Author: Reemberto@gmail.com

Of Vietnam, Cuba, and Trump

I see President Trump is meeting with a totalitarian leader from a country has threatened the U.S., its people are starving, and are lacking the basic necessities of life. Trump is meeting that leader at another country where socialism and communism are enshrine in their recently adopted constitution.

No, I am not talking about Venezuela and Cuba, of course. I am talking about North Korea and Vietnam.

Trump is actually praising Vietnam, suggesting to North Korea to follow their model. Think about that. Let it sink in. Could you imagine Trump visiting Cuba and suggesting to Venezuela to follow Cuba’s model?!?

Vietnam, a country where tens of thousands of Americans less than 50 years ago fought in a failed, lost war… Vietnam, a self-proclaimed, practicing communist country. A country with little freedom, a centrally controlled economic system, and government control of most means of information… A country, in other words, much like Cuba.

Yet the U.S. has no problem having American companies there. The U.S. has no problem having people visit there. The U.S. has no problem lauding its successes.

The naysayers will tell you: “The difference is Vietnam never expropriated American properties.” Fair enough. And Cuba never killed over 50,000 Americans… What is more important?!? Hmmm…

Few in the U.S. blinked an eye when President Clinton re-established diplomatic relations with Vietnam. Many in the U.S. shivered when President Obama re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba.

To this day, many are dead set against removing the archaic embargo the U.S. has against Cuba. An embargo that is used by the Cuban government as an excuse to be on guard for an “imperialistic invasion.”

And then there is Venezuela… If only I could believe that Trump’s interest is the Venezuelan people! Yeah, right. Trump’s interest is Venezuela’s oil.

Cuba is no Venezuela. It is an island. Its people cannot so easily flee. Aid cannot so easily be brought in… And, most importantly, for anyone wishing for a Cuban uprising, forget it. Many in Cuba are skeptical of any substantive change that would bring to power expats who clamor for unregulated capitalism. Many Cubans are skeptical of the inevitable inequalities that drastic changes would accentuate, including  the loss of (albeit non-existing) government health care and education, and the perceived sense of personal safety – even though this is so at the cost of personal freedom of expression and a result of draconian gun control laws that keeps guns exclusively in the hands of the military.

Never mind that there are many Cubans of good will – inside and outside the island – that would welcome substantive structural changes to decentralize the economy, rid the country of the enslavement of the two currency system so Cuba could rejoin the World Bank and IMF, and institutionalizing diversity of thoughts in a functioning civil society – something non-existant in today’s Cuba. However, the fear of the unknown and the chaos that an abrupt transition may bring keeps Cuba inching along the path of liberalization rather than galloping to economic and political diversity… And that fear is instilled and promogated in a big way by the Trump administration and Marco Rubio… And, the Cuban government uses that fear to their advantage as they keep a tight control on the Cuban people, manipulating and staging the results of supposedly democratic constitutional reforms – which is turning out to be yet another sham of a failed Revolution.

Of course, lifting the embargo would help – tremendously. And it would also help if the Cuban government was not so intransigent, and so insistent in protecting its power base at the cost of any meaningful progress.

Yet, if Trump was to take the same tact he is seemingly taking with Vietnam with Cuba, things would be oh so very different… So, tell me again, why is he not doing so?

Could it be that Trump refuses to take a different tact with Cuba because the politics of Florida? Could it be that his insistence that the U.S. be firm and strong against Cuba is simply a political ploy for votes? Could it be it is all about politics, not about what is good for the people of Cuba?

Of course it is! This man Trump has no capacity to do anything other than what is exclusively in his self-interest. This means a non-negotiable NO to lifting the Cuban embargo, removing travel restrictions, or negotiating in good faith the thorny issue of corporate and personal assets stolen by the Cuban government in the early days of the Revolution – nearly 60 years ago.

So things inch along – sometimes taking one step forward and two steps backward –  waiting for a change in administration here and the death of the remaining (Raul) Castro there…

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Declaring a national emergency to build a piece of wall at the U.S./Mexico border is simply indefensible.

• First, to understand – in generalities – the numbers:
• One billion equals one thousand millions.
• 1B=1,000M
• A billion has 9 zeros. 1,000,000,000

To build a 4 lane highway is costs about 5-10M / mile – about the same as for Trump’s wall. Trump wants approximately $5B.

… not that there’s anything wrong with the idea of securing the border by undertaking a massive infrastructure project. Except. Except we have choices to make. Everyone is in favor of border security. And most folks understand that public infrastructure expense is generally a good idea.

But, specifics matter. Process matters.

Public policy is not as simple as choosing between ‘guns or butter’ or ‘law and order or fairness and equity’… Life is complicated. Collective decision making – democracy – is messy… Yet, sometimes simple examples and comparisons may help.

