* Blogmanac | Happy Birthday, America!
From Colleen:
[This isn't about religion, but about morality, and the lack thereof, in the Bush administration, especially at the top. It's a fairly long article, but the truly important parts are printed in a different color than the main text, and offer many good ideas for getting America and Americans back on track. -C]
[And not a moment too soon! -v]
RE-LIGHTING THE TORCHES OF THE AMERICAN SOUL
By Bernard Weiner, CrisisPapers.org 06/30/03
What happens when individuals or whole societies damage -- or even temporarily lose -- their soul, their spiritual anchor, their sense of themselves as moral entities?
Oh, I know that talking about "soul" and "spirituality" is anathema to a good share of the Left. Those terms often are regarded as too new-wavy or are found mostly in the camp of conservative churchgoers.
But we need to focus on the moral and spiritual aspect in our politics for a variety of reasons, including helping to re-balance our own souls amidst all the horrors being perpetrated by our so-called leaders.
Further, if we in the progressive movement avoid the spiritual field, we certainly will be crushed in 2004, and the know-nothing forces of Bush&Co. will have free rein -- read: reign -- to carry out further imperial misadventures abroad and police-state-like constitutional shredding at home. The result will be catastrophe -- to our already shaky economy, to our national treasury (and treasures: our young men and women sent to patrol the empire), to the collective soul of America.
The United States is, and likes to think of itself as, a highly moral country, dedicated to fair play and to the belief that God takes an interest in our
democratic experiment. Americans, at heart, want to do the right thing.
When our society goes outside the boundaries of decent moral behavior -- as we did with slavery, for example -- those lapses are regarded as
aberrations, correctable as we learn more. We are in another such moment in our history right now, but we can hope that as more and more citizens
learn what's really going on behind the scenes, and face our political shadow, the pendulum will begin swinging back the other way -- if permitted to do so.
Using fear and a permanent-war scenario, the Bush Administration has been able to manipulate the American populace into turning its spiritual button to the off position. By demonizing and lying, it has put America's moral sense of itself into a kind of numbed "pause" mode.
Americans are led to wallow in the fright and negativity pushed daily by Bush&Co. and its conglomerate-owned mass media. After months and years of having this negative template laid on top of our society, it's not difficult to have one's energy sapped, to sink into a kind of fatalistic torpor, or even, because the feelings are so intense, to deny that one is having doubts at all. -- CONTINUE for this holiday must-read.
From Colleen:
[This isn't about religion, but about morality, and the lack thereof, in the Bush administration, especially at the top. It's a fairly long article, but the truly important parts are printed in a different color than the main text, and offer many good ideas for getting America and Americans back on track. -C]
[And not a moment too soon! -v]
RE-LIGHTING THE TORCHES OF THE AMERICAN SOUL
By Bernard Weiner, CrisisPapers.org 06/30/03
What happens when individuals or whole societies damage -- or even temporarily lose -- their soul, their spiritual anchor, their sense of themselves as moral entities?
Oh, I know that talking about "soul" and "spirituality" is anathema to a good share of the Left. Those terms often are regarded as too new-wavy or are found mostly in the camp of conservative churchgoers.
But we need to focus on the moral and spiritual aspect in our politics for a variety of reasons, including helping to re-balance our own souls amidst all the horrors being perpetrated by our so-called leaders.
Further, if we in the progressive movement avoid the spiritual field, we certainly will be crushed in 2004, and the know-nothing forces of Bush&Co. will have free rein -- read: reign -- to carry out further imperial misadventures abroad and police-state-like constitutional shredding at home. The result will be catastrophe -- to our already shaky economy, to our national treasury (and treasures: our young men and women sent to patrol the empire), to the collective soul of America.
The United States is, and likes to think of itself as, a highly moral country, dedicated to fair play and to the belief that God takes an interest in our
democratic experiment. Americans, at heart, want to do the right thing.
When our society goes outside the boundaries of decent moral behavior -- as we did with slavery, for example -- those lapses are regarded as
aberrations, correctable as we learn more. We are in another such moment in our history right now, but we can hope that as more and more citizens
learn what's really going on behind the scenes, and face our political shadow, the pendulum will begin swinging back the other way -- if permitted to do so.
Using fear and a permanent-war scenario, the Bush Administration has been able to manipulate the American populace into turning its spiritual button to the off position. By demonizing and lying, it has put America's moral sense of itself into a kind of numbed "pause" mode.
Americans are led to wallow in the fright and negativity pushed daily by Bush&Co. and its conglomerate-owned mass media. After months and years of having this negative template laid on top of our society, it's not difficult to have one's energy sapped, to sink into a kind of fatalistic torpor, or even, because the feelings are so intense, to deny that one is having doubts at all. -- CONTINUE for this holiday must-read.
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