that has been given free reign to run rampant--Wall Street--the Banking Industry, to name a couple.
Or _ how we the people will cooperate together and empower the administration to pursue policies of cooperation and social progress for the Common Good.
Mildred Nelms of Hawthorne, CA wrote this verse back in 1967:
“God with us”--
His power to love
(The same that raised
Christ up above)
Now fills my mind
And heart and soul,
Will raise me, too,
And make me whole.
Let us as citizens Christian and secular, be neither weak, nor self-willed, and uninformed! By the grace of God common to all, let us cooperate together, let us extend loving grace to those who think differently than we do, and let us be involved in seeking the common good of not only the privileged with their properties but of those most vulnerable.
Our very Pledge of Allegiance points us to the nature of our democracy: one nation ... under God ... with liberty and justice ... for all ...
May we become a whole nation is my prayer,
Wayne
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