Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

In a recent conversation with a friend, she told me that the reason she has never been interested in politics is because it’s all a lie.  However, recently she delved in for a brief visit and came away with her beliefs reinforced.  After watching the Republican Presidential debates, she called me and said “Obama has lied to us for three years. I watched those Republican contenders and it’s so obvious they will say anything to get the nomination. They are all alike. Politics is professional lying.”

I didn’t have much in my bag of responses to dissuade my friend, mostly because my heart wouldn’t have been in refuting her conclusion. The lying and pandering has definitely played itself out.

So, just maybe it’s not a political leader we should be seeking as much as a spiritual one. By spiritual, I don’t mean religious. The bureaucracies, corruption and politics inherent within organized religion are as much the cause of our current state of things as is secular politics.

By spiritual, I mean the likes of Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Gandhi.  These were not people marketing religion. They were people who each had a deeply personal and profound spiritual experience and then lived the truth of that experience.

Perhaps Gandhi, a former lawyer, is the best example for our current needs. Mainly because by his applying his spiritual awakening to his beliefs about national autonomy and individual dignity, he achieved politically what all the politicians and militarists were unable to do. One man, certain of his faith, his ethics, and his path changed the destiny of two nations and perhaps more.

So, as a former lawyer myself, I am rightfully an advocate of exercising our Constitutional right to vote. As such, I encourage all to stay alert and involved in the 2012 election process and make your voice heard. However, your greatest impact will be in emulating Gandhi and following his advice to “be the change you want to see in the world.”

You never know.

You could be the spiritual leader that turns it all around.

I read a startling statistic today. Consumer debt increased in November to a decade long high. Not counting mortgage debt, Americans owe $2.48 trillion. Consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 10%, with credit cards rising 8.5% annually and auto or education loans growing at 10.75% annually. I can only assume it was mostly due to anticipatory Christmas shopping.

So let’s see.

In memory and tribute to the birth of Jesus and all that he lived and died for, most people decided to increase their enslavement to materialism…not to mention China.

Is this possible?

Can it be that in a world of disintegrating global economies and a national unemployment rate that translates into 23.7 million unemployed who are unable to find work, our collective response is denial? That’s precisely what more debt signals. It signals denial of reality by all those people who are increasing their indebtedness. Denial of what it means to the economic health of the nation…and therefore, freedom and liberty.

I know something about debt. I know what it does to an individual. I also know what it can do to a marriage. I once lived with credit card. Only when it reached a point that was personally intolerable did I do something about it. Now, I use no credit cards and only purchase what I can pay for at time of purchase. The difference is undeniable. Without debt, there is an absence of anxiety and a feeling of security…not to mention responsibility and autonomy. So it’s easy for me to project the exponential threat to our national well-being and autonomy that the effects of exorbitant consumer debt will have. On top of that, heap our national indebtedness to China with the tenuous state of the dollar and, well, you get the picture.

Or do you?

If you’re reading this post and have debt, stop buying and stop borrowing. Do everything you can to free yourself from enslavement to that insatiable monster. Consumer debt and credit cards are like betting chips at the crap table in Vegas. It a fun ride while you’re on it, but sooner or later someone taps you on the shoulder and reminds you that 1) the chips aren’t real money; 2) they represent real money and 3) since you kept asking for more and adding interest to “borrowing”…here’s an offer of repayment you can’t refuse. Pharaoh started this game thousands of years ago and the end game was ugly then and will be again.

Let’s not be distracted by all the hype over the 2012 Presidential election.  Our way out of this mess isn’t by way of one single individual. Each of us has to personally step up and disengage from the illusion that has enslaved us to forever needing more.

Disengage from it…not deny our continued participation in it.

I have consistently watched the Republican Presidential debates because I like to form my own opinion of what occurred rather than be told by someone else what they saw and heard… especially when its main stream media doing the recap. Last night was no exception. I watched the debate from New Hampshire and my disappointment was palpable.  All of the candidates are, for the most part, missing two ingredients: honesty and passion.

The passion I can live without. I think we all can. While it makes for compelling TV and equally compelling campaigning, I think it entirely possible to have vision without passion. After all, we had a charismatic, passionate candidate in 2008 who took the White House by storm.  In hindsight I suspect most of the electorate, given the opportunity, would gladly rewind and trade-in all that “Hope and Change” for “Honesty and Character.” But hindsight is what it is.

