President Barack Obama’s address at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, 2015 has reverberated through the corridors of the world and provoked shock and dismay in numerous quarters. Even a professor at the University of London commented on his shallow understanding of the Crusades. I hesitated to write anything on the subject because it would drag me into politics or into a sobering critique of Islam. I am not sure that at a time like this either distraction would be wise, so let me keep it to the minimum.
For those who did not hear the talk, it is sufficient to say that it was the most ill-advised and poorly chosen reprimand ever given at a National Prayer Breakfast. I have been to several and have never, ever heard such absence of wisdom in a setting such as this. I wasn’t at this one but have heard the speech often enough to marvel at the motivation for such thoughts. President Obama basically lectured Christians not to get on a moral high horse in their castigation of the ISIS atrocities by reminding them that the Crusades and slavery were also justified in the name of Christ. Citing the Crusades, he used the single most inflammatory word he could have with which to feed the insatiable rage of the extremists. That is exactly what they want to hear to feed their lunacy. In the Middle East, history never dies and words carry the weight of revenge.
There is so much I would love to say in response but shall refrain. The President obviously does not understand the primary sources of either faith for him to make such a tendentious parallel. The predominant delight in his remarks would be in the Muslim world and the irreligious. The next day Geraldo Rivera, opining favorably, made the oft repeated lie that more people have been killed in the name of God than in any other cause. Try telling that to the Chinese and the Russians and the Cambodians and the victims of the Holocaust! Such intellectual ignorance gains the microphone with pitiable privilege. If a thinking person doesn’t know the difference between the logical outworkings of a philosophy and the illogical ones, to say nothing of the untruth perpetrated, then knowledge has been sacrificed at the altar of prejudice.
But let me get to the President’s final statement, after he had wandered off into erroneous territory. That final remark was true. He said, “It is sin that leads us to distort reality.” He was right. In fact he embodied it in his talk. But there is good news for the President. At least in the Christian message forgiveness is offered for sin. In Islam it isn’t. You must earn it. May I dare suggest that if Christians had been burning Muslims and be-heading them, he would have never dared to go to Saudi Arabia and tell them to get off their high horse. He unwittingly paid a compliment to those who preach grace and forgiveness. That is the dominant theme of the Gospel. That is why we sit in courtesy listening to the distortion of truth, the abuse of a privilege, and the wrong-headedness of a message.
I cannot recall when I have heard such inappropriate words at so important an occasion, in such a time of crisis. The world is burning with fear and apprehension. We need a message that will inspire and encourage and redeem. Ironically, two years ago when Dr. Ben Carson spoke and made some comments about our medical plan and the tax system, the White House demanded an apology from him for straying into controversial terrain, because it felt his comments showed disrespect for the President.
This year’s National Prayer Breakfast speech was a blunder in thought. But there was a silver lining. In the end, President Obama blundered into the truth. Sin distorts… and only Jesus Christ restores the truth. Christ will ever rise up to outlive His pallbearers. Even presidents will have to get off their high horses then and recognize the Lord of life and hope and peace. There will be no speech making then. Only a prayer of surrender… which is what the National Prayer Breakfast was meant to be in the first place. - by Ravi Zacharias on February 9, 2015
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Retired General Says Political Correctness Is Deadly to US
PINEHURST -- A retired three-star general railed against the Obama
administration, political correctness, the media and rules of
engagement during a speech Monday night at Sandhills Community
College.
Thomas G. McInerney, who retired from the Air Force in 1994 as a lieutenant general, currently serves as a Fox News military analyst and was invited to speak by the Moore County Republican Party.
The general was originally slated to talk about how military downsizing may affect preparedness, but changed his topic to instead address current threats facing the nation.
McInerney presented views that he called "more harsh" than his Fox News commentary.
He particularly focused on events surrounding the attack on a U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.
"Unless we're harsh we're going to lose this nation," he said. "We're losing it fast."
McInerney said U.S. leaders failed to attack during the Benghazi attack. He said leaders were derelict of duty and have since covered up their actions.
Benghazi is bigger than Watergate, McInerney said, but the media is complacent in covering up the Benghazi attacks.
"I can tell you, even from Fox, the information isn't getting out here," he said. "Our nation has never seen such duplicity, such dereliction of duty, such lying ... and the media is covering it up."
McInerney said the U.S. response was one of several miscues by leaders that have contributed to growing threats.
McInerney said the economy, shrinking military and more than a decade's worth of U.S. policies in the Middle East have only increased the dangers facing the nation.
