A requiem for a big yellow bird

Big Bird – Library of Congress, Living Legend Award, 2000 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At this point, I’m angry enough about this I’m going to have to say something, even though I’m busy with school. Or perhaps precisely because I’m busy with school.

School has always been important to me and to women in my family. Teach a boy to read and write and you get a man who can think and reason and support himself. Teach a girl to read and write and you get an entire family who can think and reason and support themselves. Impoverished nations tend to keep their women illiterate, whereas reading mothers give priceless gifts to their children, the desire for knowledge and the betterment of their circumstances and communities.

In the United States in the 1960s, a Democratic President named Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Head Start program, recognizing that poor families could not afford to send their children to preschool but that the ability to read and write should be available to those of all income brackets. The scriptural principal behind such Democratic leadership is that “the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong” and that our God uses the lowly things of this world to confound the mighty. Throughout history we see that talent is not just given to those born into wealthy families, so making learning available to children regardless of their family income is an essential investment in American exceptionalism.

Around the year I was born, an educational TV show came into being that was both commended by educators and criticized by rivals for the painstaking research its creators did to make sure their message was reaching its young viewers but still entertaining to viewers of all ages. Its message: the alphabet, the numbers, shapes, rudimentary reading skills, warm fuzzy relationships and tender life lessons passively presented to children in broken homes whose parents were trying to earn a living or struggling with other adult concerns. As spokesperson for this show, Sesame Street, Big Bird was not the successful capitalist he is today working for Disney, he was an educator. An educator who cared about children who needed a head start because their parents couldn’t afford preschool.

Big Bird, if you’re out there in the blogosphere right now reading “tweets” and so forth, listen to me carefully. Since my own babyhood, you helped my friends and me and countless children all over the world understand how language works along with numbers so we could grasp some spelling and basic arithmetic we would need for grade school. You set a matchless example of community activism.

But I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say The Pledge Of Allegiance. I’ve never heard you talk about how government works or what it means to be an American. I’m sure you’re proud of your citizenship, but you never show it. Forgetting your humble roots as the product of Democratic policies handed down straight from the Oval Office is not a good thing. Mitt Romney wants to kill you, but perhaps you died long ago. How like you we are, pretending that capitalism is self-sustaining and that nothing else matters but profits and the bottom line.

Here we are on election year 2012 at the 11th hour. Big Bird, aren’t you going to at least tell us to get out and vote? If not, we as American citizens are about to get plucked and stuffed as the flightless birds we are because we were never taught where we came from. You discussed the alphabet but history is important, too, Big Bird. Think of all the little children who depend on you. As one educator to another, I believe in you. If you die because you couldn’t lift your voice to save your life and liberty, each and every one of us dies, too, even just a little bit.

If you’re reading this, Big Bird, answer me. Prove you’ve got a pulse. I’m not joking.

PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL: How Mitt Romney’s election to the Presidency could lead to the downfall of the Mormon church

In the interest of time, I’m not going to be clever with this post, I’m just going to be quick and list the most heinous transgressions/stumbling blocks first.

1. Behavior I’ve observed among church members since Romney became the Republican nominee has been decidedly NOT Christlike.

I used to attend sacrament services at the LDS ward that holds my records, but when certain members called to the Bishopric began using the podium on Sundays to boast about Mormon political connections here in Rochester and elsewhere in Monroe County, I found their words contrary to LDS teachings which come from scripture. I am going to split hairs here and say that “we” as LDS church members are commanded not to “rely on the arm of flesh” but upon our faith in our Heavenly Father. We are supposed to be humble and grateful for our blessings. We are not supposed to take credit for our successes but give it to the Lord. I’m going back to my Protestant teachings somewhat comparing the scriptures I’ve read in both churches to demonstrate consensus in what Jesus taught. Or, in other words, let me remind you, Brother Romney, “you DIDN’T build that.”

I got into a lengthy telephone debate the day after Hurricane Sandy with my former mother and father in law about Brother Romney’s understanding of government and his fitness for public office. God bless them both for still checking in on me years after my divorce from their return missionary son and for their refusal to find fault. There are many stellar members of the Mormon church, so I’m not knocking the LDS faith here in this post, even though I know most Mormons are voting for Romney without the benefit of education and common sense, and a lot of Protestants and Catholics will be regretting their vote almost immediately if he wins: “Every member a missionary.”

But, a missionary of what? Remember the motives of Lucifer, “I will ascend higher than the throne of God.” Anyone remember that? “I will” succeed is definitely an antiChrist teaching. No ifs ands or buts. There are no entitlements in your walk with the Savior, only gifts for which you as a Christian must return thanks and praise to your Creator.

2. Sowing confusion as to the purpose of government while pretending to be “an angel of light” and acting as though you have the answers just because you’ve been a Bishop once (or a one-term governor).

