It's About Going Back to Genesis for the Sake of Our Future Thing

Dear America,

ugh

here we go.

Joyfully standing at the bully pulpit of the new and fundamentally transformed America, a president must subdue his natural urge to gloat. [oh and how!]  So lets just get right to it and begin with excerpts of President Obama's speech, the speech following the Supreme's decision to make Same-Sex Marriage the law of the land, and thereby allowing five people to decide the fate of gay marriage for all Americans, to be revered in all 50 states, effective immediately:

I know that Americans of good will continue to hold a wide range of views on this issue. Opposition, in some cases, has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs. All of us who welcome today’s news should be mindful of that fact and recognize different viewpoints, revere our deep commitment to religious freedom.

But today should also give us hope that on the many issues with which we grapple, often painfully, real change is possible. Shift in hearts and minds is possible. And those who have come so far on their journey to equality have a responsibility to reach back and help others join them, because for all of our differences, we are one people, stronger together than we could ever be alone. That’s always been our story.

We are big and vast and diverse, a nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, different experiences and stories but bound by the shared ideal that no matter who you are or what you look like, how you started off or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny.

I love how he stipulates that the "opposition" to gay marriage "has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs" only "in some cases;"  and in other cases, we must assume, opposition is what, Mr. President? Just plain old, ordinary, run of the mill, bigotry?

I love how he says, "all of us who welcome today's news should be mindful of that fact and recognize different viewpoints, revere our deep commitment to religious freedom."  It all sounds pretty gracious of him, no?   [He's been waiting for so long....having been FOR it (circa '96), before he had to be against it (circa 2008), before he could be for it again (2012)...takes so much energy, you know, living a lie over and over and over.]

But then we get to a BUT; and you know what they say about the input of a but -- it erases everything you said before it; it becomes meaningless.  And what one truly means to say, and wants to say, is whatever one chooses to say after the BUT.

Did you see what I did there, or no?


And so in this case and after the BUT, the president said this --

"But today should also give us hope...real change is possible.  Shift in hearts and minds is possible.  And those who have come so far on their journey to equality have a responsibility to reach back and help others join them..."  Because surely, it's those people -- those people who cling to their religion (and guns, right), and any other archaic beliefs which seem to fit -- those are the people who require the  hope and change.

I love how the Left only wants to co-exist with the "big and vast and diverse" when all that is big and vast and diverse lies within the Left's domain; in other words, everything that is big and vast and diverse except the conservative, Christian, religious right.  Hell, scrap the conservative and the right, and simply keep it to those who call themselves Christian.

He says, "a nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, different experiences and stories but bound by the shared ideal that no matter who you are or what  you look like, how you started off or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny."   Yeah, unless you actually believe in the Bible, or something.  Unless you actually believe in the cultural creation, with lawful precedence mind you, of traditional marriage, and brought forth with the joining of one man and one woman make.  If you happen to be of THAT background, or THAT experience, then may God help you, right?

Because if you are THAT person -- and quite possibly a florist, a baker, or pizza pie maker -- forget about having any kind of religious liberty.   Matter of fact, forget about having your business stay in business.

Here's a quote going down memory lane -- and now skipping back about seven years:

'It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment, as a way to explain their frustrations.'

Isn't it ironic that back in 2008 -- and long before election night -- the campaigning president-elect gave us the quintessential hint into his psyche; in one sentence, he encapsulated the hot mess of shades to come!  And how about that -- now 2015 --  how nothing has changed and how everything's changed; freakingly interchangeable, the same domestic issues are riddled with an underpinning of arrogance and disgust, then and now.

Now, although he later apologized, this marginalizing of  "the middle" and especially the middle America who clings to things has not ceased, and if anything, has only accelerated.

And about that apology, this is how he put it:

'I said something everybody knows is true, which is there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my home town in Illinois, who are bitter,' he said on a visit to Muncie, Indiana. 'So I said when you're bitter, you turn to what you can count on. So people vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community,' he said. 'Now, I didn't say it as well as I should have. If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that.'

And for anyone who doubted, or held any concern, as to what the president meant when he said, "we are five days away from fundamental transformation" --  and likewise, questioned the intent behind Michelle Obama telling a crowd in Puerto Rico (also while on the campaign trail) things like this:

"he [her husband] is exactly the person he appears to be"

"we are going to have to make sacrifices...

change our conversation....

change our traditions, our history...." 

and "he is the man to do it."

No kidding.

Stealing a comment or two from Chief Justice Roberts, upon his dissent:

Understand well what this dissent is about: It is not about whether, in my judgment, the institution of marriage should be changed to include same-sex couples. It is instead about whether, in our democratic republic, that decision should rest with the people acting through their elected representatives, or with five lawyers who happen to hold commissions authorizing them to resolve legal disputes according to law. The Constitution leaves no doubt about the answer.

