Stephanie Miller Exhibiting Rare Courage Among American Media

 The Stephanie Miller Show

If it were not for three hours of sanity, from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. Central time each morning, I do not know how I would be handling this election and its results.  For me, it's on an AM radio station, WCPT in Chicago, which is the only radio station to which I now listen, since the music station I used to put on in the afternoon has CBS news on the hour.  The steadfast beacon of reason and hope through what I see as impending disaster for this country has been the Stephanie Miller show.  

Like anyone in the media who is opposed to Trump and everything he stands for, when a politician has declared his intention to use the political power of the Presidency to go after anyone who has opposed him, they have reason to be fearful.  And it has not taken long, on this side of the election, to see those who have lost the courage of their convictions.  We've been told that this election was the most consequential one of our lifetimes, that our constitutional democracy, no less, was the issue that was at stake, and that Trump was the biggest threat we've seen to our democracy since Adolf Hitler and Nikita Khrushchev.  

I didn't have to be sold on that argument, I was able to see it for myself, when he started his first serious run for office prior to the 2016 election.  But unfortunately, there are 74 million people in this country who are not only unable to see it, but are deliberately misinformed and deceived, and another 30 million who aren't well enough informed to know how they feel about it.  And now, after we have seen clearly and precisely that he is the greatest threat to constitutional democracy in America, and that he intends to destroy it and is systematically setting about to put together the people who will do it for him, we have some in the media who are tucking tail and running, and some who are being duplicitous and trying to curry favor with him.  

I'm more disgusted with them than I am with him, if that's possible.  People without real convictions are cowards.

Stephanie Miller stands to lose as much as anyone in the media on the left.  People sometimes look at me driving in traffic like I'm an idiot because I'm fist pumping or applauding some pithy, insulting thing they've said about Trump.  There have been mornings when I've laughed so hard, I've had to pull over and get out of traffic because I literally couldn't see or hold my composure well enough to drive.  Who'd have ever thought that political reality could be so terrifying and yet so funny at the same time?  

She is one of just a few media personalities whom I now trust to tell me the truth.  She hasn't backed down.  She's shared the same fears and feelings we all had when the election results were announced and the same sense of being lost, not knowing what to do, and wondering where we are headed.  But she's remain steadfast in her convictions, and her approach, the manner in which she delivers her message, and the truth she tells, and nothing has changed in spite of her clear awareness of any and all possibilities as Trump's administration settles in.  

When I tuned in and listened to her program the morning after the election, I cried.  Not because I was disappointed in the results, though I had cried about that earlier, but because I was listening to some truly genuine people who thought like I thought, and who were expressing the same feelings, in public, on the air, as I was feeling at that very moment.  I've been tuned in every morning since then.  I work in an environment that would get pretty hostile and uncomfortable quickly if I had her show on the radio in my office.  I have a hearing device and I can connect it to the live stream from my phone and listen that way, and no one else even knows.  

I've committed, as a private citizen, to resist the incoming administration in every way that a private citizen can resist.  So I'll support the local radio station that carries her broadcast, and respond to any request she has for help when the time comes.  Keep telling the truth, it is helping thousands of Americans get through each day.

 

Will America's Constitutional Democracy Hold For Four More Years?

John Dewey, known as the founder of American progressive education, declared that "Democracy, and the one ultimate, ethical ideal of humanity are to my mind synonymous."  As an educational reformer, and one of the most prominent American scholars in the early twentieth century, Dewey believed that an informed and educated electorate was the key to preserving America's constitutional democracy.  

Dewey was right.  Events leading up to and including this 2024 election in the United States have proved his words to be correct.  If the election is an accurate reflection of the political will of the people, then this one is a reflection of appalling ignorance about the issues at stake, and of the ability of sheer propaganda to penetrate and saturate the electorate to achieve a result not consistent with reality.  We have an electorate that is blatantly apathetic, appallingly ignorant and inexcusably uneducated that has just allegedly elected leadership bent on the destruction of American Constitutional Democracy.  

And the clown that was elected is lining up a group of individuals whose incompetence and inability to manage the parts of the executive branch to which he plans to appoint them will destroy what they don't intentionally ruin when they get there. For anyone who might be placing hope in a group of Republican senators to stop this clown show, and demand that the people appointed to these cabinet positions at least be competent and capable of doing the job, and not flawed by a criminal record, or by a subversive, treasonous relationship with Vladimir Putin, or by their own deviant sexual behavior, I'll tell you now you will be disappointed.  No Republican anywhere in that party's leadership has integrity any more.  They're just protecting their assets at this point, like pathetic Lindsay Graham, who trots around after Trump with toilet paper and tissues, to wipe his ass and blow his nose.  

Don't Count on Any Republican to Display Any Integrity or Conviction

The Republicans are weighing their chances of survival and thinking of themselves.  Who, among the Republicans, has the guts, or should I say the balls, to step up, block Trump's appointments, demand better, and let this lame duck President know that they won't help him destroy the American Republic?  Mitch McConnell?  He'd dismantle it himself, in his own way, if he had the chance, and he's the chief enabler.  Thune?  Barrasso?  Ernst?  Moore-Capito?  If these Senators actually had integrity, they'd have spoken up before the nomination started and instead of vacillating, they'd have been decisive when it counted.  They've all clearly chosen party over country, and over the people.  