However, while we can live without the passion I don’t think we can live without the honesty.

President James Garfield said, “The truth will set you free but first it will make you miserable.”  We have arrived at this low point in American politics precisely because we have acquiesced in allowing ourselves to be deceived for a very long time. As long as the money was flowing and our lifestyles weren’t affected, we stayed unconscious.  And while we slept, the monster we were feeding grew.  I’ve always believed that people get the leader they deserve.

If we are prepared to face the necessary corrections to get the ship of State, and the culture, back on track then I think we will call forth a candidate who is willing and able to speak truth to us.  If not, then we will have much more to concern ourselves with than the 2012 election.  We will be struggling for our very survival.

I think we are ready for the truth. I think we have exhausted the emptiness of materialism and the alienation of technology.  But it’s up to each of us to make that readiness known. It’s up to each of us to say, “No, I will not choose between two people who have been chosen for me by the powers that be.”

We in the West, raised on Aristotelian logic, think there are only two choices. It’s called a dilemma: “di” meaning “two” and “lemma” meaning problem.  The 2012 Presidential election is not a dilemma. It’s a tetra-lemma taught by the Buddhist philosopher, Nagarjuna.  There are at least 4 possible choices and, maybe even more. And I don’t mean there are 4 viable candidates at the moment. I mean there are many ways out of this situation other than the two obvious ones.  But we have to refuse to respond like trained animals that cannot think for ourselves.  We have to be heard saying, “I reject A or not A” as my only choices.  I demand competency and honesty and until I have that as one of my choices I will not sit down and I will not be silent.

Socrates was one voice. So was Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs.  I’m not comparing missions. I’m only shining Light on the power of one voice imbued with determination and certainty who will not sit down, will not be quiet and demands an alternative way of doing things.

You have one voice.  Are you standing?

“Where the rubber meets the road” is an expression used to make the point that whatever is being referred to constitutes a moment of truth.  I suggest, along that same line of thought, 2012 is where reality meets spirituality. At least it’s where these two aspects of ourselves must meet if we are to survive and prosper beyond where we are now.

We have made advances in science and technology that were thought to be inconceivable 50 years ago, with greater advances yet on the horizon. But in our blindness, or our arrogance, we refuse to acknowledge that other cultures, other civilizations came before us leaving remnants of their own inconceivable technological advances as well and yet, they vanished in totality from the face of the Earth.

The most important lesson we should take from their disappearance is that it isn’t enough to be scientifically or technologically advanced. It is also necessary, in fact critical, that our spirituality…our humanity…be equally developed and advanced. Without common, life affirming values and core ethical principles to act as a framework to contain our creations we will find ourselves also relegated to the dust bin of history.

Which is why the 2012 Presidential election is so important.

It may seem almost ludicrous to write about concepts so daunting and then tie them to something so charged with corruption and greed as politics.  But the import about the 2012 election isn’t about the process or even the candidate.

It’s about you.

This next election is when each of us must step up and take responsibility for what we do with the right to vote. We must look for a candidate to support who stands for those life-affirming values and core ethical principles upon which our future rests. We must not follow the pack or allow someone else to do our thinking, and our concluding, for us. Each of us must realize the crucial transition we, as a species, are passing through and the pitfalls inherent within.

2012 is when the rubber meets the road. Now is the moment each of us must go within and reconnect with our spiritual Selves, allowing that light to illuminate our way forward.

Take this election very seriously. It’s way past the time for complaining about corruption, greed and victimization. As Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Do that and we may just find our way out of this fire swamp.

 

Ron Paul as President of the United States will be a mistake. It will be a mistake made for the same reason we elected Barack Obama. We are unconscious and as such have our priorities wrong.

The passionate and dedicated following that the young have with Ron Paul stems from an understandable source: idealism.  Most of us, before we have experienced life and what it takes to live it, see things in absolute terms. There are few shades of gray for the young and so, Ron Paul, in his certainty and straight forward talk holds great appeal.  For those who no longer qualify as the idealistic young, Paul stands for the straightforward talk, especially about the economy, that many have been hungry for in politics and government.

But as with Barack Obama, too many voters seem unwilling to go deeper into who this man really is and what we know about his character.  So let me make just three points as to why Ron Paul should not be the Republican candidate and, regardless of any independent candidacy, should not be President.