The Supreme's are not to write law --  but to interpret the law in order to resolve conflict of that which is already written into law; and precedence is paramount.  And what does precedence show, pray tell?  200 years...2000 years...5000 years...of traditional marriage and family.

And not to mention, that little itty bitty detail of the power to the people and the individual state to decide -- not five lawyers, as the good justice duly noted.  I mean, why didn't they just legalize pot and take away guns and make the call to burn the Bible all at the same time?  But I digress.

Continuing, the Chief Justice grapples with making that shift in heart and mind, lamenting:

 If you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.

Exactly.

The thing is,

marriage is not a right.  And if marriage is not a right, then gay marriage is not a right.

Even though our definition of marriage was at one point protected as between a man and a woman and written into law by the people's house, the courts took it apart and opened the door for a re-address all the way around.

Which begs the question -- 

Why wasn't the "civil union"  enough to declare their love?   

Why did the gay community come after traditional marriage? 

Marriage is not a right, and the court got this wrong.

...Just as healthcare is not a right.

...Just as a balanced meal three times a day is not a right.

Now certainly, there are ways to mediate the differences of experiences; there are ways to promote healthy relationship in mind, body, and soul with a reality that supports all people, of all backgrounds, of all faiths and beliefs, in order to co-exist...and not just co-exist, but affirm true life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.   But that opportunity, through the will and the heart and the compassion of the people, is continually being shut down.  And in it's place -- we get an unfettered government, hopped up on a liberal social justice agenda with judicial activism as backup, along with the malicious intent to change America in every way... from our holidays to our traditions to our history itself. 

And if you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits.  But just don't expect a cake to be baked from a baker who simply can't support a ceremony of  an unholy matrimony according to their own worldview and faith and moveon.org.

We just need to reach back...

and go back to a time when we respected the right, 

the left, 

and that big hefty portion in the middle. 

Because, just as the president said,

 "I know that Americans of good will 

continue to hold 

a wide range of views on this issue."

It's not going to be easy, going back to the egg, beginning brand new.

It's going to require a whole lot of reconciliation.

Perhaps a good vacation from it all...maybe time with a good book.

Summer is a good time to recommit to the things that matter.

Healthy marriages,

Happy families.

Authentic lives of all colors...

Strong community re-organizing.

One Nation, Under God.  

Things are slowly becoming more clear.

It's about going back to Genesis, for the sake of our future.

"And now these three remain:

faith, hope, love.  

But the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

Make it a Good Day, G

It's About the Things that Break and the Power to Make Peace

Dear America,

going to one of my favorite girls today for heartfelt perspective and words of grace...

On Star Parker's website, UrbanCure, and sent out individually to everyone who receives her weekly  newsletter, are the comments made by Robert Kennedy (4 April 1968), upon the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some -- some very sad news for all of you -- Could you lower those signs, please? -- I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black -- considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible -- you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization -- black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to fill with -- be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.
My favorite poem, my -- my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past, but we -- and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

And let's dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. 

Thank you very much.

And now from Star:

"Things will continue to get worse until every single American from every single background understands there is no freedom and there is no peace without commitment to God-given truths which are the only truths that can put back together and mend broken vessels."

Amen,
And God bless America and the community of Charleston.

Make it a GOOD day, PLEASE - G

It's No Time to Sleep Thing

Dear America,

now I've been drowning in inspiration these days...

(it's not like there isn't enough to talk about, right.)

But here I am -- after weeks of silence, after days of shaking my head in utter disgust, in disbelief, in questioning everything, while questioning even more the people we have placed in power, the muse that finally got through to me came from a bottle.

And it was just a bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon, too.

But for some reason, the label showing the Seven Generations hit me hard, as if the bar stool was swept, totally unsuspecting, right out from under me.

 For in the last days, weeks, and most of a month, if not two, I've been readying an application for the Daughter's of the American Revolution.  And believe me -- if you thought I was an American girl BEFORE, just you wait.

Never in my life have I felt so connected to THIS country, THIS purpose, THIS life. 

I can't sleep.

Sure, a big part has been the fifty something, something night sweats keeping me up at night -- but now, it's coupled with this deep sense of knowing of where I came!  And this knowing comes with great excitement.  So much so, I find it hard to sleep.  

I have multiple ancestors having set foot on this soil dating to the early 1600's; and, in turn, have multiple ancestor's having fought for freedom and liberty for all -- that being your's and mine -- in the Revolutionary War.