"These are very dangerous times for America," McInerney said. "We are leading from behind, and that's why these things are happening. You cannot lead from behind. Someone has to lead."
The biggest threat, McInerney said, is radical Islam, and the general said the onus for "cleaning house" has to be on the Muslim community.
McInerney said American leaders are afraid of offending Muslims, and said radicals have hidden behind their religion.
Earning applause from the audience, he compared Islam to Nazis, Fascism and Communism.
"Political correctness is killing us," he said. "It is a global war against radical Islam. Let's call it what it is ... Islam is not a religion of peace."
McInerney said his strong feelings have been developed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
During his 35 years in the military, the general said he thought the Middle East was too complicated to try to understand.
He later embraced the U.S. strategy of counterinsurgency, which involved winning the "hearts and minds" of the civilian populace.
"I bought into it," he said. "It sounded good."
But McInerney said he no longer supports that strategy, and said the U.S., too, should move on.
McInerney said ISIS could be defeated quickly, thanks to the military's technological dominance.
He said it should only take 90 days to defeat the organization, but only if rules of engagement are relaxed.
"Let's just kill them," he said, again garnering applause. "I would wipe them out."
Threats of collateral damage should not deter forces, McInerney said. He said those near radical fighters were either hostages or complicit and added that not even religious buildings should be safe from attack.
"Hit the mosque, take them out," he said. "Until we get serious, we are being unfair to our troops and the American public."
McInerney said German cities were leveled during World War II and "there's no question in Germany's mind who won. That's been our problem (in the Middle East)."
McInerney said the U.S. should be targeting 200 locations a day in an air campaign. And he said U.S. officials should be leaning on other Middle East nations to provide ground forces.
"We do need boots on the ground, but not American boots," he said.
After the terrorist organization is defeated, McInerney said the U.S. should avoid any attempts at nation building.
"That's their problem," he said. "They're the ones that ought to be doing it."
Thomas G. McInerney, who retired from the Air Force in 1994 as a lieutenant general, currently serves as a Fox News military analyst and was invited to speak by the Moore County Republican Party.
The general was originally slated to talk about how military downsizing may affect preparedness, but changed his topic to instead address current threats facing the nation.
McInerney presented views that he called "more harsh" than his Fox News commentary.
He particularly focused on events surrounding the attack on a U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.
"Unless we're harsh we're going to lose this nation," he said. "We're losing it fast."
McInerney said U.S. leaders failed to attack during the Benghazi attack. He said leaders were derelict of duty and have since covered up their actions.
Benghazi is bigger than Watergate, McInerney said, but the media is complacent in covering up the Benghazi attacks.
"I can tell you, even from Fox, the information isn't getting out here," he said. "Our nation has never seen such duplicity, such dereliction of duty, such lying ... and the media is covering it up."
McInerney said the U.S. response was one of several miscues by leaders that have contributed to growing threats.
McInerney said the economy, shrinking military and more than a decade's worth of U.S. policies in the Middle East have only increased the dangers facing the nation.
"These are very dangerous times for America," McInerney said. "We are leading from behind, and that's why these things are happening. You cannot lead from behind. Someone has to lead."
The biggest threat, McInerney said, is radical Islam, and the general said the onus for "cleaning house" has to be on the Muslim community.
McInerney said American leaders are afraid of offending Muslims, and said radicals have hidden behind their religion.
Earning applause from the audience, he compared Islam to Nazis, Fascism and Communism.
"Political correctness is killing us," he said. "It is a global war against radical Islam. Let's call it what it is ... Islam is not a religion of peace."
McInerney said his strong feelings have been developed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
During his 35 years in the military, the general said he thought the Middle East was too complicated to try to understand.
He later embraced the U.S. strategy of counterinsurgency, which involved winning the "hearts and minds" of the civilian populace.
"I bought into it," he said. "It sounded good."
But McInerney said he no longer supports that strategy, and said the U.S., too, should move on.
McInerney said ISIS could be defeated quickly, thanks to the military's technological dominance.
He said it should only take 90 days to defeat the organization, but only if rules of engagement are relaxed.
"Let's just kill them," he said, again garnering applause. "I would wipe them out."
Threats of collateral damage should not deter forces, McInerney said. He said those near radical fighters were either hostages or complicit and added that not even religious buildings should be safe from attack.
"Hit the mosque, take them out," he said. "Until we get serious, we are being unfair to our troops and the American public."