Mitt Romney is gone.  Not that he would have had the courage or resolve to right what he repeatedly called wrong.  He put out a lot of words, and did nothing to back up what he said.  There was a time when I thought his Mormon convictions might actually be real, and heartfelt, and that he would follow them and not allow the stain of Trump's worldly evil splash itself on the Mormon Church, but they're complicit, just like conservative Evangelicals.  They've been deceived and deluded by a demon posing as an angel of light.  Romney has clearly made it known how he feels, but is not courageous enough to step up and do anything meaningful about it.  Trump won the Mormon vote, undermining their credibility as a true faith, and by it they are declaring their own racism, misogyny, bigotry and prejudice.  

The only senators who have spoken up about this are Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.  And I have no confidence in their discernment, given the way they were talked into voting for Supreme Court justices who lied to their face and told them they would not vote to overturn Roe, which made them, particularly Collins, look foolish.  No kudos are in order for just speaking up.  Let see the strength of conviction in actions, not words.  

What Can Democrats Do At This Point? 

Democrats started talking about 2024 as the "most consequential election of our lifetime" shortly after the mid-term elections in 2022.  I'm still trying to get past the shock and disappointment that occurred on November 5th, I remain unconvinced at this point that we lost solely because bigotry, racism and misogyny are more important than core political issues.  We lost our free press, who gave Trump four straight years of 24 hour a day, 7 day a week news coverage, far more than they covered the sitting President.  We lost because they had an open, free platform to convince their supporters that the lies they were telling about every single thing they addressed were true.  We lost because hardly any Americans, even a lot of Democrats, were aware of the remarkable achievements of the single most accomplished President since Lyndon B. Johnson.

And I am extremely difficult to be convinced, at this point, with all of the shrieking and lip flapping and caterwauling that Trump and his loyalists have done about how the 2020 election was stolen, that they didn't start planning and organizing to steal this one, beginning on January 21, 2021.  I'll need conclusive proof those votes are real before that's settled.  And that doesn't make me a conspiracy theorist, it makes me one of 75 million Americans who are also not convinced this wasn't rigged.  I hope there are Democrats who hear this from their constituents and don't just let the other side roll over us for the sake of making a big deal out of a peaceful transfer of power.  I'd expect that much follow-up from leadership of the party that convinced me this election was the most consequential of my lifetime. 

So what should we now expect from the leadership of the Democratic party, after losing an election they convinced most of us to believe was the most consequential of our lifetime?  Is it politics as usual?  Is is an attitude of, "Well, at least I won my election and I'll be able to take my seat and collect my government paycheck and expenses."  If this election was so consequential, and our democracy is now in the most danger it ever has been in, then I need to hear from the party leadership, and I need to see something that convinces me that they don't just think this is all intense election rhetoric aimed at getting contributions and votes and now we're all just going to hunker down and endure until the next election gives us a chance to change things.  

If our democracy really is in danger, there may not be a "next election."  

I'm going to need to see more than what I'm seeing now.  If, somehow, someway our democracy does survive the next four years, the person who gets my vote will be the one who led the way through this darkness, confusion and terror of what's coming, shows no fear of Trump, challenges any moves he makes to abuse the law to get even with his enemies, and leads a genuine resistance movement that I will gladly volunteer to join and financially support.  

There are those who stand to lose a lot if they become a target of Trump's vengeful anger.  I've always enjoyed Stephanie Miller's daily program, blending politics and news with a good dose of humor and lighthearted fun.  Obviously, her program is dependent on getting the air time it needs to be heard, and I'm sure there are corporate owners in the media upon whose good graces her show is dependent for its freedom.  She's not backing down, or taking steps to circle the wagons and tone down the rhetoric, watering down the truth for the protection of her program.  She's still speaking out, and it makes it worth listening to her program as a result.  Trust what you hear there, it's the truth, and unlike Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, she's not running for cover.

That's the kind of example we need to follow, people.  And if Stephanie Miller asks for my support, she's got it.

The Trust and Integrity That the Founders Assumed Would Always Be There, and Which is Required for Constitutional Democracy to Work, is Gone 

Were they able to see what is happening now, I believe our founding fathers would have written a much more detailed constitution, including restrictions on holding any office in government at all by a person who was a convicted criminal.  They would have put more teeth in the enforcement of conclusions determined by Congressional investigations.  They would have determined how corrupt judges and public officials could be removed without impossible to obtain two-thirds majorities of votes of Congress, because they would have been more visionary when it came to the idea that loyalty to political parties would develop and be more divisive than boundaries between countries on the ground.  

As a result of what was, in 1789, a high level of trust, integrity and respect among the founders, who believed in the values that distinguished the United States of America, we have a constitution that depends on those things needing to be defended when they are no longer characteristic of our politics, or present in our society.  People had to be informed, reasonably educated and skilled in critical thinking.  Ironic, isn't it, that in an age where communication is instant, and prolific, in every corner of life, people can be completely uninformed, unaware, and dangerously ignorant and apathetic.

I listened to a radio interview tonight with a voter who couldn't possibly have been more misinformed, gaslighted might be a better word, unable to cite a single fact, not even one, in defense of casting a ballot for what she claimed was a return "to the way things used to be."  She was completely lost when asked to explain exactly what that meant, and vehemently denied that Trump was going to appoint RFK Jr. to anything.  She had no idea who any of his other proposed appointees were, couldn't identify one of them, and was sure the media was "just lying about it."  She was baffled and unable to discuss the January 6th insurrection from 2021, did not know what the host was talking about, and had no idea that there were wars going on in Gaza and Ukraine.  

If she's a good example of the electorate that put Trump back in office, and I think that's probably right on the money, then the odds of the constitution holding out for the next four years are not even close to 50-50.     