What else can $5B in infrastructure get you? Take your pick – or a combination of:

• 5,000 rural community centers
• 50,000 affordably priced apartments.
• 100,000 opioid treatment centers
• 1,000,000 internet ready classrooms
• 5,000,000 safe crosswalks
• 10,000,000 phones for the homeless

Every year, somewhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people in the U.S. die each from:

• Overdose
• Gun violence
• Car accidents

That’s over 100,000 people dead. Every year. Could you imagine how many of these deaths could be avoided if $5B was dedicated to addressing these issues?

On and on and on… Statistics can only take us so far….

… just think: Future Presidents will be tempted to use “national emergencies” to address any of the above data points. They will all have credible rationale to justify going around the power of Congress to do it. Now they will have a precedent to declare a “national emergency” for political purposes.

If the the illogical, strong-man, near-dictatorial behaviour of this President does not bother you, then there’s nothing much we can talk about… There’s so very little ‘common ground’ or ‘intersecting agenda’.

Welcome to the new U.S.A.

#RESIST

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Oh my. Just had a thought. Just a thought, mind you. Nothing more… Are you listening, Nancy?

The European Union, Brazil, and the U.S. – among many other nations – are supporting Juan Guaido, the duly and indisputably rightfully elected representative of the directly elected (i.e.: as in he/she who gets the most votes wins the election) representatives in Venezuela, as he claims the office of the Presidency because Venezuelan President Maduro rose to power through a
> rigged election,
> has caused havoc in the business of governance,
> is de-stabilizing democratic institutions,
> has surrounded himself with criminal elements, and
> is a puppet of a foreign county…

Hmmm, are you listening Nancy?

What I don’t quite understand – what I have yet to figure out – is why Putin is allowing Trump to show support for Venezuela… (Though it is becoming clearer; read on.) Unless of course, they are doing this to show to the world that Trump is not Putin’s puppet… Or, is this a diversion from their end game, total destabilization of the US to the point of submission?

Remember that Russia plays the long game. Theirs is one of empire building through military might and power. The US plays the much shorter game of immediate economic profits for the uber rich so they can enjoy it today, damn tomorrow.

In Russia’s eyes a weakened US from the perspective of perceived aspirational power is a clear battle win – not the end of the war, but certainly a battle that must be won. That is, Russia wins when the US is no longer looked at as the beacon of democratic hope; when aspiring people throughout the world discard the US theoretical democratic model as a model for governance, and instead turn to the simplistic personality driven strong man model.

These strong man model of governance are much easier to control than democracies where power is shared in different branches of government, dissent is allowed, and an independent judiciary is truly independent. These strong men are more willing to join the international mafia that is Russia. Democracies are messy and much more difficult to buy than single nations governed by strong man, troikas, or uber rich families… However, like what is going on with Venezuela, democracies must be supported – but only to lure the masses to think that you care.

As nations throughout the world turn to the strong man model of governance, in many ways thanks to Russia’s intentional destabilization whether through military power (Syria) or more savvy technological warfare that requires not a single shot (rigging elections in US and Brittan), Russia gets closer and closer to their end game, winning the war.

Is there any doubt that the Venezuelan crisis will be solved only when if and how Russia wants it to? This has nothing to do with democracy. This has nothing to do with the Venezuelan people. This has everything to do with how Putin wants to divvy up the oil fields of Venezuela. To the extent that he needs international American companies to do his dirty work, he will instruct Trump to do his bidding. To the extent Putin decides to go at it alone, Trump will of course abide.

Getting rid of Maduro has nothing to do with his socialist bent. It has everything to do with his ineptness in ensuring the efficiencies of the oil industry. He us being fired because his boss (Putin) is allowing him to be fired. And Putin is using his puppet, Trump, to do the firing. Nada mas.

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A useful idiot or a Russian spy?

Either way, the man is the real “enemy of the State.”

Remember when we would call him “Putin’s Puppet” and folks would dismiss us as radical wackos?

Well, here we are. The cat is out of the bag. The FBI – the FBI; let that sink in! – at one point considered the President of the United States an agent of a foreign country. Either this allegation is indisputably dismissed or we are in catastrophic times… And this is saying nothing of the Mueller investigation which has yet to conclude.

Trump’s consistent and unequivocal nod to Putin coupled with his seemingly hell-bent efforts to discredit every major American institution and the intentional disruption of traditional governance structures is clear proof he is not about making America great again but rather making Donald Trump an international mafioso.

