The United States of Saudi Arabia

Dear President Trump. What a sad pathetic crock of lies. You say you want to make America Great Again. Your actions tell us you really want to make yourself and your “Cows of Bashan” rich and powerful.

You trade the butchery of Jamal Kashogi for the wealth of Saudi Arabia. Your own CIA says the Saudis were behind the killing. You call our CIA liars. We have become the United States of Saudi Arabia.

Since our Lord already calls me to love you, I can only speak the truth as I comprehend it, poorly as that may be. I can only offer prayers that you will learn compassion, tolerance and love of enemy and stranger.

Perhaps you will even learn to forgive and love yourself. Perhaps you will learn to forgive and love the stranger, the immigrant, the refugee, as you love yourself. Perhaps you will learn your value as a child of God whether you are rich and powerful or poor and helpless. Perhaps. 120119.

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Betrayal

Dear president Trump.

You seem to be trying to turn America into a huge magnificent Trump Tower… a bulwark against all threats, foreign or domestic, friend or foe. You are willing to sacrifice anything and  anyone to that end.

The most famous biblical betrayal is Judas’ betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Sealed with a kiss, Judas ensured Jesus’ crucifixion.

Maybe he was, as some theorize, trying to force Jesus into action, to be “The Messiah”… to make Israel ‘Great Again.’ .. kind of an Israelite Trump Tower.

But betrayal gets messy.  It tends to make, friend and foe alike, suspicious of our motives and actions.

Like Peter’s subsequent betrayal of Jesus, it’s often done out of fear, anxiety and insecurity.  It’s a sign of weakness, cowardess and unfaithfulness.

Without the grace and forgiveness of God, you and Judas and Peter are revealed for the weak, cowardly, fearful human beings you are.

Yes, You…. Our nation has supported and used the Kurdish people of Syria and Turkey to fight our wars, defeat ISIS and provide safe haven for our troops and refugees of our enemies. They trusted us.

With one phone call, you betrayed them.  Who else will you betray.  Who will trust us in the future? Yes, even Republican pressure has forced you to back down, a little. Buy your heart is laid bare.

You may think bluff and bluster, money and a big army is all you need to rule the world. My enemy, God has a different perspective.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.  And love your neighbor as your self. The key word here is not betrayal or MAGA. The key word is LOVE. 100619.

Do We Want the Truth to Set Us Free???

Dear President Trump. When will we learn??? It’s not about you. We chase our tails in apoplectic rage over your antics, your immorality, your indifference to the truth. We writhe in self righteous agony when your supporters ignore your faults, foibles and failings.

Our ‘holier than thou’ condemnation of your failings as a politician, president and ‘poor excuse for a human being’ scream our own failures to grasp the divine irony… voters already know politicians lie, cheat and steal. It’s human nature… it’s the old adage of the pot calling the kettle black.

We propound both our indignation and our too technical explanations of how we will save the USA from ruin and from you. While you tell folks how much you care for them and you have a plan to make their lives better.

We don’t need to know the plan. We don’t want to know. We are not policy geeks. That’s your job. What we want to know… the reassurance we need… is that as a human politician, you care about us. You have our best interests at heart. You share our values. You wrap yourself in our flag (literally) as a sign that you love us more than any other politician.

It’s political religion. God loves us. God loves you. You love us. Vote for me. If we trust you love us, we will trust you to lead us. You don’t need to be brilliant. You can buy brilliance from any think tank, university or corporation. It’s snake oil sales at its best. And you have shown us… it works.

You may well win the next election. Not because you are as smart, rich, truthful or good looking as you claim to be. But because you have convinced enough voters you are their champion.

American politics/religion will forgive anything from a politician we are convinced loves us promises to meet our needs and fix our problems.

God knows what is truly in your heart. Many of us suspect. But God doesn’t vote. We simply want a political/religious leader who we ‘know’ loves us and cares about us more than any other candidate.

For now, for so many, you seem to be that man. Jesus said the truth will make us free. But too many of us don’t want to be free or know the truth. We want to be safe and comfortable. And that’s what you promise. God help you and us. 092219

Choose wisely

. I have come to the conclusion that you will win the next Presidential election.  Not because of any ability  on your part.  Most likely due to God’s warped sense of  humor.

You, like me, have become a cypher, a hollow dupe for very rich, very powerful and insanely greedy people. You are the cypher of the rich greedy monarch. I stand for the dumb peasant waiting for Jesus to miraculously save me or just take me to heaven when I die at your hands.

Either way you and I are the latest stand ins for a human ‘game of thrones’ as old as time.  We will strut our time upon the stage and then return to dust.

Sometimes, we hope to build a better world. Too often we just want to take what pleasure we can as we stumble through life. We pretend we are in control, masters of our own faith, making a difference.

But then, we are white American males.  We do not know first hand the brutality of skin color, the horror of being raped, the abject fear of being homeless, starving, or dying at the border. We set the rules. We beak those same rules with impunity.

