FOREIGN POLICY AS POUTING

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (4/30/08)

President Jimmy Carter caused an uproar of indignation amongst the Washington establishment by talking with our enemies. Heretofore, the foreign policies of the Clinton and the Bush administrations have been one of pout. We won’t talk to anyone we don’t like.

Actually, it goes back to the Eisenhower administration in 1960 when we decided not to talk to Castro hoping that if we didn’t talk to him he would go away. Well, he didn’t and will like the rest of us. He’ll die. Under the Kennedy administration we even tried to overthrow him with a failed invasion. So far we’ve had a failed policy for 47 years, and there’s no sign that we’ve learned anything from our failure.

We tried not talking to the North Koreans for about the same amount of time all the while they developed nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles. We finally decided to talk to them, and while the situation is still in doubt, at least we aren’t stalemated.

Now, we aren’t talking to the Iranians, the Hezbollah, and various and sundry Islamic militant groups that have acquired political power on the grounds that we don’t think they’re gentlemen.

Pouting is an adolescent tactic which is either a sign of impotence or petulance. This is no brief for these tryants. The fact is they’re rats, but if we talk only to those we like, we’ll have folly as a foreign policy and fools as diplomats. It’s time to get real, as did President Carter.

THE REV. JEREMIAH A. WRIGHT, Jr.

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (4/28/08)

As the political contretempts have flourished over remarks the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., made during his sermons, the profound ignorance of nearly all the political commentators bloomed. I do not know who these “political consultants” and “political advisors” might be, but I do know they don’t know much about the American experience, particularly the black experience.

Liberation theology grew out of the social gospel of the 1920’s, the 1930’s, and the 1940’s. The social gospel was simply the expression of the social implications of the personal gospel of love, as shown in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Reinhold Niebuhr, the great American theologian of a generation past, pointed out that the personal ethic of love in terms of society means justice. It takes no wit to know that the justice system in the United States throughout most of our history have been weighted against the blacks. Probably, the greatest expression of that within living memory was the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.

Liberation theology grew out of that in a more radical movement, taking its cue from the economic radicalism of the 8th century Hebrew prophets, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, and so on. To understand that radicalization one needs to understand the nature of oppression. Now, in terms of the present series crises in America, many Americans view the oil companies as oppressors along with the Congress and President who keep giving them tax breaks, and well they should because they are economic oppressors. The government is in the back pockets of the oil companies because the oil companies give our politicians lots of money and favors. The same can be said for drug companies, mortgage companies, and nearly every large corporation. To call this foul conspiracy an oppression is on the button, and everyone who hasn’t figured that out by now needs a couple of squirts of brain juice.

The current feeling in America that the Congress and the President are allies of these oppressors is long overdue. Multiply this feeling of oppression a hundred fold and one begins to understand the black experience.

The question is not one of patriotism. The Rev. Wright has already demonstrated his patriotism. He served his country in the military which is a lot more than most of those who’ve been squeaking and jibbering over snippets from his sermons.

He is patriotic, and that it the reason he has identified his government as an oppressor. There is a vast difference between love of one’s country and fondness for its government. Drive up to the gas pump or get a prescription filled, sense that rage, and see if it doesn’t feel the same way the Rev. Wright feels, remembering all of these indignant politicians have been getting rich while the country stagnates.

STUPIDITY

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (4/22/08)

The stupidity of corporate executives and political leaders is astounding. The politicians latched onto fuels made from corn as a means of easing our addiction to foreign oil, apparently unaware that when corn is taken out of the food chain and put in the fuel chain, there will be less corn in the food chain, meaning higher prices for food. Of course, they did this when they knew of a looming world-wide food crisis and a looming recession at home.

Parallel to this stupidity is the disposition of the automobile manufacturers to produce gas-guzzling urban assault vehicles in the face of a looming world-wide oil crisis. As I remember, President Bush and Vice-President Cheney touted themselves as oil men; however, their failing, at least Vice-President Cheney’s, is not stupidity, but cunning with secret meetings with oil company executives to set policy to avoid an oil crisis.

The executives of the automobile companies are real dunderheads. Why would a manufacturer keep producing products that any damned fool knows will not be feasible in the future? People often accuse ecclesiastics of being stuck in the past, but they’re pikers compared to the automobile executives.

