Republican Identity Politics

I am concerned about the RNC. Sincerely I am. Not because I agree with their leaders and policies but because I care about democracy. In order for democracy to function well, it needs various reasonable and sound voices informing and vying to influence citizens and their representatives. With a Democratic president and super majorities in both Houses of Congress, the RNC needs to regain its footing and get back into the fray. I suggest three things.

First, rediscover conservatism's core principles of limited government, fiscal restraint, unfettered capitalism and unabashed love for God and country. But create a platform that is relevant to the current time and spirit. Doing the latter does not necessarily mean compromising ideals. For instance, these extraordinary times demand an expansion of government. A necessary evil perhaps yet undeniable. However, this change does not have to be permanent. Legislators can agree to policies that extend government's reach with a guaranteed deadline. Another example is revisiting definitions of family as wider society begins to accept its various forms - straight, gay, single parent, extended, mixed race and multinational. Protecting all kinds of families does not diminish the idea of family. On the contrary, acknowledging what already exists in great numbers from big cities to small towns can only strengthen the nation.

Second, raise up leaders who think rationally and speak well reasoned arguments rather than react instinctively and spew vitriol. Identify women and men who truly want to serve people not only their ambitions - individuals with integrity. Unfortunately, those who have taken the reins care more about their future than the present realities of their constituents and fellow Americans who do not have the power, privilege and security they enjoy.

Finally, Republicans might want to try out bipartisanship and take the president's extended hand. This will prove to Americans that they do know people are hurting and that they are more concerned about finding a solution than doggedly clinging on to "principles." Moreover, they can take an active and vital role in diminishing the polarization that seeps beyond Washington and poisons our democracy.

Republicans are engaging in Identity Politics. Yes, Identity Politics. After all, they are the minority. But Identity Politics does not preclude participation and cooperation. If they are to remain relevant, the GOP needs to get it together.

Image from Applesauce.

Exporting Hate

Although I am solidly for the First Amendment and against prohibiting anyone from worshipping whomever one chooses and saying whatever one wants, I confess to applauding the Brits for banning hate baiting bigots from entering their shores. A friend forwarded a BBC News Online article about the America-hating, soldier-thrashing, and gay-bashing Westboro Baptist Church mentioned in an earlier post.

Fred Phelps and his spawn Shirley Phelps-Roper were not allowed entry because the UK Border Agency opposes "extremism in all its forms." According to a spokesperson,

Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behavior by inciting hatred against a number of communities. We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country. The exclusions policy is targeted at all those who seek to stir up tension and provoke others to violence regardless of their origins and beliefs.

The sociopathic father and daughter team planned on leading protests against the staging of "The Laramie Project" in Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire.The play is about Matthew Shepard, a college student who was brutally tortured and left to die only because he happened to be gay.

Phelps-Roper warned the British that denying them passage would "bring great wrath upon your heads." She also taunted the authorities assuring them that other cult members will slither in undetected. "Unless they intend to begin checking the bare backsides of every person coming into that country to find that tattoo that says 'Property of WBC' - they will have no way of identifying who is from WBC."

Now fact of the matter is, freedom of speech in this country is subject to certain exceptions such as defamation or incitement to riot. However, an outright interdict on hate speech is rather controversial, subject to much heated debate and is not likely to pass anytime soon. In contrast,

Canada, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia and India all have laws or have signed international conventions banning hate speech. Israel and France forbid the sale of Nazi items like swastikas and flags. It is a crime to deny the Holocaust in Canada, Germany and France.

as an article in the New York Times points out.

Having to live with people like the Westboro Phelps is the price we pay for a freedom we jealously protect. Thankfully, a great majority of us are not as hateful and deluded. Most of us stay clear of extremes and if anything, I sense that as a nation, we are tired of all the anger and hate. While a sad few cling on to worn arguments, burdensome ideologies and warped interpretations of religious texts, many are realizing that civilized discourse and respectful coexistence is possible. We simply need to ignore the fanatics and reactionaries screaming at the fringes.

For whatever it's worth, Westboro Baptist Church was sued for picketing the funeral of a fallen serviceman, lost and is liable for $5 million.

