tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post109648640193105679..comments2023-10-04T01:27:24.003-07:00Comments on Versus Populum: Voter EducationDwight P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15849665963994688905noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1097005206287729872004-10-05T12:40:00.000-07:002004-10-05T12:40:00.000-07:00Jim, I don't for a second question or deny anythin...Jim, I don't for a second question or deny anything that you say -- except when you say that "ethics" and "politics" can't even appear in the same sentence, they are so antithetical.<br /><br />What about your insights about pork? Why do such ploys matter? Isn't it because such sausage feeds the homebodies who then vote approvingly? What would happen if the church -- or more specifically, pastors in individual congregations -- began to teach about the insidious influence of pork-peddling? What would be the result of catechizing parishioners to the evil consequences of "my getting mine" -- not the least of which consequences is that the "least" of Our Lord's brothers and sisters (which is to say with scripture, himself) continue to hunger, while some are over-sated?<br /><br />Now that can make a nice, ignorable point in a sermon, but I'm talking more than that. I'm talking about intentional educational fora to discern the differences between distractions and serious issues (can anyone say "gay marriage" in the context of perhaps the worst blunder in American foreign policy history -- as one of my lawyer friends puts it?). One lesson of the Good Samaritan parable is that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problemn. Why can't that be followed up with "And to avoid being part of the problem, you should, immediately after mass, pick up a cup of coffee and join us for a ten-part series, "How should I vote?"<br /><br />In fact, I don't think it helpful to dust our shoes of the muck of political life. I say that, even though some thinkers who greatly impress me suggest that to vote is to be co-opted into acquiescing to a process and outcome that one steadfastly rejects as immoral. Maybe I'm getting a little handle on the Lutheran two-kingdom issue (or maybe not), but I don't think we Christians are allowed to sit in a pristine "don't blame me; I didn't vote" position. We are charged with responsibilty for the world, and part of that is its political life.<br /><br />Finally, I must offer one correction: The day I posted this strand, I received a copy of THE LUTHERAN, my denomination's monthly magazine. The front page and much of the inside is devoted to the issue I raise. My church is at least asking the question, I guess. (I have read none of the issue, so I can't say whether there is anything of substance.)<br /><br />DwightDwight P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15849665963994688905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1096501986219994332004-09-29T16:53:00.000-07:002004-09-29T16:53:00.000-07:00I am not being silly or sarcastic when I say that ...I am not being silly or sarcastic when I say that I don't believe that it is possible to speak of ethics and politics [as we know the two-party system in the US] in the same sentence. To abuse myself, it's oxymoronic to the same extent that "military intelligence" is.<br /><br />The acts that matter go on in the Congress. GWB could not have had his foray into Iraq without the consent of the legislative branch. He makes a great target when fired at through the rear-view mirror, in 20/20 hindsight; but he obfuscated the facts and his reasons for wanting to go be a cowboy in Iraq so well that even those hostile to him in the government had to feel that he was somehow right. One of the few voices of reason to speak was the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, John Chane, who offered that UN inspectors could find any weapons of mass destruction quickly and effectively if they were backed up by UN troops to stop any foolishness on the part of Sadam's forces. He was ignored, almost actively, by the administration, and I heard no democrat or republican voices siding with him.<br /><br />Bishop Chane spoke well and from an unimpeachably moral stand. His approach would have maximized the value of life and the probability of finding WMDs.<br /><br />When we consider the perquisites of pork, that districts with powerful legislative representatives get more than their less-well-endowed neighbors, the awful truth emerges in the legislative branch as well. It's not about governing, it's about greed -- for power, for position, for ego. There are a few who abuse least. John McCain, save for his temper-tantrum focing the FAA to allow direct flights from Washington Reagan to his home airport in Phoenix, has served remarkably pork-free. So has my senator, Barbara Mikulski, though she often cranks up the gain when Government jobs in Maryland are threatened.<br /><br />I don' think that there is an ethical discussion to be had until we have a reasonably ethical and moral government, and I think that day is far away in time.<br /><br />Peace.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16784102513870545675noreply@blogger.com