Tea Party Christians

Iraq and Afghanistan costs lives and billions of dollars which ruined our national economy - acts of Geo. W. Bush who, as a born again Christian.

Courtesy: democurmudgeon.blogspot.com

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - Tea Party members who were elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 have made for themselves the name of sticklers for what the Tea Party stands for; less national debt and lower taxes, especially for the super rich, and no compromise. They demean the lower classes as being parasitic and unwilling to help themselves as did the rugged first arrivals on this promised land. And they believe Jesus is God who favors them above all others who everybody should worship as they do.

Republican candidates hoping to be the Party’s Nominee to run against President Obama are determined to limit him to just one term by accusing his Administration of all the faults of the Geo. W. Bush Administrations; excessive spending, the consequence of two wars each of which has lasted more than ten years, not to mention the cost attributable to outside contractors who are accused of waste and corruption amounting to sixty billion dollars or more.

Had Tea Partiers lived through the Great Depression, they would appreciate how little was done for those who suffered as did mother, my three brothers and I, no fault of our own; my father deserted mother and her four boys in 1932, and contributed virtually nothing to our welfare after.

I am the youngest of the four boys and was three at the time; the first born died at home of TB a year after being diagnosed; our father attended the funeral, but paid nothing toward the cost. The second son was spastic from birth, but lived to his twenty-fifth year dying in a State Mental Facility, also of tuberculosis. In this respect my tale is unique, but there were many men who because they could not provide for them, walked away leaving their families no other alternative but to go on welfare .

Welfare provided a pittance of what was needed, and if it wasn’t for the church and others who left boxes of food at our door at Thanksgiving and Christmas, we mightn’t have known the luxury of really good meals. Mother saw that we always had milk, but nothing was ever wasted and often we had nothing except stale bread spred lightly with lard and sprinkled with sugar with our milk. Oatmeal and an occasional egg were the only breakfast foods I knew of before I went to Minnesota in 1943.

We were on Welfare for nine years until the oldest son died, and every dime we received had to be accounted for to the Social Worker. Once a year there was a grand give away of shoes lacking in quality [but better than nothing] at the Civic Auditorium for thousands of youngsters, and we were glad to have them; every little bit helped. We wore clothes given us by neighbors whose boys had outgrown them. As the youngest of four boys I wore hand-me-downs seemingly forever, even if they didn’t fit me. No belt was small enough to hold up my pants, so I kept my hands in the pockets to prevent them from failing down. I was so skinny, it was recommended to mother that I be sent to Arroyo, a temporary home where I and others would be fed properly, but I didn’t want to go. Instead I was sent to Minnesota with my cousin Joyce to live with Mother’s brother and his family on their farm; It was a life altering experience for me.

At my first breakfast with them I was asked what I wanted to eat, and after some hesitation, I said, an egg. The table was set with at least a dozen eggs, oatmeal with sugar and real cream, cold cereal, freshly made bread baked every other day and real butter. My cousins ate double portions of some offerings, and my uncle filled every glass presented to him with fresh milk. If I asked for half a glass, he poured me a full glass. When I objected, he said I didn’t say which half I wanted. Every meal ended with fruit and fresh cream.

I returned home alone by train five months later, six inches taller and stronger and more confident because I was eating as much as my cousins and doing most of the chores as well while my uncle and the boys worked in the fields. Mother and my brothers didn’t recognize me when I got off the train; even my voice had changed.

My oldest brother wasted away at home dying at age eighteen during my absence; the spastic son died in a State Facility in my twentieth year. My other brother joined the Army when he graduated from high school in 1946 and had his own life-altering experience. Mother learned to type, got a job and took us off welfare. She had been a school teacher in Walnut Grove, MN., was well read and was a true disciple of Shakespeare who she could spout at will. And she was a real lady. We were free at Last. But except for Welfare, what might have been our fate? Mother did more than her share of heavy work to assure we had something to eat when times were tough, and we two youngest helped as best we could, contributing every nickel and dime we earned to the cause. But those days were finally behind us.

Mother died in 1976; my surviving brother is 83 now, and I am 82. Social Security was not available in the 30s, but Mother signed us on a soon as it was. It was essential to me and my brother later, into which we paid and upon which we relied later in our lives. Because food Stamps didn’t exist; we had no benefit of them when we might have used them. WW-II, the army and job opportunities put my brother, mother and me on our feet.

