The Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally

The Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally in Washington, DC, Saturday, was an outright incarnation of a ministerial revival meeting. It was a specific call to seeking greater numbers (in effect, converts) to join a cause centered on God. Speakers preceding Beck referred to him as a son of God, with no one that I heard later or Glenn Beck, himself, refuting that, in effect accepting the mantle of not only a Jesus-like figure, but Jesus himself. As far as my understanding of Christianity, that is heresy. It was a call to action to restore Christian values in concert with the way supposedly America's founders had in mind for America. God and American flags were dominant.

However, one has to understand that those original American values included genocide of Native Americans with survivors contained on reservations, slavery of Blacks, treating women as chattel and granting the most power to the largest landowners - hardly representative of freedom which was preached over and over during the rally. Any rational person understands we are now a more free society now than in those days.

And, if the rally was a call to Christian values and a uniting of people, a logical call would be to rally around our president - our elected leader and a practicing Christian who has made his agenda bringing people together by governing from the center, trying to represent even Republican positions like his healthcare program which is essentially a copy of Republican Mitt Romney's healthcare program enacted in Massachusetts. Plus, he has a former Bush Secretary of Defense, as his.

This president inherited an economy in free-fall, on the precipice of another Great Depression. He can rightly be credited with averting a depression, with now positive GDP numbers and unemployment nowhere as bad as the early 30's. However, it is also clear that the recovery is fragile. So, logically, since he has had initial success against Depression, it would be wise to support or at least compromise, not completely resist what he wants.

The main reason for the economic collapse was the bursting of the Housing bubble - so it is understandable for now that Housing-related jobs would be difficult to have now - we are unwinding an over leveraging of the public. In such a shortage of private jobs, it is only the government which fill the need temporarily and wisely concentrate  spending on investments which will eventually return more than they cost, like education, alternative energy, etc. See my post on the JosephOppenheimInvesting blog about our economic crossroads.

Back to the rally, the rally was very misleading, they were seeking everyone to join the cause. However, there was no mention of what about those who choose not to join the cause. It can be inferred that Beck, etc would view these people as either Godless, people who don't believe in freedom, etc and worse yet from his perspective, believing that government serves a purpose in helping the vulnerable. So, understanding what Glenn Beck has presented himself before the rally, this was a call to Far Right conservative positions. This political group doesn't really believe in freedom, not just because they seem to restore our founders' values, but would use the government to persecute Gays, people who are pro-choice and other such dissenters from his views. This fundamentalist religious fervor is reminiscent of what has happened in Muslim countries where some fundamentalist Muslims, like the Taliban and al Qaeda, blame hard times in those countries on Muslims not being religious enough Muslims. When you add to the mix of Glenn Beck, etc values, they include vigorous NRA supporting gun rights and strong militaristic positions like the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan despite the huge cost of such militarism while also advocating extension of tax cuts to the very wealthy which not only is fiscally irresponsible but also further divides our nation, further shrinking the middle class so we approach a nation of haves and have-nots, with little or no government help for the have-nots.

So, I see this rally as a danger sign, for a Far Right, fundamentalist agenda which does seem worrisome for the political direction of America. This was a call to very bigoted values not just aimed at believers, but a hatred of non-believers, which is at least half of America. To underscore the bigotry, sitting behind Glenn Beck was Reverend John Hagee who has denounced the Catholic Church as "the great whore of Babylon" and has said hurricane Katrina and its devastation on New Orleans was because of God's wrath that New Orleans had a Gay pride parade the week before.

"Same-Sex Marriage" - CA Prop. 8

The big issue when I first walked onto campus as a freshman was the Civil Rights Movement. I see the passage of California Proposition 8 (prohibiting same-sex marriage), and the recent CA court ruling not to overturn it, as the same thing, just an update. I think it will eventually be passed/legalized. I am always stuck with the fact that same-sex marriage is really already legal, since one spouse in a regular hetero marriage could get a sex change operation, and they would still be legally married, even though now of the same sex. So, seems to me it is pure discrimination, to not allow it in the first place, just for that reason, nevermind I see it as outright discrimination anyway.

Plus, the court ruling, not to overturn Prop. 8, while still allowing same sex marriages performed while it was legal for a few months prior to passage of Prop. 8 to remain valid, just doesn't seem to make legal sense, being a contradiction saying it is both legal and illegal now, depending on when the ceremony was performed. Plus, since same sex marriage is totally legal in a few other states, what happens when such a couple then moves to CA or a CA couple travels to another state just to marry then returns to CA? I assume those marriages would then be legal in CA. So, we have where it is both legal and illegal in CA, just a confusing mishmash, with the end result just being a twisted form of discrimination.

Plus, biblical opposition to same same-sex marriage also doesn't make sense to me. Seems to me, it originates from the Old Testament's condemnation of male homosexuality. However, as I understand, the scripture does not condemn lesbianism. So, it seems logical that it isn't so much homosexuality which is the root of condemnation. So, likely the reason has do do with the wasting of a male "seed" at a time when humans were ordered to procreate. And, in ancient times, the world's population was relatively small, with many obstacles to survival, so that was the real reason against male homosexuality, even justified at the time. However, now it can be argued that the world is either already overpopulated or close to reaching some limit actually endangering humanity. Just like the Old Testament ordered death by stoning to a disobedient child, it is clear the document must be forever studied for new interpretations as humanity evolves.

In conclusion, not only is same-sex marriage an OK choice, now, but even, perhaps because the world is drastically overpopulating, there may be a converging of forces which is bringing this issue up to significance around this time, even out of a sense of concern for all of us, and a better future. Could these 'forces' be some interpretation af what God is? I surely don't know, but I just don't see why anyone wants to restrict committted 'love', because I do not see a reason to do so, and plenty of reasons to embrace it, especially when no one is materially harmed.

"Healthcare"

Since America has the most expensive healthcare system, showing signs of crippling our economy, with less than stellar results, as evidenced by specific statistics on life expectancy and infant mortality, time has come for massive changes.

Since all other major industrial nations use a single-payer government-financed systems with better results, plus a 2006 BusinessWeek Magazine article concluded that America's best healthcare system was the single-payer, government-financed VA Medical System, we might as well start there while at the same time weighing both the weaknesses and strengths of all the existing systems.

But, since there is such a big political divide in the US, likely the best approach, for now, is to incorporate several options, with all Americans guaranteed a choice, Universal Healthcare, but not "free" to all, with premiums based on ability to pay, adjusted gross income, likely "free" to those earning below about $100K per year.

Medicare is one existing option, though in need of major financial reworking, should remain since its administrative costs are very low, and most people having it, like it, plus it does combine public and private aspects since it only picks up about 80% of costs, plus certain deductibles, plus some Social Security payments deducted for Medicare. I do think it would be more efficient to eliminate the gap, and therefore eliminate insurance companies' Medigap and Medicare Advantage options, but, for now, it is best to make the insurance companies part of the winners to win their support for the massive changes needed in our healthcare system. I do think there should be at least one single-payer option, maybe just opening Medicare as a choice for everyone, since the system already exists. Medicaid also has to be included, perhaps rolled into an expanded Medicare. Also, expanding the VA system is a worthwhile option. Also, I think Kaiser Permanente should be part of the mix, since they have a fine HMO system, plus they are non-profit.