An Educated Electorate is the Key to Preserving Democracy

I'm a former high school American History and Government teacher.  I patiently tried to help my students learn how to think critically, to get the information they needed to make informed decisions and to know everything they needed to know about how our government works, and how the Constitution protects precious, vital individual rights, limiting the government's intrusion and preventing the imposition of tyranny.  I also taught them the basic principle of human equality, and the value and sanctity of human life and I tried to set a personal example by demonstrating love for my neighbor, respect for the rights and opinions of others, and to invest in an effort to use what I know to make the world a better place, starting in my own corner of it.  

I started teaching in 1979.  As I look out over the former students I've been able to keep up with, as they have gone out into the world, I can point to some shining examples who have made the choice to use their talents, abilities and their education for the benefit of others.  They got it.  I've had the privilege of sitting in a doctor's office at a teaching hospital, and when the door opened, the resident department fellow who walked through the door for my initial examination was a former student.  I got called to jury duty about ten years ago, and when the district attorney who was prosecuting the case walked into the room, I recognized her as a former student, and I smiled, not just because I was about to get out of jury duty, but because she had pursued ambitions she expressed to me when she was a student.  

I ran into a former student in the Metro in Washington, D.C.  I heard my name being called behind me on the escalator, and when I got to the bottom, turned around and greeted a former student who was serving as an intern in the US Senate, for a Democrat, which was a shock, because his parents were staunch Republicans.  And I have a former student who got into education as a history teacher, always a point of pride, and who is now the director of diversity and inclusion at a major state university in a southern state.  I can only hope I made a difference.  I'm just glad to know that they are thinking people who saw an opportunity to serve in a place where they make a difference.  

That's the kind of electorate we need.  It is, unfortunately, not the electorate we have.  I am now hoping there is enough critical thinking, appreciation for a constitutional democracy and desire to protect our freedom to sustain us through this inside attack on our own values.  

Not Speaking Out Makes Conservative, Evangelical Christians Complicit in the Immorality and Worldliness of Their Endorsed Politicians

 Baptist News Global: Matt Gaetz is a Southern Baptist Who Appears to Get a Pass

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  John 3:19, NRSV

The world is full of false, phony religion, scams which play on people's fears and superstitions, and become means by which control over the lives of people can be achieved by manipulation, brow-beating, guilt-tripping and outright misrepresentation and lying.  It's very difficult to come to the realization that something in which so much faith and trust was invested is not really taken seriously by some of the very people whose influence led to making a commitment to the practice of Christian faith, through a particular denominational, sectarian interpretation.  

Growing up in a Southern Baptist church, it's not difficult to figure out that one of the primary themes in children's and youth ministry is sexual purity.  Remaining chaste until marriage was a core doctrine that ranked right up there with the inerrancy of the Bible and the divinity of Jesus.  About the only thing worse, the way it was taught and idolized, was becoming gay or lesbian.  It was taught as a sin against oneself, something that, once it was done, could not be restored ever again, a potential marriage-busting secret that would be a lifelong scar.  

For all the effort put into this emphasis, research into the subject never showed an appreciable difference in the rates of premarital sexual activity between conservative religious youth, and those who were not raised in a church.  For all the emphasis and the talk, the high-mindedness and almost turning sexual purity into an idol, what we see transpiring in the Southern Baptist convention, and in most conservative, Evangelical, far right wing Republican circles, is rank hypocrisy in practice. 

Part of the problem is that this isn't a branch of Christianity that has a high regard or respect for women. They can't seem to see the inconsistency between the way they view women, which is that they are always in a role that is subservient and submissive to men, and the fact that they don't have a handle on controlling sexual purity.  They've picked up the ancient cultural biases that were present when the New Testament was written, but they ignore the actual text of the Christian gospel which, while noting unique roles for both men and women in the church, also elevates women to a position of equality with men, in terms of humanity, intellect and conduct.  And yet, the cultural biases are what seem to be read into the text for the purpose of defining the role of women in the church, rather than the intention that Jesus clearly stated, and left open to his apostles to clarify.  

The Southern Baptists just had a major sexual abuse scandal exposed by two Texas daily newspapers, The Houston Chronicle and The San Antonio Express News.  This particular expose only dealt with cases that had been reported, verified and adjudicated.  Tipped off by victims who had reported abuse that had occurred at the hands of pastors and church leaders, and had their reports covered up at the denominational level, the denomination's leadership has delayed, resisted and obfuscated when it comes to getting to the bottom of what's going on.  The rank and file membership of the denomination has demanded action with overwhelmingly huge affirmative votes at their annual convention, only to have their desires stymied by a balking bureaucracy bent on protecting the reputation of some of the denomination's prominent, prestigious pastors and denominational leadership.  

One of the denomination's most prominent pastors, who served as its President for two terms, and then was promoted into leadership at its North American Mission Board was implicated in the investigation, and confessed to an "inappropriate relationship."  He then got four of his close friends to take him through what they called a "restoration," in which he became repentant, and they pronounced him "restored" to his conference and preaching ministry business, which nets him millions in annual income.  

Sound familiar?  

No wonder these people are not all that upset with the bankrupt moral character of Donald Trump and the cronies he is assembling to make up his administration.  Their own moral character is lacking, and whatever power or influence they are after is more important to them than character.  So they've invented all kinds of excuses to justify their association with evil, and they're ignoring the pathological lying, deceit, misogyny and abuse of women, and the complete and utter moral bankruptcy of Trump and his entourage.  