McInerney said German cities were leveled during World War II and "there's no question in Germany's mind who won. That's been our problem (in the Middle East)."
McInerney said the U.S. should be targeting 200 locations a day in an air campaign. And he said U.S. officials should be leaning on other Middle East nations to provide ground forces.
"We do need boots on the ground, but not American boots," he said.
After the terrorist organization is defeated, McInerney said the U.S. should avoid any attempts at nation building.
"That's their problem," he said. "They're the ones that ought to be doing it."
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Winning the Cultural War
Charlton Heston's Speech to the Harvard Law School Forum Feb 16, 1999
I remember my son when he was five, explaining to his kindergarten class what his father did for a living. "My Daddy," he said, "pretends to be people." There have been quite a few of them. Prophets from the Old and New Testaments, a couple of Christian saints, generals of various nationalities and different centuries, several kings, three American presidents, a French cardinal and two geniuses, including Michelangelo.
If you want the ceiling repainted I'll do my best. There always seem to be a lot of different fellows up here. I'm never sure which one of them gets to talk. Right now, I guess I'm the guy.
As I pondered our visit tonight it struck me: If my Creator gave me the gift to connect you with the hearts and minds of those great men, then I want to use that same gift now to reconnect you with your own sense of liberty of your own freedom of thought ... your own compass for what is right.
Dedicating the memorial at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln said of America, "We are now engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure." Those words are true again. I believe that we are again engaged in a great civil war, a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to think and say what resides in your heart. I fear you no longer trust the pulsing lifeblood of liberty inside you ... the stuff that made this country rise from wilderness into the miracle that it is.
Let me back up. About a year ago I became president of the National Rifle Association, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. I ran for office, I was elected, and now I serve ... I serve as a moving target for the media who've called me everything from "ridiculous" and "duped" to a "brain-injured, senile, crazy old man." I know ... I'm pretty old … but I sure, Lord, ain't senile.
As I have stood in the crosshairs of those who target Second Amendment freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only issue. No, it's much, much bigger than that.
I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated. For example, I marched for civil rights with Dr. King in 1963 - long before Hollywood found it fashionable. But when I told an audience last year that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride, they called me a racist.
I've worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe. I served in World War II against the Axis powers. But during a speech, when I drew an analogy between singling out innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was called an anti-Semite. Everyone I know knows I would never raise a closed fist against my country. But when I asked an audience to oppose this cultural persecution, I was compared to Timothy McVeigh.
From Time magazine to friends and colleagues, they're essentially saying, "Chuck, how dare you speak your mind. You are using language not authorized for public consumption!" But I am not afraid. If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys – subjects bound to the British crown.
In his book, "The End of Sanity," Martin Gross writes that "blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new rules, new anti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every direction.
Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something without a name is undermining the nation, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And they don't like it."
Let me read a few examples. At Antioch college in Ohio, young men seeking intimacy with a coed must get verbal permission at each step of the process from kissing to petting to final copulation ... all clearly spelled out in a printed college directive.
In New Jersey, despite the death of several patients nationwide who had been infected by dentists who had concealed their AIDs --- the state commissioner announced that health providers who are HIV positive need not ..... need not ..... tell their patients that they are infected.
At William and Mary, students tried to change the name of the school team "The Tribe" because it was supposedly insulting to local Indians, only to learn that authentic Virginia chiefs truly like the name.
In San Francisco, city fathers passed an ordinance protecting the rights of transvestites to cross-dress on the job, and for transsexuals to have separate toilet facilities while undergoing sex change surgery.
In New York City, kids who don't speak a word of Spanish have been placed in bilingual classes to learn their three R's in Spanish solely because their last names sound Hispanic.
At the University of Pennsylvania, in a state where thousands died at Gettysburg opposing slavery, the president of that college officially set up segregated dormitory space for black students. Yeah, I know … that's out of bounds now. Dr. King said "Negroes." Jimmy Baldwin and most of us on the March said "black." But it's a no-no now. For me, hyphenated identities are awkward ... particularly "Native-American." I'm a Native American, for God's sake. I also happen to be a blood-initiated brother of the Miniconjou Sioux. On my wife's side, my grandson is a thirteenth generation native American ... with a capital letter on "American."
Finally, just last month ... David Howard, head of the Washington D.C. Office of Public Advocate, used the word "niggardly" while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters. Of course, "niggardly" means stingy or scanty. But within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign. As columnist Tony Snow wrote: "David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who (a) didn't know the meaning of niggardly, (b) didn't know how to use a dictionary to discover the meaning, and © actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance."
