Are we, as a people, becoming more insular in our search for truth? More content with authoritarian pronouncements? Too satisfied with the status quo of ranking? Too skeptical/rejecting of truths in other faiths and domains? Too convinced we do not need to think for ourselves—to seek our own personal witness? Here are a few reminders of how truth was framed in our early days.
Brigham Young
Our religion descends to the whole life of man, although some, sometimes, say, there is divine law, there is human law, and there are principles which pertain to our religion and there are principles which pertain to the philosophy of the world. But let me here say to you, that the philosophy of the religion of heaven incorporates every truth that there is in heaven, on earth, or in hell. 15:125 (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, selected and arranged by John A. Widtsoe [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 8.)
John Taylor
In regard to our religion, I will say that it embraces every principle of truth and intelligence pertaining to us as moral, intellectual, mortal and immortal beings, pertaining to this world and the world that is to come. We are open to truth of every kind, no matter whence it comes, where it originates, or who believes in it. Truth, when preceded by the little word "all," comprises everything that has ever existed or that ever will exist and be known by and among men in time and through the endless ages of eternity. And it is the duty of all intelligent beings who are responsible and amenable to God for their acts, to search after truth, and to permit it to influence them and their acts and general course in life, independent of all bias or preconceived notions, however specious and plausible they may be. (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 16:369, February 1, 1874)
John Taylor
If there is anything good and praiseworthy in morals, religion, science, or anything calculated to exalt and ennoble man, we are after it. But with all our getting, we want to get understanding, and that understanding which flows from God. (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 20:48, August 4, 1878)
B.H. Roberts
To pay attention to and give reasonable credence to [scientific] research is to link the church of God with the highest increase of human thought and effort. (B.H. Roberts, The Truth, the Way and the Light, p.364)
Joseph F. Smith
We believe in all truth, no matter to what subject it may refer. No sect or religious denomination in the world possesses a single principle of truth that we do not accept or that we will reject. We are willing to receive all truth, from whatever source it may come; for truth will stand, truth will endure. (Joseph F. Smith, Conference Reports, p. 7, April, 1909)
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
“Yes” & “No”
Several years ago, during a particularly stressful, confusing, demanding time of life, my good bishop arrived to ask if I would teach early-morning seminary.1 The request was stunning and overwhelming for in truth and full disclosure, I confess that I was never a “teenager” and had never particularly enjoyed teenagers, even when I was in the age category. Somehow, I missed all the “teen” years—always too serious;2 too inquiring; too prone to pursuing order, clarity, justice,3 and rationality.
However, I had been raised in a church culture of “yes.” I had never said “no” to a church calling before and almost always the “yes” was given within minutes of being asked to serve, as seemed the expectation (and sometimes the necessity). I was not always comfortable with the “speed” of how and when callings were issued, but had accepted and served in numerous capacities in both ward and stake. But this calling was such a sucker-punch to my psyche, that I mustered the strength to put my bishop on hold for the night. I had to ask God how much He thought I could/should endure.
For several hours I poured out my distresses (as if He needed to hear/re-hear the litany), but in the end I said “Thy will be done. If this is required, I will do it—but I will require immeasurable divine help.”
Finally, I fell asleep, but within short hours awoke with the clear impression that having said “yes” to God, I could/should say “no” to the bishop. In this instance, I had done all that was required.
I have often wondered since if we endure unnecessary sufferings in service when we skip the spiritual, personal confirmation of our callings. Of course, that confirmation may come even before the calling and sometimes at the moment of calling, but what if a confirming peace has not presented itself? Why should we feel pressured to say “yes” when we don’t have our own personal witness? Is that what God really expects?—every time? Or does He, first and foremost, desire that we say “yes” to Him, so He can then instruct us what to say to His stewards? Is that not the law of witnesses—that we be amongst the requisite witnesses to establish the truth of a call to service? How does the Spirit tutor us if we perpetually rely on another’s inspiration without asking our own questions?—getting our own answers?
Was my bishop inspired to issue this call, to force me into a tutoring, sacrificial moment—when distressed and overwhelmed, I still said “yes” to God? And was there (even before my bishop asked) some better, more loving, inspiring “teacher in the thicket” somewhere?
And for those who might think that opening this “Pandora’s box” of yes and no is an easy cop-out for refusing church service, I say, “Yes, there is that risk,” but is there not also risk and “cop-out” when we, like the wandering Israelites, refuse to approach God and insist that a “Moses” (or “Moses-substitute”) be our communicator.4 Is that what God wants?
How can we expect spiritual transformation unless we accept the contraries,5 paradoxes, ironies, and responsibilities inherent in life, in gospel teaching/service, and in the “yes’s” and “no’s” of spiritual guidance?
------------/
1. An approximate 1-hour, 5 day-a-week, religious instruction time for teenagers (ages 16-18) before their secular school day begins. The required readings and preparation time for instructors consume hours of each day outside of class time.
2. For my grade 12 graduation, I did not want a grad dress. I would wear my sister’s from the previous grad year. I wanted the equivalence in money to buy books. I got $30.00, a princely sum in 1967.