1,  For 10 years Ron Paul oversaw a newsletter that went out under his name that published racist and anti-Semitic positions. Now, confronted with questions regarding how that could have occurred, he has responded that he didn’t read everything that went into the newsletters and he didn’t know it said those things. Giving him the benefit of the doubt that he neither read nor knew about racist and anti-Semitic comments, he is unqualified to lead any organization, least of all the United States government with such an admission of leadership incompetency.

2.  Ron Paul rails against earmarks. Those pork barrel expenditures that members of Congress pack into legislation to bring taxpayer dollars to their districts for pet projects that benefit their constituents.  The “game” Ron Paul plays.. and that’s his assessment not mine…is that he puts the “pork” into the legislation, then votes against it, knowing it will pass without his vote. Then he can say “I voted against it” and wave the banner proclaiming he’s on the side of cutting waste and crony capitalism.

3.  Friends are important. If you have any you know this. You also know you choose your friends because you and they share certain basic values. Friendships as between nations are no different. Israel is a friend of the United States. Ron Paul is a moral relativist and, as such, makes no distinction between Israel and terrorist states seeking its annihilation. He is very clear that he would cut off all aid to Israel and force that nation to defend itself on its own in the midst of a sea of hostile Arab nations.

Maybe there is more. I don’t really care. The above are enough for me to feel as strongly as I do that electing Ron Paul would be a statement about us. It would say we are still unconscious and that we care more about the economy than we do basic human values and our national character.

As an afterthought, if he is the Republican party’s nominee, he will also guarantee us 4 more years of Barack Obama and, if we are still standing at the end of that, 4-8 years of Hillary Clinton if she runs as his Vice President.

I can close with only two words. Wake up.

 

My support for Rick Santorum is not new. But based upon Robert Reich’s column in “Business Insider” today, my passion for that support is renewed.  Not that I needed any further reason to think Rick Santorum should be the Republican Presidential Nominee and the next President of The United States. I have all the reasons I need. He was an industrious United States Senator. He is a man of obvious spiritual, ethical and moral convictions. He appears to be a devoted husband and father.  He’s in favor of smaller government with less government intrusion into our personal and professional lives.  In short, Rick Santorum is type of person, and candidate, we always say we are looking for and can’t seem to find.

Robert Reich hypothesizes in his column that the Democratic ticket for 2012 will be Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, with the Secretary of State and Vice President Biden trading places for a second Obama Administration. I speak virtually no French but I can muster up one word: q’uelle nightmare!

Vice President Biden has no discernible diplomatic skills. Further, more often than not, he says things that either confound the listener or embarrass the Nation…not to mention himself.  Joe Biden as our “Best International Foot Forward?” Really? Joe Biden…whose foot seems most often to find its way into his own mouth? How unconscious would we have to be to allow Joe Biden to become Secretary of State?

As for Hillary Clinton, I don’t trust her. I don’t believe her. I think she is manipulative and ambitious to a spectacular degree.  I think she compromised herself to stay with a man who publicly and privately humiliated her for the exchange of a promise to support her insatiable need for power.  Politically, she is as pro big government as Barack Obama, misread the “Arab Spring” and Qaddafi as Secretary of State, and has been no friend to our friend Israel. She has sold her soul to George Soros and they are both Progressives who seek personal wealth and power in a “New World Order.”

So I have to thank Robert Reich (an insider himself) for posing the possibility that if I and many others aren’t awake enough to see the train wreck coming down the tracks, we could actually wind up with 4-12 more years of out of control spending, concentration of power within a select group of individuals who seek to reduce the United States to an insignificant player in a new world order of their own making.

Remember, Barack Obama is the smartest guy in the room, right? And Hilary Clinton is the smartest woman in the world, right? So much for intelligence with without core beliefs (Obama) or intelligence without ethics (Clinton).

The 2012 Presidential election isn’t about money. It’s about character. We need Rick Santorum because, yes, he’s bright. Yes, he has proven he knows how to accomplish legislation for the public good. Yes, as a Republican in a Democratic State he earned the trust of its citizens. But, mostly, we need him because he walks his talk and is someone we can trust and be proud to call “Mr. President.”

Wouldn’t that be a refreshing change?

