Karma Will Come

The Trump Sh*tshow continues to roll on; after last week's trainwreck of pissing off whatever allies we have left in his aborted play to get Greenland (rationalized by the thought that 'we have to take it over to prevent bad people from taking it over'), this week his hot garbage has been centered in Minnesota.  Yep, those nice people of Minneapolis have risen up in fierce resistance against ICE and border patrol agents who have used gestapo tactics in trying to 'save' white people from their Somali neighbors.  Multiple American citizens doing little more than driving their cars or taking cell phone videos have been murdered by federal agents.  And sure, the Faux News crowd (mostly the same 38% who continually, insanely, continues to support Trump) thinks that it's all paid agitators or radical leftists causing the problems.  But anybody who looks at this through any form of moral lens can see the evil that the government is doing.  Civil War may be on the horizon, as people openly resist and reject the federal government.  

My prayer is that somehow, someway this ends peacefully.  Recently I've become aware of the Latin phrase 'sic semper tyrannis' which basically means 'thus always to tyrants', which is a prayer that what they have put upon others will come back upon them.  Again, I hope this happens peacefully...if we have elections in the fall (a big if), perhaps the Democrats will finally stand up and do something competently, and any Republicans who haven't fully sold their soul to MAGA will finally wake up and reject what has been happening.  Those that for years hung from the back of their pickups giant yellow flags screaming 'Don't Tread on Me!' will finally see the reality that the people doing the treading are themselves.  

And so what will happen to ICE?  If funding for DEI policies and climate (and other) sciences and aid for the poor and so many other programs can be ended, so one day ICE will be dissolved as well.  The day is coming, hopefully sooner rather than later, that all these former Proud Boys who now have legal shielding from their atrocities will be the streets.  And so what will they do?  Some, I hope, will face their crimes in the court system.  A few high profile scapegoats will likely go to jail, as well as a few lower level agents who have done the actual murdering.  But for the rest, my advice would be to hide this job from any resume or job applications, because likely nobody with any sense of conscience will ever hire them again.  Sure, I bet they can get some private army mercenary gig in a third world country...but were I an employer I'd higher a drug-addled layabout before I'd hire an ICE agent.  Yep, the people who brought misery to so many will themselves be subject to misery.  Sic semper tyrannis.  

Diary of The Angry Bus Driver, #36

Tonight I'm doing my late run route, dropping off a few middle school boys of color in a very congested area.  As I stop and open the door, which puts out my stop arm and activates my giant red flashing lights, I see a car coming around the corner driven by a middle-aged white woman.  She has 5, 6, 7 seconds to stop.  She doesn't, and blows through my stop arm.  

Funny thing is, I look behind me and there's a white Sedgwick County deputy sitting in his patrol car.  It's still plenty light out, and I can see him clearly.  He's looking directly at the car which has gone through.  Surely, I think, somebody will finally get pulled over! A hundred cars have run through my stop arm this year at various points of my routes, and I've never once seen a cop when I needed him. And here he is, witnessing the whole thing.  Surely, I think, justice will be served.  

Nope.  He watches the car go through, looks away, and then looks back down at his lap.  Probably his phone.  Maybe his paperwork.  And the criminal drives away.  

Thanks, Mr. Deputy, you shaved off again a slice of the trust I have in law enforcement.  If the driver had been black maybe he would have been right on it, regardless of the traffic violation.  If she were Hispanic, I'm sure an ICE agent would have busted in her window and dragged her off to El Salvador.  But a white woman?  Bah, who cares?

Why I Choose Not To Run

I am far more interested in politics than I ought to be; the Kingdom of God should be enough.  Theologically I am convinced that there's a lot more God-directed movement when it comes to leaders than we acknowledge in our secular world; this comes in that sometimes God moves for our good, but also he allows us to go our own way when we are doing evil.  In this day and age, I think the second is far more likely to be what's going on...we want a society of evil (even as we call it good), and God grants us our wish by giving us evil leaders (who far too many people want to call great). 

Every once in awhile I think about running for some kind of office.  But in truth, I know for certain that I could never, ever be elected.  Why?  

-I have the looks of a brute and the charisma of a rock.  

-I come from a religious background that has basically denied the equality of women in practice if not in theory.  While some from Churches of Christ have held office, I gotta think this would be a problem, even if I have become increasingly convinced that we are wrong (at least in part).  

-As a Christian who believes in the word of God and the love he shows for all creation, I also am certain that many people I would be wanting to vote for me are likely doomed to hell.  That might be a problem.

-My anger with many 'evangelical Christians' when it comes to the fact that 4 out of 5 still continue to support Trump will alienate me from those people who should be my base.  Preaching Biblical morality and righteousness ought to be a slam dunk; unfortunately, many of these evangelical Christians wouldn't recognize Biblical morality and righteousness if it hit them with a body slam.  

-I despise most country music.  There goes 30% of the vote.  

-I think that many social programs are likely counterproductive and cause as much harm as good.  I also think that there's not a single social program ever created that can fix lazy and stupid, and there are more lazy and stupid people in this country each day.  Saying that might offend a few people.