The GOP obstinately refuses to admit to voters that household budget and government budget are two different things. The government’s job is not to turn a profit. Anyone running for ANY office ANYWHERE who hasn’t heard the phrase “penny-wise and pound foolish” does NOT understand the purpose of government. I’ll explain:

Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, and for years before huge corporations bought up all the family farms dirt-cheap, the government would subsidize farmers. In other words, the government purchases wheat in a bad market when wheat isn’t selling (I began writing about this principle of macroeconomics in an earlier post about Class Warfare that I never finished). It doesn’t make sense to buy something nobody wants. Even you don’t want it. You wouldn’t run your household budget that way, it’s wasteful. While most of us commoners made it a point 200+ years ago to cast off the Limited Monarchy and merchant-class rulership from the Old Country, a few of us still understand the concept of “penny wise and pound foolish.” Simply put, you save a few pennies today and what you didn’t buy with those few pennies winds up costing you many many “pounds” (or dollars) down the road.

To illustrate this concept, here’s what happens if the government doesn’t step in and buy a farmer’s wheat in years the market is bad: the farmer can’t pay his bills, and he loses his farm. We The People lose a farmer. Next year when there’s a higher demand for wheat we have to import it and our costs go up, plus our taxes have to go up, too. Since our ability to feed ourselves has decreased, we become dependent on the good will of foreign countries, thus our ability to keep peace is also compromised. Read FDR’s “Good Neighbor Policy” in his First Inaugural Address of 1933. Certain services cannot be funded by the private sector. Heath insurance cannot be run for-profit with an aging population or an increasingly unemployed population. Disaster relief cannot be run for-profit. Based on Brother Romney’s recent campaign activities, I don’t think he fully comprehends this. You cannot fire Americans for being broke, Mitt. You cannot deprive your employees of health care. You cannot leave Americans utterly at the mercy of the corporate sector, whom you’ve repeatedly downsized to the point where competitors are going bankrupt and rendered unable to pay pensions.

3. Win-at-all-costs attitudes I’ve observed in the GOP presidential campaign that break at least one of the Ten Commandments and encourage others to break them as well.

Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness (certainly I paraphrase). It now turns out that among other falsehoods and misrepresentations, reports of the Libyan massacre of our diplomats was also distorted by the Romney campaign to influence voters. There are many, many examples of ways Brother Romney has not taught with the words of his mouth but by the nod of his head and the movements of his feet, as discussed in the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. (I could also mention the GOP’s well-publicized tactics for keeping the neediest voters from the polls.)

The goal of business, Brother Romney, is to turn a profit. Nothing more. There is no such thing as a corporate conscience. Regardless of what Mitt Romney is telling everyone to win this election, in his heart of hearts he must know that Goldman Sachs has no human soul and will not ascend to the Celestial Kingdom.

In my 20’s I spent considerable time working at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a temporary employee. One day I was handed replacement pages to the Rules Handbook for conduct on the trading floor. It was my job to update the binders and I read a few of the rules. Fines to traders who used foul language or spat on the floor were $2,000 for each offense, for example.

“Wow, that’s a lot!” I remarked to my supervisor. “Not to these traders,” she explained. “They gross in the hundreds of thousands each day in trading profits. To them, $2,000 is nothing at all.” I thought of an old Charlie Sheen film I saw in college, Wall Street, and how he sold his dad’s firm down the river just to impress his boss. I thought of Mitt Romney who on a whim made a public verbal $10,000 bet and lost it last summer, then said the money meant nothing to him. What do you think some of Brother Romney’s friends do for enjoyment? Most of their annual income, taxed at less than 15% unlike working people who pay 23% or more, is NOT used for their basic necessities, so they find whimsical things to do with it, if they do anything with it at all. Just as the 50 cent fine for spitting on the floor would not discourage traders from acting however they pleased, the same as Brother Romney’s peers speculate on the price of gas for our cars among other things, sending prices through the roof on basic things we need, like food, housing and medical treatments. Then these men and women of leisure get involved in politics where they spit in our faces daily and are not punished at all for it. Believe it or not, the people WE ELECT to run our government are supposed to be part of the solution, NOT PART OF THE PROBLEM. We need a president like Barack Obama, not peers of Mitt Romney, people who don’t need to work and who play daily at driving you and me to the poorhouse. The American economy will die a gruesome and bloody death if we elect Brother Romney because of who he is and what he stands for.

Part of the reason for the separation of church and state (aside from giving the citizens of your nation freedom to be who they are and discover Christ on their own at some point, which is the essence of the Plan of Salvation) is the belief of JudeoChristians that the Savior will return one day and He will govern us. Until then, our job is not to judge our citizens but to provide for them in the way our Savior instructs us in Matthew 25. Specifically, our job is to feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit those sick and in prison, and so forth. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Show me your faith without your works and I’ll show you my faith BY my works.” Is it better to know the name of Jesus and sing it in church on Sundays or is it better to do what He says? As Mahalia Jackson used to sing, “Everybody talkin’ ’bout Heaven ain’t goin’ there.” The reason that I’m “pro-choice” and not “pro-life” is because my understanding of scripture is that Jesus wants to know who His real friends are, He’s not some kind of dummy. The Tree of Knowledge was side-by-side with the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. The choice wasn’t just for Adam and Eve to make, it’s for each and every one of us, in our personal lives and in our families and at work as well as at church. As Joshua said, “Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve.” This day, today as yesterday, each day we individually work out our salvation with fear and trembling, not once and for all at the waters of baptism or whatever you’ve heard from your clergy of choice.

There’s so much more I could say here, but I need to finish two projects for school. Please forward this post to your friends or anyone you think needs to read it.

Vote for Barack Obama next Tuesday.