Hillary Clinton and John McCain tout themselves as experienced hands in Washington, apparently unaware that their boasts are their greatest liabilities. They not only witnessed but participated in the Bush-Cheney Brave New World in which we’ve conceded the future to Arabic tyrants and Chinese Communists. Trials for their high crimes and misdemeanors are more in order than their election.

POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (4/14/08)

Hillary Clinton calling Barack Obama an elitist is akin to the pot calling the kettle black. Without noble lineage, Hillary Clinton climbed the social and political ladder along with Bill to become la nouvelle élite, having already become nouveau riche. Now, as a country we’ve celebrated our belief in equality by electing a president of noble lineage who ran as a regular guy and proved himself under-equal.

Hillary accuses Barack Obama of elitism when he points out what she knows to be true. Poor people, people who’ve lost their jobs, and people who have a hard time scraping by are resentful and bitter. Perhaps, Hillary for all of her pitié élitiste hasn’t been in the trenches with the poor to know that they’re bitter.

Also, with her pious language, she avoids the truth that the poor and afflicted often turn to religion for solace. Sadly, she attacks Obama for pointing out a truth, that the poor are often bitter and sometimes seek solace in faith.

Then there is John McCain, the scion of admirals and a graduate of the Naval Academy, who blames the poor for being poor, having been publicly financed his whole life. Blithely unaware of the poor and the dispossessed, as an elitist, he calls Obama an elitist.

As members of the political elite who’ve brought us to this sad pass of war and recession, they should read Isaiah 3:15, “What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?”

OLD FOOLS

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (4/13/08)

The sentiment, “There’s no fool like an old fool,” comes to mind watching Bill Clinton on the hoof. Generally, one of the benefits of age is an acquired wisdom, but with Bill Clinton he has simply become “more so,” the same old Arkansas backwoods “Slick Willie” who’s still in enchanted with himself, only “more so.”

Which brings to mind the woman who has stuck with him. What on earth would induce a well-educated, attractive, accomplished, intelligent woman to hang with Slick Willie? Any self-respecting woman would have kicked him to the curb a long time ago and would’ve been admired for it. The obvious answer is that she hitched her wagon to his star, which has become a galactic fizzle.

Comparing presidents, Bill Clinton was certainly been far better than the current occupant who’s demonstrated his incompetence while selling out the country. However, Bill's gone down hill since then, feathering his nest while plucking the chicken.

Hillary Clinton would make a great president, a lot better than McCain’s soured vintage, if it were not for Bill. The thought of him wandered through the corridors of the White House, shooting off his mouth, makes me ill. He’s too narcissistic to shut his mouth, and so far she hasn’t muzzled him.

I’m wearied of the Bushes. They’ve screwed up the country everytime they gotten into power. I’m also weary of Slick Willie’s conceits and deceits . It would be nice to have integrity. Obama at least makes noises in that direction.

THE OLYMPIC GAMES AS FRAUD

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (4/10-08)

Originally, the Olympic Games were a place for athletes from throughout the world to compete with one another, striving for excellence. Then, they became an athletic contest between nations. A mixture of jingoism and athletics, the Olympic Games became the victim of jingoism with President Carter’s boycott of 1980.

Meanwhile, commercial global corporations took over the Games, becoming sponsors, advertising their wares. The Games became not only a mixture of athletics and politics, but also an advertising venue, like the Super Bowl. The civilized ideal of striving for excellence fell before the barbarisms of crass commercialism.

Nowadays, the Olympic Games are vehicles for nations to refurbish their tarnished images of brutality and poisoned products. A brief reprieve from this incidentalism of athletics occurred in 1936 when Jesse Owens triumphed in Nazi Germany’s Berlin, affirming human dignity and excellence in the face of a banal brutality, but since then the Games have slowly been sucked into the vortex of tawdry jingoism, sleazy advertising, and decadent deceit. Now, the host country for the Games has no more concept of human dignity than a rodent.

The current imbroglio with demonstrators trying to stop the progress of the Olympic torch points to the contradiction inherent in the present Games. The Communist Chinese are brutally repressing the Tibetans and Buddhist monks while fraudulently pretending to honor human achievement with global corporations, as usual, capitalizing on the fraud.

A boycott? The athletes should do it. The rest of us should ignore them, like bad jokes.

Copyright (c) Dana Prom Smith 2008