On Wisconsin

Last night, the Wisconsin Senate spat in the face of every working family in their state. I'm angry, and terribly disappointed in their sinful act.


Governor Scott Walker was quoted by the BBC as saying, "'This is about protecting the middle class and doing it in a way that avoids massive tax increases and massive lay-offs.'"


First of all, the middle class only exists in this country because of collective bargaining. Second, tax increases and lay offs were already avoided because of the concessions the Governor got from the unions through the process of, say it with me, collective bargaining. 


(CBSNews.com reported 2/22, "Public sector unions have conceded to Walker's proposal to roll back their benefits in order to help balance the state budget.")


More to the point, I get that the GOP's endgame is to cut the Democratic party off at the knees. Unions have given an enormous amount of financial and political support to the Dems over the last several decades. 


But here's the important question that no one seems to be asking - why? Why do unions support more Democratic candidates than Republican? Because the Democratic party has enacted policies that support working families. That's why. 


When the GOP stops being the party of "no" and starts being the responsible, values-based party their rhetoric suggests, enacting policies that are pro-family and pro-workers, my guess is that the Union money will start to be a little less partisan. 


My heart goes out to the good people of Wisconsin. They do not deserve such callous and hateful leadership.

Christmas Isn't Just A Day

When the song of the angels is stilled, 
When the star in the sky is gone, 
When the kings and princes are home, 
When the shepherds are back with their flock, 
The Work of Christmas begins: 
To find the lost, 
To heal the broken, 
To feed the hungry, 
To release the prisoner, 
To rebuild the nations, 
To bring peace among brothers and sisters, 
To make music in the heart. 
Then indeed we shall be blessed! 
—Howard Thurman

Peace Be With You

A young man recently tried to explode a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, OR. North and South Korea seem to be at very high tension. Violence continues in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israelis and Palestinians seem as far from peace as ever. And now we enter the season of Advent, which is when we’re supposed to talk about peace and love, but end up having arguments about decorations, hear complaints about keeping “Christ” in “Christmas”, fight each other in shopping malls and dread the inevitable family tensions that seem as ubiquitous as Santa Claus himself.

So, where’s the peace?

I don’t have a quick and easy answer, unfortunately. Peace is hard. It takes work. It takes patience. It takes a tenacious commitment on the part of all parties to love and respect one another in spite of the differences that are present. Peace is not mere tolerance (although tolerance is a start), but it can only really take root when we see each other as fully human, and respect each other’s vulnerability enough to not take advantage of it.

Peace also takes an acknowledgment and confession of the wrong we have done. If I cannot admit how I have hurt another, how can I expect them to be at peace with me? 

Frequently, there’s also an imbalance of power in a conflicted relationship - whether between co-workers, couples or combatants. Whichever party has less power (political, economic, physical, etc.) needs an assurance of safety and self-determination in order for peace to be realized.

And all of this is needed in spite of the reality that conflict is inevitable. Peace is not a destination, it is a commitment. When conflict arises, if committed to peace, we will interact with each other in an honest and mutually respectful way in order to find a mutually agreeable solution.

Okay this seems hard. How are we supposed to do this with any measurable impact?

It seems to me that the only answer to this is, “one step at a time.” It starts with our relationships between each other - between spouses or partners, co-workers and neighbors. Our children are watching how we deal with conflict with one another. Rather than avoiding it or escalating it, we could try communicating with each other, working through it together. Our kids will see this and learn from it. 

And peace just may become a little more possible.

It Gets Better - But We've Got to Make It So

Why the GOP is Wrong for America

Reality is our friend folks. Especially if you are a public servant, charged with instituting public policy on behalf of the voters, reality is our friend.


But here's the hard part for Republicans - there are actually multiple realities going on concurrently in America.


The GOP would be fine governing a small state, where everyone is upper middle class, educated enough to support themselves, heterosexual, conservative Christian and supportive of patriarchy. Oh, and your ancestors had to have immigrated here between 1620 and, roughly, 1920. I'm happy to acknowledge that this world-view is reality for some Americans.


The GOP wants us all to believe that what I just described is not actually just one segment of America, but is the sum total of who we are. I hate to break it to the Republican leaders, but there are gay people in our country, who might want the freedom to get married one day. There are people of color in our country for whom the traditional system hasn't worked so well, and we might need to fix some things to give these folks a shot at the freedom you're so fond of. There are women in this country who would like the freedom to exercise their own moral agency. There are poor people who want desperately to do better for their family, but might need a little help to get there. There is an enormous budget deficit in our country, and there are many Americans who can easily afford to help us out with it.


So to the GOP, I ask, why do you only complain about the Executive overreaching when the President wants to help working Americans, but not when women's rights are being infringed? Where're your Tea Party libertarians when the government tells us who we can or cannot marry? And where's your rhetoric on freedom in relation to the immigration conversation?


To my Republican friends, we tried your short-sighted, wealth-centered economic policy before. You sold it to a lot of people, and convinced them to vote against their own economic interest using moral issues that have divided our country. Reagan created an economic disaster in the '80s (where Mr. Cheney learned that "deficits don't matter") that Clinton cleaned up in the '90s. W. Bush created the mess we're in now, that Obama will get us out of in the '10s. Over the last several decades, Democratic economic policies have been far and above more successful. Look at the facts folks, they speak for themselves. 


I get that there are Conservative people in this country, and we need you to be a part of the conversation. But if you could stop lying about how your policies are better for the economy, or how you want a smaller government, I'd really appreciate it.