In spite of known character flaws, moral impurity, illegal conduct and being untrustworthy liars, all things which the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, a highly respected Southern Baptist pastor and denominational officer, said disqualifies any candidate running for political office in the United States. So their support makes them complicit in his evil, and guilty of the sins they condemn in others. 

A Briefing for Those Who Are Uninformed About the Inner Workings and Beliefs of the Dangerous Evangelical Religious Cult Now Coming Into Political Power in the United States

Baptist News Global: False Prophets Have Hijacked Evangelical Christianity in America

For those who have avoided entanglement with the religious right, or the Evangelical right, as it has become known in its merger with extreme right wing politics, it might be a good idea to get informed about who these people are, what they believe and what in particular drives their attraction to a politician and leader who exhibits absolutely no characteristics of their faith at all, nor any real interest in its beliefs, beyond how he can use them to get votes.  I've been criticized by friends and acquaintances I've tried to educate on this subject for calling them "dangerous," and implying that they are capable of more than just benign, intellectual disruption.  

But let me tell you, they are dangerous.  I was raised in an Evangelical church in which the preaching was driven more by personal prejudices and cultural influences than it was by any biblical text.  From the earliest memories I have in church to the time I graduated from high school and went off to college, our church only had one pastor who had earned a college degree, and he was a part time pastor and full time high school teacher.  The contrast between what I learned in the university's theology classes that were required for graduation at the denominationally-related school I attended was mind boggling.  It wound up causing an entire deconstruction of what I believed, and it made me unwelcome anywhere in the church when I went back home.  I had become, in their eyes, an educated liberal.  

Had I been able to see where all of this was headed, I'd have taken the exit ramp from that whole branch of American Christianity back in 1989, when I finished my first graduate degree.  But there were places to "hide," I guess, including being fortunate enough to find and join a theologically liberal church that took Christianity seriously, and integrated the practice of its values and virtues into congregational life.  As a results, the overwhelming majority of the congregation were Democrats, including a member of Congress, a local county supervisor, and a former governor.  It was a Southern Baptist church that had welcomed black and Hispanic members for most of is more than 100 years of existence, and was one of the first to ordain and call women to the ministry, long before even some of the more liberal Mainline denominations did.  It thrived, as a result. 

The church itself took the exit ramp out of affiliation with the denomination, shedding any potential identification with conservative Evangelicalism, in the late 1990's.  But it's still a vibrant, growing congregation, with a pastor who identifies with the progressive left wing of the Democratic party.  That's a byproduct of its commitment to the Christian gospel, unlike the cult that most conservative Evangelicals have become with their worship of money and power. 

We're not a threat to progressive liberalism, we are progressive liberals. It was Baptists, and other Christians, in this same tradition, back in the late 1700's who championed religious liberty, along with the principle of the "free church in the free state," and influenced the founding fathers, particularly Jefferson and Madison, convincing them to include the establishment clause in the first amendment, setting both church and state free from each other's control.  Our freedom of conscience, our ability to worship as we choose, and to function as the Christian church is protected by American constitutional democracy, and we will fight to protect those things.

We're not going back, either.

Give Some Thought to What a "Christian Nationalist" America Would Look Like

Oklahoma School Superintendent Announces "Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism"

Prohibition made its way into the United States Constitution in the form of the 18th Amendment, ratified in 1920, just after the First World War.  It lasted 13 years, was one of the most difficult restrictions to enforce, and literally created an entirely new criminal class that wouldn't ever have existed, had it not been for this ridiculous intrusion into personal liberty, based on the premise that America was founded as a Christian nation, and that somehow the consumption of alcohol represented sinful rebellion against it.  The Women's Christian Temperance Union, organized in 1874, was primarily responsible for the 18th Amendment.  

That's where we are now headed, with the blending of conservative, fundamentalist and Pentecostal Christianity with the extremism of right wing politics.  The Heritage Foundation is the modern day Women's Christian Temperance Union, and it aims to reform the Constitution in a way that imposes its own version of Christian faith and practice.  

Christians in America have been as free as any in the world, at virtually any time and place in human history, to practice their faith as they see fit, and to become its evangelists, with the goal of "winning souls to Christ."  There is no point or place in the history of the Christian church where it has enjoyed anywhere close to this level of virtually unrestricted freedom.  If not a "Christian nation" in the sense that the authority of the state compels Christian faith and worship among the population, there is no other place in the world where Christianity has had such a pervasive influence over the culture and society of a nation as in the United States.  

It is, in fact, the pervasive influence of Christianity in America that is largely responsible for the inherent social problems which exist, which conservative Christians blame on the influence of progressive liberalism.  Collectively, even though the atmosphere of complete freedom the Christian church in America has enjoyed led to its splitting and splintering into a myriad of denominational clusters and groupings, all centered around the idea that each specific group thinks it is more privileged by God and more "chosen" or "elect" because of some distinctive doctrine or theological point they've come up with, Christianity exerted far more influence over all aspects of American culture, politics, social behavior, business practices, and education, than any other cultural influence.     

As long as this pervasive influence was felt in American culture, and in some cases enforced by law, such as required prayer and Bible teaching in public schools, invocations at school events and school baccalaureate services prior to graduation, blue laws that prohibited some kinds of businesses from being open on Sunday, and restricted the sale of alcohol, along with a lot of blurred lines between church and state that permitted tax dollars to find their way into church budgets, and virtually no restrictions placed on the ability of churches and church organizations to evangelize or "proselytize," the push for Christian nationalism wasn't part of our politics.  It's only been since the steady decline in church membership and attendance which began with mainline Protestants back in the 1960's, and which has now caught up to the less educated, more conservative groups which use a literal interpretation of the Bible, the fundamentalists, who are legalists, and the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, steeped in mysticism, that the movement toward Christian nationalism has revived. 