Because of WW-II, manpower was hard to come by, and in my fifteenth year I found myself somewhat in demand to do the work of a full-blown man. I was given a job as a helper of icemen for some months till the school board informed the Company I had to be sixteen to ride on a truck; so I was let go until the summer of my sixteenth year when I was re-hired. At fifteen I really was in over my head, but, at sixteen I discovered I could do most of the hard work of a man which I couldn’t at fifteen. Icemen worked long hours and six days a week, so it took me awhile to toughen up. We lived through WW-II, the cold wars of Korea and Vietnam, then Iraq and Afghanistan which gives me the right to question if they were truly essential. WW-II, yes, the others I doubt; but Iraq and Afghanistan are not essential, the costs of which in lives and billions of dollars are a disgrace which has ruined our national economy and is accountable directly to the Administrations of Geo. W. Bush who, as a born again Christian of the Evangelical persuasion listened to the lesser angels of his Administrations and was led incautiously astray, until Katrina cleared his mind. Until then, he believed that - with Jesus in His heaven, all’s right with the world - but New Orleans proved to be his faith-altering experience; Jesus is not God!

God is what we are taught to believe is true. But the Forces of Nature must be studied, understood, and appreciated if one is truly to know God. Evangelists will proclaim that Natural Disasters are attributable to the will of Jesus Who objects to what they have decided is other than what they prefer to believe; God is neutral! Evangelists are not.

The Republican Party’s Evangelical Holy See purposely misses this point, and is not likely to approve a Nominee to oppose Barack Obama unless it feels the Nominee will be under its misguided control.

Senators John McCain [AZ] and Lindsay Graham [SC] believe the U.S. should not withdraw from Afghanistan or Iraq, but include them as additions to America’s expanding Empire. The U.S. cannot afford them any more than it can accept that the Constitution is the word of God [Jesus] rather than a document created by man that reflects the conditions and circumstances of its time.

In 1781 the Colonies lived under the Articles of Confederation, and in 1776 they Declared their Independence from Great Britain after the Revolutionary War was already a year old [1775-1783]. The War ended officially in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris in Favor of the United States, and its allies; France and Spain.

The Articles of Confederation were in use until 1789, two years after the writing of the Constitution which each state had first to approve. It was beautifully written, expressing substantially all of the concerns of every colony as a more perfect expression of the Articles which it replaced as an intended Living Document.

The 16th-18th Century was a time when the Nature of God and the Roman Catholic religion were in serious dispute. The Roman Church had always assumed for itself the right to decide the issue by force, if necessary, but Protestants objected and fought fire with fire. Erasmus of Rotterdam [1466-1536] was a Christian monk who in his book In Praise of Folly scolded the Roman Church for its excesses, and has been called the one who laid the egg that Martin Luther [1483-1546] hatched in 1527 when he declared his Justification by Faith. Neither intended to contribute to the Reformation which blossomed in spite of themselves.

The religious reformation causes, processes, and effects were different; Anglicanism arose in England with the English Reformation, and Protestant denominations derive from the Germanic denominations such as the Lutheran, the Reformed, the Puritans, and the Presbyterian.

In 1440, German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing press process that with refinements and increased mechanization, remained the principle means of printing until the late 20^th century. The inventor’s method of printing from movable type, included the use of metal molds and alloys, a special press and oil based inks, allowing for the first time the mass production of printed books which became the voice of Protestantism.

The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation lasted till the 18^th Century, when the break from Rome became a fact. After the break, Protestants were no less Christian but they eliminated much of Rome’s pomp and ceremony while retaining the essential of the Eucharist. In 1776 the Colonies declared their Independence from Britain, when Freedom meant more than separation from Britain alone. For the Church and the Monarchy were equally strict and demanding of their subjects and those seeking freedom from both.

The Declaration of Independence has several references to God that suggest the authors did not have Jesus in mind; one paragraph speaks of the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. Another speaks of All men being created equal and endowed by their creator to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. And to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just rights from the consent of the governed [implying a god by compact]. And again; We, the Representatives of the united states of America, solemnly publish and declare these United Colonies to be free and Independent States. With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

The closest the fathers came to referring to Jesus was when they acknowledged that all colonies had ratified the Constitution; in the year of Our Lord, 1789. Jesus was not specifically named and the use of the phrase Our Lord was habitual after so many hundreds of years of use; just as the is exclamation, Oh, My God! which may or may not have specific meaning.

Article Six of the Constitution states that

no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

The First Amendment

deals with Freedom of Religion and says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or Prohibiting the free exercise thereof. [ratified12/15/1791].