The answer to why Newt Gingrich is leading in the polls is simple. It’s also dangerously short-sighted. Gingrich’s popularity is born of the frustration and impotence felt by so many Americans over the direction of this country in the past 3 years and the crony capitalism that has mushroomed out of control. People want someone to “take the hit” for our current situation and they mistakenly believe they will feel better if they watch Newt Gingrich debate Barack Obama. It’s that simple.

We humans rarely take responsibility for the world we create. We have wallowed in a victim mentality for millennia. So, when things get bad, or challenging, we look to blame someone else for our plight.

Most of us sense what a critical moment we have arrived at . Many of us think that the current President represents an impediment to moving beyond the crisis. Those who feel this way want him defeated in 2012. However, on the way to that defeat, we would like to see him no longer able to avoid being held accountable for the decisions he’s made.

It’s in that last sentence that Newt Gingrich’s popularity is rooted and so easily understood.

Gingrich is a brilliant historian and a remarkable debater. It’s almost safe to say he’s unequaled, among public figures, in being able to articulate and discuss history, government and the political process. To the contrary, Barack Obama, other than when in cheerleader mode on the campaign trail, seems unable to articulate much of anything absent detailed preparation and the assistance of a teleprompter. He is almost unintelligible at thinking on his feet.

So, in our haste to hold Barack Obama accountable, we fail to realize that we are doing business with the devil, so to speak. Substantively and policy-wise, Newt Gingrich is a Progressive just as Barack Obama is, regardless of their party affiliations. Both men believe in big government and both believe that government knows best.  In addition, Gingrich’s ethics and moral character, as exemplified by his past private and public behavior, are sorely lacking at best.

It was shortsightedness, instant gratification and a disregard for personal responsibility that got us into the current mess. Nominating Newt Gingrich would be the result of our continuing that pattern of behavior.

We must trade the thrill of seeing this President intellectually and verbally pummeled for a longer range view of things. Yes, Barack Obama needs to go. But in that process, we need to step up, decide where we want to go when he’s gone, and choose the Republican candidate who is most likely to honor our choice and lead us there. Admittedly this approach will require much more work on each of our parts than just nominating Gingrich because he’s quick on his feet. But remember, to do nothing is to choose.

I can guarantee you won’t like the end result should inaction wind up being your choice.

 

There’s a famous story about the Roman Emperor Nero dancing and playing the fiddle as Rome burned. It’s just a story because, factually, its filled with contradiction and unsubstantiated facts. However, all references to “Nero fiddling” have come to mean “to occupy oneself with unimportant matters and neglect priorities during a crisis.”

Hence, the basis for the title of this post.

There are only three possibilities why President Obama would be taking a 17-day vacation to Hawaii as the world economies are in collapse, the Middle East is on fire, and everywhere you turn our nation is in a precarious state of unrest.

1. He is clueless;
2. He is arrogant to the point of indifferent;
3. He knows something we don’t.

Being a graduate of Harvard Law School, Editor of its Law Review,  and having out maneuvered the “smartest woman in the world” (a/k/a Hilary Clinton) during the 2008 Democratic primary, I doubt the President is clueless. And while I do think he has  given us numerous instances of his arrogance, I don’t think he is indifferent to the plight of others. Which leaves the only other possibility.

He knows something we don’t.

One of the reasons I became a lawyer (although not the primary one) is that I have always had an innate sense of “what’s wrong with this picture.” You know, the ability to look at a scene and see what is missing or doesn’t make sense. That innate sense is all over this Presidential vacation. The question is, “Exactly what does he know that we don’t?”

I may not have that answer yet but I suggest we all stay alert. Things are not what they seem. Trouble is coming for the uninformed (which means most of us). But for those with insider information, I suspect they are preparing in ways that escape the average citizen…for the moment, anyway.

What to do in the meantime?

Disregard the “official” word, look behind actions to motives, and hold fast to your values and your faith in a Source that has the power to intercept the ball and change the outcome of this game in a split second.

Today, on ABC’s “This Week,” Christiana Amanpour interviewed retiring U.S. Congressman Barney Frank. Frank used a Wizard of Oz analogy to compare Mitt Romney to the Tin Man, Rick Perry to the Scarecrow, and Newt Gingrich to the Wizard himself. It was good theater, however ironic.