These people believe that the prosperity and peace of the United States is directly affected by the collective "morality" of the nation, and if we get to the point to where we have more sinners than saints, making us do "worldly" things as a nation, such as give rights to LGBTQ persons, or allow abortions, then God will judge this country and remove its prosperity as a blessing.  

I'm serious.  That is, in a nutshell, what we are looking at with these people.  The test of righteousness is shutting down a measurable amount of immorality in order to get back into God's good graces so he keeps the money streaming along, feeding our prosperity.  

They have a very distorted view of the Christian gospel.  They see themselves as agents of God's righteousness, and are not adverse to ignoring what Jesus claimed are the very core values of the Christian gospel to achieve a very different end.  They no longer see non-Christians as "lost people" in need of saving redemption, they see them as enemies of God deserving of death.  They believe people who are not intently committed to Christianity are reprobate, chosen by God for damnation, and unworthy of life.  

I've told friends of mine for decades now that if the United States ever had a dictatorship in which Evangelical conservatives were determined to have a prominent role, they would be as merciless and brutal in their attacks on and elimination of their perceived enemies as the church of the middle ages was in pursuing and burning heretics at the stake.  It's time to pay attention to "Seven Mountains Dominionists" and the kind of rhetoric being thrown around by people proclaiming themselves to be prophets and prophetesses.  They subvert the Christian gospel by claiming that their words are a new revelation, replacing that which was preached and taught by Jesus, that what Jesus said then, pertained to that generation then, and what they say now pertains to this generation now.  And they see their mission and purification of the world which makes them more than willing to murder to achieve their purpose. 

But don't take just my word for it.  The Oklahoma state school superintendent is giving a good primer in what's coming.  The Women's Christian Temperance Union showed how religious intimidation worked.  Today's Charismatic prophets and Fundamentalist legalists are angrier and more full of hate.   I'm just saying, we better be ready. 

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is Still There. Does it Require a Court to Enforce?

The first time I visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia, I experienced an emotional reaction to being in that place that brought me to tears.  Standing there, with the small group of people that had been in the tour group to which we were assigned, I was listening to the park ranger describe the atmosphere in that room during the writing of the Declaration of Independence, each one of those Patriots sitting there just across that small hallway from the courtroom, which represented the justice system of the King, one of the motivating factors behind the Revolution.  

I'm glad they preserved that room as well, because the description of the trials that took place there is chilling.  Justice, at the discretion of a monarch, is not justice.  It is cruelty designed to remove any motivation in the will for liberty.  It was a constant threat when the Declaration was being drafted.  It was the example of how not to administer justice when the Constitution was drafted, in the same room across the hall from that chilling courtroom.  

I doubt that the founders envisioned a justice system paralyzed by motions for delays, frivolous appeals, diversions, lengthy time periods before trials begin, and more motions.  The whole idea of "speedy trials" was to expedite getting down to the facts of a case so that a defendant did not have to be held for any longer than necessary.  And I'll cut to the chase here.  The influence of people with money have helped politicians build so many complications into the justice system that it is no longer effective in actually administering justice.  Like almost everything else, it's become a partisan political tool.  

If the Justice System Can't Enforce the Law, It's Worthless

What does it say to the American people that our courts are unable to prosecute one of the most heinous crimes ever committed against the people, and the Congress, of the United States?  Whatever tactic existed for delay and obfuscation of the crimes Trump committed leading up to the January 6th insurrection could not be prosecuted by the justice department.  

What kind of message does that send to the people of the United States?  

It says that our laws are worthless, especially when a defendant who commits crimes against the people is prominent, rich, and a politician who gets partisan support to fend off justice.  It says, very clearly, that while we are a nation influenced by privilege and prominence and money, we are no longer a nation of laws.  It says that the people who run the justice department, which should be top quality lawyers and judges, are not capable of prosecuting a relatively simple case in which most of the evidence was handed to them by a Congressional investigation.  

Can The 14th Amendment Be Used in the Time We Have Left Before Electoral Vote Certification?

I don't care how complicated, or consequential, a case may be, there is absolutely no justification whatsoever for a justice department taking four years to prosecute.  Congress conducted an investigation and produced evidence.  The justice department should have jumped on that the next day, started the ball rolling and used its power to resist any attempt at delays.  It represents the American people and as one of those people, I'm damn disappointed in the way I was represented.  It was legal malpractice.  Insurrection is the worst crime that can be perpetuated against our country.  The fact that this insurrection, so obviously and visibly instigated by Trump, was let go and treated like any other case messed up by legal red tape, is a travesty.  

The Constitution, however, is still the constitution.  Is there a way to enforce the 14th Amendment without going through a cumbersome and ineffective justice department and court system?  We've been told Trump is an existential threat to democracy.  Shouldn't those who have sworn an oath to the Constitution be defending it by expediting a trial aimed at determining that Trump is not eligible to be President.  Nor is J. D. Vance, since he doesn't see the insurrection for what it is. 

So what recourse do we have at this point to bring about justice for the American people?  This is an amendment to the constitution, and we have an obvious insurrection, and an obvious instigator.  The courts have simply failed, due to their own lack of efficiency and effectiveness, to enforce the law.  These are questions that I hear are being asked.  

Was Trump even charged with insurrection?  And if not, why not?  Was there ever any real intention of holding him accountable, or were they just satisfied going after the peons who got themselves caught up in it?  