Donald, Jesus didn’t come for us.  He came for our victims. We basically have one choice in life. Do we help Jesus feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick,  care for those in prison…. or not.

The choice, each day, is up to us. We need to choose wisely. 092119.

Disappointment…

Dear president Trump. Disappointment runs deep in America…. America feared and admired around the world? Disappointment. Small and medium sized farmers… Disappointment. Tax cuts… (except for the 1%)… Disappointment.  China and North Korea subdued… Disappointment.   Israel secure… Disappointment. Iran defanged… Disappointment.  American business creating better paying jobs…Disappointment. Obamacare replaced with something better…Disappointment. Border wall and compassionate resolution to immigrant issues…Disappointment. American addiction to drugs… Disappointment.  Booming, strong economy… Disappointment. America’s reputation in the world… Disappointment. Strong, truthful, moral leadership from the Whitehouse… Disappointment. The list goes on.

Christian demagogues cheer your leadership because it feeds their fantasy of the apocalyptic return of Jesus with its attendant destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, the rapture of the faithful, and the casting into hell of everyone else.  Have you prepared them for their Disappointment.

You rule as the “Chosen One” As Disappointment rises, your words ring hollow in the eyes of the faithful.  Your sycophant followers will recognize your rule of fear, contempt and greed does not include them. Disappointment.

Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you. “He made no distinction of race, gender, religion, or even sexual orientation. He did not exclude murderers, fornicators or crooked politicians.  When you go before God in life or death, I can imagine Her only two immediate reactions… Love for you and Disappointment.  083119.

The Happy Warrior

Dear President Trump.  You disparage Baltimore while your son-in-law mismanages properties there.  The biblical ‘Cows of Bashan’ reaped profits from the ‘Baltimore’ districts of Israel in the 8^thCentury BCE.  Those who ‘oppress the needy, crush the poor’ profited personally while taking no responsibility for rat and vermin infested districts.

 

Reward the rich.  Punish, denigrate and blame the poor.  Claim divine authority.  Sounds like a plan.

 

When Jesus confronted ethnically despised Samaritan woman, he did not tell her to go back to her rat and vermin infested home. He spoke truthfully and compassionately. She responded with joy and faith.

 

Many of us marvel at your use of hateful, spiteful racist language.  Obviously, you feel it politically necessary, or at least expedient.  You could simply make the same empty promises to non-white Americans and foreign immigrants that you make to your political base. You aren’t just appealing to voters.  You are manipulating us, pitting us against each other for your benefit.

 

Recent debates have reflected our anger and disgust at your shenanigans.  We declare you political enemy number one and promise to defeat you.  And you love us for our ineffectual anger as you laugh at us.

 

I heard a phrase in last night’s debate that resonated in my heart and mind… “The Happy Warrior.”  Too many of us have ceded our hopes of happiness to our anger at you.  So, my earnest prayers this week will be, “Help me be a happy warrior!!” May God bless and keep you and change us both.  080119.

For God so Loved the World…

Dear President Trump. I love my children and grandchildren.  I want the best for them.  I pray for them every day. I tell them I love them every day.                          

You are my enemy.  So, I want the best for you. I pray for you every day.  Frankly, I struggle daily to feel for love you. But that is the command I am given.  In the end, I assume my faltering attempts to love you are intended for my own good, not your edification or to change the world or even to open your heart to those you so easily despise and disparage. 

Do you know John 3:16?  “For God So loved the World…”. I wonder. Do you fear that God does not love you?   Is that why you so manically love yourself?  You surround yourself with religious leaders who proclaim  a harsh and judgmental American God that is more to be feared than loved. Is that why you thinly disguise your polemics of ‘Make America White Again?’  You want to create a clean white capitalist America to please a pure white American God????  

Or is it more mundane and ugly?   Do you just love the power and the limelight and this is simply how you get it?   

You tout America’s wealth and power as the measure of your success. You spend billions of dollars keeping people of color out of your rich corporate America. You tell anyone who disagrees with you to go back where they came from.  They do not deserve your respect or your love. You love America…. but you love so few of its people. By the time you and I are probably dead, 25 years or so in the future, whites will be in the minority in our nation. Is that what you are afraid of… becoming a minority in your own nation…. fearing that your children and grandchildren will suffer the same racist discrimination you inflict on today’s minorities???  

God loves the whole world. Yes God loves America.  But God also loves the rest of the world.  As the Sunday school song put it, “Red and Yellow, Black and White, we are precious in his sight.” 

I do not question your claim to be a Christian.  I condemn your actions as evil and not faithful to our God who so loves our world, and everyone in it.  I condemn your attempts to transform Jesus into the Great Mush God of American Exceptionalism. May God forgive us. 072819

Political Swamp Warfare…

Dear President Trump.  David Brooks observes that classic liberals require everyone to obey respectful rules of conduct. He rightfully observes it takes two to dance cheek to cheek and work out our differences.   You blew that up.  You are a solo tap dancing gangsta. You tapped into the ‘Cain vs. Abel’ sentiment of “If I don’t get what I want, I’ll just kill you”… literally, metaphorically, politically, socially, religiously. Compromise is for weakling sissies. You blew your Republican opponents apart by refusing to play by ‘the rules’..