Religion in Politics

At a church forum on Ethics and Human Sexuality, I was asked if I thought religion should stay out of politics. Much as I wish religious zealots and organizations were barred from imposing their man made ideas and truisms on society, the reality is they can't and they shouldn't. The beauty of a democracy like ours is in its ability to absorb a wide range of opinions and interests. Individuals and groups are free to jostle for time and space in the public square to air their grievances or agendas with the hope of influencing others, particularly elected officials and other policymakers (who themselves bring their values and beliefs to the discourse), and ultimately determining laws, policies and institutions that regulate our lives. The strength of our democracy is in the possible consensus that comes out of the process. And if not consensus at least agreement among most. And at the very least, extremes are avoided. Most of the time.

However, a good question is whether politics should stay out of religion or not. Again, it can't be extracted from religion, that is, religious organizations. As with any other human collective, there is struggle for power and control within these groups. Concurrently, each one has to ensure its place and further its interests in wider society. An excellent example is the Anglican Communion and its figure head, Rowan Williams, whom we were discussing during the forum. For those familiar with the ongoing drama within this coalition of national churches, conservative forces from the global South are trying to establish dominance and wrestle control from progressive factions concentrated in North America and Europe. As the third largest Christian communion following the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, the outcome of this not so cosmic battle is of interest to many religious believers.

So Religion, that is, very human mortals and associations that argue from a "higher" authority, can not and should not be locked out of the commons. And politics can not be denied by the religious. Politics permeates society. The challenge, I think, is to have civilized discourse and fair policies and institutions guided by reason with the good of both the individual and society in mind.

Image by Jessica Honikman in Heeb Magazine.

E Pluribus Unum

The Oscar Nominated Danish short film Grisen (The Pig) asks a simple question: should we adjust to newcomers, especially to those who look and live so differently from us, or should they adjust to us?

Asbjorn, an elderly tailor, checks himself into a hospital for a colonoscopy that ends up in surgery to remove polyps. Throughout his ordeal, he finds his only consolation in a cheesy albeit whimsical painting of a smiling pig hanging in his room. Silly as it may sound, he soon considers the pig his guardian angel who keeps him company and gives him courage and strength.

Upon waking up from surgery he is confronted by a few surprises. First, he might have cancer. Second, he now shares the room with a man constantly surrounded by loud family members speaking a language he recognizes but does not comprehend. And third, his solace - the pig - has been removed from the room.

He asks about the missing painting and tries to converse with his neighbor but does not get answers. It turns out that the picture has been removed as his roommate and the family are Muslim. Because of their religious beliefs, they find the porcine image offensive.

Still needing comfort, Asbjorn draws his own little pig on a pad and pins his illustration on the wall. Soon thereafter, the son of Aslam, the man lying a few feet away, rips the sketch off the wall, crumples the piece of paper, and tosses it into the waste bin. As can be expected, all hell breaks loose. Asbjorn contacts his lawyer-daughter, who rushes to her father's aid, confronts the son of Aslam, and threatens to sue the hospital for violating Asbjorn's rights.

"What about our rights?" the son of Aslam shouts.

In Western countries that are seeing increasing numbers of immigrants with darker complexions, exotic manners and strange beliefs, and in the United States whose population is a third non-White, who adjusts to whom? Should Latinos and Asians who come to America learn English? Or should the majority learn Spanish? Should newcomers learn to behave like "Americans?" Or should most people let go of their cherished ways and traditions? Whose rights prevail?

Or, is it an either/or proposition? The United States was founded by and thrives because of immigrants. Yet opposition to newly arrived strangers is a recurring theme in history. Racial and class conflict constantly bubble up to this very day. Fact is, the nation's founding principles of freedom, justice and equality along with its burgeoning diversity will continue to draw foreigners to its shores. Principles and Diversity can also guide us all from conflict to tolerance. E pluribus unum.

As for Asbjorn and Aslam, turns out that Aslam was blind all along and Asbjorn agreed to be Aslam's eyes while they share the room.

Image: Japanese American children and their classmates say the Pledge of Allegiance in San Francisco, CA. Raphael Weill Public School during World War II.