This is a huge issue for me.  Has anyone ever thought that one of the possible reasons for Harris losing this election was Democrats who sat at home and didn't vote because the Justice Department dragged its feet and never brought Trump to justice?  That was the first thing that came up in an informal discussion among my neighbors recently, a Polish immigrant brought it up and pointed out that when it appeared Trump would not be brought to justice for any crime he had committed, and that even the state of New York would back down in the hush money case, a lot of Democrats just felt it wasn't worth it to vote.  

Or, is this the first failure to enforce the Constitution before it falls completely on January 20?

Reaching a Consequential Decision: Leave the Church

"How can you call yourself a Christian, and vote for Kamala Harris?"

The fact that conservative Christians ask this question, and make that assumption is clear evidence of just how far away they have moved from the very principles of the doctrines they claim to correctly discern from their interpretation of the Bible.  I was asked that question many times this past election season, and I didn't let it sit there without a response.  

I could go into a theological discussion of the fact that there is no condition placed upon the doctrine of Christian redemption, and that nothing the Bible's authors have to say about it have anything to do with one's voting choices.  In fact, to make such a statement is to engage in judging the character and faith of a fellow human being, a practice which Jesus himself condemns in some of his more stronger terms.  And my response points this out, along with stating that if I can be judged for my choice of candidate, so can they, and if those are the ground rules, we can continue the conversation. 

Their main objection to Kamala was that she is a Democrat, and a liberal, and she was pushing abortion rights, gay rights and transgender rights.  So what?  This is America.  She can be a Democrat, and a liberal and neither of those things has anything to do with being Christian, except I have a problem, in my view of being Christian, seeing how that doesn't make one a liberal. This is the point in most discussions I have with conservative Evangelicals, where their argument breaks down.  I have a background in theology, from getting a B.A. and an M.A. at two universities affiliated with the Southern Baptists.  I can argue using the chapter and verse references, and the Greek text if necessary.  Most of those with whom I argue, surprisingly, have very little knowledge of the biblical text.  

Anger and Hostility Are Not Virtues of the Christian Gospel, But They Are Visible in Conservative, American Evangelicals

Part of the problem, when it comes to these issues, is that conservative Evangelicals are angry, hostile people when it comes to these specific issues.  From their perspective, the visibility of LGBTQ persons in the culture is a reminder to them of the failure of their evangelistic efforts to "bring revival to America."  Their numbers are dropping like a stone in a well, their churches are graying rapidly and emptying out and what that means is that the revenue stream that is exploited by what we used to call televangelists, the "corporate Christianity" of the media and book publishing businesses and big names with million dollar ministries like the Falwells, Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham, James Dobson, is drying up.  

But the point is that the Constitution gives all Americans freedom of conscience.  LGBTQ persons are a small percentage of the population, and they're not "taking over."  Nor is their presence in society something that has the potential to bring God's judgment on this country.  That would be something that a conservative Evangelical, reading and studying their Bible in its cultural, historical and theological context, should be able to discern.  America was never offered a "covenant" by God to exist as a theocracy in the same way as ancient Israel.  In fact, the Christian gospel is the only "covenant" that exists in biblical theology in the present age, and that's an individual covenant, not one offered to nations or countries.  So any judgment, for those who accept those terms, is individual, not corporate.

On Abortion Rights, It's Not Just About Birth Control 

It's impossible to discuss this issue with a conservative Evangelical in a reasonable manner.  They are so full of misinformation, they have virtually no understanding of what is involved and they resort to their simplistic accusations of "baby killing" as a means of ending an argument in which they cannot engage intelligently.  They have absolutely no understanding at all of the fact that these draconian abortion laws, which prevent doctors from performing life-saving procedures in the event of complications, will wind up causing the deaths of thousands of women, over 80% of which would be preventable otherwise.  That's not a mortality rate that we'd put up with in this country for anything else.  

Harris didn't champion the use of abortion as birth control at all, she championed the right of women to make health care decisions in consultation with her own doctor, and with her pastor, priest, rabbi or Imam, if that was her choice.  This is not an issue without complications.  We've seen some tragic examples of what can happen to women when doctors are restricted from providing treatment under some draconian, restrictive law that a state legislature passed without consulting a single medical professional.  

So, to those conservative Evangelicals who want to argue this point, my response is to put this back on them.  How many women are you willing to kill in order to have your abortion restrictions?  Are you willing to sacrifice the 80% of women whose lives could be saved by performing whatever measures the doctor deems necessary to save their life?  That's certainly not pro-life.  

The sexual behavior exhibited and advocated by the President-elect doesn't seem to support the conservative, Evangelical position on abortion.  Perhaps, if those who aspire to leadership set a better example in their own sexual morality, or lack of it, abortion used for birth control purposes would not be as much of an issue.  Conservative Evangelicals put a huge amount of effort into teaching and encouraging abstinence until marriage among their young people, and then go out and give their political support to a man who was in bed with a porn star while his own (third) wife was pregnant with their son.  

I see a lot of mixed messages here.  Get it straight, and then we'll discuss it. 

How Can You Call Yourself a Christian, and Vote For Donald Trump? 

It's only fair for me to ask, though my own integrity won't permit me to make the same kind of judgment about someone else's Christian faith, based on their political choices.  I'm more interested in the rationale that selectively criticizes a Democrat, and let's a Republican off the hook for what I see as infinitely worse bad character, immorality and political ineptitude.  

