The rich grow richer ...
The evangelicals have their judges and
A sec of education dismantling public education ...
The malcontents have a new lease for bigotry and racism.
It will take a mighty effort for this nation
To find its better angels
As the evil angels have hit us with a vengeance.
Stranger Things, indeed.
The Liar in Chief has opened the gate
And hell is pouring through.
Lots of people profit from hell.
Always have, always will.
Hell offers and hell delivers.
For the time being.
But only and ultimately only to destroy.
... Everything.
Hell's version of creation.
Not light, but pitch dark death.
The death of faith, hope and love.
The end of grace, mercy and peace.
It has always been this way.
And only with effort can we find again
Our better angels.
It can be done.
It has been done.
It will be done.
And with tremendous effort.
With terrible damage already inflicted.
Before the demons take flight.
To my friends and family, remain faithful.
Stay engaged.
And vote ... for heaven's sake, vote.
No one's perfect, but the philosophy of
Our better angels is clear:
Freedom:
For women to choose.
For marriage equality.
For better wages and better schools.
For universal health care.
For our National Parks.
For the whales and the wolves.
For all of God's creatures, great and small.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Showing posts with label better angels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label better angels. Show all posts
Friday, July 19, 2019
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
We Will Recover
The genius of American Democracy is that neither "side" should ever gain a permanent victory.
The nature of the beast should then always offer a degree of tension, and likely frustration, too, as the two sides vie with one another to implement their vision (and it most always boils down to two sides, here or in other parts of the world).
When Eisenhower agreed to run for the Presidency, he became a Republican, believing that the US has been in the hands of the Democrats for too long. Emotionally, politically, Eisenhower could well have been a Democrat, too. But he wanted to balance the system.
For me, we're in a period of time when the Oligarchy has essentially taken the upper hand, using both Republicans and Democrats to game the government for their advantage. America, more than ever, has fallen in love with money, fame, fortune, and the power associated with all of it. And for millions more, who always seem to be locked out of the house of plenty, a deep and often violent resentment fueled by tribalism and fear.
It's always been about money, but somewhere along the line, the scales were tipped toward a particularly venomous version of money - no longer the WASP sense of duty to a nation, or even a semblance of some kind of Christian or Jewish orientation, but now just greed, and hanging around the edges of power, those in the tattered rags of evangelicalism yapping on about Cyrus and Israel, and a whole of biblical cockamamie.
Democracy is threatened, as I see it.
Yet, we will recover, not because we're Americans, or because we're the apple of God's eye, but because we're human beings, and this is how history totters along, always out of balance, and always seeking balance, and sometimes, in those brilliant moments of peace and wellbeing, actually achieves some degree of balance, wherein the two sides, locked in struggle, enable the better angels.
Empires come and empires go ... and along the way, enormous suffering, and always war. Yet science discovers, musicians compose, poets write, historians publish, people fall in love, children are born, some rise to greatness of heart and vision, and lead nations to better days.
It pays to be cynical in order to be honest about humanity's inhumanity to itself ... but it pays to be hopeful lest one give up and sink into despair or some form of quiet hedonism. As long as poets write and artists tell their stories, there is hope for tomorrow.
I don't know the timeline. A physician-friend said to me a few days back about socialized healthcare - "We'll eventually get there, but not likely in our lifetime."
He may be right, but I hope he's not, and I hope that we can move things along a bit more swiftly.
The nature of the beast should then always offer a degree of tension, and likely frustration, too, as the two sides vie with one another to implement their vision (and it most always boils down to two sides, here or in other parts of the world).
When Eisenhower agreed to run for the Presidency, he became a Republican, believing that the US has been in the hands of the Democrats for too long. Emotionally, politically, Eisenhower could well have been a Democrat, too. But he wanted to balance the system.
For me, we're in a period of time when the Oligarchy has essentially taken the upper hand, using both Republicans and Democrats to game the government for their advantage. America, more than ever, has fallen in love with money, fame, fortune, and the power associated with all of it. And for millions more, who always seem to be locked out of the house of plenty, a deep and often violent resentment fueled by tribalism and fear.
It's always been about money, but somewhere along the line, the scales were tipped toward a particularly venomous version of money - no longer the WASP sense of duty to a nation, or even a semblance of some kind of Christian or Jewish orientation, but now just greed, and hanging around the edges of power, those in the tattered rags of evangelicalism yapping on about Cyrus and Israel, and a whole of biblical cockamamie.
Democracy is threatened, as I see it.
Yet, we will recover, not because we're Americans, or because we're the apple of God's eye, but because we're human beings, and this is how history totters along, always out of balance, and always seeking balance, and sometimes, in those brilliant moments of peace and wellbeing, actually achieves some degree of balance, wherein the two sides, locked in struggle, enable the better angels.
Empires come and empires go ... and along the way, enormous suffering, and always war. Yet science discovers, musicians compose, poets write, historians publish, people fall in love, children are born, some rise to greatness of heart and vision, and lead nations to better days.
It pays to be cynical in order to be honest about humanity's inhumanity to itself ... but it pays to be hopeful lest one give up and sink into despair or some form of quiet hedonism. As long as poets write and artists tell their stories, there is hope for tomorrow.
I don't know the timeline. A physician-friend said to me a few days back about socialized healthcare - "We'll eventually get there, but not likely in our lifetime."
He may be right, but I hope he's not, and I hope that we can move things along a bit more swiftly.
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