Progressive Renewal
When our founding fathers crafted the government of the United States, they no doubt had the wisdom of women who reminded them, behind the scenes, how life really worked. Together, those whose names we know and those we do not anticipated a remarkable number of contingencies.
What they never could have anticipated was a time when those who were elected would abandon their patriotism and love of country in favor of a craven partisan desire to be re-elected. That kind of attitude probably has been on display in Washington from the beginning, but only now has it crippled the country in such extraordinary ways.
The practice of gerrymandering hyper-partisan districts has been practiced by both parties. One could assume the Republicans have been better at it, though, because, despite the fact that a million more Americans voted for the other parties, their carefully carved districts allowed them to retain the majority in the House of Representatives.
The result of that is a cadre of representatives who clearly do not think they have any obligation to represent the country but only their artificially contrived districts. Compromise and bipartisan governance are not possible in such a world … and neither is democracy. When love of power replaces love of country true patriotism is dead, and the country our fore-parents designed cannot survive.
This reality hasn’t infected only Washington. We live in a world in which greed has motivated corporate leaders to risk the welfare of humanity for profit. They fund pseudo-science to undermine the reality of global warming and then fund a Faux News network to spread their corporate propaganda. It shouldn’t work, except many Americans’ 401ks are tied to that excessive corporate profit. So we become complicit.
Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it abides alone.” He might have said that a people and a country who care only about themselves and this moment will die.
Blessings,
Rev. Michael Piazza
Co-Executive Director
The Center for Progressive Renewal
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