3. I eventually got a law degree, but found the practice more the pursuit of money than of justice.
4. And they [the people] said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Old Testament Exodus 20:19 - 21)
5. See posting about contraries/contradictions at http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2009/09/agony-of-contradictions.html
However, I had been raised in a church culture of “yes.” I had never said “no” to a church calling before and almost always the “yes” was given within minutes of being asked to serve, as seemed the expectation (and sometimes the necessity). I was not always comfortable with the “speed” of how and when callings were issued, but had accepted and served in numerous capacities in both ward and stake. But this calling was such a sucker-punch to my psyche, that I mustered the strength to put my bishop on hold for the night. I had to ask God how much He thought I could/should endure.
For several hours I poured out my distresses (as if He needed to hear/re-hear the litany), but in the end I said “Thy will be done. If this is required, I will do it—but I will require immeasurable divine help.”
Finally, I fell asleep, but within short hours awoke with the clear impression that having said “yes” to God, I could/should say “no” to the bishop. In this instance, I had done all that was required.
I have often wondered since if we endure unnecessary sufferings in service when we skip the spiritual, personal confirmation of our callings. Of course, that confirmation may come even before the calling and sometimes at the moment of calling, but what if a confirming peace has not presented itself? Why should we feel pressured to say “yes” when we don’t have our own personal witness? Is that what God really expects?—every time? Or does He, first and foremost, desire that we say “yes” to Him, so He can then instruct us what to say to His stewards? Is that not the law of witnesses—that we be amongst the requisite witnesses to establish the truth of a call to service? How does the Spirit tutor us if we perpetually rely on another’s inspiration without asking our own questions?—getting our own answers?
Was my bishop inspired to issue this call, to force me into a tutoring, sacrificial moment—when distressed and overwhelmed, I still said “yes” to God? And was there (even before my bishop asked) some better, more loving, inspiring “teacher in the thicket” somewhere?
And for those who might think that opening this “Pandora’s box” of yes and no is an easy cop-out for refusing church service, I say, “Yes, there is that risk,” but is there not also risk and “cop-out” when we, like the wandering Israelites, refuse to approach God and insist that a “Moses” (or “Moses-substitute”) be our communicator.4 Is that what God wants?
How can we expect spiritual transformation unless we accept the contraries,5 paradoxes, ironies, and responsibilities inherent in life, in gospel teaching/service, and in the “yes’s” and “no’s” of spiritual guidance?
------------/
1. An approximate 1-hour, 5 day-a-week, religious instruction time for teenagers (ages 16-18) before their secular school day begins. The required readings and preparation time for instructors consume hours of each day outside of class time.
2. For my grade 12 graduation, I did not want a grad dress. I would wear my sister’s from the previous grad year. I wanted the equivalence in money to buy books. I got $30.00, a princely sum in 1967.
3. I eventually got a law degree, but found the practice more the pursuit of money than of justice.
4. And they [the people] said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Old Testament Exodus 20:19 - 21)
5. See posting about contraries/contradictions at http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2009/09/agony-of-contradictions.html
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Offering Up the Children
by SMSmith
Once
Laid upon the altar of the world
The innocent child of the Hinnom wild
Killed amidst the groves.[1]
Now
Laid upon the altar of the world
The neglected child in pursuits reviled
For things laid up in store.
The ciphered child in perversities defiled
By addicts demeaning, ever demanding more.
And the embryo child in a world beguiled
By rights of all but those.
By Moloch's priests amidst pagan feasts
Laid upon the altars of the world.
In proxied price for the willful sin
Of an idolatrous kin
Who feign in sacrifice.
What of these groves and altars of the world?
And the plague-orphaned child abandoned while
We surfeit in ease
Bottom-line disease
Kill in war
Pursue self ever more.
How long, O humankind,
These groves and altars of the world?
[1] Jer. 32:35, 19:5-6, 7:31; Isa. 57:5
© 1987 by SMSmith. Some Rights Reserved. See Creative Commons License at bottom of this page.
Once
Laid upon the altar of the world
The innocent child of the Hinnom wild
Killed amidst the groves.[1]
Now
Laid upon the altar of the world
The neglected child in pursuits reviled
For things laid up in store.
The ciphered child in perversities defiled
By addicts demeaning, ever demanding more.
And the embryo child in a world beguiled
By rights of all but those.
By Moloch's priests amidst pagan feasts
Laid upon the altars of the world.
In proxied price for the willful sin
Of an idolatrous kin
Who feign in sacrifice.
What of these groves and altars of the world?
And the plague-orphaned child abandoned while
We surfeit in ease
Bottom-line disease
Kill in war
Pursue self ever more.
How long, O humankind,
These groves and altars of the world?
[1] Jer. 32:35, 19:5-6, 7:31; Isa. 57:5
© 1987 by SMSmith. Some Rights Reserved. See Creative Commons License at bottom of this page.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Natural Man
~~~
We have been told:
In King Benjamin’s parallels, the natural man is not submissive, not meek, not humble, not patient, not full of love, not willing to submit [to the ways of God] … Loser traits, one and all, in the business world of yesterday and today.