Starting with Trump's almost gleeful continued insistence that he is sinless, and has not done anything requiring God's forgiveness, because he does not see God the same way his Evangelical friends do, which is a direct mockery of their faith and what they believe, moving through the brand name he built for himself by getting on the front page of the tabloids to describe his bedroom antics with his wives or the other women with whom he had affairs, his fraudulent business schemes, his incessant lying, his backstabbing and betrayals, and his hateful thirst for vengeance.  

I'd suggest looking through the text of Jesus' words recorded in the New Testament, and the works of the apostles, and find anything but terms like licentiousness, impurity, fornication, idolatry, sorcery, strife, jealousy, fits of rage, to describe Trump's character.  There is no integrity and certainly no humility, both of which are high on the list of Christian virtues.  There's no humility or repentance, or any of the characters that define good leadership.  

The man incited an insurrection to disrupt Congress, intending to inflict pain and suffering while overturning the results of a legitimate election, based on a lie that, through over 60 attempts in court, he could not provide one shred of evidence to prove.  

The apostle John calls the kind of denial of the need for forgiveness Trump has repeatedly articulated in front of Evangelical leaders who are trying to goad him into saying something they can identify as a confession of faith, as the spirit of antichrist.  Not "The Antichrist," a figure from Evangelicalism's fantasy "end times" narrative, but antichrist meaning a full denial of the person of Jesus Christ.  

And those are things which qualify someone to be President of the United States?  No, not to mention Article 3 of the 14th Amendment, which we are ignoring. 

Reaching a Consequential Decision

Those who were raised in Evangelical churches eventually come to the point of having to make a consequential decision.  One of the distinctive doctrines of Evangelical Christianity is the belief that the Bible is inerrant, infallible in its content, and is the sole authority for the faith and practice of the church.  However, few Evangelicals show much evidence in their lifestyle of the effects of a Christian gospel that they claim is "transformational."  Their push toward Christian nationalism is an admission of failure on their part to reach the people of the United States with the gospel, and bring about a revival that will sweep away all of the immorality they see, and bring "God's favor" on the country.  And they're not going to let core principles taught by Jesus, such as "loving your neighbor as you love yourself," and "love your enemies and pray for those who despitefully use you," get in their way of bringing this about.  

Nor do they show any consistency between what they claim to believe and their politics.  They consistently vote for candidates based on partisan perspectives, and then attempt to explain it away with some convoluted, theologically distorted and twisted reasoning, like the mess being circulated now to defend voting for a visibly evil, deranged demagogue by comparing him to King David and claiming that sometimes God uses evil men to achieve his purposes.  David was described as "a man after God's own heart," not perfect, but always repentant, in contrast to the unrepentant, defiant, characteristically evil Trump, who is after his own good, and doesn't really believe God exists.  God doesn't ever use men like that.  

How could he possibly use someone filled with that much hatred for other people, and who is unable to acknowledge the existence of God because he thinks so highly of himself?  Not possible.

It's Time to Leave Now

Several years ago, right in the middle of a sermon, when the GOP elephant was starting to stampede its way in, I nudged my wife and said, "I'm done, let's go."  When we got to the car she thanked me for making that move, and said she couldn't have taken another second of it.  We'd been members of that church for five years, were good contributors, regular volunteers and active members.  They practiced "loving  your neighbor" so well, that weeks went by without a phone call, or even a postcard inquiring about our whereabouts.  The offering envelopes came, as usual, a reflection, perhaps, of their true values.  

While 81% of white Evangelicals voted for Trump once again this year, that percentage represents an actual drop in total number, as near as I can figure, about 8 million fewer votes.  Looking at membership figures reported by Evangelical denominations, and non-denominational churches in the US over the same decade, most of those people can be accounted for.  The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Evangelical denomination in the United States, has dropped 20% of its membership since its peak in 2006, with more than 2.5 million of those occurring in the years since 2016, according to their annual reports.  In just one year, prior to COVID 19, that number was close to 450,000.  

So here's a suggestion for anyone reading this who still belongs to an Evangelical church who may be part of that 19% of white Evangelicals that didn't vote for Trump.  

Leave.  And let them know why you're leaving.  Don't leave any doubt.  

It will liberate you in ways you didn't know were possible.  

The Hidden Presidency

We live in an age of instant video communication where individuals can access information in seconds, and communicate with each other in the remotest parts of the planet.  Virtually everyone you pass on the street is carrying or wearing at least one electronic device capable of accessing almost unlimited communication.  There are now segments of our population, younger people mostly, for whom a cell phone is their primary means of getting information.  

With all of that, it's frustrating to observe that few Americans have a clue about their politics, and can answer a simple question about the administration of President Joe Biden.  What people believe about the economy and the state of the union is nothing close to reality.  And that's not because they are choosing to believe fiction over fact, it's because they just don't know the facts.  

We have had the longest stretch of sustained job growth and low unemployment through the single term of a President in something like five decades.  Every month he's been in office, there's been reported job growth, and in most months, it has exceeded expectations.  The stock market has been setting monumentally high records all through his entire term, with very few re-adjustments and set backs, and is now in record territory, where it will be when Biden's term is over.  GNP has sustained growth through the entire four years he's been in office, strong, consistent stead growth and I believe the numbers on wage growth are also better than any Presidential administration going all the way back to Lyndon Johnson.  

Like most other developed countries, the United States was hit with a wave of global inflation.  It started in other world economies before reaching hear, so it was not due to anything the President had done as far as our economy was concerned.  It was largely related to re-expansion following the COVID pandemic.  The President told us it would be a long stretch, and there were no easy fixes, but they took action which did two things.  One, the impact was much less on the American people than it was on most of the rest of the world.  Two, the steps taken to managing it did indeed bring it under control and down to normal levels, as he said it would do, and their management of it did not lead to a recesession.  The US economy is not in recession at all, not even close to it.  That silenced a lot of economic experts.  