Isn’t Frank a key player in perpetrating the illusion of “smoke and mirrors” held up before the American public to obscure the den of corruption and cronyism collectively known as Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. His analogy and his dismissive comments about his own role in the mortgage bubble that led to a collapse of the housing market (and the economy) went unchallenged.

Opposite This Week was NBC’s Face the Nation with David Gregory.  Gregory used nearly half his show to interview David Axelrod, former White House Chief of Staff and current head of the Obama Re-election Team and Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee. There were the usual superficial questions and answers. It was frustrating, to put it mildly, to watch Gregory’s unbalanced approach to his guests. In short, he was easy on Axelrod and hard on Priebus. So much for journalistic neutrality or the integrity of the Fourth Estate.

I have a point.

It isn’t just politics that’s smoke and mirrors. It’s our entire culture. We have moved so far from putting our thoughts, time and energies on what really matters that we have made illusion and distraction the norm. Nowhere is this more obvious, or more egregiously practiced, than by the media. We are daily fed a soup of dirt floating in water and told its minestrone. Then, without questioning what our own perceptions tell us, we consume the dirt and wonder why we feel empty and our bellies ache.

There was another segment on This Week, just at the end of the show. It was an interview with Angelina Jolie. Jolie has just written and directed In the Land of Blood and Honey¸ a docudrama based upon the ethnic cleansing and torture that permeated the Bosnian war and the world’s failure to respond timely or adequately. Jolie made the film to show how war dehumanizes us and distances us from one another.

As between the segments with Frank, Axelrod, and Jolie there was no contest. The story that deserved the most time, and our undivided attention, was Jolie’s. There was no deception or manipulation in it and it served a higher purpose. Perhaps that’s what got it the shortest airtime.

A long as we keep eating the dirty soup, they’ll keep serving it.

 

Despite the tendency for Democrats, especially Liberals, to describe Barack Obama as always being “the smartest person in the room,” I think time and circumstances have shown that observation to be more than a bit of wishful thinking. In the case of Newt Gingrich, however, it’s usually true. I make this point because I want an intelligent President, as you likely do as well. But I want a President who is more than just intelligent. Intelligence without an ethical and moral framework gets you the likes of Adolf Hitler.

Before you get all upset that I am comparing either Barack Obama or Newt Gingrich to Hitler, let me say, “No I’m not.”  I am simply making the point that given the fragile and transitory time we are living through, we had better be as concerned about character as we are about brain power.

It didn’t surprise me recently that Bill Clinton had good things to say about Newt Gingrich. I suspect they have a fondness for one another born of empathy. They are each intelligent, immoral and unethical. They have both said what is expedient and politically necessary, at any given time, to enhance their own standing. The have both publicly, and with arrogance, mocked their marriage vows and humiliated their wives. Bill Clinton may have given us a good economy, but he lowered the national moral/ethical bar to a new low. When I think of Newt Gingrich as President, I say to myself “No thanks. Been there. Done that.”

What we need is balance. We need it in every facet of our personal and professional lives. We need it in healthcare, finance and governance. We certainly need it in our leadership.

I have not made up my mind as to who I support or who I would vote for. But I look at the current possibilities and I see a few certainties. Barack Obama is incompetent and perhaps dangerously so. Herman Cain is history; Newt Gingrich is Bill Clinton revisited; Ron Paul is scary on international policy; Mitt Romney is very controlled and packaged…maybe a bit too much for my taste. Rick Perry says some very dumb things and does not seem large enough (figuratively) for the responsibilities that come with the office; John Huntsman has foreign policy and domestic executive leadership experience but seems a bit too idealistic for the practicalities of the job; Michele Bachman, while courageous and ethical, also seems to be lacking in “weightiness” (although I would so like to have the right woman in the job!).

At the moment, that leaves Rick Santorum.

When I examine Santorum’s public record, his personal life and listen to him articulate his current positions on the issues confronting us, I remain impressed. I think he is the balanced candidate that holds the most promise for a new direction, certainly one that is founded and grounded by experience, ethics and morality.

We are yet a long way off but the field narrows from here…unless some unexpected and unprecedented event or individual intervenes. For the moment, each of us should be asking ourselves, “Which individual will bring balance and integrity to a reality that has so lost its way?”

For me, as I write this, it’s Rick Santorum.