492. Truth, Hope, Decency

Enough!

In my commentary, I always intend to work right up to the edge of politics, but never jump into the chaos down there. I have political opinions, of course, but that’s not my area of expertise.

However morality is. And the political immorality, cruelty, crudity, vulgarity, lying, distortion of truth this year have gone over the edge –  and that I can speak to.

Also at the end of this post I want to take a look at this year’s most important political issue.

I am going to name names, so if you don’t want to hear this…. see you next week.

Some History

Politics was not always like this. Back in the old days, about the worst it got was in 1948 when President Harry Truman campaigned against the “no good Eightieth Congress”. I”ve told you this: I was up in my bedroom listening to him – I’ve always been fascinated by politics – and my Grandma Alice, an inveterate Democrat, came up, listened for a few minutes, said “Give ‘em hell, Harry!” and went back downstairs.

Oh, yes, and there was Senator Joe McCarthy’s * bizarre nasty hunt for Communists lurking behind every bush. Thank God that didn’t last long.

• Junior Senator from Wisconsin. Please forgive us.

However in the past decade we have been treated to almost continual cruelty and lies, coming from a man who was President and now is a candidate for the Presidency – and from him it has spread. As he announced his run for President in 2015 he made disparaging remarks about Mexicans: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. (And some, I assume, are good people.)” He has continued and augmented this line of accusation ever since.

The facts, by the way:

Violent crime rates are down substantially in recent years: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-data-says-about-crme-in-the-us/

Immigrant crime rates are lower than that of native-born Americans: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/01/undocumented-immigrant-crime-rate-not-higher/72788637007/

Just in the past few days Mr Trump has called his Presidential opponent “retarded”, said she has a “low iq”, is “lazy as hell”, “a lunatic”,  “a s–t vice president”, “a stupid person”, has asked “is she on drugs?” and more. This is not political argument. It is a Third Grade level attempt at bullying. Look back: Can you imagine any President in history talking like this? During the campaign his own talk has become increasingly obscene and odd. Why on earth, during a speech, did he feel the need to describe a certain golfer’s private parts?

What put me over the edge was last Sunday night’s Trump rally, when Kamala Harris was called a whore (using a form of that word especially insulting to black women) and the “anti-Christ” (!) and the “devil” and other things which apparently were cut out of the available video. At the same rally Puerto Rico was called “an island of trash” and their way of conceiving children was described in as gross a way as possible. The “f” word was all over the place. Those who support Ms Harris were called ““Jew-haters and low-lifes.” Mr Trump later described the rally as a “love-fest”.

Just to show you today’s level of political discourse, Elon Musk’s PAC lately offered a video calling Ms Harris the “c-word” several times till at the end we discover she’s only a “communist”.

So to repeat: Enough!  Enough dirt. Enough filth. Enough lies. Enough degrading slime.

What is the point of all this juvenile vulgarity? We teach our children better than this. “Johnny, don’t call people bad names.” “Mary, don’t talk like that.” Or at least I hope we still do.

I’m really puzzled. Most of the Republicans I know personally seem to be decent, respectable people. Don’t they notice? Doesn’t all this sludge bother them? What has gone wrong in this country that at least half our people (perhaps more than half – we shall soon see) apparently have no problem with this trash?

What puzzles me most is Christian Evangelical support for Mr Trump. Traditionally Christian Evangelicals stood for high morals, as all Christians surely should. Today 82% of these Bible-centered Christians support Mr Trump. * I don’t understand.

• https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/09/white-protestants-and-catholics-support-trump-but-voters-in-other-us-religious-groups-prefer-harris/

In the above survey, Orthodox Christians were apparently not numerous enough to take note of. Perhaps just as well?

Now to the subject of this Post.

Truth, Hope, Decency

I told you about this before. Our neighbors across the street have at least six political signs in their front yard – you can’t see them all from here – plus two cardboard “idols” of their candidate.

It seems a bit compulsive to me. At least the people going door to door soliciting votes for Kamala know not to call there!  Oh, and I should tell you that their obscene banner which had been hanging inside their garage is now hanging outside for all to see. I will not show you a picture of it, but I will portray it:

TRUMP

F..k Your Feelings

We live in a quiet neighborhood, where many young kids play in the street. I imagine them going home: “Mom, what does ‘F..k your feelings’ mean?” Am I so old and out of it that that kind of talk is now acceptable with children?

On the other hand, my wife and I, showing admirable and prideful restraint, have but one sign in our front yard, not even facing those neighbors, which reads:

and below it in small letters the name of the candidate we favor.

