Michael Who?

The sudden death of Michael Jackson has taken many people and the media by storm. I was walking around D.C. when the news hit, and people were yelling it to each other as they got the word, through cell phones and Blackberries, or even police radios. Some where stunned, others tearful; many, like myself, merely shrugged.

The newscasts tell me Michael Jackson was a pop sensation and icon. I cannot deny it. Who can forget the cute little kid singing “Easy as A-B-C,, 1-2-3, Doe-Rae-Me, You-and-Me,”? or the crazy excitement of the Thriller album? And yet, the Michael Jackson that I tend to remember most is the incredibly disturbed and confused man that seemed unable to face reality or himself. The Michael Jackson of debt, of two long-drawn court trials, of dismal tabloid headlines that I remember most.

In part this has to do with my own age and generation. Michael Jackson is the same age as my mother, someone cool but not as contemporary as the Backstreet Boys or whatever other boybands we adored in the 90s. He was old news by then, a part of the so-called Generation X that we never really fit into. And when he made the headlines, we knew who he was but many of us, I suspect, did not care (I could be entirely wrong, of course). Thus his death brings to us no emotional power, except perhaps for a fond memory of the high-pitched kid of the Jackson5.

For Generation X, Blacks, and many others, Jackson was a star that transcended reality. He certainly did much to ease the post-60s racial tension, by appealing to both blacks and whites. His music was fun, his concerts alive with energy, and his appeal somehow charming. But it seems that for Jackson himself as much as any body, the dream he promised and the ideas he preached lead to a dead-end.

I’m not quite sure how to take the emotional reaction I’ve been seeing. He was in my eyes a talented figure gone horribly astray, someone who discovered that all the glitter and golds of fortune and stardom offered nothing, but couldn’t find any place else to hide. If I mourn for him it is for his sorrow in the last few years, not because we have lost a great leader or icon. He influneced many, but how many will take his life as a greater lesson than his words?

Sanford & the GOP

I, like many people, was shocked and saddened to hear of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s affair. The pain and sorrow he and his entire family are experiencing deserve the sympathy of all Americans. But I also found myself incredibly angry, not only with Governor Sanford but also with a party and officials who constantly fail personally and politically. Mark Sanford is merely the latest in a string of personal scandals for Republicans beginning with Congressman Mark Foley (anybody remember him?).

The issue at stake is credibility, and Republicans have successfully proven within my young memory that they have none to offer. The sweep of the 1994 elections (the year Mark Sanford was first elected to Congress) and the Contract with America was supposed to continue Reagan era and lead us back towards limited government and personal freedoms. Instead, fed by a booming economy and an amiable President Clinton, Republicans quickly lost focus and will, collapsing into gridlock after Newt Gingrich’s own extra-martial affair. The election of George W. Bush, whom I admire and respect on many levels, continued a bloated conservatism that trampled on the ideas of fiscal conservatism, small government and personal responsibility. The world certainly changed on September 11th, but conservative ideals did not. But rather than adapt to a new world of terrorism and para-state politics, the Republican party largely abandoned any idea of principles and became a softer form of the Democratic opposition.

Having proved our indifference in politics, Republicans attempted to returned to moral high ground by carrying elections on appeals to Evangelical Christians and the broader “Christian Coalition.” This too, was a mistake, for the Christian Coalition (as an organization and movement) lost much of its potency in the 1990s as Americans not only turned away from religion, but from scandal-ridden preacher demagogues. Even as someone raised within the “Christian Right,” I am horrified by the blatant attempts to associate the Republican party with the idea of a Christian America. Especially when those claiming “moral values” fail to live up to them.

All men stumble and fail, and all may receive forgiveness from God and their fellow man. But politically, Republicans have reached the end of the rope. We have exhausted every avenue of credibility we have—fiscally, individually and morally. We spend like mad men and then attack President Obama’s proposals as “irresponsible.” We proclaim personal freedom and responsibility and pass the PATRIOT Act and authorize TARP funds. We proclaim family and marriage only to leave our wives for other women. Why should anyone trust us?

Ever since the 2000 Election the GOP has suffered from a leadership vacuum. Many have attempted to fill it, all have failed. Some, such as Senator Ensign or Governor Sanford, were considered front-runners to lead the GOP and even as candidates in the 2012 elections. But as the last weeks have shown, neither are up to the calling; and few are in line to replace them. Things have gotten so bad we have attempted to resurrect Newt Gingrich to lead a clarion call of conservatism—but who can forget his own past failings? Those who say the GOP just needs to “stick to its principles” over-simplify things, but are correct that principles are only worth the weight you personally put in them.

Republicans need to clean house, if there is any house left standing to clean. I believe in forgiveness, but forgiveness does not mean a future in politics. Governor Sanford should resign, as should Senator Ensign. To put it bluntly: our party has no room for liars, adulators or hypocrites. There can be no more “rehabilitation” or return for them to elected office. Their opportunity came and they squandered it and the name of the party in the process. A party that is struggling to focus its message and restore its brand—as the GOP should be doing—cannot tolerate any deviation from the key planks, as Senator Ensign and Governor Sanford have clearly done. Unfortunately, the existing party leadership and roster of elected officials offers few options to replace them. Massive reforms, energy and focus are needed if the GOP is to survive, and new leaders must be cultivated and launched to ensure the party’s future. If not, we deserve to die as a failure of the political free market.

