Why is money such a big deal in politics? Particularly SECRET money?
The old-fashioned answer is corruption, corruption of the most venial type.
The office-holder would like some gravy on their meatloaf. :-)
But it's become something MORE than that.
Money buys media. And it takes BIG money to buy media. And media buys elections. And the media need not be anything particularly accurate or truthful to be effective.
So, whereas only the venial politician was tempted by corruption, now the most civic-minded politician in the world is similarly tempted.
Because you can't serve the public if you're not elected and you can't get elected unless you have the media which means money which means kissing the right corporate butts and having the "correct" position on issues.
If there is an answer (beyond transparency) to the issue of money in politics it is an educated, critically-thinking electorate.
In the end, it is voters, not corporations, that cast ballots.
And, as Lincoln said, you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Friday, October 29, 2010
The End Of The World As We Know It
Okay, so I hyped it a bit. :-)
'Tis the season.
In case anyone is unaware (e.g., they've been away in an alternate reality, they're in a coma, etc.), Americans vote next Tuesday. (Actually, I believe Americans vote every day, but that's another issue for another day.)
Democrats are going to take a thumping. The party holding the presidency almost always takes a thumping in the mid-terms, but this might be an exceptional thumping.
The Mother of All Thumpings.
But, never fear.
Democratic pundits have all the bases covered.
If the Dems retain control of both houses, that will be good for Obama.
If the Dems lose the House but retain the Senate, that will be better for Obama.
If the Dems lose both the House and the Senate, that will be the best for Obama.
Following the trajectory, one could only presume that if Obama figured out how to lose both houses of Congress and the presidency in this off-year election, he'd be in the strongest of all possible positions to advance his agenda.
So, we're covered.
In fact, one can only hope that Democratic strategist have a "disaster recovery" plan in case, by some dreadful mishap, Democrats retain control of both houses.
I hope everyone votes. [Even my reptilian-brain-washed Republican friends and family. :-]
I myself am voting a straight Democratic ticket on principle (sorry, Charlie Dent, R - PA 15th but you'll probably win anyway :-) : a Republican Party far more right-wing and obstructionist than this Republican can tolerate may take control of one or both houses BUT NOT WITH MY CONSENT AND NOT BY MY NEGLECT.
Afghans and Iraqis vote in far more troubling governmental situations than our own and at risk to their life.
And patriots since the American Revolution have died to secure the vote for us.
So I'm voting. And that's that.
But, after electoral Armageddon we're going to wake up in the morning and find out that with this particular Armageddon, unlike the real thing, the sun will come up the next day.
So what then?
I will venture my predictions which are more long term (say, 5 – 10 years) rather than short term.
First, politically, no matter who wins the mid-terms, no matter who wins the presidency in 2012, unless pragmatic, non-ideological, centrist Democrats and Republicans start rejecting the extremists in their parties and begin working together, our national political scene will remain gridlocked. (Or a similarly minded third party of the so-called "radical center" will develop.)
Democrats will hate the gridlock as it blocks what they're trying to get done and Republicans will love it because they don't want what Democrats want to get done to get done. In fact, they don't want anything to get done. As Senator Mitch McConnell put it, The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.
So do not look to Congressional Republicans for leadership. Their legislative agenda is getting rid of Obama.
Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that there are vital issues that need to be addressed: employment, the deficit (which means dealing with taxes and entitlements), education (which is Greek for "future employment"), immigration (ditto), energy policy, and climate change. And that's not even considering foreign policy issues.
Hope is not a policy. Neither is "No!"
So look for the adults, the centrists from both parties.
Next prediction?
Don't look for the centrists in Washington, DC. (They are there but, for the reasons described above, will probably be pretty helpless at getting "those crazy kids" on both sides of the aisle to listen to reason.)
Look for them at the state and local level.
At that level of government, generally speaking, you can't run deficits and you can't just print more money – you have to make things work in the real world or the real world wastes no time taking a great big bite out of your butt.
Also, particularly at the local level, the people running government for a community also live there. And they are known by their neighbors. And their kids go to the local schools, etc.
