Category: Political Activism

Tea for Two?

On Tuesday, about 50 tea-party leaders met with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and there are concerns that this grassroots movement could be co-opted by the GOP. Many of these new political activists are crying “foul!”

It is no secret that the Republican hierarchy across the nation has been courting tea-party leaders but this meeting represented the first serious “real” date.

Can the tea party movement cooperate with a political party it once despised? Can it find a place or even coexist within the confines of a brand that many of these new activists feel is a “tainted”? Continue reading “Tea for Two?” →

Al Sharpton: Stuck in the 60s

Al Sharpton is likeable enough.  I discovered this when we appeared together on a television program and was taken aback by this polite, affable individual.   The man inside those expensive suits seemed strangely at odds with his public wrapper.

I chalked up his bombastic rhetoric and incendiary speeches to show business.  Nothing more.

Now his show is losing its appeal and he seems lost.   Sharpton has painted himself into a corner and nowhere was that more evident than during last weekend’s dueling rallies on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a Dream” speech.

Sharpton’s rally “Reclaim the Dream” was attended by a few thousand while Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally  was attended by several hundred thousand.

One was respectful, reverent, prayerful, as Beck, a Mormon, urged the crowd to turn back to God.  The other rally led by Sharpton, a minister with no formal religious training, was marked by hatred and revenge.  The signs held by the marchers at the Sharpton rally told the story.  Most were directed at Beck and Sarah Palin calling them “racists” and suggesting that they go and burn in a place of eternal damnation.  One that caught my eye read, “Hey Teabaggers (a pejorative term), don’t defecate on the Dream!”

Sharpton told this crowd, “They want to disgrace this day.  This is our day and we ain’t giving it away.”   Sharpton’s long run in the spotlight is largely due to his chamaeleon-like qualities.   He can turn on a dime.   Sharpton tried to walk back that damning statement when he spoke with Bill O’Reilly on Monday by explaining that he was just cautioning the crowd not to get involved should they encounter any of the angry (there weren’t any) Beck crowd.  Sure!?!

Sharpton’s unspoken message was,  “How dare they hold a rally on this date.  It belongs to me and my friends who make a living by holding onto the injustice of the past.  We are never going to admit that things have changed and that we live and go to school and work and play as one nation under God.   We want you to keep operating as oppressed people.  You can’t make it on your own.  You need the federal government to take care of you and you need us to advocate on your behalf.”

Fortunately, most people of color know Sharpton’s message is hollow.   While the Beck rally was mostly white, I think it is fair to say there was more diversity at his rally than at the Sharpton rally, even though Secretary Arne Duncan urged the more than 4,000 employees of the Department of Education in a Castroesque  e-mail to attend Sharpton’s rally.

Let’s face it.  Most people of color would rather stay home than face ad hominem attacks from those who brand anyone who refuses to play the black victim as an “Uncle Tom.”  Who wants or needs all that grief?

It would be foolish to believe that we have –  or ever will –  eliminate the last racist among us.  It would be equally foolish to believe we have eliminated all forms of discrimination against women.  Those who discriminate are little people and we have to move beyond them, not get stuck in the past as Sharpton has, no matter how lucrative it may be.

Although Beck may not be the perfect messenger, I applaud his efforts to unite us and if Sharpton is an honest man, he will see the light and do the same.

The civil rights movement belongs to no group or individual.  Our Constitution plainly states our individual rights come from the “Creator.”  It begins, “We the people” not “We the minorities.”

Has Sharpton ever come to the aid of a poor white male who failed to get into college, even though he had the grades, because he was not a member of a favored minority group?

Isn’t this what Dr. King had in mind when he said he looked forward to the day when people were not judged by “the color of their skin but by the content of their character”?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was part of Dr. King’s dream, leveled the playing field.  It outlawed all forms of discrimination in voting, education, employment and public accommodation.  It did not attempt to guarantee anyone or any group an end result.   The only way a government can ultimately achieve that is by force.  Is that what Sharpton really wants?

Our government is not perfect but it has provided the people of this country the greatest opportunities and the highest standard of living in the world.   It is time Sharpton and his friends admit this and move on.

A good Citizen’s List of Resolutions for the New Year

I will never miss another election.

I will never vote for a candidate whose stand on the issues I do not know, nor will I vote to reelect an incumbent whose record I do not know.

I will simply leave the box beside that office blank.

I will never vote for a ballot proposition that I do not fully understand.

I will not beat up on myself for the votes I failed to cast. Instead, I will give myself a pat on the back for every intelligent vote I make. Continue reading “A good Citizen’s List of Resolutions for the New Year” →

The Tea Party Challenge

Last Saturday, upwards of 200,000 people left the comfort of their homes to come to Washington, to make a statement to their elected representatives:

“We want you to shrink the size of our bloated government.  We don’t want it increased, not for health care, the environment, education, art, farmers, saving the children, world peace or a thousand and one other excuses that politicians have used over the last century to increase the size of the federal government to the point that it has crippled the free market and the ability of taxpayers to provide for themselves.

“In other words, we want you to do less, not more!” Continue reading “The Tea Party Challenge” →

Christians and Government

“Let every person be in subjection to governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”  Roman 13:1

A pastor of a very large church recently chastised his congregation for its preoccupation with and involvement in the affairs of government.  He said that politics is a Christian “brain cramp.”

Using the text of Romans 13:1 and I Peter 2: 13-17, he told the people in his flock that if they failed to submit to any governmental authority they were in rebellion against God. Continue reading “Christians and Government” →

After the Tea Party

Congratulations to all who participated in the nation-wide tea party protests.

Yes, you were heard, but in order to have a lasting effect, there must be a follow through.

If there had been no follow through after the 1773 protest in Boston Harbor –  no addition protests, no convening of the First Continental Congress, no Revolutionary War – there would be no United States of America. Continue reading “After the Tea Party” →

All is NOT Lost!

So much for the kind of government promised by Barack Obama where citizens have a full five days to review and comment on all non emergency bills on the White House website before they are signed into law! Not only did “we the people” not have an adequate means or opportunity to review the so-call economic stimulus bill, our representatives in Congress did not have that opportunity. Continue reading “All is NOT Lost!” →

Why the term “Secular Progressive” is all Wrong

Have you wondered what happened to old-fashioned liberalism? It went the way of VCRs and land lines. Today’s liberals are hiding in plain sight but they no longer refer to themselves as “liberal.” They refer to themselves as “progressive.”Let’s be clear about one thing: There is nothing “progressive” about liberalism, which is another word for socialism or communism. Continue reading “Why the term “Secular Progressive” is all Wrong” →