Comment on Hope for the Future

Responding to the last post, a friend emailed:

What I like about these protesters is not such much their lack of homophobia, or their active support of their gay relatives and friends, but it's their real understanding that Jesus loved us all and supported us all. Whenever something awful is going on in the world, Stephen Gerth reminds us that God loves us and we love God. These people get that -- and from people like that, eventually we will lose bigotry.

Stephen Gerth is rector of Saint Mary's Times Square.

Hope for the Future

Buried under the Daschle Drama, Stimulus Package Spectacle and Insatiable In Vitro Baby-Mama Insanity of the past week was a piece of good news from America's heartland that speaks of a better future. It tells the story of growing tolerance and engagement among the next generation.

Last Thursday, members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church - the fringe group that interrupts funerals of fallen service women and men - protested outside Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas, because Shawnee's last prom king was openly gay. While the kids who voted for Matt Pope obviously had no problem with his sexual orientation, the self-righteous fundamentalists were apparently very much discomfited. Shirley Phelps-Roper said "Those children elected a prom king, queen, thing ...They showed that they don't have a clue about their duty to obey the standards of God." Westboro members believe that god hates America and is punishing the country and its people for tolerating homosexuality.

The evangelical lunatics however were outnumbered by hundreds of students, parents and other good citizens of Prairie Village, intent on showing their profound disagreement with hate-mongering and bigotry. The counter demonstrators filled up three corners of an intersection, while the cultists were confined to the fourth. Students held signs reading, “God is love,” “God does not hate” and “No hate in P.V.”

“Everyone is equal, whether you’re gay or straight,” exclaimed a 16 year old junior who helped organize the rally. His mother showed up to support her son and the students. A 20 year old college student also drove in to participate with a placard that read, “Jesus wouldn’t hate. Why should you?”A 43 year old area resident, held up a sign she had made and sighed, “I’m just tired of hate." Another woman whose daughter attends the high school, waved a board that read, “SM mom for love, not hate.” “I think it’s important for parents and other Prairie Village people to take a stand against hate,” she said.

The controversial prom king also returned from college to be part of the movement."I've been targeted for almost my entire life," he shared. "I've been out since 14 and being really, really active in school, in the community, I've definitely been targeted a lot, but I'm just taking it with a grain of salt, and they're going to think what they're going to think, do what they want to do, and we're just going to do our thing and keep our spirits high."

This little tale from small town America challenges those who continue to cling on to intolerance, hate and bigotry, and deny equal rights to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered individuals. There is no doubt that they are not on the right side of history. Or the Right side for that matter.

Image from KansasCity.com.

American Family

It's so heartening to know that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue houses a family of regular, down to earth people. The Washington Post's vignette of the extended first family is one a lot of us can recognize: hardworking folk who hold on to each other, supporting and protecting their own, only wanting what's best for the children.

It is the story of my own immigrant clan, the Sorianos, which has in the last half century, reunited mother, father, sisters, brothers, nephews and nieces, struggled and achieved the American dream, birthed a new generation, and along the way embraced Heltons, Dilays, Pascuals, Beddingfields, Douglases, Babiczes, Engs and Youngs as well as a phalanx of trusted friends and old compatriots. Like Marian Robinson, Maria Luz - nanay, mother, lola, mamaw, grandma - travels across the country to watch over grandchildren and great grandchildren, at 89 years old. It is the story of African, Asian, Eastern European, Latino and Middle Eastern families that have sacrificed much to give their children all they can muster.

The Robinson-Obama family story is also that of two women who regularly take their daughter to visit two sets of grandparents, dozens of aunts and uncles and countless cousins who remain in a working class community up North. It is the story of lesbians and gays who form extended families of their own as blood relatives are unable to accept another kind of family. It is the story of single moms, strong grandmothers and selfless neighbors who circle around their young and bravely provide day in and day out.

It is the story of family. One many of us share and many others still hope to tell one day. The pregnant teenager who chose to keep her child, the battered woman finally free with children in tow, the refugee lost in abundance, the gay young man who crossed into our borders hoping for acceptance and a family of his own.

Indeed, the family is society's bedrock. And family comes in many forms.

Image from ACLU.