So making things work at the local level is not just their job, it's their life and the lives of their families.
Combine these two predictions and you have a local model of political action: the big problems are not going to be addressed at the national level and, most of us not being huge corporations or very rich people who can write big checks, we don't have many levers to pull (other than the one on Election Day) to hold them accountable.
The best thing we can do to help such surviving adults in congress is to give them local, hopefully scalable approaches to such national problems as employment, energy, education, the environment, etc.
That is, WE NEED TO BE THE LEADERS WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR in our own neighborhoods and towns and hope that our government learns to follow our lead. (And they will, once local leadership is sufficiently empowered to let their local congressmen know that the game is up and that all the corporate money in the world will not save them.)
So, two pieces of advice for my fellow left-leaning friends.
First, vote! (People who would have you believe that not voting actually accomplishes something are far more self-deceived than voters will ever be.)
Second, if the Republicans take one or both houses of congress, don't jump off a bridge! :-)
There are more attractive (and useful) options at our disposal.
'Tis the season.
In case anyone is unaware (e.g., they've been away in an alternate reality, they're in a coma, etc.), Americans vote next Tuesday. (Actually, I believe Americans vote every day, but that's another issue for another day.)
Democrats are going to take a thumping. The party holding the presidency almost always takes a thumping in the mid-terms, but this might be an exceptional thumping.
The Mother of All Thumpings.
But, never fear.
Democratic pundits have all the bases covered.
If the Dems retain control of both houses, that will be good for Obama.
If the Dems lose the House but retain the Senate, that will be better for Obama.
If the Dems lose both the House and the Senate, that will be the best for Obama.
Following the trajectory, one could only presume that if Obama figured out how to lose both houses of Congress and the presidency in this off-year election, he'd be in the strongest of all possible positions to advance his agenda.
So, we're covered.
In fact, one can only hope that Democratic strategist have a "disaster recovery" plan in case, by some dreadful mishap, Democrats retain control of both houses.
I hope everyone votes. [Even my reptilian-brain-washed Republican friends and family. :-]
I myself am voting a straight Democratic ticket on principle (sorry, Charlie Dent, R - PA 15th but you'll probably win anyway :-) : a Republican Party far more right-wing and obstructionist than this Republican can tolerate may take control of one or both houses BUT NOT WITH MY CONSENT AND NOT BY MY NEGLECT.
Afghans and Iraqis vote in far more troubling governmental situations than our own and at risk to their life.
And patriots since the American Revolution have died to secure the vote for us.
So I'm voting. And that's that.
But, after electoral Armageddon we're going to wake up in the morning and find out that with this particular Armageddon, unlike the real thing, the sun will come up the next day.
So what then?
I will venture my predictions which are more long term (say, 5 – 10 years) rather than short term.
First, politically, no matter who wins the mid-terms, no matter who wins the presidency in 2012, unless pragmatic, non-ideological, centrist Democrats and Republicans start rejecting the extremists in their parties and begin working together, our national political scene will remain gridlocked. (Or a similarly minded third party of the so-called "radical center" will develop.)
Democrats will hate the gridlock as it blocks what they're trying to get done and Republicans will love it because they don't want what Democrats want to get done to get done. In fact, they don't want anything to get done. As Senator Mitch McConnell put it, The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.
So do not look to Congressional Republicans for leadership. Their legislative agenda is getting rid of Obama.
Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that there are vital issues that need to be addressed: employment, the deficit (which means dealing with taxes and entitlements), education (which is Greek for "future employment"), immigration (ditto), energy policy, and climate change. And that's not even considering foreign policy issues.
Hope is not a policy. Neither is "No!"
So look for the adults, the centrists from both parties.
Next prediction?
Don't look for the centrists in Washington, DC. (They are there but, for the reasons described above, will probably be pretty helpless at getting "those crazy kids" on both sides of the aisle to listen to reason.)
Look for them at the state and local level.
At that level of government, generally speaking, you can't run deficits and you can't just print more money – you have to make things work in the real world or the real world wastes no time taking a great big bite out of your butt.