But few people will respond to questions about this economy with the correct answers.  A majority of voters believe we are in a recession, likely not even knowing what that is, in spite of the exact opposite being the case.  People think the stock market is crashing.  They think unemployment is high and they think they're making less money because of inflation.  

In addition to this, there's a long list of legislative accomplishments the Biden administration achieved, including getting a much needed infrastructure bill passed which created jobs and which actually increased the revenue received by the federal government as a result.  He's opened up pemits for oil drilling, increasing domestic production and engineered a deal which sold off a portion of the US strategic reserves at a profit, when the price of a barrel of oil was high, and refilled the gap with lower priced petroleum, earning the government a huge profit. He led the effort to increase Social Security, the largest increase in decades, and for benefits that are now part of Medicare, including a cap on the cost of insulin for seniors and the ability to negotiate prescription drug prices.  

That's just the tip of the iceberg.  

Are Americans Really Not Paying Attention, or Are They Being Deceived? 

My confidence in the collective intelligence of the people of this country dropped like a stone in a well on Wednesday, November 6th.  As an educator, it wasn't really very high prior to that, and through over thirty years of experience in education, I've seen almost nothing to convince me things are getting better in this regard, and plenty to conclude they are getting worse.  

It is a fact, provable with all available evidence, that the Presidential administration of Joe Biden will end on January 20, 2025 as the single most accomplished and successful Presidency of the 21st century, and since that of Lyndon Johnson in the 1960's.  And that's saying a lot, when the accomplishments of the Clinton and Obama Administrations are part of that period of time.  

But his achievements and accomplishments have largely been muted.  After Jen Psaki left as his press secretary, unfortunately so did the ability of his administration to express its achievements and accomplishments to the media.  Biden called few press conferences, and his administration didn't seem to make much of an effort to get itself and its accomplishments in front of a media they knew wasn't necessarily friendly to them.  But that's what Presidents do.  After seeing Pete Buttigieg serving as a surrogate to the Harris campaign, almost exclusively with Fox News, I have to wonder if he was misplaced in the Department of Transportation.  He should have been in the role of spokesperson for the Biden administration and headed up their publicity efforts.  

But I have to wonder, after these past four years, if there was anything they could have done to get more attention focused on his achievements.  

I am certain that if an audit was made to determine how many days Trump got more media coverage than President Biden, since January 20, 2021, that number would be 1,389 days.  Because that's how many days there are on the calendar since then, up until today, November 9, 2024.  Even MSNBC covers him, even if it is in a negative light.  Lawrence O'Donnell has one of the best grasps of just how evil and corrupt Trump is, but I'd be happy if someone paid me a dollar for every time his program started out with the words, "Donald Trump."  

The corporately owned media in the United States is no longer part of the free press that is a necessary element for the protection of America's constitutional democracy.  When one of the extremists on the FCC board whined about Kamala Harris' appearance on Saturday Night Live being a violation of its free and equal time policy, I laughted out loud.  Every network, every television station and radio station in America that is owned by one of the big corporations or media conglomerates, has blatantly violated "free and equal time" in giving Trump a 24 hour a day, four year long free commercial.  

So when you look at the election results, it's really pretty remarkable that Harris did as well as she did.  The media helped elect Trump in a big way, by giving him center stage, and by keeping Americans in the dark about the most accomplished President since the 1960's.  

Fitting Talent and Ability to the Right Place

Franklin Roosevelt once joked that his main responsibility as President was being like a traffic cop, directing the right men to the right jobs.  The legacy of his Presidency is preserved in history as perhaps the single greatest leader in American history, surpassing even Lincoln and Washington, was largely due to the high quality of those in his administration with whom he surrounded himself.  Roosevelt chose some of the best men he could find, including several who were known to have disagreed with some of his initiatives and actions.  He listened to them, which is why he is considered one of the best.  

I'm not saying that Biden didn't pick good people or listen to his advisors.  He also surrounded himself by some of the best, and listened to them.  And when Jen Psaki was his press secretary, an articulate communicator who was direct and understandable, we heard and saw a lot.  After she stepped down, not so much.  

I think Pete Buttigieg might have been misplaced as Secretary of Transportation.  I'm not saying he didn't do a good job there, he absolutely did.  But after seeing him serve as a surrogate to Harris' campaign, almost exclusively on Fox News, baffling and frustrating their propagandists with the truth, I wonder how much better Biden's reputation would be if he'd been the spokesperson for the administration.  

Biden's Place in History

The political perspective of the United States has changed.  We have spent the better part of the last fifty years, going back to the Civil Rights Movement, convincing ourselves that our values were changing and we were making progress in becoming the first democracy to recognize and establish basic human rights over all of the cultural barriers to them.  Race and religion continue to be divisive, as they are everywhere else in the world.  Evangelicals, angry that their efforts to evangelize the population and "cure " its sins and ills through spiritual means, are turning to the power of politics to get the job done in an admission of their lack of faith in God, and are unleashing the bigotry formed by their misinterpretation and idolizing an ancient religious text.  

By any past standard, Joe Biden should go down in history as one of the most achieved, euccessful Presidents in all American history.   We've had some real losers in the White House, haven't we?  The likes of men like John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and in more modern times, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Donald Trump make average look superior.  President Biden should rank up there with JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman, Grover Cleveland, and come out better than Andrew Jackson or Teddy Roosevelt.  

That's if the standards have not changed.