I disagree with that candidate and her Party about a number of things. However, one of the chief reasons I support her is her character. She is decent-minded. She doesn’t name-call. Her negative descriptions of Mr Trump are not childish outbursts like his, but are based on what he has said about himself, what he is doing, and what many who have worked with him say about him.

Autocracy

As I said, I don’t want to get into political issues here – except to describe the big one. A good friend of mine very strongly disagrees with Ms Harris about one issue, but he says he’d rather vote for her and save democracy, so that it will be possible to deal with that matter later.

Because that’s apparently what’s on the line here. This is not political opinion. This is description: Mr Trump has already turned a formerly principled political party * into a subservient sort of autocracy with him as the autocrat. All that is required of their leaders is submission to him, and also that they accept the Lie that he won the 2020 election. We can see people who once despised the man (and perhaps still secretly do) falling in line, one by one.

• for which I often voted in years past

He has made himself autocrat of the Republican party. So what do you suppose he has in mind for the country? He says as much. Listen to him.

To repeat: The preceding was not a political opinion. It was a description of what is happening.

America’s Founding Fathers were imperfect, but they were brilliant. They produced a form of government which has been stable for nearly two and a half centuries, which has been the inspiration for countless millions around the world, seeking their freedom from oppression. That form of peoples’ government is now under threat, both abroad and now here at home. As I wrote last week, I believe Orthodoxy, “a peoples’ Church”, should stand with democracy, a “peoples’ government”. I believe opposing authoritarianism is a moral duty.

Now, at last, let’s talk about the three topics for this Post in reverse order: Decency, Hope, Truth.

Decency

I’ve already dealt above with the present political indecency.

In this regard, my rule for judging political candidates is: Would I want little children listening to this? Is this someone I’d like children taking as a role model?

At one time, American Presidents were admirable – at least in public. (There definitely were some issues behind the scenes.) Public Presidential indecency began with Bill Clinton, and now it’s become worse to the nth degree with Donald Trump. I imagine parents quickly shutting off the television, saying, “No, Johnny, don’t behave like the President. Don’t call people names. Don’t tell lies. Don’t be like him.”

One part of the Boy Scout Law returns to mind: “A Scout is clean in thought, word, and deed“.

Their commentary goes on to say that Scouts should: “Keep their body and mind clean and fit. Think good things about others. Avoid gossip, swearing, and bad language. Hold themselves and others to a high standard. Surround themselves with better people. Reduce the amount of negativity in their life.”

Mr Trump has received 34 felony convictions, regarding payoffs made to cover up his affair with a porn star. His lawyers have managed to hold off prosecution regarding several other matters till after the election: federal election interference, election interference in Georgia, and stealing classified top secret documents. If he’s elected he will be able to dismiss the federal cases, but not the Georgia one – which is very specific; he was recorded on the phone asking for a certain number of votes. This raises the possibility that he, as President, could be convicted of a crime. Also you know how in 2016 he bragged on tape that he had “hit” on a married woman, unsuccessfully, and how because he was a “star” he could get by with grabbing women you know where.  (This came to light one month before the 2016 election. I thought surely that would cost him the Evangelical vote. Wrong.)

Among Mr Trump’s friends and supporters who have served time in prison are Michael Cohen (who has turned against him), Peter Navarro, Rudy Giuliani, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Allen Weisselberg and Roger Stone. Steve Bannon was just released and is going back to work for him. Have I missed any?

“A boy scout is clean.” I looked it up: Mr Trump was never a Boy Scout.

He did speak to the national Boy Scouts Jamboree in 2016 – after which the head of the Boy Scouts felt compelled to send a letter to the parents apologizing for some of the political and suggestive things he said to the Scouts. No kidding!

Hope: “the expectation that something good will happen”.

Our ultimate hope, of course, is not in politics, and certainly not in political candidates, all of whom are fallible human beings. Our Hope is in Jesus Christ.

However, we can hope that politicians will try to do what is right, acting with high principles to try to make our country and our world better, more free, more just, safer, more beautiful.

Ms Harris will not keep all her promises and achieve all her aspirations. Politicians rarely can, and sometimes that’s a good thing. However she speaks positively about the United States and hopefully about what she wants to attain.

Then listen to Mr Trump: complaining about how he is personally being mistreated, his threats of vengeance on his perceived enemies, how he will “fight fight fight” against the “enemy within”, possibly using the Armed Forces against them.