Also, particularly at the local level, the people running government for a community also live there. And they are known by their neighbors. And their kids go to the local schools, etc.
So making things work at the local level is not just their job, it's their life and the lives of their families.
Combine these two predictions and you have a local model of political action: the big problems are not going to be addressed at the national level and, most of us not being huge corporations or very rich people who can write big checks, we don't have many levers to pull (other than the one on Election Day) to hold them accountable.
The best thing we can do to help such surviving adults in congress is to give them local, hopefully scalable approaches to such national problems as employment, energy, education, the environment, etc.
That is, WE NEED TO BE THE LEADERS WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR in our own neighborhoods and towns and hope that our government learns to follow our lead. (And they will, once local leadership is sufficiently empowered to let their local congressmen know that the game is up and that all the corporate money in the world will not save them.)
So, two pieces of advice for my fellow left-leaning friends.
First, vote! (People who would have you believe that not voting actually accomplishes something are far more self-deceived than voters will ever be.)
Second, if the Republicans take one or both houses of congress, don't jump off a bridge! :-)
There are more attractive (and useful) options at our disposal.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Diary 102710; PAYING THE RENT, FEEDING THE DOG
Having spent the last leisurely seven months considering what knowledge, skills and attitudes I have to offer an employer and the types of employers to whom I would like to offer those knowledge, skills and attitudes (as well as working for the US Census and perusing the help wanted ads, such as they were), I am ready to move to active job hunting.
I've created an employer database using Base by Open Office and plan to have two-hundred prospect employers in that database by close of business on Monday, November 1st.
I'll then pick up the phone and start snooping around a bit to see if the employment situation in the Lehigh Valley is as dire as everyone says it is.
I am posting this online to ensure my plan's success as I've found public shame and humiliation a useful motivational tool. :-)
I've created an employer database using Base by Open Office and plan to have two-hundred prospect employers in that database by close of business on Monday, November 1st.
I'll then pick up the phone and start snooping around a bit to see if the employment situation in the Lehigh Valley is as dire as everyone says it is.
I am posting this online to ensure my plan's success as I've found public shame and humiliation a useful motivational tool. :-)
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Notes on "The Transition Handbook"
Another terrific book I hope to acquire soon.
The book deals with an anticipated shortage of cheap, safe, easy-to-extract oil. It does not assert that we are running out of oil, per se, but that while for the past hundred years we've produced more and more oil each year we are now reaching, if we haven't already past it, our peak oil production capacity. (See Peak Oil at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil )
This means that each year, less and less oil will be produced and oil prices will rise – perhaps dramatically.
As almost all the power we use for industrial and residential use as well as used to ship the material items we need is ultimately provided by fossil fuel, this – alongside of disruptions produced by global warming - promises to be a very disruptive change if we do not take the ten to twenty years it will take to re-gear our economy to one based on local production of energy and food.
He uses two historical examples of how this was done: Great Britain's re-tooling of its agriculture program during WWII as well as Cuba's re-tooling of its agriculture after its Soviet Union lifeline collapsed in the early '90s.
He also sites contemporary examples of so-called transition initiatives in which communities are deliberately "powering down" to face the coming challenges. (See Transition Towns at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns )
Beyond the huge but specific problem this book addresses, it is my opinion that his largely positive, hopeful and happy approach goes beyond the immediate problem to other social problems such as unresponsive government, employment, education and other issues.
Namely, we need to not wait for the government to solve these issues (although government will ultimately have to involve itself) but to engage them ourselves, as communities of citizens, at the local level.
In all of these issues it is becoming the role of the citizenry to lead the government, rather than vice versa.
The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins
at http://www.amazon.com/Transition-Handbook-Dependency-Resilience-Guides/dp/1900322188/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287350955&sr=1-1
The book deals with an anticipated shortage of cheap, safe, easy-to-extract oil. It does not assert that we are running out of oil, per se, but that while for the past hundred years we've produced more and more oil each year we are now reaching, if we haven't already past it, our peak oil production capacity. (See Peak Oil at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil )
This means that each year, less and less oil will be produced and oil prices will rise – perhaps dramatically.