But there it was -- the bottle of Jim Beam -- highlighting the seven generations of the Beam family, beginning with Jacob Beam (1760-1834) to David Beam (1802-1854) to David M. Beam (1833-1913)  to Colonel James B, Beam (1864-1947) to T. Jeremiah Beam (1899-1977) to Booker Noe (1929-2004) to Fred Noe (1957-present).   [Booker being the grandson of James B. Beam and Fred being Booker's son.]

So you know me -- 

wanting to delve into this a wee bit deeper, it led me to the pages of Jim Beam history, here.

And according to the Beam team -- as history played out, long after the Boston Tea Party, and skipping through years of revolt and change and the great cost of the Revolutionary War, can you even believe that by the year 1791,  one of the first tax increases implemented by our young government was on distilled spirits?   [Who knew reading a bottle of booze could lead to such lucrative knowledge?]

Of course -- realizing then -- we quickly  went from "no taxation without representation"  to just more taxation.   Funny, isn't it; and that's government for you.  But I digress. (Or is it America digressing?)

If only we stuck to the plan.

The 5000 Year Leap describes the plan, having been birthed from the free market concepts of Adam Smith -- a college professor who wrote The Wealth of Nations -- like so:

1. Specialized production -- let each person or corporation of persons do what they do best.
2. Exchange of goods takes place in a free-market environment without governmental interference in production, prices, or wages.
3. The free market provides the needs of the people on the basis of supply and demand, with no government-imposed monopolies.
4. Prices are regulated by competition on the basis of supply and demand.
5. Profits are looked upon as the means by which production of goods and services is made worthwhile.
6. Competition is looked upon as the means by which quality is improved, quantity is increased, and prices are reduced.

While The Leap narrows it all down to just four laws in the very next paragraph:

1. Freedom to try
2. Freedom to buy
3. Freedom to sell
4. Freedom to fail  

Our founding fathers believed that Adam Smith was not only right, they agreed "that the  greatest threat to economic prosperity is the arbitrary intervention of the government into the economic affairs of private business and the buying public."

In the wake of Obamatrade failing on the House floor just yesterday, does any of this make you wonder what in hells-bells is going on within our current administration, let alone what has happened to America over the last hundred years?

Ineptocracy

A system of government where the 

least capable to lead are elected by

the least capable of producing, and

where the members of society least

likely to sustain themselves or succeed,

are rewarded with goods and services

paid for by the confiscated wealth

of a diminishing number of producers.

"By 1905," as it says in The Leap, "the United States had become the richest industrial nation in the world.  With only 5 percent of the earth's continental land area and merely 6 percent of the world's population, the American people were producing over half of almost everything -- clothes, food, houses, transportation, communications, even luxuries."

Including a mighty fine share of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, I might add.

And I would have to assume by both the messaging on the bottle and upon the website combined, the legacy is something the Beam family proudly carries with them from generation to generation.  And I believe they have earned it.  

They have stuck with the basic recipe -- doing what they do best; and are not in the least bit discouraged by the competition.   I mean, have you checked out that bourbon, whiskey, scotch section lately?   It's every price point, every aging, every color, and even added flavorings to boot; and it's the people who remain at will to pick and purchase the one they want or not!  Beam is still on the beam after two hundred years.

It's a legacy and evidently, a business practice and a way of life, that has earned a reputation worthy to stay, and stay strong.

And this --  in a charred oak-y barrel bigger than a nutshell -- does a mighty fine job explaining my sleepless nights upon the discovery of the generations who have preceded me.  My family line runs deep into the heart of this country, and then some.  And more than that, a piece of every soul who happened to have come before me is inside me, turning me into the marvelous one-of-a-kind blend that I am; while this magnificent ability to trace the steps backwards somehow creates the platform to take the leaps of faith forward with a certain confidence.  All the Williams and Alexanders and Jonathans and Josephs...along with all the Elizabeths and Janes and Katherines and Joans....and now me, G. 

Like Jim Beam, seven generations ago, my family lived in America; and my great grandfather (7th) fought in the Revolutionary War.   While long before that, seventeen generations to be exact -- my great grandfather fought in the Crusades!  

Ya see?  Do you get it now?  

That's the kind of legacy that can keep this girl up for the rest of her life.

It's mind blowing and mind boggling.

Just as the generation of rebels of the Boston harbor lives on inside us, just as the Revolutionary War was won, just as our founding fathers argued and fought and labored over the words and sentiment and messaging upon America's label -- The Constitution, alongside our Declaration of Independence -- and for every thing worth fighting for ever since -- it all adds up to a legacy that does not sleep.

And given these are the times that try men's souls, this is no time to sleep.

And that might be just enough to end this day with aplomb.

Make it a Good Day, G

And run out and get yourself some Jim Beam.  

You may need it once you read all about a strange story of a family legacy gone awry...Read about Rachel here  or here or here or don't.