So, if the natural man is so contrary to the order of God, what about a collective of such men and women? Does the collective ameliorate the “natural man” tendencies or does it concentrate them—as in a tornado?
Why is it that being surrounded by collectives of “natural men” of business, we blissfully follow the pied-pipers of laissez-faire (do your own thing, be a law unto yourself 1)? Why do we swallow hook, line, and sinker, the “rights” of the natural man; the omniscience of markets; the “dictates” of supply and demand; the propaganda of maximized profit and “blessed” prosperity; the disparaging of governments and unions—the only entities powerful enough to counter the corruptions2 of the natural man and his “private” capital collectives? Why do we bow to the so-called inevitability/determinism of (one-world) globalization?
These are all the ways of Babylon. She seizes upon things that call for balance and forces them to extremes. She caters to, praises, and propagandizes the natural man. Her ambition is to co-opt and corrupt the incentives of business and channel them to her own ends. Her spokespeople endlessly trumpet the “virtues” of privatization, efficiency, and deregulation (her most prized business tool); and ceaselessly denounce the evils of taxation, regulation, criticism, and the common good. She hoodwinks democracy in the name of freedom, agency, prosperity, “merit,” and individualism.
Why have we become so adept at severing conscience from commerce? Espousing moral and religious values in our lives and churches, but in our work and business following/favoring (though we deny it with passion) the ways of the natural man?
Suckered by Babylon, yet incensed beyond measure that anyone would suggest it.
--------------/
1. In other words, follow the dictates, rules, necessities, etc. of competition and the marketplace.
2. Yes, these too have become corrupted by the entreaties and temptations of Babylon, but without them there is not even a glimmer of “balance of power.”
We have been told:
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (King Benjamin’s discourse: Book of Mormon | Mosiah 3:19: .)In addition, déjà vu confirms that the natural man adores power, wealth, and fame—those classic, three temptations that shadow every man (and woman) in varying degrees. Thus, the natural man is in constant marathon-mode, racing the shadows. He is obsessed. He wants no distraction; no interference. He wants the thrill of passing; of besting himself and others. He cares not for the bleeding and broken. It’s a race of competition, efficiency, surpassing, “meriting” the prize. He scorns those less obsessed; those who stop to aid the exhausted. They are losers, as surely as those they foolishly succor. The natural man comes to expect that others, less gifted, should sacrifice for his visions and brilliance. He deserves. They serve.
We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 121:39)
They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall. (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 1:16)
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (New Testament | 1 Corinthians 2:14)
In King Benjamin’s parallels, the natural man is not submissive, not meek, not humble, not patient, not full of love, not willing to submit [to the ways of God] … Loser traits, one and all, in the business world of yesterday and today.
So, if the natural man is so contrary to the order of God, what about a collective of such men and women? Does the collective ameliorate the “natural man” tendencies or does it concentrate them—as in a tornado?
Why is it that being surrounded by collectives of “natural men” of business, we blissfully follow the pied-pipers of laissez-faire (do your own thing, be a law unto yourself 1)? Why do we swallow hook, line, and sinker, the “rights” of the natural man; the omniscience of markets; the “dictates” of supply and demand; the propaganda of maximized profit and “blessed” prosperity; the disparaging of governments and unions—the only entities powerful enough to counter the corruptions2 of the natural man and his “private” capital collectives? Why do we bow to the so-called inevitability/determinism of (one-world) globalization?
These are all the ways of Babylon. She seizes upon things that call for balance and forces them to extremes. She caters to, praises, and propagandizes the natural man. Her ambition is to co-opt and corrupt the incentives of business and channel them to her own ends. Her spokespeople endlessly trumpet the “virtues” of privatization, efficiency, and deregulation (her most prized business tool); and ceaselessly denounce the evils of taxation, regulation, criticism, and the common good. She hoodwinks democracy in the name of freedom, agency, prosperity, “merit,” and individualism.
Why have we become so adept at severing conscience from commerce? Espousing moral and religious values in our lives and churches, but in our work and business following/favoring (though we deny it with passion) the ways of the natural man?
Suckered by Babylon, yet incensed beyond measure that anyone would suggest it.
--------------/
1. In other words, follow the dictates, rules, necessities, etc. of competition and the marketplace.
2. Yes, these too have become corrupted by the entreaties and temptations of Babylon, but without them there is not even a glimmer of “balance of power.”
Saturday, May 15, 2010
To bless & prosper?
This morning, I finished Joel ben Izzy’s The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness and was again reminded1 of the contradictions and contraries that “plague” this life.2 Stories that continually affirm what we try to forget—that life is full of Job-like contradictions that challenge our notion of a just and loving God, of meaning and purpose, of success, of the blessed life. Stories that “make no sense,” yet could bring us to a more perfect sense of what it means “to bless and prosper,” if only we would LISTEN!