I disagreed with Ronald Reagan about a number of things. However, in light of what has happened since then, he sounds like a beacon of hope and decency. This is from Mr Reagan’s first Inaugural speech on January 20, 1981 – regarding our American political system and how our peaceful transfer of power every four years is an example to the world.

Or rather it was until the 2020 election, when as you may remember Mr Trump sent a mob to the Capitol to prevent the certifying of the election. Then when that was unsuccessful, he left town, refusing to participate in the Inauguration of his successor.

Read this and see how the United States of America once was – and can be again.

“In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle. Mr. President *, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.”

• speaking to President Jimmy Carter

“We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we’re in a time when there are not heroes, they just don’t know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter, and they’re on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth, and opportunity. They’re individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our national life.”

“Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children, and our children’s children. And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.”

Please stop now and make the contrast.

Truth

Those of you who read this Blog know that I harp on this subject often – and with good reason. I usually begin with a line I first heard from Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), though it apparently existed before him:

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”

I’ve said that if the time came when people cannot agree on facts, then free society falls apart.

That time has come.

It’s true in regard to many things, including religion. But today we’re talking about politics and national issues.

The biggest problem today is that one of our presidential candidates is an inveterate liar. This man has been at the center of American politics for over ten years now, and his lies have torn the nation apart.

I don’t like quoting Wikipedia, but their’s is the shortest, most cogent description:

“During and after his term as President of the United States, Donald Trump made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims. The Washington Post’s fact-checkers documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his presidential term, an average of about 21 per day. The Toronto Star tallied 5,276 false claims from January 2017 to June 2019, an average of 6 per day. Commentators and fact-checkers have described the scale of Trump’s mendacity as ‘unprecedented’ in American politics, and the consistency of falsehoods a distinctive part of his business and political identities’. Scholarly analysis of Trump’s tweets found ‘significant evidence’ of an intent to deceive.’” 

Or see: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-versus-truth-most-outrageous-falsehoods-his-presidency-n1252580

This is from James Causey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 13, 2024

“The polls tell us the presidential race is close. Even in Wisconsin, Kamala Harris’s 4-point edge over Donald Trump is still within the margin of error and analysts say it comes with a number of caveats. If you’re still undecided after Tuesday’s debate, I need you to consider two numbers: 30 to 1. During the 90-minute debate, former President Donald Trump made more than 30 false claims compared to Vice President Harris’ 1. In other words, if you still haven’t made up your mind, the matter comes down to whether you want your next president to lie to you or tell the truth. It’s as simple as that.”

Ms Harris and others say Mr Trump is involved with Project 22, a radical plan to rework American government and increase Presidential power. He says he has never heard of it and doesn’t know the people involved with it. In fact, about 140 people who worked for him are involved with it. His Vice Presidential Candidate J.D. Vance wrote the introduction. You take it from there.

Many people don’t take time to fact-check Presidential candidates. This is understandable. Today people are bombarded by so many “facts”, both true and false – and who has time to research them all? People have jobs; they have kids to feed and care for. And for whatever reason many trust candidates and what they say.

Whether Mr Trump lies intentionally in order to confuse, or whether he simply does not know truth from falsehood – who knows? However, the result either way is that dialogue becomes almost impossible. He’s not dealing with reality. The position the man holds one day may be different the next day. Or it may not, depending…

The Big Lie

However, there is one untruth which Mr Trump has held consistently: He says he won the 2020 election. This claim has been examined and refuted from every possible direction, in every possible way, by competent people of both political parties. It is absolutely untrue.  However, he insists that he won. He will not be “a Loser”.

Subservience to Mr Trump and acceptance of his Big Lie has become the “loyalty oath” required of all his followers, now including all leaders of the Republican Party * – many of whom surely know better. This means they are morally compromised and trapped. Who knows what falsehoods he will lead them into next? which they will again pretend to believe, because they will be ashamed to admit they have already been lying – and on it will go, and who knows what it will lead to?

• except for a few rebels who hold out

Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You belong to your father the devil, and what your father wants is what you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of lies .” John 8:44

All liars, you see, are quickly trapped and become sons of the devil. Once you start lying, he’s got you.

Whatever Mr Trump’s intention, this has been the technique used by authoritarians to create confusion and take power. People, for whatever reason, turn to the dictators. In this case, many apparently will be willing to “fight fight fight” for Mr Trump, whether he wins or loses. And what happens after that…?

Before Next Week:  Pray! and vote!

Next Week:  I don’t know yet.