Can a conservative be liberal during the Christmas season?

   Of course.

Can we have personal convictions that cover the political spectrum from left to right?
   Of course.

Can the spirit of Christmas make room for folks who may not agree with us?
   Of course.

Will our Muslim friends smile and say Merry Christmas when we meet.

   Probably.  
They're pretty open minded about such things.

And our Jewish friends?
   Same heart, same mind, same grace.

Can I presume that a political party is likely to represent well all those things that are important to me and to my family?

   Of course not.

So while the political left and right are screaming and insulting each other and fostering the most destructive emotions this Christmas season, do I have to choose a side?  
   Yes, of course.  

Either I join in the fear and hate, or I choose a better path.  Hate ruins pretty much everything, but it's not going to ruin my Christmas.  Yours either, if you're smart.  🎅

The point of remembering the birth of Jesus is to remember our Father's great love for us all.  All.  Right?

Humans of New York

Humans of New York - extraordinary insight into real life.

“I grew up in the suburbs. 

I used to think that I could write a prescription for a poor man: ‘Get a job, save your money, pull yourself up by the bootstraps.’ 

I don’t believe that anymore. I was ignorant to the experiences of poor people. I’d invite anyone to come and meet the people who live in this neighborhood. Right now we are surrounded by working poor people. These are the people who sell your tools at Sears, and fix your roofs, and take care of your parents, and mow your lawns, and serve your meals. They’re not getting a living wage. There’s no money left to save. There’s nothing left if they get sick. Nothing left if their car breaks down. And God forbid they make a mistake, because there’s nothing left to pay fines or fees. When you’re down here, the system will continue to kick dirt in your face. You can’t pull yourself up when there’s nothing to grab onto. We aren’t paying our brothers and sisters enough to live. 

We want them to serve us, but we aren’t serving them.” ~Humans of New York


In a world invisible to many, the majority of working Americans have continued in decline for almost half a century.


If you haven't seen the work by 'Humans of New York', you've missed a lot.

الحشد الشعبي al-Hashd al-Shaabi

What western news doesn't include.

Iraq: Hashd Al-Shaabi takes control of all roads

leading to Mosul.  11/2016

Who is fighting the war against ISIS?  The People's Mobilization Forces (PMF) (الحشد الشعبي al-Hashd al-Shaabi) is a paramilitary organization in Iraq comprised of 42 militias.  They are united in opposition to ISIS.  The total numbers are uncertain, but the individual militia groups are hundreds to thousands each for a total of perhaps several hundred thousand.

They've fought ISIS by participating under Iraqi military leadership in major campaigns and with good success.  The second battle of Tikrit was a major victory as was the retaking of Fallujah.  In recent months, they captured a number of towns and villages from ISIS in the Mosul Offensive.

Iraqi PMF militia advance toward
Fallujah, 5/2016

Members of the militias are volunteers.  They deploy by the thousands to protect a vulnerable public.  Most members are Shia Muslim, but there are Sunni, Kurdish, and Christian groups as well.  Militia from Iran have joined the coalition.  Together, they've committed to defending their families and towns from the ISIS caliphate, and many have paid the price with their lives.

ISIS has committed war crimes and atrocities against Muslims, Christians, Jews, Americans, Europeans, Iraqis, Syrians, Iranians, .... civilians mostly, including women and children.

800 Christians join Shiite militia
 against ISIL. 7/2015

The political issues are complex, and establishing trust among the participants is a challenge.  The country continues in turmoil, and the conflict extends into Syria and beyond. These militia are men who have left their homes and families to fight those who would destroy their world.

You'll note the absence of any mention of their heroic efforts in western media.  Similarly, the majority opposition among Muslims against ISIS is unremarked.

Twenty million Muslims take part in the Pilgrimage of Arbaeen this month despite attacks by ISIS.  Among the attendees just a few days ago, Umm Ali came without her husband who is with the security forces on the front lines.

Muslim pilgrims gather in the

 holy city of Karbala (AFP)

“I came with my son and two daughters. I came from Samawa to Najaf by car, then from Najaf to Karbala on foot, to make a plea for my husband's safety.

We ask God to support us against Daesh [ISIS] members, to help us liberate Mosul, and urge our politicians to remember the people who have sacrificed so much."

Real people, real world, real life and death.  It matters.

ISIL, ISIS, Daesh, and Islamic State refer to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Islamic State (IS), and by its Arabic language acronym Daesh.  It is a Salafi jihadist unrecognised state and militant group that follows a fundamentalist, doctrine of Sunni Islam.

Check Up from the Neck Up

Curious how white supremacists could arrive at such an extreme position?

I've often wondered why the racial tensions I see in the west are perhaps less severe and expressed differently in other cultures. 

We have an odd history of stumbling along a perhaps different path. Among the colonists who landed in the west were those who weren't looking for a place to live, they were looking to be an extension of the empire, conquering and getting wealthy. When the indigenous folks declined to become their labor force, the elites discovered that they hadn't a clue how to survive, and most of the colonists died.  They didn't have the skills.  Only about 50 lived through the winter of 1609-10 from the original hundreds. 

British merchants began supplying labor from Europe and Africa; teenagers indentured and/or kidnapped and sold for labor as servants (slaves). After a couple of decades, the 'servants' outnumbered the elites by as much as 100 to 1.  It was volatile, and the 'servants' began to organize, to arm, and to revolt. Virginia history documents ten organized rebellions by mixed groups (African, European, other), ending with Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.  The rebels burned the capitol city of Jamestown to the ground, and chased the governor out of town.  They demanded pay and land for their labor.  The elites called in the army and crushed the rebellion; it was the last such major uprising.