Stories of:
Why do we persistently forget the corrosiveness and divisiveness of worldly wealth? 4
Why do we keep judging by appearances instead of the eternity of things?5
How long does it take for us to understand that “What seems like a blessing may be a curse; what seems like a curse may be a blessing”?6
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1. http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/AgonyofContradictions
2. … the Son, … ordained from before the foundation of the world to be a propitiation for the sins of all those who should believe on his name, and is called the Son because of the flesh, and descended in suffering below that which man can suffer; or, in other words, suffered greater sufferings, and was exposed to more powerful contradictions than any man can be. But, notwithstanding all this, he kept the law of God, and remained without sin, … (Lectures on Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985], 5:2, emphasis added.)
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (New Testament Hebrews 12:2-3, emphasis added).
* Including: Joel ben Izzy; Beethoven; Hugues de Montalembert; Christopher Reeve; Patty Duke; Biblical Job; etc
3. New Testament Luke 16:20-26
4. Book of Mormon & prosperity cycles; New Testament Matthew 19:24
5. "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart"(Old Testament 1 Samuel 16:7).
6. Story: The Lost Horse (see Izzy’s book, p. 11-12. See also http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/AfflictedWithRiches http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/TraumaHappens
Stories of:
▪ Storytellers deprived of their voices*Why is it that we continue to define “blessed and prospered” from the dictionary of Babylon when the stories (from antiquity to the present) beat a constant drum of contradiction?
▪ Great musicians imprisoned in silence*
▪ Artists / filmmakers blinded by circumstance*
▪ Superman bound to a wheeled, breath-giving chair*
▪ Gifted souls afflicted with manias and depressions*
▪ Perfect souls reduced to wretchedness*
▪ Rich men in hell; beggars in heaven3
▪ An Omnipotent God crucified, and
▪ Dreamers everywhere who dwell in sackcloth and the ashes of their dreams and labors while the Heavens wait for them to be still long enough to hear.
Why do we persistently forget the corrosiveness and divisiveness of worldly wealth? 4
Why do we keep judging by appearances instead of the eternity of things?5
How long does it take for us to understand that “What seems like a blessing may be a curse; what seems like a curse may be a blessing”?6
-------------/
1. http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/AgonyofContradictions
2. … the Son, … ordained from before the foundation of the world to be a propitiation for the sins of all those who should believe on his name, and is called the Son because of the flesh, and descended in suffering below that which man can suffer; or, in other words, suffered greater sufferings, and was exposed to more powerful contradictions than any man can be. But, notwithstanding all this, he kept the law of God, and remained without sin, … (Lectures on Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985], 5:2, emphasis added.)
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (New Testament Hebrews 12:2-3, emphasis added).
* Including: Joel ben Izzy; Beethoven; Hugues de Montalembert; Christopher Reeve; Patty Duke; Biblical Job; etc
3. New Testament Luke 16:20-26
4. Book of Mormon & prosperity cycles; New Testament Matthew 19:24
5. "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart"(Old Testament 1 Samuel 16:7).
6. Story: The Lost Horse (see Izzy’s book, p. 11-12. See also http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/AfflictedWithRiches http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/TraumaHappens
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
“Priests & Levites”1—modern day parallels?
At my father’s funeral, a speaker (giving the biography) said:
Have we, by relying so much on the collective hierarchy of corporate systems, lost our sense of individual responsibility, accountability, and compassion for those that the system casts to the side of the road? Why is it that respectable, honorable men and women can countenance—even engage in—disreputable, dishonorable acts when working for legal fictions2 or when shielded as mere investors? Why do so many of us hide our head in the sand of maximized profit and deregulation while our “priests and Levites” promenade the byways of so called “free-markets”? “Free-markets” that have surreptitiously reverted to Adam Smith’s despised mercantile system of amassed wealth, power, and privilege!3 Déjà vu, anyone?!
Adam Smith4 believed that self-interest, when properly channeled in the competitive marketplace, could promote virtues of order, trust, self-command, prudence, probity, and even benevolence; that a properly channeled self-interest would redound to the public good. This required that a monopoly of physical power reside with the state—that the state monitor the considerable ironies and negatives that the natural tendencies of competitive markets exacerbated.
Our newspapers, magazines, newscasts, blogs, and websites are filled with stories of the wounded and dying because of increasingly unregulated tendencies. Consider:
▪ Companies continuing to operate unsafe mines5 after numerous citations and huge fines.
▪ Businesses justifying subsistence wages and sweatshop conditions.
▪ Companies polluting air, water, land, and living beings.6
▪ CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies engaging in bribery and fraud.7
▪ Companies knowingly manufacturing and marketing hazardous goods: addiction-enhanced cigarettes, fatal pharmaceuticals, toxic toys, contaminated foods, defective autos, bogus cures, etc.
▪ Financial schemes plundering to the right and to the left.
▪ Multinationals buying up global competitors or destroying them via rumor-mongering.
▪ Big-business falsifying earnings and liabilities.