As almost all the power we use for industrial and residential use as well as used to ship the material items we need is ultimately provided by fossil fuel, this – alongside of disruptions produced by global warming - promises to be a very disruptive change if we do not take the ten to twenty years it will take to re-gear our economy to one based on local production of energy and food.
He uses two historical examples of how this was done: Great Britain's re-tooling of its agriculture program during WWII as well as Cuba's re-tooling of its agriculture after its Soviet Union lifeline collapsed in the early '90s.
He also sites contemporary examples of so-called transition initiatives in which communities are deliberately "powering down" to face the coming challenges. (See Transition Towns at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns )
Beyond the huge but specific problem this book addresses, it is my opinion that his largely positive, hopeful and happy approach goes beyond the immediate problem to other social problems such as unresponsive government, employment, education and other issues.
Namely, we need to not wait for the government to solve these issues (although government will ultimately have to involve itself) but to engage them ourselves, as communities of citizens, at the local level.
In all of these issues it is becoming the role of the citizenry to lead the government, rather than vice versa.
The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins
at http://www.amazon.com/Transition-Handbook-Dependency-Resilience-Guides/dp/1900322188/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287350955&sr=1-1
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Notes on Religion and Politics in America (Fourth Edition)
This is a terrific book and a must-have for anyone, especially activists, who need to know the specifics regarding America's long-standing and deep connection between religion and politics.
I plan to get it as soon as possible but wish to record a few brief notes.
END
Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices by Robert Booth Fowler, Allen D. Hertzke, Laura R. Olson, and Kevin R. den Dulk at http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Politics-America-Culture-Strategic/dp/0813344360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287573742&sr=8-1
I plan to get it as soon as possible but wish to record a few brief notes.
- Four dimensions in American religion: Puritan, pluralist, evangelical and populist.
- Churches growing the fastest are the ones whose values and communities are distinguishable or in tension with the dominant culture and that make demands on their adherents.
- As pervasive as the religious impulse is in America, its effects on public life are muted. This is because the founders set up a system in which no sect is established and all – grudgingly or not – must tolerate those sects with which they disagree as the price of being accepted itself. So all religions can have influence, but the system makes it all but impossible for any one sect to have dominance.
- Factors affecting a church's influence include size, isolation vs. involvement in the political process, geography, socio-economic islolation and respectability.
- Religious lobbies have limited effects on policies except when they are able to form coalitions. Religions that wish more influence need to participate in the intellectual discussions of our day and need to engage in culture-building activities such as congregations, schools, colleges and media outlets.
- The relationship of political and cultural elites to religion is complicated. Simply knowing that a congressman is Jewish, for example, does not necessarily predict their voting pattern.
- Religious disputes are more often arbitrated in the courts than in the legislative or executive branches. Access to the courts gives even small religious groups an opportunity to defend against encrouchments from the larger society.
- A key issue is the relationship between the establishment clause and the free exercise clause in the First Amendment.
END
Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices by Robert Booth Fowler, Allen D. Hertzke, Laura R. Olson, and Kevin R. den Dulk at http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Politics-America-Culture-Strategic/dp/0813344360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287573742&sr=8-1
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Institutional Commitment
First, to answer the obvious question.
No. I haven't been. Not yet, anyway. :-)
But I've been thinking a great deal about the current American and world situation as well as my own unemployed situation.
I've done a great deal of reading (from increasingly reputable sources), a certain amount of serious thinking but have taken nowhere near enough serious action. That, however, is about to change.
As I see it, the battlegrounds on which I will fight over the next several years of my life are mostly going to take place within various institutions: businesses, churches and other voluntary organizations.
As the late Unitarian Universalist theologian James Luther Adams emphasized throughout much of his writing, voluntary associations in America are the access points into which ordinary folks can amplify their voice and negotiate with the state, megabusiness and the other Powers That Be. (See James Luther Adams at http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/jameslutheradams.html )
THE CHURCH
The first institution, the one that – to me – ties my involvement in all the others together, is the church.
