“Hope is living the reality and yet investing in a
different one.”
Mitri Raheb
I’m tired
Madeline Kahn
“I'm tired, Tired of playing the game
Ain't it a crying shame, I'm so tired, God dammit I'm
exhausted!” tired.
Tired of waking up every morning, wondering what a
narcissistic President has done this time to draw attention to himself or
deflect attention away from his sins and his failures.
I am tired of hate
Tired of lies
Tired of greed
Tired of racism
Tired of corruption
Tired of ICE abusing people
Tired of regulations being ended, ensuring the end of the
planet
I am tired of Trump, Hegseth, Rubio, and Huckabee
Tired of Netanyahu
And genocide (because that is what it is)
I am tired of people saying Trump has done more good than
bad
Really?
By what standards!?
Ah, there we have it.
I have been wondering lately what the problem is.
Why do the GOP faithful just keep plodding along,
supporting
Trump, Tuberville, in Oregon, Drazan and Bentz
Abbot and Paxton
And what I now believe is that the reason is this.
The starting point
What is the starting point for the policies and behaviors
Of MAGA GOP? The
President, the Congress, the SCOTUS (that right-wing majority is bought and
sold), the supermajorities in Red States
What is it that shapes their thinking and drives their
behaviors?
Their starting point is money and power
Everything is about money and power.
Will it make us money? Will it help us make more money
Will it help us keep our money? Will it make it so we
don’t have to share our wealth?
(After all, we earned it!
Or daddy or granddaddy did)
Will it give us power, the ability to shape the world the
way we want it?
Will it give us the ability to make America White?
Will it give us the power to get retribution on those we
don’t like?
Or the power to imprison them in concentration camps, or
expel them?
Or kill them?
Will it give us the power to make all the rules?
To impose our will on a diverse world, on diverse and
unique people?
The starting point should be
Love and service
How do we love all the people
How do we serve people
How do we make sure everyone has enough to eat
A roof over their head?
Healthcare.
Water
Safety
How do we find ways to welcome people into our country
Who are coming from danger and terrible, deadly poverty?
How do we welcome them?
It is not that the Democrats are stellar
They too have a relationship with money and power that
taints
But they also have a clue about love and service.
And of the two parties, they are more likely to actually
design and enact policies.
That help the people, not just the GDP
You start in the wrong place.
You have the wrong goals.
You have the wrong goals
You have the wrong strategies
You have the wrong strategies, and you have the power to
implement them
And people, real people
Old people, young
people
People who have physical health issues
People whose bodies and minds don’t work quite right
People who are strangers
People who are poor
People whose skin is not white
Get abandoned.
Ignored. Left behind
Worse, they get demonized
Minimized
Marginalized
You have the wrong goals, and you think ICE is a good
idea
You cheer when mining companies tear apart what used to
be a national monument
You turn a blind eye to the needs of real people
You rejoice in domination, and control, and YES
Cruelty
Jesus could have started from the wrong place
The tempter certainly wanted him to.
But he rejected the starting point of power and wealth
And embraced the starting point of love and servanthood
That is what drove his ministry.
And if we want to be followers,
We too must embrace the way of love and servanthood
The Jesus path is not easy.
But we see, with people like Putin, Kim, Netanyahu, and
Trump
What it looks like when we choose the way of power and
wealth
It is not great
Not even close
So think about what your starting point is
Why do you support whom you support
Why do you admire whom you admire
Why do you vote for whom you vote?
In my book, right now, if we want to be faithful to the
Gospel
The people like Trump, Drazan, Bentz, and all the rest
Abbott and Paxton
Are not viable options
But that is just me
With my understanding of the starting place
That God would have us choose.