What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can't be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me:
Why did political correctness originate on America's campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who're supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression?
Let's be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason. You are the best and the brightest. You, here in the fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River, you are the cream. But I submit that you, and your counterparts across the land, are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that ... and abide it … you are -- by your grandfathers' standards -- cowards.
Here's another example. Right now at more than one major university, Second Amendment scholars and researchers are being told to shut up about their findings or they'll lose their jobs. Why? Because their research findings would undermine big-city mayor's pending lawsuits that seek to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from firearm manufacturers.
I don't care what you think about guns. But if you are not shocked at that, I am shocked at you. Who will guard the raw material of unfettered ideas, if not you? Who will defend the core value of academia, if you supposed soldiers of free thought and expression lay down your arms and plead, "Don't shoot me."
If you talk about race, it does not make you a racist. If you see distinctions between the genders, it does not make you a sexist. If you think critically about a denomination, it does not make you anti-religion.
If you accept but don't celebrate homosexuality, it does not make you a homophobe. Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism.
But what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation? The answer's been here all along. I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people.
You simply ... disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely.
But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom. I learned the awesome power of disobedience from Dr. King ... who learned it from Gandhi, and Thoreau, and Jesus, and every other great man who led those in the right against those with the might.
Disobedience is in our DNA. We feel innate kinship with that disobedient spirit that tossed tea into Boston Harbor, that sent Thoreau to jail, that refused to sit in the back of the bus, that protested a war in Vietnam.
In that same spirit, I am asking you to disavow cultural correctness with massive disobedience of rogue authority, social directives and onerous laws that weaken personal freedom.
But be careful ... it hurts. Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies. You must be willing to be humiliated ... to endure the modern day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma. You must be willing to experience discomfort. I'm not complaining, but my own decades of social activism have taken their toll on me. Let me tell you a story.
A few years back I heard about a rapper named Ice-T who was selling a CD called "Cop Killer" celebrating ambushing and murdering police officers.
It was being marketed by none other than Time/Warner, the biggest entertainment conglomerate in the world.
Police across the country were outraged. Rightfully so - at least one had been murdered. But Time/Warner was stonewalling because the CD was a cash cow for them, and the media were tiptoeing around it because the rapper was black. I heard Time/Warner had a stockholders meeting scheduled in Beverly Hills. I owned some shares at the time, so I decided to attend.
What I did there was against the advice of my family and colleagues. I asked for the floor. To a hushed room of a thousand average American stockholders, I simply read the full lyrics of "Cop Killer"- every vicious, vulgar, instructional word.
"I GOT MY 12 GAUGE SAWED OFF. I GOT MY HEADLIGHTS TURNED OFF. I'M ABOUT TO BUST SOME SHOTS OFF. I'M ABOUT TO DUST SOME COPS OFF..."
It got worse, a lot worse. I won't read the rest of it to you. But trust me, the room was a sea of shocked, frozen, blanched faces. The Time/Warner executives squirmed in their chairs and stared at their shoes. They hated me for that. Then I delivered another volley of sick lyric brimming with racist filth, where Ice-T fantasizes about sodomizing two 12-year old nieces of Al and Tipper Gore.
"SHE PUSHED HER BUTT AGAINST MY ...."
Well, I won't do to you here what I did to them. Let's just say I left the room in echoing silence. When I read the lyrics to the waiting press corps, one of them said "We can't print that."
"I know," I replied, "but Time/Warner's selling it." Two months later, Time/Warner terminated Ice-T's contract. I'll never be offered another film by Warner's, or get a good review from Time magazine. But disobedience means you must be willing to act, not just talk. When a mugger sues his elderly victim for defending herself ... jam the switchboard of the district attorney's office.
When your university is pressured to lower standards until 80% of the students graduate with honors ... choke the halls of the board of regents.
When an 8-year-old boy pecks a girl's cheek on the playground and gets hauled into court for sexual harassment ... march on that school and block its doorways.
When someone you elected is seduced by political power and betrays you...petition them, oust them, banish them.
When Time magazine's cover portrays millennium nuts as deranged, crazy Christians holding a cross as it did last month ... boycott their magazine and the products it advertises.
So that this nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed footsteps of the great disobedience's of history that freed exiles, founded religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands of an aroused rabble in arms and a few great men, by God's grace, built this country.
If Dr. King were here, I think he would agree. Thank you.