▪ Etc., etc., etc. 8
The list is endless, as are the witnesses8 that cry in continual litany against our blindness and deafness. Why do we keep defending corrupted systems that pose as advocates of “competitive free-markets” while violating both the tenets of such free-markets and the professed virtues of owners, managers, shareholders, employees, and citizens at large? Why do we sustain these imposters that malign and weaken, with our consent and complicity, the very institution meant to monitor their adherence to the rule of law and human decency? Instead, we champion a corrupted system that has brought death, disease, injury, pollution, fraud, bribery, and a myriad sins into a marketplace that now survives, not on competition, but on favors? And we? Instead of identifying the brigands that plunder for profit, we demote the “sheriff” by popular (and propagandized) sentiment.
Adam Smith was not anti-government or anti-regulation. He believed that government would grow in size and importance along with the growth of a “channeled” and appropriately regulated competitive free-market as it helped elevate citizens to “universal opulence.” But the very institution designed to protect private property and enforce the rule of law has been co-opted by increasingly unrestrained self-interest and the negatives of wealth combined with power and influence. Large sectors of government now lie wounded at the side of the road along with other citizens while faux, laissez-faire priests and Levites of every stripe take great pains to “not see” or, in the alternative, to justify the wounded and dying. (“Them’s the breaks of the marketplace!”)
There is much good that has come out of the marketplace, but if we persist in blindness by mocking “motes” in government while discounting “beams” in business,9 our democratic values and the very Republic of America herself shall be found amongst the victims at the side of the road.
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1. New Testament Luke 10:25-37: And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
2. See Corporate Personality at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_fiction
3. For example: Who else gets Golden parachutes for failing? http://photo.newsweek.com/content/photo/2008/9/photos-ceos-golden-parachutes-from-failed-firms.html
4. Review lectures 7-10 of “Thinking about Capitalism” taught by Jerry Z. Muller, PhD; The Catholic University of America (© 2008, “The Teaching Company®, The Great Courses®)
5. Mining, e.g.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_accident ; http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/06/virginia-mine-explosion.html ;
6. Polluters, e.g.: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/10-Worst-Corporate-Polluters ; http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933679.html ;
7. Corporate Fraud: http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2004/20040306_Headline01_Staff.htm ; http://articles.sfgate.com/2002-07-14/business/17553322_1_scandals-regulation-stock ; http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudAmericanHistory.htm ; http://www.itexaminer.com/the-history-of-corporate-fraud-is-banal.aspx ; Bribery: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1977526,00.html ; http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/172/30078.html ; Smuggling: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/13/tobacco-smuggling-lawsuit-settled.html ;
8. The list grows every day. For past examples see: http://www.corpwatch.org/ ; http://www.corp-ethics.com/ ; http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/list.html ; http://www.corporations.org/ ; http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/ ;
9. New Testament Matthew 7:3 “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” Of course there are problems with the present state of government excesses and abuses, but the real threat to liberty and democractic values is in the corrupted state of wealth, power, influence, and excess of modern business, which also accounts for much of government corruption.
“Travers didn’t separate temporal and spiritual matters. Often times we hear people excusing themselves, ‘Well, that’s business, and this is church. You don’t mix the two.’ They do mix, and Travers kept them together all the time wherever he went, and in the work that he has done.”Perhaps that is why I see the separation of “church and business” as one of the great failings of our corporate times where many of the values taught in churches and other spiritual centers seem lost in our collectivized rush to prosperity in an increasingly business-dominated world.
Have we, by relying so much on the collective hierarchy of corporate systems, lost our sense of individual responsibility, accountability, and compassion for those that the system casts to the side of the road? Why is it that respectable, honorable men and women can countenance—even engage in—disreputable, dishonorable acts when working for legal fictions2 or when shielded as mere investors? Why do so many of us hide our head in the sand of maximized profit and deregulation while our “priests and Levites” promenade the byways of so called “free-markets”? “Free-markets” that have surreptitiously reverted to Adam Smith’s despised mercantile system of amassed wealth, power, and privilege!3 Déjà vu, anyone?!
Adam Smith4 believed that self-interest, when properly channeled in the competitive marketplace, could promote virtues of order, trust, self-command, prudence, probity, and even benevolence; that a properly channeled self-interest would redound to the public good. This required that a monopoly of physical power reside with the state—that the state monitor the considerable ironies and negatives that the natural tendencies of competitive markets exacerbated.
Our newspapers, magazines, newscasts, blogs, and websites are filled with stories of the wounded and dying because of increasingly unregulated tendencies. Consider:
▪ Companies continuing to operate unsafe mines5 after numerous citations and huge fines.
▪ Businesses justifying subsistence wages and sweatshop conditions.
▪ Companies polluting air, water, land, and living beings.6
▪ CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies engaging in bribery and fraud.7
▪ Companies knowingly manufacturing and marketing hazardous goods: addiction-enhanced cigarettes, fatal pharmaceuticals, toxic toys, contaminated foods, defective autos, bogus cures, etc.
▪ Financial schemes plundering to the right and to the left.
▪ Multinationals buying up global competitors or destroying them via rumor-mongering.
▪ Big-business falsifying earnings and liabilities.