As a Christian who is theologically indebted to the late lawyer and Episcopal lay theologian William Stringfellow, I see those Powers That Be as fallen (not evil – there is a difference) and see their ethics as seeking to either enthrall or terrify human beings, ultimately preying upon them to ensure their own survival the concern for which they are consumed. (See "William Stringfellow at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stringfellow )
The Powers That Be, in essence, demand worship.
It is the specific ministry of Christians (as well as the more general service of interfaith and secular allies) to discern and challenge ownership claims of "the beast" over people and our natural environment in whatever guise or disguise they may appear, recalling them to their true vocation of glorifying God (for those so-convinced) and serving others (on which we all can agree).
The chief tool I, personally, can bring to that ministry is my gift of encouragement. Christians truly believe in providence and the sovereignty of God over the Powers That Be and therefore Christians are, if I dare say so, uniquely empowered to encourage others no matter how dark or even hopeless the situation as the foundation justifying the encouragement is not ourselves nor any human capacity but the trustworthiness of God.
And therefore, while God can be discerned anywhere in the world, I believe the God Christians believe was most clearly incarnate in a crucified human being in ancient times is also most clearly encountered in contemporary times in the poor, the sick and dying, the criminal, the insane, sexual minorities and, more generally, in exactly those people and sub-cultures that the dominant culture has consigned to societal death and would, if it had its way, "bury" out of sight.
As a Christian, one performs this ministry as part of a community and when one is in a community of at least relatively like-minded Christians, we call that community a church. Many of them look like the ordinary churches we're all familiar with. Some look a bit more exotic, occuring in para-church institutions and interfaith and/or secular institutions.
My particular calling, at this time anyway, seems to be to perform this service of discerning the Powers and encouraging and allying with the humans who contend with them in the interfaith and secular setting known as Unitarian Universalism.
Churches (as well as synagogues, mosques, temples, etc.) operate in two modes.
On the community worship day (generally Sunday), the community gathers and explicitly affirms and celebrates its faith. In a Christian church, that would be done in explicitly Christian terms. In Unitarian Universalism, that is done using a variety of religious and secular languages, rituals and cultural forms (including, on occasion, Christian ones).
The second mode is what occurs the other six days of the week, namely, the dispersal of churches (that is, the community) throughout the world in families, neighborhoods, occupations and volunteer organizations.
As I believe the evangelical theologian Elton Trueblood expressed these two modes, the church gathered and the church scattered.
So my first and primary institutional focus will be the church.
And my specific projects within the church will be to help lead adult religious education programs (including the church's Christian fellowship), to provide staffing to youth religious education programs when needed and to escort at the Allentown Women's Center to mitigate the effect of anti-choice bullying.
POLITICS AND THE COFFEE PARTY MOVEMENT
If religion is a primary concern of mine a closely related concern would be politics, particularly a politics focusing on civil, informed discussion on America's challenges and holding government officials accountable for delivering humane, pragmatic and non-ideological efforts to address those challenges.
Therefore, a second institutional venue in which I plan to contribute is the Coffee Party Movement in Bethlehem. At the present time, the Coffee Party Movement in Bethlehem is more of an idea and a mailing list than an actuality, but I believe the Coffee Party Movement's analysis of our political dilemma is correct and that its ideas to move towards solutions will stand the test of time and I will continue to commit to helping it do so.
There are many activist organizations out there mounting politically significant movements to address specific social problems, but the Coffee Party Movement represents, in my opinion, the best opportunity to draw non-activists (such as I've been) across the line into becoming activists and showing them the various like-minded groups out there.
THE TRANSITION INITIATIVE AND THE ADVENT OF ENERGY SCARCITY
As my increasing political interest has brought me into contact with the legion of serious problems with which America and the world are faced, I am becoming convinced that the key issue of our day (if not way, way before our day) is sustainability, both environmental and economic.
Our use of the planet's resources, particularly energy, is simply unsustainable in both environmental and economic realms. The concentration of those resources in the hands of fewer and fewer people and corporations, a concentration causing the enormous and growing gap between rich and poor, both in America and worldwide, is simply unsustainable. The use of that wealth to buy governments and prevent remedial action, is simply unsustainable.
