We're Fundamentally a Good Nation

Let's say, for a moment, that Rump did nothing wrong ... that he did nothing illegal or even questionable ... that everything he did was normal.

And, then what?
What are we left with?

Chaos, crooks in jail, confusion.
Uncertainty and cruelty.

Lots of cruelty.
Abandoning the land to special interests.
Children in cages.
Families decimated.

A government full of scoundrels and scalawags.
Foreign policy in shreds.

He goes to cities for rallies and doesn't pay.
He refuses to release his taxes.
He runs away to his resorts.
He plays endless golf.

He's rude and crude.
He's foolish and full of himself.

His whole life is a combover.

He's not fit to lead our nation.
And if, for some, the economy is good.
That's not a result of his "greatness."
It's the result of America's ingenuity and energy.
Creativity and innovation.

We're fundamentally a good nation.
We've got skeletons in our closet, of course.
But we're a good nation.

But that goodness right now is being tainted.
As never quite before.

By a terrible man who otherwise would be a mob boss.

I think he's guilty of impeachable offenses.
But beyond that, he's guilty of crimes against his own humanity, and the humanity of millions around the world.

He's betrayed the common good.
He's betrayed the God he uses so skillfully to fool the religious naive.
He's betrayed everything that makes for truth.

Impeachable by the House?
Likely.!

Impeachable in the Courts of Faith, Hope and Love?
YES, ABSOLUTELY.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles






One of the finest I've ever read ... like an eight-course dinner in a five-star restaurant, every course just right, wonderfully plated and served with elegance, wine with every serving, plenty of time to savor every offering, delicious, with a stunned shake of the head ... can anything be this good? And it is.

Character development is rich ... Towles use of words masterful ... a man in charge of the words, and not, like so much self-published stuff, the words in charge of the writer.

The reader, at least this one, is swept up into the sorrows and joys of it all ... and on nearly every page, a quotable quote, and at all the right times, like a palette-cleansing sorbet, laughter, sometimes slight, and sometimes a hearty guffaw.

A book to be studied, enjoyed, loved, and when done, set aside with thanksgiving, that in this often crazy and cruel world, there are some who will not give in, but will find a way to find the gifts of life and love ... and Towles, as a master of the art, to tell the tale of hope.





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I Am Against ...

I am against The Wall.
I am against Liars and Cheats.
I am against Maggot Hats.

I am against private white schools.
Even Catholic ones.

I am against private schools that
Bar LGBTQ teachers and make life
Miserable for LGBTQ students.

I am against bigotry and hate
Claiming "just being Christian."
Such is nothing less than a baldfaced lie.
A heresy of incommensurable evil.

As I oppose such things, dark and wicked.
Mindless and malevolent;

I stand up for:
LGBTQ rights, across the board.
A woman's right to choose, in all matters of health.

Transgender rights.
Voter Rights.
Free birth control.
Sex education.
Fully funded public education.
All across the board.

I am for freedom of thought and religion.
For Equal Opportunity.
Equal wages for women.
Universal Heath Care.
Higher taxes on the upper crust.

Taxes are nothing more than the ancient
Art of Alms-giving.
The redistribution of wealth.
To help the poor.
And save the souls of the rich.

I am for fresh air and clean water.
Clear skies and job training.
For safe food.
And unions.

For all the things that make life good.
For all of God's creatures.
Great and Small.

I do this from the heart of my being.
My faith in God.
And the work of Christ.
Who fed the hungry.
Confronted the pious.
Tweaked the noses of the proud.
Refused Pilate's mindless chatter.
Freely expressed his doubts and fears.

And in ways never to be understood.
Came through death to life.
And with the angels, rolled away the stone.

I believe these things because they speak of love.
Of hope and faith.

And that's why I oppose the shenanigans
Of the power-hungry.
And elements of the Christian Family who are
Flat-out wrong, or so I think, and so I believe.
It's not the first time that Christians are wrong.
Nor the last.

And perhaps I'm wrong, too.
And if I am, so be it.
I can only be here and how.
With what I have, and what I hope.
And the way I see it.

By the Spirit, by reading and prayer.
In the company of good friends.
I do my best.
To honor what is best in the human story.
God's story, too.
From Cradle to Cross.
From Genesis to Revelations.
From the Tree of Life to the healing of the nations.