▪ Etc., etc., etc. 8
The list is endless, as are the witnesses8 that cry in continual litany against our blindness and deafness. Why do we keep defending corrupted systems that pose as advocates of “competitive free-markets” while violating both the tenets of such free-markets and the professed virtues of owners, managers, shareholders, employees, and citizens at large? Why do we sustain these imposters that malign and weaken, with our consent and complicity, the very institution meant to monitor their adherence to the rule of law and human decency? Instead, we champion a corrupted system that has brought death, disease, injury, pollution, fraud, bribery, and a myriad sins into a marketplace that now survives, not on competition, but on favors? And we? Instead of identifying the brigands that plunder for profit, we demote the “sheriff” by popular (and propagandized) sentiment.
Adam Smith was not anti-government or anti-regulation. He believed that government would grow in size and importance along with the growth of a “channeled” and appropriately regulated competitive free-market as it helped elevate citizens to “universal opulence.” But the very institution designed to protect private property and enforce the rule of law has been co-opted by increasingly unrestrained self-interest and the negatives of wealth combined with power and influence. Large sectors of government now lie wounded at the side of the road along with other citizens while faux, laissez-faire priests and Levites of every stripe take great pains to “not see” or, in the alternative, to justify the wounded and dying. (“Them’s the breaks of the marketplace!”)
There is much good that has come out of the marketplace, but if we persist in blindness by mocking “motes” in government while discounting “beams” in business,9 our democratic values and the very Republic of America herself shall be found amongst the victims at the side of the road.
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1. New Testament Luke 10:25-37: And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
2. See Corporate Personality at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_fiction
3. For example: Who else gets Golden parachutes for failing? http://photo.newsweek.com/content/photo/2008/9/photos-ceos-golden-parachutes-from-failed-firms.html
4. Review lectures 7-10 of “Thinking about Capitalism” taught by Jerry Z. Muller, PhD; The Catholic University of America (© 2008, “The Teaching Company®, The Great Courses®)
5. Mining, e.g.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_accident ; http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/06/virginia-mine-explosion.html ;
6. Polluters, e.g.: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/10-Worst-Corporate-Polluters ; http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933679.html ;
7. Corporate Fraud: http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2004/20040306_Headline01_Staff.htm ; http://articles.sfgate.com/2002-07-14/business/17553322_1_scandals-regulation-stock ; http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudAmericanHistory.htm ; http://www.itexaminer.com/the-history-of-corporate-fraud-is-banal.aspx ; Bribery: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1977526,00.html ; http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/172/30078.html ; Smuggling: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/13/tobacco-smuggling-lawsuit-settled.html ;
8. The list grows every day. For past examples see: http://www.corpwatch.org/ ; http://www.corp-ethics.com/ ; http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/list.html ; http://www.corporations.org/ ; http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/ ;
9. New Testament Matthew 7:3 “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” Of course there are problems with the present state of government excesses and abuses, but the real threat to liberty and democractic values is in the corrupted state of wealth, power, influence, and excess of modern business, which also accounts for much of government corruption.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
With Their Lips …1
(OR Why it is TIME to abandon the Republican/conservative “read my lips” allegiance)
Note: This is not a back-hand endorsement of liberals or Democrats. They have their own endangering (and often similar) failures. Rather, this is a voice of warning concerning those who present themselves as the last-gasp “saviors” and “guardians” of liberty and the American Constitution. Their rhetoric is full of “freedoms” and “values,” but by their actions, they repeatedly violate those very freedoms and values. Consider:
With their lips—they claim grounding in rational economic and Constitutional truths, but manifest a reflexive, emotional devotion to words over realities, seemingly unable to acknowledge the colossal inconsistencies between their words and their deeds.2
With their lips—they espouse the virtues of small government and fiscal conservatism, yet preside over massive government growth and ballooning debts and deficits.3
With their lips—they claim the moral high ground and divine endorsement, yet espouse and implement policies that foster and sustain economic darwinism (survival/enrichment of the richest and most powerful).4
With their lips—they ennoble the sacrifices of the military, yet denigrate the service and opinion of soldiers, veterans, or family members who oppose war or criticize the conduct of war.5
With their lips—they denounce central, planned economies, yet cater to the centralized, planned economies of multinationals and bow to the “invisible [deterministic] hand” of (fictitious) free-markets and -trade;6
With their lips—they venerate justice and equity, but preside over egregious injustices in pursuit of American and business hegemony.7
With their lips—they scorn the follies and corruptions of their opponents, yet turn a blind eye to their own.”8