I remember my son when he was five, explaining to his kindergarten class what his father did for a living. "My Daddy," he said, "pretends to be people." There have been quite a few of them. Prophets from the Old and New Testaments, a couple of Christian saints, generals of various nationalities and different centuries, several kings, three American presidents, a French cardinal and two geniuses, including Michelangelo.
If you want the ceiling repainted I'll do my best. There always seem to be a lot of different fellows up here. I'm never sure which one of them gets to talk. Right now, I guess I'm the guy.
As I pondered our visit tonight it struck me: If my Creator gave me the gift to connect you with the hearts and minds of those great men, then I want to use that same gift now to reconnect you with your own sense of liberty of your own freedom of thought ... your own compass for what is right.
Dedicating the memorial at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln said of America, "We are now engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure." Those words are true again. I believe that we are again engaged in a great civil war, a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to think and say what resides in your heart. I fear you no longer trust the pulsing lifeblood of liberty inside you ... the stuff that made this country rise from wilderness into the miracle that it is.
Let me back up. About a year ago I became president of the National Rifle Association, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. I ran for office, I was elected, and now I serve ... I serve as a moving target for the media who've called me everything from "ridiculous" and "duped" to a "brain-injured, senile, crazy old man." I know ... I'm pretty old … but I sure, Lord, ain't senile.
As I have stood in the crosshairs of those who target Second Amendment freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only issue. No, it's much, much bigger than that.
I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated. For example, I marched for civil rights with Dr. King in 1963 - long before Hollywood found it fashionable. But when I told an audience last year that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride, they called me a racist.
I've worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe. I served in World War II against the Axis powers. But during a speech, when I drew an analogy between singling out innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was called an anti-Semite. Everyone I know knows I would never raise a closed fist against my country. But when I asked an audience to oppose this cultural persecution, I was compared to Timothy McVeigh.
From Time magazine to friends and colleagues, they're essentially saying, "Chuck, how dare you speak your mind. You are using language not authorized for public consumption!" But I am not afraid. If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys – subjects bound to the British crown.
In his book, "The End of Sanity," Martin Gross writes that "blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new rules, new anti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every direction.
Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something without a name is undermining the nation, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And they don't like it."
Let me read a few examples. At Antioch college in Ohio, young men seeking intimacy with a coed must get verbal permission at each step of the process from kissing to petting to final copulation ... all clearly spelled out in a printed college directive.
In New Jersey, despite the death of several patients nationwide who had been infected by dentists who had concealed their AIDs --- the state commissioner announced that health providers who are HIV positive need not ..... need not ..... tell their patients that they are infected.
At William and Mary, students tried to change the name of the school team "The Tribe" because it was supposedly insulting to local Indians, only to learn that authentic Virginia chiefs truly like the name.
In San Francisco, city fathers passed an ordinance protecting the rights of transvestites to cross-dress on the job, and for transsexuals to have separate toilet facilities while undergoing sex change surgery.
In New York City, kids who don't speak a word of Spanish have been placed in bilingual classes to learn their three R's in Spanish solely because their last names sound Hispanic.
At the University of Pennsylvania, in a state where thousands died at Gettysburg opposing slavery, the president of that college officially set up segregated dormitory space for black students. Yeah, I know … that's out of bounds now. Dr. King said "Negroes." Jimmy Baldwin and most of us on the March said "black." But it's a no-no now. For me, hyphenated identities are awkward ... particularly "Native-American." I'm a Native American, for God's sake. I also happen to be a blood-initiated brother of the Miniconjou Sioux. On my wife's side, my grandson is a thirteenth generation native American ... with a capital letter on "American."
Finally, just last month ... David Howard, head of the Washington D.C. Office of Public Advocate, used the word "niggardly" while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters. Of course, "niggardly" means stingy or scanty. But within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign. As columnist Tony Snow wrote: "David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who (a) didn't know the meaning of niggardly, (b) didn't know how to use a dictionary to discover the meaning, and © actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance."
What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can't be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me:
Why did political correctness originate on America's campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who're supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression?
Let's be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason. You are the best and the brightest. You, here in the fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River, you are the cream. But I submit that you, and your counterparts across the land, are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that ... and abide it … you are -- by your grandfathers' standards -- cowards.
Here's another example. Right now at more than one major university, Second Amendment scholars and researchers are being told to shut up about their findings or they'll lose their jobs. Why? Because their research findings would undermine big-city mayor's pending lawsuits that seek to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from firearm manufacturers.
