Politics is Still a Fine Word
With the entire country focused on the election, many people are tired of politics. I can’t blame them. Like all recent elections, the 24/7 news and the constant negative advertising can wear us down.
Despite all of the negatives, politics is still a fine word. Twenty-two year Tennessee State Senator Anna Belle O’Brien (1977–1991) would often start her speeches by saying, “Politics is a beautiful word to me.” She would continue, “Politics is how crippled children walk, the mentally ill get care, roads are built, health care is provided, children are taught.”
It is through the political process that government works, and as informed members of the polis it is our responsibility to never tire from trying to improve the process by engaging in it.
Continue reading Comments (1) Nov.03.2008.
Fw: What a black columnist has to say about Obama
Yesterday I received an email forward from a relative that was politically charged. The subject of the email was, “Fw: What a black columnist has to say about Obama.” The intriguing aspect of that subject line was that the columnist himself tried to down play race while informing his readers about the “most liberal” Senator [Obama] in the Senate. Likewise, Ken Blackwell the black columnist and Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio in 2006, thinks it is imperative that Obama not be our next President.
In fact, we simply can’t afford morally or economically another conservative like President Bush. Morally, our self-described pro-life President has done nothing to lower the abortion rate. Citizens should remember that it was a Democrat, President Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act.
I think we are more likely to see a “liberal” president offer up ideas to lower the abortion rate. I say that because the abortion issue is going to take some compassion for others (spending money for my conservative friends). Senator Obama said in November, “Forty percent of working women do not have a single paid sick day. More and more women are denied jobs or promotions because they've got kids at home. As the son of a single mother, that is not the America that I believe in. I'll be a President who stands up for working parents. We'll require employers to provide seven paid sick days each year.” This idea from Senator Obama is just a little step that could help when women feel trapped in making hasty decisions about the future.
Continue reading Comments (1) Apr.11.2008.
The Constitutional Debate over the Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms
Living and growing-up in the South, I’m accustomed to NRA logos on the back of vehicles. I know for a fact that at least two of my relatives are card carrying members of the National Rifle Association. Honestly, I think that’s great that they would get involved in the process. I believe the freedom to own a gun is enabled by individual state laws and not by the Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment to the Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
The problem is that people are not familiar with the Second Amendment. The first part of the amendment establishes the context of the law. My belief is that the Second Amendment allows for the each State in the Union to maintain an armed force, and the force is made up of people within the "militia" that are allowed to own and store “arms”. It simply doesn’t grant individuals unbridled gun ownership.
Let’s not misinterpret the Constitution by reading only half an amendment. If you support gun-ownership then the focus should be with your state legislature and not against our Constitution.
Continue reading Comments (0) Mar.18.2008.
We Are Who We’ve Been Waiting For
During Barack Obama’s Super Tuesday speech he said, “We are who we’ve been waiting for.” Later MSNBC’s Chris Matthews basically said, “I love that line.”
Just to make sure credit is assigned correctly, the late Lisa Sullivan first said, “We are the ones we have been waiting for!” Her statement probably inspired Senator Obama’s version. You can find the story of Lisa Sullivan in the epilogue of God’s Politics by Jim Wallis.
Continue reading Comments (1) Feb.06.2008.