With their lips—they advocate the rule of law, yet justify “executive” powers that enshrine the “opinioned” rule of presidents.9
With their lips—they claim to be defenders and promulgators of freedom, human dignity, and the Constitution, yet foment uprisings against democratically elected governments in foreign countries that do not bow to the Washington Consensus; sanction torture and assassination; suspend habeas corpus; deliberately deceive citizens and “uncooperative” officials; turn a blind eye to human rights violations in favored nations; foster the aggregation of power and wealth to the detriment of individual citizens, etc.10
With their lips—they denounce extremists, yet wildly applaud Barry Goldwater’s infamous “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice”; and champion the bombing of enemies to manifest toughness.11
With their lips—they advocate free-markets, yet subsidize big-business; bailout corporations; award no-bid contracts; cater to lobbyists; legislate private agendas; sell off public assets; etc.12
With their lips—they claim to speak truth, yet continually neglect/refuse to fact-check or correct themselves.13
With their lips—they advocate individualism, yet favor private corporate collectives and reward compliance to authoritarianism.14
With their lips—they denigrate government, yet spend their private fortunes in pursuit of its power, privileges, employment, and (where politically possible) earmarks.15
With their lips—they speak of moral and family values, yet pursue pro-war agendas that tear families apart, exacerbate moral decay, and shatter minds, hearts, and bodies.16
With their lips—they claim to honor free speech and democratic values, yet vilify voices that question their ideology, “facts,” opinions, worldview, etc., especially attacking journalists, professors, researchers, historians, dissenters, anti-war advocates, scientists, philosophers; in fine, anyone who does not “see” as they do.17
---------/
Note: I do not concur with all that is claimed in the recommended reviews (RR) below, but there is much to consider, reconsider, and research in going beyond the “speed-of-knee-jerk” rejection characteristic of too many right and left ideologues. Both right and left have positives, but both have become enmeshed in the negatives of money, power, and ideology. Thus, we are increasingly presented with two unacceptable alternatives. But, the reason I find the right even more dangerous than the left, is their increasing abandonment of honor and justice as they pursue and justify the extremes of “individualism,” nationalism, and the primacy of the market-place.
1. “With their lips do honor democratic principles, but their actions are far from it.” Variation on a theme: Old Testament: Isaiah 29:13; New Testament: Matt. 15:8; Mark 7:6; Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 27:25
2. RR: Conservatives Without Conscience by John W. Dean; The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich; hyprocrisy segments on The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)
3. RR: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3750 ; http://thepoliticsofdebt.com/?p=177 ; http://mises.org/daily/895 ; http://zfacts.com/p/480.html ; The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too by James K. Galbraith; Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy by Will Bunch; government statistics of relevant periods
4. RR: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) by David Cay Johnston
5. Remember: John McCain 2000; Max Clelland 2002, John Kerry 2004, “Swiftboating” tactics; Pay attention to how they profile veterans or family members who oppose war
6. RR: The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan; One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism by William Greider; The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy by William Greider
7. RR: Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer; Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy by Noam Chomsky; Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson; Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
8. That is, all liberals are evil, but errant conservatives are an infrequent aberration—“a ‘few bad apples’ in a gigantic barrel of goodness.” Observe political discourse; review http://www.factcheck.org/ ; check in on occasion with The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)—hyprocisy watch; suspend emotion in order to assess facts
9. Aka: government by legal memo; Also read John Yoo, et al.
10. RR: The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation by Thomas Frank; Torture Team: Uncovering War Crimes in the Land of the Free by Philippe Sands; see also RR at #7
11. 1964 speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9buEI8SgwU ; other Republican Conventions: 1984, http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4690 ; 2000 or 2004
12. RR: see RR at # 4 & 6
13. Listen to both conservative and liberal newscasts. Reference http://www.factcheck.org/
14. RR: see Johnston at #4; and Dean at #2
15. Listen to faux-rogue candidates from McCain/Palin past Romney to Reagan; observe the realities of politicians in power
16. See Republican Convention 2004, 2008; observe the “tough on terrorists/extremists” talk by GOPs such as Sarah Palin ( http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTI5NzBmYThkM2M5MDI4NThiMDQwNGU1NmRkMzMxMDE= ) and the repeated accusations of liberal softness—of liberal wimps. Do they forget that republican Reagan actually talked to Gorbachev of the “evil empire”? Do they forget that Democrats have taken America into more wars than Republicans? Not an accolade for either side! The tendency to romanticize war is a national shame. We can be grateful for the sacrifices of service men and women and their families, but do not pretend that war is not attended by moral degeneracy and terrible, lifelong consequences. Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_States