Thou Shall Not Murder

Yesterday’s news of the death of prominent abortionist Dr. George Tiller at the hands of a gunman has produced a firestorm of criticism for pro-life groups and other “right wingers” whose language against abortion many blame for encouraging violence against Doctors as Dr. Tiller. While it is true that there have been a series of unfortunate attacks on abortion doctors in the past, such actions are hardly characteristic of the pro-life movement as a whole. Critics point to the hypocrisy of murdering in the name of life, and they are right to do so.

Murder is murder–whether it be the shooting of a aged man or a yet-to-be-born infant.  To the Christian, both are created in the image of God, and both are worthy of protection as such. The only difference between them is that Dr. Tiller may be considered to have blood on his hands in the eyes of Christians–but not so in the eyes of law. The murder of innocents is what makes abortion so incredibly offense, yet is is only slightly worse that cold-blooded murder in a church foyer on Sunday morning. Murder is murder. Thus the men who (multiple) times have shot at Dr. Tiller, and in this final case killed him, are morally on the same ground as him–murderers.

The shooter yesterday paid no favors to anyone. He committed a crime as great as the one he thought he was stopping, he defamed and betrayed a movement and he put his own soul in peril. I will not be able to mourn Dr. Tiller, I admit–his actions and brutalities to thousands of innocent unborns only makes me pity his soul, and this is a fault on my part. He too, is a man, and anything that tiny reflection of God is destroyed, I must weep for my own, no matter how dirty or corrupted that picture may be. And so I mourn for mankind lost, I mourn the children lost, I mourn for the soul lost without repentence. Murder is destruction, and we cannot rejoice in its appearance.

Reflections on Patriotism

This Memorial Day I was fortunate enough to witness the humbly titled “National Memorial Day Parade” down Constitution Avenue in Washington. Two hours of military men and women, veterans associations and high school marching bands from across the United States left my feet somewhat tired, but gave me ample opportunity to consider not only the meaning of Memorial Day—a civically sacred day we set aside to memorialize our war dead and their sacrifices. Such remembrances I fully support as a means of maintaining our national consciousness and identity, but that identity as it is so frequently portrayed in parades, by rally speakers and even in the responses of a crowd cause me some pause.

When we cheer for the wounded Vietnam solider or the last World War I veteran alive we show a genuine appreciation nd respect for sacrifice and service. But when we cheer for the “Rolling Thunder” bikers or Lee Eastwood’s horribly catchy “I’m Proud to be an American” song, what are we cheering for? In a very healthy sense we are cheering for the things we love, the particular habits and things that Americans do. C.S. Lewis notes in his classic The Four Loves that men feel a sort of fondness for their country, a patriotism that is not about being better, but the peculiar things that make a German a German or an Italian an Italian. The Frenchman is fond of his street cafes and baguette because they are French and part of his very Frenchness, he does not except his Spanish neighbor to share an equal appreciation. In the same way the Spaniard enjoys (or did, until recently) his siestas because he is a Spaniard, and that is what Spaniards do.

This affection is the natural outgrowth of a culture and identity; its corruption comes in the belief that it is superior to all other such loves that others may have for their own countries. To invoke the tired Third Reich analogy, when Hitler declared the Aryan culture and habits to the culture, he elevated something that cannot be elevated, for he could never make the Frenchman love sausage and beer in the same way as a German. Military patriotism is arrogance; affectionate patriotism is a love regardless of imperfection or practicality.

For the American, I fear pride too often misleads our patriotism. We may say we have the “best damned country in the world,” for we believe it to be true. But are we patriots because of what we as a nation have done and are capable of doing? because of what we stand for and where we came from? or because we truly do love mother’s apple pie and baseball? All three have their natural place at the alter of state; I would prefer the latter have preeminence. If Americans ride Harley-Davidsons and play cheesy country anthems, so be it; let us take care, however, when we attempt to associate principles with particularities. Too often it seems we take a broad principle and tie it directly to something that has no dependency on that principal what-so-ever. Apple pie will forever be apple pig, regardless of government. We send men to war because of deep underlying principles that our hearts do not understand, they yearn for home because they remember the fireworks and hotdogs on the grill. Perhaps my observation is not that we love our country, but that we easily confuse this love. Let us fight for what is right, let us love what we love as Americans.

Ted Stevens Innocent; Prosecutor Guilty

While he may have been guilty of some political misjudgment, it seems that former Senator Ted Stevens was brought down not because of wrong-doing but because of a reckless, politically motivated prosecutor.

Cheers for the judge, who deserves a hand for stating the obvious: this matter of partisan politics being played out in the courts is out-of-control. Time to reign in the real bad guys.

I’m getting tired of false charges and public trials. Are you?