This is leading me down paths that I've never been particularly drawn to before: energy conservation and the development of renewable sources of energy.
The institutional model I'm being drawn to in an attempt to educate myself on these issues is the emerging idea of so-called transition towns. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns )
This is a movement that recognizes that the era of cheap, easy to extract and safe oil is coming to an end and that rising energy costs will profoundly change society. Rather than wait for government to respond (though certainly supportive of efforts to make it more responsive), it seeks to empower small groups to initiate grass-roots efforts to become resilient in the face of changes to come.
And it recognizes that before energy consumption can change, people and cultures must change.
Like the militia movement, it seeks to prepare citizens for a coming social upheaval.
Unlike the militia movement, it uses gardens and flourescent lights instead of guns. :-)
PAYING THE RENT, FEEDING THE DOG
Oh, yeah. Guess I need a job, too. :-)
Jobs are important, not just because we need the money but because they are sources of meaning and friendship and personal growth and opportunities to contribute to the common good and – when you think on it – are probably where we spend almost half of our waking time.
(There are 168 hours in a week: if we spend 56 hours sleeping and 50 hours at work (including commuting) that leaves 62 "conscious" hours. With that type of weekly commitment, week after week, you certainly don't want to spend 50 hours a week at some place you loathe. :-)
After my 6.5 month Sabbatical since becoming unemployed, I made a number of decisions regarding myself and what I have to offer to an employer.
Reviewing my past jobs, I find that I work best in small businesses requiring a combination of my sales, training, servicing, writing (procedures and sales proposals) and database skills.
I also need to work in environments that either support the values listed above (e.g., my most recent employer who helps companies keep their pharmaceuticals safe and their facilities energy efficient) or are at least somewhat neutral regarding them (e.g., my work at EDS in support of Bethlehem Steel which manufactured steel – steel being useful for making weapons but also for building hospitals and infrastructure).
My biorhythms and other vocational interests (as in all of the above) lead me in the direction of daytime employment in a Monday through Friday situation, though I can be flexible regarding overtime and occasional weekend work.
My primary targets, as I believe they will be the first to start hiring, will be small businesses in the medical or energy fields as well as companies that export to emerging markets such as India and China.
SO...
This constitutes my plan to contribute my knowledge, skills and attitude, such as they are, to the institutions where I believe I can get the most bang for the buck (including the business of my future employer that I hope will allow me to continue enjoying luxuries I've grown fond of such as eating and living indoors :-).
There is another plan that I'm working on - personal rather than institutional.
For anyone into the Myers-Briggs thing, my reporting out as an INFP indicates a heavy tendency towards introspection (which is always a surprise to those who know me well) and a hesitancy to bring things to closure. (See "INFP" at http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html )
Both of these factors explain my being quick to read and analyze and write but slow to act - action requires reaching out and engaging people and that, for someone heavily introspective, requires major energy.
Which is not to say I don't enjoy face-to-face interactions (I do) nor to say I'm not good at it (I am) - just to recognize that whereas extroverts find such interactions energizing for me it's an energy drain.
And that has caused me to be more theoretical than practical, more idealistic than activist. And I need to begin compensating for that - which I can, now that I see it.
But, regarding my institutional or, I guess you could say, public commitments, that's the plan.
And now that I've posted it on my blog for all the world to see I guess I need to execute the plan or suffer severe public humiliation and disgrace. And poverty. Let's not forget poverty. :-)
Hmmm... getting this done was my goal for the morning and so I have.
Bill Bekkenhuis
Bethlehem, PA
No. I haven't been. Not yet, anyway. :-)
But I've been thinking a great deal about the current American and world situation as well as my own unemployed situation.
I've done a great deal of reading (from increasingly reputable sources), a certain amount of serious thinking but have taken nowhere near enough serious action. That, however, is about to change.
As I see it, the battlegrounds on which I will fight over the next several years of my life are mostly going to take place within various institutions: businesses, churches and other voluntary organizations.