By refusing to play by ‘the rules’ you’re forcing everyone who trusted ‘the rules’ to play catch up.  Mitch McConnell saw that, changed course and moral compass, screwed the rules and will rule the supreme court for 50 years.  Politically, liberals are trying to play cricket in the New Roman Coliseum. And the lions are eating up any who lament, “why can’t we just get along with one another.” You are waging a sophisticated war while we still yearn for peace in the political valley.

You are  a smart, conniving, amoral wartime politician.  We still yearn for peacetime senatorial knights jousting by day, dining collegially together in Washington splendor by night.
Many advocate fighting fire with fire. Out west we know the theory of starting backfires to kill off a raging forest blaze. Meet power with power.  Doesn’t always work out as we planned.

Out of Vietnam (at least for my generation) came the delicious quote, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the meanest SOB in the valley!!!”

Do multigenerational liberals and progressives beat up Trump by being the meanest SOB in the political valley? If so, how do we succeed without losing our souls, our moral authority, and, thus, the election?

In times of fear, we look to strength and security. Trump is cornering the fear market. He is not the real enemy.  He is a cipher for our fear and insecurity. I loved Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” We work together, liberal and progressive, young and old, or we become lion fodder.

As a Christian, I am forced to ask, “What would Jesus do?”  Each of us will answer that question in our own way from our own faith.  May God give us strength and wisdom and love for the journey. 071619

Evolution…

Dear President Trump.  Welcome to the Cyborg generation.  Elon Musk is close to hardwiring Artificial Intelligence with the human brain.  When do you think the government will regulate who gets an upgrade… and who does not?  Will it be based on IQ? (doubtful because the AI will have more than enough IQ for anyone) Will eligibility be based on race, ethnicity, wealth, political affiliations?

You may try to save your plutocracy by excluding those you fear but once the technology emerges, like cell phones and the internet, it may be uncontrollable.  Oh Sure, the Cows of Bashan of the world will want to keep it for themselves.  They’ll call it dangerous, threatening, revolutionary, or food for terrorism.  Fearful religious leaders will call AI/Brain combined people monsters, abominations, spawns of the devil, half-breeds.

What if we take AI intelligence and DNA CRiSPR technology (or it’s next generation) to unlock the genetic code for skin color?  What if you could change the color of your skin as easily as your party outfit for tonight’s outing.  How then could we claim superiority based on race.

No, No, No, you say.  We’d pass laws preventing AI/Biological people, (CYBORGS), from citizenship or positions of power.  We could institute biological purity laws.

Problem is, AI/Biological mixed people will be smarter than you and I are… maybe smart enough to see through the power games, petty greed and avarice of today’s 1%.  Rather than fight you, they may simply bypass you, building good, just, comfortable, loving lives without you.

And what would Jesus say to all this change, equality and freedom? I think he’d quote Isaiah 11.6.  “The wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”

Perhaps that little child will come out of your ugly shameful border concentration camps.  God does have a sublime sense of humor.  So be it. 071419.

Who’s in Control?

Dear Donald. For 150 potential deaths in Iran, you call off an air strike in retaliation for the destruction of our drone. I am curious Mr. President, 26 people have died in ICE detention since you took office. Between 200 and 300 people have died crossing our southern border each of the last two years. Are the Iranians worth more than the immigrants? Do you fear what the Iranians will do? But because you do not fear the immigrants, they can die?
So, you fear potential Iranian deaths more than real immigrant deaths when the immigrants cannot fight back.? That seems to send a dangerous message. When your enemy is poor and vulnerable you act brave and macho when they die. When your enemy is strong, your bravado dissolves in a tirade of tweets.
You play your power games. You fear the Iranians but not the immigrants. I wonder who else is figuring this out. I fear you will feel trapped by your own fears and do something ugly.
Please, before doing something stupid, remember Rehoboam. (ask your bible friends…) Son of Solomon, his older advisors told him to be generous with the poorer more rural tribes of Israel. But Rehoboam heard instead the voices of the rich young scions of Jerusalem to tax Israel more and more for their personal benefit. He, like you, took a brutal, “Make Jerusalem Great Again” stance. 17 years of war with the northern kingdom set the stage for an Egyptian invasion from the south. Rehoboam was defeated, made a puppet and gave Israel’s treasury to the Egyptians.
Whose puppet will you become? Will your puppet masters be the politicians, the bankers, tech giants, just your major donors?Perhaps your religious handlers or the Russians or Chinese will pull your strings or yank your chains. God knows. Two things I know. I am not in control. Neither are you. God help us. 062519.