Amendments 9 and 10 lend specificity to the construction of the Constitution: both ratified 12/15/1791

Amendment 9

Amendment 10

The Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Amendment 2

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

The wording of this Amendment is important in light of the killings we read about almost every day now which are simply murder; not in any way tied to a well regulated militia necessary to the security of a Free State. The right of people to keep and bear arms is not the question. In 1791 it was important for households to have guns to put food on the table for the family. Today, there is no such necessity, but gun lovers, [ignoring the first part of the Amendment] focus on the last part as if there is no connection of the two. It is not what the Amendment originally implies; nor should weapons of war be allowed. Such weapons place families in jeopardy because they are intended to kill people, not animals for food; and they allow individuals who have them to decide who should live or die and even how many, when shooters use expanded ammunition clips.

A shotgun, a hunting rifle and a hand gun for in-house defense against intruders ought to round out any citizen’s arsenal. What more is needed to preserve the dignity of the individual? If more is what they want, let them join the military.

The Mayflower Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, MA in 1620 having sailed from Rotterdam, a Lutheran refuge from English Tyranny. Before they landed, they wrote what today is known as the Mayflower Compact signed by all 41 adult men, which is called a precursor to our Constitution; ratified [1789]. The Pilgrims were a group whose religious lifestyle they restricted pretty much to themselves which lent meaning to the belief that families, committed to helping one another, also were serving God. The Pilgrims also were the seed of the Congregational Church in America.

They retained the practice common among Catholics and some Protestant Churches of the time, which denounced and destroyed dissidents to their faith. In fact, the Pilgrims killed their last witch in America early in the 18th Century, which surely influenced the authors of the First Amendment, which was aimed at stopping the killing of religious dissenters.

Pilgrims were part of the Puritans who 5are a group of Protestants who in 16th-and 17th-Century England and 17th-Century America believed in strict religious discipline and called for the simplification of acts of worship. They differed from Pilgrims in that they were more open to politics. Puritans flocked to the New World where many worshiped by joining with other denominations working their way into their governments where they could influence congregations that approved of their simplification and discipline. Over time they saw the advantage of the use of politics to achieve a greater goal until today the word Puritan is seldom used except as adjectives to describe their puritanical tendencies of loose leadership but strict obedience to the Bible and the presumed Words of Jesus. They are more correctly described today as Evangelicals of mega church and Republican variety; which I refer to as the Party’s Holy See. They are devout in their Christian beliefs. but as Evangelicals, they are also stubborn and persistent in insisting in their point of view even when there is credible evidence that it is wrong, but which they ignore. I suspect most, if not all, candidates for Republican Office are disciples of the Sect which, God willing, will fill all offices of concern and who will function according to Republican lights. The Republican Party came close to this goal under the Geo. W. Bush Administrations by making appointments of unqualified persons to the Justice Department who did what they were told, for example. The absence of logic that moves Senator Kyl of Texas who said he would resign from the Super-Committee if there were any more cuts to Defense, reminds me of the words of an Historian who defined him as a Republican among those who worship at the altar of War.

I was confounded also to hear our new Head of DOD, Leon Pineta, who was appointed by President Obama, say the U.S. probably will not pull all our troops out of Iraq by the end of this year as promised by President Obama. And Sen. Lindsay Graham of S. C. wants the U.S. to establish permanent air bases in Afghanistan to establish an enduring presence in that land.

Thus, the waters of Public Opinion are tested by the seeds planted by others that can be denied or be allowed to grow by the President who seems more willing to listen to the minions of War than to the will of the people.

The combination of these factors appear to lead to the reasonable conclusion that the U.S. is more interested in expanding its empire than living within its means. I fail to see how the National debt can be cut and our budget balanced with such obstacles put in the way by Evangelists, and their disciples who are the greatest threat to our American way of life.

Kenneth G. Ramey, Salem-News.com's Religion and Philosophy Writer, confronts the hard issues of politics and religion from a logical point of view that combines interesting insight with history into the truth, or lack thereof, that underlies the strengths and weaknesses of the Religious Right’s determination to use American politics for its own misguided, or selfish, interest. It’s rare for a writer to balance his writing between religious values and the secular guarantees of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with the knowledge that Ken possesses, and to do it so effectively.

Ken was born in Minnesota but was raised in California since 1932. He is the youngest of four boys raised by his mother alone during the dark years of the Great Depression. He Graduated from SFSU in the 1970s when in his mid-forties, majoring in Spanish North American History, and added three years of post-graduate study, much of it in Philosophy and Religion. We live at a critical time in history and believe Ken's views represent the view of many who are tired of the commercialism and false interpretations about religion today. Watch for Ken's articles on religion, philosophy, politics and history. View articles written by Kenneth G. Ramey You can email Ken at: darken1@sbcglobal.net

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