People of no particular color vote too

Peter Morrison, a Texas GOP official, and author of a Tea-Party flavored newsletter, wrote in support of secession from the Union, expressing exasperation at the “maggots” who voted for President Obama, specifically accusing non-white voters of voting on an “ethnic basis.”

Wow, does the man know what irony is? Does he have an ounce of humanity? Does he happen to know that millions of us Caucasian voters chose to support our President, to champion his ideals, his compassion, his genuine dedication to unity? Or are we “maggots,” too? Does he know just how many Tea Party-ers and other arch conservatives would have voted for ANYONE other than an African American? How many racial epithets, along with assassination threats, have been hurled at this man who is the duly elected the President of the United States of America?

I’m seeing some parallels here. Think back to the Civil War. What was the main issue? Oh, yes. The enslavement of other human beings—black people to be precise. You would think we had evolved beyond such barbarity, prejudice, and irrational hatred. Apparently not. Continuing analysis of voting shows a disturbing situation—where the majority of white folks in states south of the Mason Dixon line went Republican, despite having strongly supported WHITE Democrats in past decades. I don’t suppose they were influenced by “ethnic” issues. Should we take a clue from the man wearing the now-infamous t-shirt to the Romney rally that read, “Let’s put the White back in the White House?” I believe so.

They can pretend it’s about economics, but it isn’t. President Obama inherited a mess four years ago, courtesy of tax cuts for the very rich, big breaks for corporations, deregulation and reduction of oversight of those banks that raked in the profits and then failed. These aren’t problems that could be solved by anyone in four years, even if he weren’t obstructed at every turn by angry, rabid opponents who had few goals other than to ensure the failure of the president’s policies.

Much as I believe secession is antithetical to the principles of the UNITED States of America and the Constitution on which it was built, and much as I abhor the goals of these venomous voices of hatred, I am thinking it might not be such a bad idea to let them go. All the haters, the elitists, those who think of other human beings as maggots, those who think God is on their “side,” (as if God was a PERSON, capable of taking sides), those who would deny people their rights, their choices, their beliefs. And we could add the misogynists, the jingoists, the ones waiting for the Apocalypse, the ones who picket soldiers’ funerals with signs saying God hates American because we “allow” gay people to exist. Yep, it should make for quite a citizenry, after they’ve weeded out the last undesirable, and perhaps even established a state religion, and demanded oaths of loyalty and allegiance to the capitalist way. Joe McCarthy would be proud.

Then the rest of us, who believe in peace, compassion, tolerance, acceptance, and creating a better world in which race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or economic class have nothing to do with one’s worthiness, one’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…can get on with building up instead of tearing down. We can express our hope and faith in the future. We can, indeed, keep discovering and valuing our commonalities. We can commit our energies to seeing that all people have what they need—including jobs, health care, safety, education, a clean environment. We can teach our young people that being very rich doesn’t necessarily make you very happy, or very ethical, or very spiritual, or very compassionate. (Wealth also doesn’t travel well post-mortem.)

Is it really the American way, the ethical way, the grown-up way, to have a tantrum of these proportions because you didn't WIN? Because you don't LIKE the outcome of the democratic process, you want to start your own country? Isn't that sort of like the kids who lose the game and take the ball and go home to sulk? And figure out how to get back at the winners? Sad really... very sad. 

HATE is not a family value, a spiritual value, or an American value

The only thing that can truly destroy our nation, and the world, is hate. And I have never witnessed the level of venomous, violent, spewing of hate as I have in this election, and overwhelmingly from the radically right segments of the political spectrum. (NOTE: I am NOT referring to ALL conservatives or ALL Republicans.) All claims to "Christian values" notwithstanding, the rants (from the likes of Trump, Ted Nugent, and other so-called celebrities and their fans), with their wildly irrational fury and bitter hatred, laced with thinly veiled racism, express nothing that is, to my mind, "Christian."

Deep, personal spirituality, a facet of life that could be a comfort and mainstay of each person's life, has been lost in many institutions of religion. Instead, religion is used by the radical segments of each faith to create more strife, more violence, more hatred--one of the many good reasons it doesn't belong in politics! This country is not a theocracy; it was not intended to BE one. That is why we have a Constitution. Interesting, isn't it, that many of those who grow apoplectic at the idea of gun control or not being allowed to say what they think, do not seem offended by those who run on platforms that demonstrate contempt for religions other than their own.

As we approach the observance of Veteran's Day, perhaps it would be well to take some time to reflect. These men and women who have fought (and died, and been wounded, and lost body parts), did so for freedom, AND they took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States--not just the parts we like or dislike. Surely we could manage to disagree without personal insults, irrational ranting, and surely we could follow our own paths without hating someone else's. Just as surely, could we not exercise our own freedoms without trampling over those of others?

When opponents of our president threaten to, once again, blockade, filibuster, and frustrate every attempt at progress, whom do you think it really harms? Not President Obama, not the Tea Party-ers in Congress, not the very wealthy and elite...it just harms the majority of the American people...millions and millions of people whose needs as citizens and human beings should be our government leaders' ONLY priority.

I ran across a quotation today as I was doing research for my Sunday talk. "First, we must liberate people from religion, as religion is understood and practiced today. Second, we must effect a paradigm shift from religiosity to shared spirituality." (Swami Agnivesh)

That is what the Holy Heretic is about... liberating humanity from its self-imposed burden of religious self-righteousness, freeing human beings from the institutional dogma that serves to separate one from another by creating an utterly false sense of superiority. Note that Agnivesh says "as religion is understood and practiced today." In truth, there are very few religions that make their ultimate priority the reunification of all human beings without requiring them to embrace dogma of one sort of another.

Part of the problem is that even the best spiritual intentions can be tainted by the concerns of the human ego, the need to be right, and the security the ego finds in feeling wiser, better, and quite literally holier than thou. It does not want to admit that no one is holier, no human is of more value than another. No skin color, language, body shape, gender, ethnicity, or nationality is better than another. No one has the exclusive franchise for truth, spiritual or otherwise. The ego mind hates that; we've all been brought to think that being right is life's big "win." It isn't. Recognizing that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, seeing the Divine in all of creation, and living without fear and judgment -- that's the only achievement that matters. Is it work? Darn right it is. And... is it worth it? Yes, unequivocally.