Public Catholic Comment: Stop Slogan-Voting…. Pt 2 – “Who’s your Momma?”

“Money is the mother’s milk of politics.”

Jesse “Big Daddy” Unruh, 1966, Democrat, Speaker, California State Assembly

If “Big Daddy” Unruh is right – and he is – then the question we must ask politicians is: “Who’s your Momma?”

Rebecca Hamilton (Public Catholic) – “Stop Slogan-Voting…. Pt 2 – High Campaign Dollars = Government Puppet People” – gives us an insider’s understanding of how money works in politics and why we have no idea whom we are electing in the current money/consultant-driven political environment.

Barack Obama is her prime example. Please read her post FIRST, before going any further.
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The reason I find Rebecca Hamilton’s (Public Catholic) blog so compelling is that it rings true and helps me make some sense out of my own recent experience with public politics – and she does so from an authentic Christian perspective. This referenced post is no exception.

In this commentary, I’d like to offer a brief Case Study and some Lessons Learned from Hamilton’s insights.

CASE STUDY: SC Congressional District 7 – With the primaries behind us, my choice in November is now between a Chamber of Commerce clone of Forest Gump (R) and a Jim Clyburn clone of Sheila Jackson Lee (D). The candidates themselves would, of course, vehemently protest these caricatures – one thinks slower than Gump and the other is younger than Jackson Lee. But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

My concern here is how the GOP ended up with Forest Gump. Continue reading “Public Catholic Comment: Stop Slogan-Voting…. Pt 2 – “Who’s your Momma?”” →

Public Catholic Comment: Lying Snakes, Kabuki Dancers and Useful Idiots

Peanut Gallery: Before going any further, please read Public Catholic’s “Stop Slogan-Voting…. Part 1.” My comments address Rebecca Hamilton’s (Public Catholic) post.

COMMENTS: Lying Snakes, Kabuki Dancers and Useful Idiots

I’m an old guy who is new to the public political arena (4 yrs) but well versed in the arena of church politics (35 yrs). I am not a newcomer to the “culture wars.”

My relatively recent foray into the public political arena began as a Tea Party activist after the election of Barack Obama; I had recently retired from active ordained ministry in a mainline protestant denomination. As a church pastor, I limited my public political activities to the Pro-Life movement, but was an intrepid culture warrior within the church – to little or no avail. (In retrospect, I was like the little Dutch boy trying to plug the holes in the dike with his fingers. Eventually I ran out of fingers.)

I’ve retired from both my local Tea Party and my denomination and now I’m free to express my opinion from the “cheap seats” in The Peanut Gallery – hence this blog.

That’s why I’ve found Rebecca Hamilton’s blog – Public Catholic – so refreshing. The parallels between our personal experiences, although worlds apart, are remarkable. The purpose of this brief introduction is simply to provide some context for my comments on Hamilton’s blog – Stop Slogan-Voting… Pt 1.

1. Lying Snakes –

“Politics is about power. The two political parties are not political parties as we once knew them. They are consortiums of special interests. They operate on behalf of these interests for one purpose: to get and keep power…. Power is what they want, and they will tell you anything it takes to get you to give it to them.” – Public Catholic

A friend of mine recently called one of our local politicians “a lying snake.” She couldn’t have been more accurate – the guy had just promised to vote one way in our local City Council Meeting and then did just the opposite. Another recently told my wife, with a straight face, that he never made any money off his position as City Councilman – when his construction firm had its sign outside a city rehab project only a few hundred yards away. Continue reading “Public Catholic Comment: Lying Snakes, Kabuki Dancers and Useful Idiots” →

“Like a mighty rushing wind”… Public Catholic speaks to the grassroots

Peanut Gallery: Rebecca Hamilton (Public Catholic) speaks “truth to people.” She is passionately pro-life, a practicing Christian (Catholic) and an Oklahoma State Representative (Democrat, District 89.) She is term limited in 2014.

If you care about the political state of our nation… she is an important blogger to follow. As a term-limited insider to OK state politics, Hamilton is “telling it like it is” from her unique point of view. Her current series is a must read – it describes the sorry state of politics in America and the necessity of looking to Jesus Christ for hope and help.

Public Catholic is “like a mighty rushing wind.” Acts 2.2 ESV

STOP SLOGAN-VOTING. STOP HATE-VOTING. STOP BEING MANIPULATED. INTRODUCTION

July 3, 2012 · by Rebecca Hamilton · in Abortion, Christian Living, Christian Lobbying, Christian Persecution, Christian Walk, Christianity, HHS Mandate, Political Campaigns, Pro Life, Witness for Jesus

Stop slogan-voting. Stop hate-voting. Stop being manipulated.

We are in a fight for religious freedom in America. Religious freedom is sometimes called the “first freedom.” It is, after all, enshrined in the First Amendment. But there is another reason to call it the “first freedom.” Religious freedom is the basic human freedom on which other freedoms are built. It strikes to the core of our souls, of who we are as individuals and how we view ourselves and other people. All the questions of human worth and the proper relationship of government to the individual person have their genesis in the right to religious freedom. Continue reading ““Like a mighty rushing wind”… Public Catholic speaks to the grassroots” →

Co-dependence – our societal disease.

Peanut Gallery: Co-dependence is a natural consequence of our “infinite capacity for self-deception.” We cannot look at ourselves squarely in the face of God’s truth, so we we glance at others sideways as well. It truly is a societal disease.

Rebecca Hamilton has nailed it with her definition: “Co-dependence is… the fine art of making excuses for and buying into the lies of miscreants in such a way that you help them continue misbehaving. Meanwhile, you sacrifice yourself for them and their lies.”

Why do we continue to enable other people’s bad behavior? Ask yourself – “For whom am I continually making excuses and why?” If we are honest, it’s not about them, it’s about us… lying to ourselves.

Nothing will ever change until we face up to our own complicity in perpetuating bad behavior. The definition of insanity – “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Public Catholic

Raise your hand if you have a family member or friend with drug or alcohol problems.

Are your hands at your side? If they are, think carefully.

What about that cousin no one talks about? You know the one; the family embarrassment that you haven’t seen for years but that you know is out there somewhere, tippling, shooting up, snorting or pill-popping their way to an early grave. What about your high school friend who started missing classes and ended up missing in action for life?

Now. I’ll ask again. Raise your hand if you have a family member or friend with drug or alcohol problems.

Ok. Has everybody got a hand in the air? Good. Now we can talk.

If everybody was honest, there were a lot of raised hands. There is a whole lot of drinking and drugging going on. That leads to the conclusion that there…

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