I don't care what you think about guns. But if you are not shocked at that, I am shocked at you. Who will guard the raw material of unfettered ideas, if not you? Who will defend the core value of academia, if you supposed soldiers of free thought and expression lay down your arms and plead, "Don't shoot me."
If you talk about race, it does not make you a racist. If you see distinctions between the genders, it does not make you a sexist. If you think critically about a denomination, it does not make you anti-religion.
If you accept but don't celebrate homosexuality, it does not make you a homophobe. Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism.
But what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation? The answer's been here all along. I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people.
You simply ... disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely.
But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom. I learned the awesome power of disobedience from Dr. King ... who learned it from Gandhi, and Thoreau, and Jesus, and every other great man who led those in the right against those with the might.
Disobedience is in our DNA. We feel innate kinship with that disobedient spirit that tossed tea into Boston Harbor, that sent Thoreau to jail, that refused to sit in the back of the bus, that protested a war in Vietnam.
In that same spirit, I am asking you to disavow cultural correctness with massive disobedience of rogue authority, social directives and onerous laws that weaken personal freedom.
But be careful ... it hurts. Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies. You must be willing to be humiliated ... to endure the modern day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma. You must be willing to experience discomfort. I'm not complaining, but my own decades of social activism have taken their toll on me. Let me tell you a story.
A few years back I heard about a rapper named Ice-T who was selling a CD called "Cop Killer" celebrating ambushing and murdering police officers.
It was being marketed by none other than Time/Warner, the biggest entertainment conglomerate in the world.
Police across the country were outraged. Rightfully so - at least one had been murdered. But Time/Warner was stonewalling because the CD was a cash cow for them, and the media were tiptoeing around it because the rapper was black. I heard Time/Warner had a stockholders meeting scheduled in Beverly Hills. I owned some shares at the time, so I decided to attend.
What I did there was against the advice of my family and colleagues. I asked for the floor. To a hushed room of a thousand average American stockholders, I simply read the full lyrics of "Cop Killer"- every vicious, vulgar, instructional word.
"I GOT MY 12 GAUGE SAWED OFF. I GOT MY HEADLIGHTS TURNED OFF. I'M ABOUT TO BUST SOME SHOTS OFF. I'M ABOUT TO DUST SOME COPS OFF..."
It got worse, a lot worse. I won't read the rest of it to you. But trust me, the room was a sea of shocked, frozen, blanched faces. The Time/Warner executives squirmed in their chairs and stared at their shoes. They hated me for that. Then I delivered another volley of sick lyric brimming with racist filth, where Ice-T fantasizes about sodomizing two 12-year old nieces of Al and Tipper Gore.
"SHE PUSHED HER BUTT AGAINST MY ...."
Well, I won't do to you here what I did to them. Let's just say I left the room in echoing silence. When I read the lyrics to the waiting press corps, one of them said "We can't print that."
"I know," I replied, "but Time/Warner's selling it." Two months later, Time/Warner terminated Ice-T's contract. I'll never be offered another film by Warner's, or get a good review from Time magazine. But disobedience means you must be willing to act, not just talk. When a mugger sues his elderly victim for defending herself ... jam the switchboard of the district attorney's office.
When your university is pressured to lower standards until 80% of the students graduate with honors ... choke the halls of the board of regents.
When an 8-year-old boy pecks a girl's cheek on the playground and gets hauled into court for sexual harassment ... march on that school and block its doorways.
When someone you elected is seduced by political power and betrays you...petition them, oust them, banish them.
When Time magazine's cover portrays millennium nuts as deranged, crazy Christians holding a cross as it did last month ... boycott their magazine and the products it advertises.
So that this nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed footsteps of the great disobedience's of history that freed exiles, founded religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands of an aroused rabble in arms and a few great men, by God's grace, built this country.
If Dr. King were here, I think he would agree. Thank you.
Friday, November 1, 2013
How do we change the path before us?
"Almost too late, a consensus seems to be developing that we`d better get busy teaching our children moral values. We may not even be that far apart on what values to teach. But the idea seems to be taking hold that somebody ought to be teaching our children right from wrong-building their character." - William Raspberry, Washington Post, 1990
84% of of parents want moral values
taught in schools, yet more than 50% of teachers refuse. Wall Street
Journal, 1990
When a student found a large bank-bag
of cash he was ridiculed, belittled and bullied for a fool. The
teachers would not take a stand on the moral high ground that keeping
found property is tantamount to theft.