17. Observe political discourse; pundits commentators, etc.
Note: This is not a back-hand endorsement of liberals or Democrats. They have their own endangering (and often similar) failures. Rather, this is a voice of warning concerning those who present themselves as the last-gasp “saviors” and “guardians” of liberty and the American Constitution. Their rhetoric is full of “freedoms” and “values,” but by their actions, they repeatedly violate those very freedoms and values. Consider:
With their lips—they claim grounding in rational economic and Constitutional truths, but manifest a reflexive, emotional devotion to words over realities, seemingly unable to acknowledge the colossal inconsistencies between their words and their deeds.2
With their lips—they espouse the virtues of small government and fiscal conservatism, yet preside over massive government growth and ballooning debts and deficits.3
With their lips—they claim the moral high ground and divine endorsement, yet espouse and implement policies that foster and sustain economic darwinism (survival/enrichment of the richest and most powerful).4
With their lips—they ennoble the sacrifices of the military, yet denigrate the service and opinion of soldiers, veterans, or family members who oppose war or criticize the conduct of war.5
With their lips—they denounce central, planned economies, yet cater to the centralized, planned economies of multinationals and bow to the “invisible [deterministic] hand” of (fictitious) free-markets and -trade;6
With their lips—they venerate justice and equity, but preside over egregious injustices in pursuit of American and business hegemony.7
With their lips—they scorn the follies and corruptions of their opponents, yet turn a blind eye to their own.”8
With their lips—they advocate the rule of law, yet justify “executive” powers that enshrine the “opinioned” rule of presidents.9
With their lips—they claim to be defenders and promulgators of freedom, human dignity, and the Constitution, yet foment uprisings against democratically elected governments in foreign countries that do not bow to the Washington Consensus; sanction torture and assassination; suspend habeas corpus; deliberately deceive citizens and “uncooperative” officials; turn a blind eye to human rights violations in favored nations; foster the aggregation of power and wealth to the detriment of individual citizens, etc.10
With their lips—they denounce extremists, yet wildly applaud Barry Goldwater’s infamous “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice”; and champion the bombing of enemies to manifest toughness.11
With their lips—they advocate free-markets, yet subsidize big-business; bailout corporations; award no-bid contracts; cater to lobbyists; legislate private agendas; sell off public assets; etc.12
With their lips—they claim to speak truth, yet continually neglect/refuse to fact-check or correct themselves.13
With their lips—they advocate individualism, yet favor private corporate collectives and reward compliance to authoritarianism.14
With their lips—they denigrate government, yet spend their private fortunes in pursuit of its power, privileges, employment, and (where politically possible) earmarks.15
With their lips—they speak of moral and family values, yet pursue pro-war agendas that tear families apart, exacerbate moral decay, and shatter minds, hearts, and bodies.16
With their lips—they claim to honor free speech and democratic values, yet vilify voices that question their ideology, “facts,” opinions, worldview, etc., especially attacking journalists, professors, researchers, historians, dissenters, anti-war advocates, scientists, philosophers; in fine, anyone who does not “see” as they do.17
---------/
Note: I do not concur with all that is claimed in the recommended reviews (RR) below, but there is much to consider, reconsider, and research in going beyond the “speed-of-knee-jerk” rejection characteristic of too many right and left ideologues. Both right and left have positives, but both have become enmeshed in the negatives of money, power, and ideology. Thus, we are increasingly presented with two unacceptable alternatives. But, the reason I find the right even more dangerous than the left, is their increasing abandonment of honor and justice as they pursue and justify the extremes of “individualism,” nationalism, and the primacy of the market-place.
1. “With their lips do honor democratic principles, but their actions are far from it.” Variation on a theme: Old Testament: Isaiah 29:13; New Testament: Matt. 15:8; Mark 7:6; Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 27:25
2. RR: Conservatives Without Conscience by John W. Dean; The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich; hyprocrisy segments on The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)
3. RR: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3750 ; http://thepoliticsofdebt.com/?p=177 ; http://mises.org/daily/895 ; http://zfacts.com/p/480.html ; The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too by James K. Galbraith; Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy by Will Bunch; government statistics of relevant periods
4. RR: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) by David Cay Johnston
5. Remember: John McCain 2000; Max Clelland 2002, John Kerry 2004, “Swiftboating” tactics; Pay attention to how they profile veterans or family members who oppose war
6. RR: The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan; One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism by William Greider; The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy by William Greider
7. RR: Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer; Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy by Noam Chomsky; Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson; Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
8. That is, all liberals are evil, but errant conservatives are an infrequent aberration—“a ‘few bad apples’ in a gigantic barrel of goodness.” Observe political discourse; review http://www.factcheck.org/ ; check in on occasion with The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)—hyprocisy watch; suspend emotion in order to assess facts
9. Aka: government by legal memo; Also read John Yoo, et al.
10. RR: The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation by Thomas Frank; Torture Team: Uncovering War Crimes in the Land of the Free by Philippe Sands; see also RR at #7
11. 1964 speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9buEI8SgwU ; other Republican Conventions: 1984, http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4690 ; 2000 or 2004
12. RR: see RR at # 4 & 6
13. Listen to both conservative and liberal newscasts. Reference http://www.factcheck.org/
14. RR: see Johnston at #4; and Dean at #2
15. Listen to faux-rogue candidates from McCain/Palin past Romney to Reagan; observe the realities of politicians in power
16. See Republican Convention 2004, 2008; observe the “tough on terrorists/extremists” talk by GOPs such as Sarah Palin ( http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTI5NzBmYThkM2M5MDI4NThiMDQwNGU1NmRkMzMxMDE= ) and the repeated accusations of liberal softness—of liberal wimps. Do they forget that republican Reagan actually talked to Gorbachev of the “evil empire”? Do they forget that Democrats have taken America into more wars than Republicans? Not an accolade for either side! The tendency to romanticize war is a national shame. We can be grateful for the sacrifices of service men and women and their families, but do not pretend that war is not attended by moral degeneracy and terrible, lifelong consequences. Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_States
17. Observe political discourse; pundits commentators, etc.
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