Perhaps as an effort to divide and conquer, the laws that followed drew a line between black and white. Black servants were to be slaves for life as were any children born to them, and they were not allowed to marry. Whites were to perhaps be eventually freed from indenture, although many never were. Black free persons were severely constrained. More laws (the slave codes) followed, widening the gap between black and white and laying the legal foundation for today's racism, both subtle and extreme.

How it works:

There's perhaps a common thread in race-based conflict and in a class-conscious culture.[a]  It's our focus on our differences, the deliberate formalization of differences rather than common humanity and mutual assimilation, something perhaps more easily observed elsewhere in the world.[b] 

The media makes it difficult with inflammatory retelling of the alt-right meeting in D.C., as though those 200 men were somehow newsworthy.  You have to wonder if there isn't a more thoughtful response we might make as individuals and as a nation.  The media is a disappointment.[c]  It's a good opportunity for the church.  The key is not our differences, of course.

 [a] The capitalist system ultimately commodifies all workers – one’s own person becomes a commodity that one must sell in the labor market while the profits of one’s work are taken by someone else.  To keep this capitalist system in place… the logic of slavery applies a racial hierarchy to this system.  This racial hierarchy tells people that as long as you are not black, you have the opportunity to escape the commodification of capitalism.  This helps people who are not black to accept their lot in life, because they can feel that at least they are not at the very bottom of the racial hierarchy – at least they are not property; at least they are not slaveable. -Andrea Smith

 [b] Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are among the least racist countries in the world with large percentages of foreign origin, little if any discrimination, and effective community, assimilation.

[c]The millions of Muslims who oppose ISIS aren't mentioned in the news, of course, nor is the fact that the primary ISIS target is other Muslims.  (In cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism casualties could be determined, Muslims suffered between 82 and 97% of terrorism-related fatalities over the past five years.)

Policy vs. Politics

Why Nations Succeed or Fail.  It has been on our minds lately as economic and political turmoil have stirred America and the world.  While today might be making us nervous, the debate over national viability spans the years.

There are a lot of half-answers -- they've been offered and discarded.  Things like:

• It's the geography! - some places are good and others not so good.  True, but nations rise and fall in every region.  Did you know that North America was the 'leftovers' for colonization; all the wealth was farther south and had been claimed.
• It's the demographics! - indigenous, immigrant, race, origin ... countries with virtually identical demographics vary widely in degrees of success.
• It's the culture! - it makes a difference but not definitively.  South and North Korea are perhaps the most successful and most disastrous expressions of a single culture, geography, and demographic.

Extractive vs. inclusive -- when people are the 
resource, using them up and leaving them behind 
while the wealthy continue to benefit, that's 
extractive rather than inclusive.  The result 

is destructive to most for the

benefit of the few.

• It's politics! - maybe, but it's more the specific leadership and the policies chosen to maintain power, to benefit the influential, to please the power players that make a difference.

• Economics? - well, the math part is easy, but it's the policies that make the difference.  Extractive versus inclusive policies and institutions are the difference between Nogales, Mexico and Nogales, Arizona.

So, governance (policies & players) makes the difference.  

A benevolent dictator can govern a healthy economy and culture; bizarre but true.  And, a democracy might produce a disaster of polarization and inequality; Hitler's Germany began as a democracy that was bent that way.

The common factors contributing to a nation's success or failure are perhaps most visible at the individual level.

I have opportunity, the community makes a place for me and my family, and there's help for those who need it.  Everyone needs a hand along the way, of course, and I'll be glad to help, too.  There's a fair return for my labor, for my contribution.    

<< Equality vs. Inequality >>    

At the opposite end of that spectrum, such quality of life concerns are addressed at a minimum level, perhaps just short of deadly.  In the western world, it's depersonalized as 'those welfare leeches', 'that 47% who never contribute', 'those government-dependents'.

Governance and policy determine the well-being of regular folks.

Government policies that attempt to address the needs of millions are rarely successful for all, and they often do harm to some.  If they're not reviewed and refined, they'll continue to be problematic. That part is understood and worth our aggressive effort to improve, but those are not the highest risk.

Government decisions that favor wealth and power are deadly. They commonly lead to the nation's decline and eventual failure. That's the history.  Increasing inequality such as we see today is just an indicator.

It's only among humans that we see the quest for 'more than I need or could ever use'.  Greed, avarice, gluttony, selfishness, pride, excess, all at the expense of others ... the subject matter is ancient, well understood, and ignored in extractive economics, today's common baseline for policy.

If serfdom were a gallon bucket, we'd be below the rim and sinking as economic inequality accelerates and the GAP widens.

There are easy solutions of course.  It's the players that make it hard.

(Ref: Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty -- Daron Acemoğlu and James A. Robinson)

Those who serve

There have been many who served us well, many who found the principles of the nation echoing in their heart and mind.  Life, liberty, equality, justice, all were profoundly embedded in the character and convictions of those who served. Many of them fought and died so that we and our children might live in such freedom.

There have been many who exploited us, many who lived without principle and whose goals were position and power at the expense of others.  Life, liberty, equality, and justice are all on the chopping block for abuse and misuse by such a self-appointed elite.

Those who serve well may not be honored as they deserve, but their legacy remains among us.  This nation is not defined by government or politicians or corporations, it is defined by the proper rights of the people.  If necessary, we'll clean up the mess yet again, perhaps after we quit squabbling like children.  That's how a free country works.

______________________________
Note: The election has been describe as regicide, the ending of rule by parties.  Long before the election, the party leadership had chosen their candidates and were preparing their plans for the post election years.  Clinton and Bush were the chosen ones.  The voters decimated both parties; both are at a loss to reign in their members, to corral them back to the party line.  Regardless of the outcome of Trump's presidency, the parties will have to rebuild or be left behind.  That's perhaps the most satisfying part of what we've seen.  😏