As the late Unitarian Universalist theologian James Luther Adams emphasized throughout much of his writing, voluntary associations in America are the access points into which ordinary folks can amplify their voice and negotiate with the state, megabusiness and the other Powers That Be. (See James Luther Adams at http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/jameslutheradams.html )
THE CHURCH
The first institution, the one that – to me – ties my involvement in all the others together, is the church.
As a Christian who is theologically indebted to the late lawyer and Episcopal lay theologian William Stringfellow, I see those Powers That Be as fallen (not evil – there is a difference) and see their ethics as seeking to either enthrall or terrify human beings, ultimately preying upon them to ensure their own survival the concern for which they are consumed. (See "William Stringfellow at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stringfellow )
The Powers That Be, in essence, demand worship.
3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. 4 Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. 6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. (Revelation 13:3-7 (New International Version))
It is the specific ministry of Christians (as well as the more general service of interfaith and secular allies) to discern and challenge ownership claims of "the beast" over people and our natural environment in whatever guise or disguise they may appear, recalling them to their true vocation of glorifying God (for those so-convinced) and serving others (on which we all can agree).
The chief tool I, personally, can bring to that ministry is my gift of encouragement. Christians truly believe in providence and the sovereignty of God over the Powers That Be and therefore Christians are, if I dare say so, uniquely empowered to encourage others no matter how dark or even hopeless the situation as the foundation justifying the encouragement is not ourselves nor any human capacity but the trustworthiness of God.
And therefore, while God can be discerned anywhere in the world, I believe the God Christians believe was most clearly incarnate in a crucified human being in ancient times is also most clearly encountered in contemporary times in the poor, the sick and dying, the criminal, the insane, sexual minorities and, more generally, in exactly those people and sub-cultures that the dominant culture has consigned to societal death and would, if it had its way, "bury" out of sight.
As a Christian, one performs this ministry as part of a community and when one is in a community of at least relatively like-minded Christians, we call that community a church. Many of them look like the ordinary churches we're all familiar with. Some look a bit more exotic, occuring in para-church institutions and interfaith and/or secular institutions.
My particular calling, at this time anyway, seems to be to perform this service of discerning the Powers and encouraging and allying with the humans who contend with them in the interfaith and secular setting known as Unitarian Universalism.
Churches (as well as synagogues, mosques, temples, etc.) operate in two modes.
On the community worship day (generally Sunday), the community gathers and explicitly affirms and celebrates its faith. In a Christian church, that would be done in explicitly Christian terms. In Unitarian Universalism, that is done using a variety of religious and secular languages, rituals and cultural forms (including, on occasion, Christian ones).
The second mode is what occurs the other six days of the week, namely, the dispersal of churches (that is, the community) throughout the world in families, neighborhoods, occupations and volunteer organizations.
As I believe the evangelical theologian Elton Trueblood expressed these two modes, the church gathered and the church scattered.
So my first and primary institutional focus will be the church.
And my specific projects within the church will be to help lead adult religious education programs (including the church's Christian fellowship), to provide staffing to youth religious education programs when needed and to escort at the Allentown Women's Center to mitigate the effect of anti-choice bullying.
POLITICS AND THE COFFEE PARTY MOVEMENT
If religion is a primary concern of mine a closely related concern would be politics, particularly a politics focusing on civil, informed discussion on America's challenges and holding government officials accountable for delivering humane, pragmatic and non-ideological efforts to address those challenges.
Therefore, a second institutional venue in which I plan to contribute is the Coffee Party Movement in Bethlehem. At the present time, the Coffee Party Movement in Bethlehem is more of an idea and a mailing list than an actuality, but I believe the Coffee Party Movement's analysis of our political dilemma is correct and that its ideas to move towards solutions will stand the test of time and I will continue to commit to helping it do so.
There are many activist organizations out there mounting politically significant movements to address specific social problems, but the Coffee Party Movement represents, in my opinion, the best opportunity to draw non-activists (such as I've been) across the line into becoming activists and showing them the various like-minded groups out there.
