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America's real party system-Part 1

[Every now and then something I read produces a critical reaction that impels me to focus on the background historical and other assumptions that I take for granted  in my thinking.  This article is the first in a series that developed as I took note of my reaction to a piece about the significance and possible future of the Tea Party movement.  Labor Day has traditionally marked the formal kick-off of the "campaign season" in American politics.  It seems an appropriate day to publishing a series that aims to help readers think through the political reality veiled by the appearance of the so-called two-party system. ] Not long ago I read an article signed J. R. Dunn that offered a plausible history of the relationship between conservatives and the GOP.  It portrays a party in which the “liberal” tail has usually been  wagging the  “conservative dog”, the exception being the era ...

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America's real party system- Part 3

If, during eras of elite ascendancy, the two most visible parties are tools of elite manipulation, then there is at all times a third party involved in all our political activities.  It is the populist party, normally divided against itself by successful elite manipulation.  In terms of its potential, it is always the majority party.  The notion that “third parties fail” is therefore less an observation of fact than a statement of elite intention. In the past, some pervasive material or moral passion occasionally roused this third party to unify under its own leadership .  In our current circumstances the unifying impulse comes in reaction against the elite itself.  There is a widespread sense that the nation suffers from a general failure of elite leadership (in particular, the failure of both elite manipulated parties),  a failure connected with the elite's cynical, purely self-aggrandizing ambition.  The Obama faction's open contempt for ...

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America's real party system-Part 2

In the years that followed the Lincoln era, the United States faced a new organizational imperative.  As in the post-Jackson era, it involved continental expansion.  But in addition to this there were  the material challenges of accommodating new technology’s rapid transformation of economic life, and the moral challenge of reconstituting the nation’s unity despite the persistent post-traumatic stresses still reverberating from the Civil War. These challenges allowed the elite to regain a leadership position, this time co-opting the populist moral passion of the Lincoln era with ideas of national destiny and administrative reform. The result was  an era of unprecedented elite ascendancy marked off by the two Roosevelts, the Republican, Teddy and the Democrat, FDR.  Their familiar nicknames represent the complete submergence of elite ascendancy in the streams of populist passion.  They signify the virtually complete success of the elite divisional strategy. The two Roosevelts aptly represent this success.  Their family relationship ...

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Is Lakin’s court-martial an American ‘Dreyfus affair’?

I doubt that most people would be shocked to learn that sometimes the influence of power can interfere with and even derail the course of justice in our legal system.  Behind the scenes, a phone call from a powerful politician, or a corporate mogul often affects the actions or judgments of people whose personal ambitions they are in a position to help or hinder.  Usually though, people giving heed to such considerations have enough sense to cloak what they do with words or actions that give their corruption at least the appearance of probity.  Maybe its the tribute that vice renders to virtue.  Maybe its nothing more than self-serving prudence (the mask of honesty that facilitates corruption.) However, when court officers conclude that such hypocrisy is no longer worth the effort, things are pretty far gone.  The video featured with this post  focuses on the recent decision by Col. Denise R. ...

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Planned Parenthood’s moral insanity

Daily Brief #13 The video featured on this page is a news report out of Texas about a pro-life billboard campaign just launched there by the Radiance Foundation and the Life Education Resource Network (L.E.A.R.N.).  It’s an effort to focus attention on the disproportionate number of nascent blacks being murdered in Texas under the rubric of abortion rights. What especially provoked my interest was criticism of the project from a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman quoted in the report.  “This is about trying to interfere with women making private personal decisions and unfortunately and really shockingly, this group has decided to use racism as a wedge issue,” Rochelle Tafolla said. “We think that  is just reprehensible…” So its reprehensible to focus an individual’s attention on the impact her individual action has on her community.  Could there be a more perfect illustration of Planned Parenthood’s moral insanity? In many U.S. communities today local laws encourage or even ...

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Was Jesus a leader?

Daily Brief #12 “Asked who would be considered conservative Christian leaders today- with Graham in his 90s and the recent death of Jerry Falwell – Land said that “leaders are leaders because people follow them.”  So says Richard Land. Every year as we approach the commemoration of Christ’s passion, crucifixion and resurrection the people Jesus has saved recall his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And the most part of the multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut branches from the trees, and spread them in the way.  And the multitudes that went before him, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” Judging by the multitudes that followed him, and the words of Richard Land, in this grand triumphal entry, Jesus was a leader. But after he drove the money lenders from the Temple, confounded the ...

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A Meditation on Glenn Beck’s Divine Mission

[I have been in prayerful thought about the events taking place this weekend under Glenn Beck’s auspices.  He portrays them as the beginning of a Great Revival of faith in America.  People I know and think well of are involved.  Yet I find I cannot ignore the check in my spirit that prevents me from accepting that the events or their sponsor are what he professes them to be.  This posting is an effort to lay out the elements that contribute to my misgivings, insofar as they are susceptible to articulation.  Herein I attempt to share a train of thought and the destination toward which  it points.   Is it the right one? With God’s help, time may tell.] Glenn Beck: “I mean, the one part of culture that I am doing a lot of is faith.  But general faith.  We have got to get back to our churches, our synagogues, our mosques, ...

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May Day Prayer

May 2, 2010 · 2 comments

[Yesterday I joined people from around the nation who joined in prayer near the Lincoln Memorial.  Janet Folger Porter organized the all day vigil.  Each hour of prayer was devoted to seeking God's forgiveness and healing for a different aspect of America's life.  Janet asked me to be one of those who led in prayer during the hour devoted to the media.  This is the written text of what I prayed for.]

Lord have mercy on us, for we are sinners

Christ charged us to be the media by which the gospel truth is proclaimed to all the universe and spread throughout the earth. Yet we have worshiped electronically produced and digitally graven images. We have let the daily rituals of our observance of them consume our minds with godless understanding, turning us from the standards of your will and judgment toward false standards of human glamour, popularity and calculation. Forgive us, dear Lord, for the sin of our idolatry. Open our eyes to the truth of our responsibility to be alive with the fire of your word, your truth, your justice. Make of us the kindling from which your loving spirit lights that fire in others as it has within us.

Lord, you have called us to be salt, and light and leaven. We are supposed to be the media through which the flavor of truth seasons the understanding; through which the true objects of faith and hope are revealed to the inner eye of the mind; through which the power of God’s love lifts our hearts to rise in witness to His law, His mercy, His just provision of right, and rights and liberty for the good of our nature. Free us, dear Lord we pray, from the chains of fear and selfish calculation that have complicated our hearts with half-truths of compromise and false compassion, and dragged us from the true path of witness to follow worldly wise paths to sham success and victory.

Heal, dear Lord, the wound that tears our minds asunder. With flowing waters of life, fill up the treacherous gorge that marks our double-minded journey through this wilderness of lies. Teach us again dear Lord, by the example of your ministry, your passion, your death and new life, to have but one fear, and that of God; one heart, and that for truth; one mind and that for the wisdom of your word; one hope and that for the victory that ends in a life restored in Christ and lived with you forever.

Lord, have mercy on us, for we are sinners.




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Tagged as: prayer

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Dan May 9, 2010 at 8:13 pm

wow, amazing prayer Alan. The days of freedom are coming to an end because we have turned away from the only One who has the power to set us free and preserve our freedom. I thank you so much for your devout faith in Christ and your uncompromisiong stance on key issues. Obama was set in the office of president because of our moral condition and if we dont repent and turn back, we may never see the freedom we once had. God Bless you and keep fighting the good fight of faith.

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