Compelled to Move Forward - Thoughts on US Policy

September 29, 2024October 3, 2024

A PATH FORWARD FOR CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS

As we wade through this ever more divisive election cycle, the challenge of who to support has grown particularly acute for conservatives and ProLife Christians. This challenge has been festering for years and will reach far beyond this election cycle. We who are ProLife, who believe in the sanctity of life, are now facing a near impossible dilemma. Those political figures who advocate for protecting fetuses, are the same people who have acted with a callous disregard for the health and well-being of children, teens and adults. While I clearly lack the wisdom of Solomon, below is a path forward that largely aligns with ProLife principles and can pragmatically serve all life from conception through death.

August 8, 2024August 10, 2024

PUTTING PRINCIPLES ABOVE POLITICS

Given the near exponential growth in political disinformation and an unrelenting onslaught of highly polarized opinions coming from news channels and candidates, making political choices sometimes feels so onerous that many of us would like to either give up and either sit this one out or just retreat into our traditional political affiliation. I submit that if we want our choices to reflect who we are, what we want our nation to be, both in our lifetime and for future generations, and something we can be at peace with, it’s essential that we step back from all this rancor and reflect on what are the principles we hold most dear. Instead of trying to make choices based on who might help us financially in the short term, or who “we like” and “don’t like” for each office, I submit we’ll be much better served by measuring candidates by how likely they’ll be dedicated to policies consistent with the principles we hold most dear.

April 22, 2024May 11, 2024

A TRAGIC SYMBOSIS

Most of us learned in public school how a symbiosis is a “close biological relationship between different species”. Most of the time these relationships are co-dependences that benefit both species. Sometimes they’re fatal. Tragically, as a growing number of Christians have tried to assert their influence in political arenas, the accelerating ties between those who call themselves Christians and most Republican “leaders” dependent on their votes, has devolved to the detriment and mutation of both.

March 14, 2024March 14, 2024

INFLATION AND THE ECONOMY

While we often like to think America is “Number One”, underneath that veneer of bravado, we often feel like important aspects of our country are far from stable and fair. Inflation has undermined family budgets, and our economy often feels far from stable and prosperous. As we try to cope with these challenges, rather than follow in the footsteps of politicians whose dominant response is lashing out at political rivals, perhaps it would good to step back, examine why these aspects of our country are running far from what they ought to be, and what can be done to make things better.

November 27, 2023December 3, 2023

INSPIRATION FROM SELFLESSNESS

If life has taught me anything it’s to look and listen carefully, and remember when I see someone acting against their own self-interest, against their own inner disposition. It happened about ten years ago when I witnessed a young lady, at one of America’s elite universities, choose to enter a boxing competition. She stood at around five-foot tall, weighed maybe 110 pounds, her countenance was one of a gentle and contrite spirit, and it was clear she had not a mean bone in her body. So why would such a bright young lady, with no discernable physical prowess, press into something so antithetical to her self-interest and disposition?

September 15, 2023September 24, 2023

RESPONDING TO GLOBAL WARMING

Given the extreme heat we’ve endured, beach water that’s become as warm as a bathtub, smoke from massive wildfires, and a substantial increase in flash and hurricane flooding, hopefully those still dismissing global warming or calling it a hoax are few and far between. With climate change now beginning to bite into our lives, all are now able to see the earth’s response to the pollution we’ve poured into it and are without excuse. Just as CS Lewis explained how “God whispers to us in our pleasures, …but shouts in our pain”, hopefully we can now hear the earth screaming at us over the damage we’ve done, continue to do, and the need to change.

November 6, 2022November 6, 2022

WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?

While advocating for America and protesting against candidates in my own Republican Party over the last five years, it’s been interesting to witness how much people have changed. Typically, hundreds of people respond with a big thank you and thumbs-up, while a few dozen hurl demeaning names at me and curse me. I’ve become accustomed to that, but several interactions lately, exemplifying a level of anger and ill-informed opinion I’d rarely seen before, lead me to wonder if it might be fruitful for all of us to take a step back and question the choices we’re making and what we’ve become.

September 30, 2022September 30, 2022

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A REPUBLICAN?

As a conservative and Republican for over 40 years, given the unraveling of the Republican Party over the last six years, and the upcoming elections, perhaps it would be of some value to recall the core values the Republican Party was built on and how most current Republican politicians measure up to those values.

July 13, 2022August 4, 2022

HOPE IS A VERB

Hope. It’s as essential as the air we breathe. And yet, here in America, in a land full of plenty and potential, in so many ways, it often feels like we are trying to run on some residual whiffs of hope. Daily, we struggle to cope with surging inflation, hear news about labor and supply shortages, and witness rising divisions among us, but rarely do we hear or speak of a more ephemeral, a more serious thinning of confidence and hope. Given the strength, scale and persistence of problems like racism, income and wealth inequality, global warming, crime and social strife, and political discord perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that many feel beaten down, hoping for a silver bullet from somewhere, and eager to support pundits that might look like a political savior.

June 13, 2022July 22, 2022

FREEDOM AND THE GREATER GOOD

Beyond a plague upon life, if Covid has been anything it’s been a most serious teacher. It’s taught us that life is fragile and can be fleeting. It’s taught us to cherish time with family and friends. It’s taught us to pay closer attention to protecting our health. It’s taught us that effectively governing a diverse and polarized population is a really difficult thing. It’s taught us how important social time is to our children, as well as all of us. It’s taught us how a tiny virus can bring a huge and powerful country to its knees. And it’s taught us that beneath our beliefs about freedom lies a growing, dark underbelly, where individual freedoms can be elevated far above the common good.