THE TRANSITION INITIATIVE AND THE ADVENT OF ENERGY SCARCITY
As my increasing political interest has brought me into contact with the legion of serious problems with which America and the world are faced, I am becoming convinced that the key issue of our day (if not way, way before our day) is sustainability, both environmental and economic.
Our use of the planet's resources, particularly energy, is simply unsustainable in both environmental and economic realms. The concentration of those resources in the hands of fewer and fewer people and corporations, a concentration causing the enormous and growing gap between rich and poor, both in America and worldwide, is simply unsustainable. The use of that wealth to buy governments and prevent remedial action, is simply unsustainable.
This is leading me down paths that I've never been particularly drawn to before: energy conservation and the development of renewable sources of energy.
The institutional model I'm being drawn to in an attempt to educate myself on these issues is the emerging idea of so-called transition towns. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns )
This is a movement that recognizes that the era of cheap, easy to extract and safe oil is coming to an end and that rising energy costs will profoundly change society. Rather than wait for government to respond (though certainly supportive of efforts to make it more responsive), it seeks to empower small groups to initiate grass-roots efforts to become resilient in the face of changes to come.
And it recognizes that before energy consumption can change, people and cultures must change.
Like the militia movement, it seeks to prepare citizens for a coming social upheaval.
Unlike the militia movement, it uses gardens and flourescent lights instead of guns. :-)
PAYING THE RENT, FEEDING THE DOG
Oh, yeah. Guess I need a job, too. :-)
Jobs are important, not just because we need the money but because they are sources of meaning and friendship and personal growth and opportunities to contribute to the common good and – when you think on it – are probably where we spend almost half of our waking time.
(There are 168 hours in a week: if we spend 56 hours sleeping and 50 hours at work (including commuting) that leaves 62 "conscious" hours. With that type of weekly commitment, week after week, you certainly don't want to spend 50 hours a week at some place you loathe. :-)
After my 6.5 month Sabbatical since becoming unemployed, I made a number of decisions regarding myself and what I have to offer to an employer.
Reviewing my past jobs, I find that I work best in small businesses requiring a combination of my sales, training, servicing, writing (procedures and sales proposals) and database skills.
I also need to work in environments that either support the values listed above (e.g., my most recent employer who helps companies keep their pharmaceuticals safe and their facilities energy efficient) or are at least somewhat neutral regarding them (e.g., my work at EDS in support of Bethlehem Steel which manufactured steel – steel being useful for making weapons but also for building hospitals and infrastructure).
My biorhythms and other vocational interests (as in all of the above) lead me in the direction of daytime employment in a Monday through Friday situation, though I can be flexible regarding overtime and occasional weekend work.
My primary targets, as I believe they will be the first to start hiring, will be small businesses in the medical or energy fields as well as companies that export to emerging markets such as India and China.
SO...
This constitutes my plan to contribute my knowledge, skills and attitude, such as they are, to the institutions where I believe I can get the most bang for the buck (including the business of my future employer that I hope will allow me to continue enjoying luxuries I've grown fond of such as eating and living indoors :-).
There is another plan that I'm working on - personal rather than institutional.
For anyone into the Myers-Briggs thing, my reporting out as an INFP indicates a heavy tendency towards introspection (which is always a surprise to those who know me well) and a hesitancy to bring things to closure. (See "INFP" at http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html )
Both of these factors explain my being quick to read and analyze and write but slow to act - action requires reaching out and engaging people and that, for someone heavily introspective, requires major energy.
Which is not to say I don't enjoy face-to-face interactions (I do) nor to say I'm not good at it (I am) - just to recognize that whereas extroverts find such interactions energizing for me it's an energy drain.
And that has caused me to be more theoretical than practical, more idealistic than activist. And I need to begin compensating for that - which I can, now that I see it.
But, regarding my institutional or, I guess you could say, public commitments, that's the plan.
And now that I've posted it on my blog for all the world to see I guess I need to execute the plan or suffer severe public humiliation and disgrace. And poverty. Let's not forget poverty. :-)
Hmmm... getting this done was my goal for the morning and so I have.
Bill Bekkenhuis
Bethlehem, PA
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