-I believe that the environmental crisis facing this country (and planet) might be existential.  As such, that might be a primary aim of any kind of action I might want to take.  Considering that a. many think this is a hoax and b. true and effective action will likely cause short-term economic pain and discomfort (even if it ensures long-term survival), likely I would alienate a lot of people, even as I will be shown to be a hypocrite in my actual life. 

-You'd think that after 30 years in ministry I would be good at handling people and making them feel important.  You'd think wrong.  This is the same reason being a hospital chaplain is likely never in my future either.  

-I would piss off every donor and supporter and voter that comes within earshot of me within 10 minutes.  Telling people what they want to hear has become harder for me as I approach late middle age.  

-Israel and the Palestineans can keep destroying themselves for all I care. We should stop sending aid, both military and humanitarian to these places. Christian supporters of Israel who keep misrepresenting Scripture to fund Israeli atrocities cannot be taken seriously. 

-I am both pro-choice and think that abortion ought to be rare.  Likewise I also believe that LGBTQ people have the right to live as they choose, but that their 'rights' are also sinful.  I'm guessing that both of my positions would make nobody happy.  

-Most immigrants to this country are better at being Americans than native-born Americans.  

-MAGA is an atrocity.  The Democrats aren't much better.  

-I don't think I'd be a very good representative of the people.  I'd like to be thought of as more a spokesman for the truth.  That will come across as arrogant.  

-Basic health care in this country ought to be guaranteed and the system to pay for it should be overseen by the government.  Also, fatties and druggies and people who live inherently unhealthy lives should have to pay more for their livestyles. 

I could go on, but you get the drift.  It may be that I'm putting this out into the Internets so that should I ever be dumb enough to decide to run for anything, the oppo research by my opponent will be so, so easy.  But here I stand, I can go no other way.  

Funeral Plans

Yesterday we saw the sad murder of Rob Reiner and his wife, likely at the hands of his disturbed son.  Another terrible tragedy, to go with the killings of over a dozen people celebrating Hannukah on Bondi beach in Australia or the murders at Brown or the wars around the globe.  

Of course, President Trump had to make this about himself.  

One of these days Donald Trump is going to choke on a chicken bone or fall down the steps leading to Air Force One or have a massive coronary event.  And when that day comes, there aren't enough fireworks in this world for all the block parties and spontaneous celebrations that will break out in the United States and all around the world.  

The Way of the Whigs

Trump's 38% support rating is far too high (it's been around that for now almost 10 years), but it enables him to be elected and maintain power because on top of that number there's a certain group of people who can't stand Trump, but hate the Democrats even more.  In his 38% there are the people who genuinely like his policies or are simply part of his cult of personality; but it's in that excess segment that we find the numbers that give him power to drag our nation through the mud.  

Earlier this year, even through all the Trump scandals, there was some reporting about approval of the Democrats being something like 20%.  I'm too lazy to go find the exact figures, but that's about right.  Many people are like my friend Glenn, who knows Trump for what he is and while he likes some of his policies, knows that he's terrible.  Yet he hates the Democrats even more, and so is, in some ways, enabling Trump.

As a casual student of history my mind is taken back to a few decades before the civil war, when the two main political entities in our fair country were the Whigs and the Democrats.  As the nation ramped up into the terrible conflict that would soon come, the Whigs faded while a new political party, the Republicans, came onto the scene.  A gap in my knowledge is the question of WHY the Whigs went away within a decade, never to return.  There was a realignment that was taking place during this time, with people changing loyalties and positions...but regardless, after a period of turmoil what once had been was no more and replaced by something new and transformative, leading the nation into finally ending slavery.  

I think about that history when I think about the Democrats.  We live in a time of changing political loyalties: the formerly blue-collar Democrat has now aligned himself with MAGA.  White-collar educated voters who were once Reagan Republicans are now firmly against Trumpism.  Both groups (and many more) have their reasons for change, but while the Republicans seem to have opened their doors to the influx of people whose sole thought is an attraction to Trump (itself a fascinating study in how far downhill our country has gone), I (and many others) have no interest in becoming Democrats.  But unlike the people who abandoned the Whigs and formed something anew, there's really nothing on the horizon for us today to turn to.  So we shake our fists, march in No Kings rallies, and yet nothing really changes.

In my lifetime there have been fringe movements like the Greens or the Constitution party, groups who likely were far too extremist to attract many people.  There was the Reformed party of Ross Perot, which claimed a few governors and a small following but eventually faded; and in the past few years there's been a group going around called 'No Labels' whose very identity is based on the idea that their openness means that they really don't represent anything of importance.  But where is our 1850s Republican party?  Where is a group of people whose ideas are so strong and principle-based that they capture the imagination of the nation?  

Of course it's easy to say, what am I doing about this?  I suppose it's not enough anymore to simply be an independent; maybe it's time to start creating something anew.  Yet maybe that's the problem...we are now a culture so stagnant, so glued to social media, so increasingly stupid that a new movement is no longer possible.  And for that, we should grieve.