When a governor was given the green
light to establish guidelines for teaching morality in schools,
topics like “Fidelity” and “Temperance” and “Chastity”
were forbidden because they sounded religious.
“Where there is no revelation, the
people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.” Prov
18:12
We currently have an administration
that is simultaneously rolling 4 flat tires on greased rails, and
thundering through the Constitution like Freddy Kruger on prom night.
We have a thousand, or more, legislators, advisers, judges and
cabinet officials at all levels who are selfish, self-centered,
out-of-control, arrogantly conceited suck-ups who have no interest in
the jobs they were elected or appointed to aside from self
gratification, self promotion and good-ole-boy partisan cheerleading.
The
president claimed that his chair was “occupied”, but he forgot
that it is the people's chair, and that he lives in the people's
house, and that he serves at the people's pleasure. That chair will
always be occupied, just not by him.
Allow me to quote from former
Congressional Candidate and former National Evangelical Association
President Robert P Dugan in his best selling book, Winning the New
Civil War.
“Despite constant grass-roots
efforts, some politicians will prove impossibly stubborn when it
comes to certain issues. Their minds simply will not be changed.
Fortunately, we need not be
perpetually frustrated when, for example, when a senator's voting
record shows that he inevitably prefers a woman's right to abortion
over protecting the unborn. Nor are we limited to gnashing our teeth
when a congresswoman's vote reveals that she prefers gay rights over
a religious institution's right to practice its faith.
Under the Constitution, when we are
unable to change our office-holders' minds, we can change the
politicians themselves. Doing that, through elections, is not as
difficult as most people think it is, and would be a whole lit easier
if more citizens were willing to get involved. [Ed. Note: Elections,
impeachments, recalls, etc. are powerful tools. Perhaps it's time
they be used with their full force.]
It comes as a great surprise to most
Americans that out nation's political course has so often swung on
narrowly decided election. Did you know that Richard Nixon came very
close to defeating John F. Kennedy for the presidency in 1960?
(Kennedy won by 118,574 (50.07%) of the actual votes, though he
carried 58% of the electors.) Or that Jimmy Carter just barely
turned Gerald Ford out of the White House in 1976? (Carter won by
40,827,394 of the actual votes, but he carried 55.3% of the
electorate.)
Since we never know for certain when
our state or congressional district vote may be very close, our
interests can be defeated by the narrowest of margins. The way to
prevent that is by significant, personal campaign involvement.
Significant campaigning could be something as simple as putting a
bumper sticker on your car. It could also be much more than that—and
easy to do, fun, and of great consequence.”
Who wins elections? The most
attractive candidate? The candidate whose political views make the
most sense? We are now convinced that this is not true. The
candidates with the largest campaign treasuries? The answer is: None
of the above.
Pastor Dugan goes on to explain why
wealth, astuteness and attractiveness aren't all there is. Charisma
is wonderful, but one look through the portrait gallery of America's
political who's who readily shows that these are not, in and of
themselves, clinching advantages. While it's true that being
lackluster, impoverished and stupid will get you nowhere, poverty is
no campaign killer. Former Senator Robert Kasten ran a race with 19
times and 10 times, respectively, less money than his two candidates,
but public relations teach the Kasten Principle in campaign seminars.
No one remembers his two opponents. Mario Cuomo won his election
despite the full backing of mega-millions of personal campaign
infusions by his opponent. Do you remember who he was?
The thing that wins elections is
Organization.
Organization begins with the individual voter. Wearing a bumper
sticker on your car, attending rallies, promoting where ever
possible, knowing the facts, understanding the issues well enough to
explain them to a confused audience of one or one hundred.
Here's
your chance to brainstorm. Come up with ideas that will put your
candidate in the driver's seat.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Christians in Politics
While it is true that we
are Christians first, we are obligated to participate in party
politics for the simple reason that this effects out community just
as much as it effects the way our local church functions.
Any pastor who says, “The
Bible has more to say about being a Christian than it says about
being a Republican, Democrat or Independent” is being overly
simplistic and ill-serving of his church. The Bible has nothing at
all to say about party affiliation, but to render unto Caesar what is
Caesar's and unto God what is Gods. This means that it is the
responsibility of the Christian to fulfill the obligations of a
citizen. Informed involvement in politics is a Christians privilege,
right, responsibility and obligation.
Who is Caesar? Not the
president; the executive can be over-ridden by congress and the
courts. Not the courts; their actions can be changed and adapted by
congress. Not the congress; their laws can be changed and nullified
by the courts. The only power greater than these is the supreme law
of the land, the Constitution. Actually, that may not be accurate,
either, because it can be changed by the states, and the power of the
states can be changed by the people.
It is the first
obligation of every Christian to pray for all those who hold public
office. Intelligent and intentional intercession for politicians is
our first responsibility. This may be difficult when some of those
holding office are not worthy of the office or the trust that should
go with the office. Therefore, it is our obligation to know who each
office holder is. Generally, there are basically 9 in number.
President and vice-president; senator; representative; governor;
state senator; state representative; mayor and city councilman. Know
each by name and pray for a specific burden or topic facing each.
Intercessory prayer for our political officeholders is a clear
political responsibility that Christians have overlooked to the
detriment of the nation. Intelligent prayer has a byproduct that
leads directly to our second duty.
-Second, we must become
particularly aware of the voting record of each office holder. We may
be well served by one, but the record of the other is alarmingly
disappointing and deficient. Leading up to the voting record is the
entire list of campaign promises and claims to moral values which
should be compared to those which are put into practice.
-Third, we must identify
the office and its requirements and qualifications.
-Fourth, we must know the
stands, agenda, integrity and voting record of each one.
-Fifth, we must know all
of our rights and responsibilities in the campaigns and elections.
-Sixth, we must vote at
every opportunity. In the early 1800s, and Indiana farmer named Henry
Shoemaker formed a ballot from a paper bag when his polling place had
run out of ballots. He cast his vote for Madison Marsh for state
representative; Marsh won by one vote. In those days, state
legislatures elected U.S. Senators, so Marsh voted for a man named
Harrigan to represent Indiana in the Senate. Harrigan won by one
vote. In the Senate, Harrigan cast his roll call vote in favor of
Texas' bid for statehood. Texas became a state by a margin of one
single vote.
-Seventh, we should offer
campaign support wherever possible. Anybody with a conscience would
vote for the better of two candidates, so failure to vote was a
failure to support the better candidate. The net effect would be
helping the better candidate by the one vote not cast for his
opponent. There was one less vote to overcome.
-Eighth, we must be vocal
and urgent during the term and be pro-active to hold the politician
accountable.
Each of us, as
Christians, know so many things to be “true” that just aren't so.
-All politicians are
crooks. That may be a valid assessment of politics in general, but it
has little or nothing to do with Christians being involved in the
political machine.
-You can't legalize
morality. This should be “You can't legislate morality.”
-It is impossible for a
Christian to serve in politics because politics demands compromise.
Life demands compromise. Being a Christian means standing on the
moral high ground regardless of the winds of politics.
-There's not a dime's
worth of difference between the parties. It seems that the trend is
toward socialism despite the idea that both claim to be moderates.
That being said, their agenda on education, entitlement spending,
abortion, homosexual rights, second amendment and many other rights
are quite different.
-I'm only one person, and
one person wouldn't make a difference. See #6 above.
-Preachers should stay out
of politics. Render unto Caesar ...
-You can't fight City
Hall. The cases proving this untrue are legion.
If you don't get involved,
you won't make a change; if you don't make a change, you accept
things as they are.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
A Tandem Ride With God
I
used to think of God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the
things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell
when I die. He was out there, sort of like a president. I recognized
His picture when I saw it, but I didn't really know Him.
But later on, when I met
Jesus, it seemed as though life was rather like a bike, but it was a
tandem bike, and I noticed that Jesus was in the back helping me
pedal. I didn't know just when it was He suggested we change, but
life has not been the same since I took the back-seat to Jesus, my
Lord. He makes life exciting. When I had control, I thought I knew
the way. It was rather boring, but predictable. It was the shortest
distance between two points.But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains, and through rocky places and at break-through speeds; it was all I could do to hang on! Even though it often looked like madness, He said, "Pedal!" I was worried and anxious and asked, "Where are you taking me?" He laughed and didn't answer and I started to learn to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into adventure. And when I'd say, "I'm scared", He'd lean back and touch my hand.
He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance and joy. They gave me their gifts to take on my journey, our journey, my Lord's and mine. And we were off again. He said, "Give the gifts away; they're extra baggage, too much weight." So I did, to the people we met, and I found in giving I received, and still our burden was light.
I did not trust Him, at first, in control of my life. I thought He'd wreck it, but He knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners, jump to clear high rocks, fly to shorten scary passages. And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I'm beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant companion, Jesus.
And when I'm sure I just can't do any more, He just smiles and says... "Pedal."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)