Does any doubt remain that this man has no interest whatsoever in working for the common person, advancing social good, or even creating an economy that works for most people? Can anyone doubt that this man has no inclination to bring the country together or be President for anyone other than those who see him as a saviour for the dwindling white nationalists, those who are exclusively interested in the single issues of anti-abortion, judicial power, and wealth welfare for the uber rich – or those that hate Obama?

Let’s keep the eye on the prize. This man has to be made totally ineffective. We have to find ways to work around him. And he has to be out of there as soon as practical – but certainly no later than November 2020. He may have his cronies that will go to all lengths to use him for their self interest. There will always be that third of America welcoming a “strong man that tells it like it is” – though he is obviouly playing them to a hilt. And, there will always be those more afraid of change and the Democrats than whatever totalitarian and authoritative measures he may take – including possibly publicly aligning himself with Putin and Russia.

But, these cronies, frightened electorate, and supporters of a dictatorship know that there is one irrevocable power we have: The vote.

In the days, weeks, and months to come expect more draconian, outlandish – and illegal – acts by Trump. He is in desperation mode. Putin is pulling all the strings so tight that he may choke… But only so Pence can come in and look like the clean knight in a shining armor. And run in 2020… Stay tuned.

(I did write something that foreshadowed this a while back, “Putin’s Puppet“.)

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National politics is going through some trying times. We have a President that is redefining the role in ways many find disgraceful, including allegedly doing illegal shenanigans. We have a Congress that can’t seem to get its stuff together… No wonder so many people say ‘to heck withall of this’ and walk away from following, trying to understand, or influence National politics. Hecks, almost 1/2 of America does not even vote!

Still, National politics is critical. We must #RESIST and cause systemic change for the better.  AND – not but – the fact is that much of our daily life is also impacted by local politics. It is at the local level that we get responsive elected officials to fill pot-holes, care for the homeless, navigate the complexities of growth, transportation, and infrastructure. structure property taxes, oversee public schools, public safety, and much more.

If you are not engaged with your local public officials, you are missing a lot. These areregular folks, our friends and neighbors, everyday people. They are accessible, they shop the same stores we shop, they visit the same bars, and their dogs are as unruly as ours. Yet these are folks that are committed to civic service. They open up their lives to the public. They compromise their own personal anonymity and have to be ‘on’ 24/7.  These folks are the truly the local s/heroes of our times. Our hats off to them!

I am blessed to live in an area where given my appointed role with County government, the neighborhood in which I live, and my personal interest in local Party politics I’ve gottento know many of these local elected officials. Having worked in over 100 cities throughout the United Stated fermenting local private/public partnerships I can truly say that the team of local elected officials we have in Silver Spring (Maryland) rivals any elected officials team in the Country.

We just ‘ended of an era’ with the 12 years of leadership by Ike Leggett, an amazing County Executive. He not only weathered the storm of the Great Recession responsibly, maintaining both the safety net and a Triple A bond rating, but also made Montgomery County the most welcoming County in the U.S.A. His work in the County was augmented by nine Councilmembers of impeccable integrity, commitment,and heartfelt concern for the community.

And now we begin a new journey with County Executive Elrich, a man truly of the people; a school teacher and avid advocate for the 99%. We also have four new and five returning councilmembers. This includes a Latina and Latino, the first openly gay Councilmember, an African American, and a son of an African immigrant.

This local team is augmented by a Congressman who also happens to be a Constitutional scholar (Jamie Raskin), two amazing Senators (Van Hollen and Cardin), a fighter of an Attorney General (Frosh), and a team of diverse State Delegates that make us all proud. (Plus a School Board with Guatemalan friend Karal Silverstre, newly elected to the Board.)

These folks certainly do not agree on everything. Indeed, they have difficult disagreements on many issues. Yet, their core values are aligned – and it shows when they battle for major policy issues to continue on what we call our “Montgomery Way.”

If all politics islocal, I am certainly blessed to be in a good place!

For the record,here are some of the recent speeches – and statements – given by some of these elected officials. Words matter. And these are beautiful, inspiring, sincere words that give us pride – and challenge us for the journey ahead.

County ExecutiveElrich Vision Statement

County ExecutiveElrich Inauguration Speech

Council PresidentNancy Navarro’s Remarks at ther Installation as President

(Past) CouncilPresident Hans Reimer Remarks at the Inauguration

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Leadership matters.

How we perceive leaders matters.

How leaders behave matters.

All too often we become enamored with a leader way too soon, way too fast. We project unto them what we wish they were and avoid seeing – believing – who they clearly are.

We all too often put leaders up on a pedestal only to see others tear them down, disparage them, belittle them, make fun of them; destroy them… And we watch in disbelief, only to realize later that they were duly criticized, that they belong in jail. That they duped us.

This happens in big and small ways. It happens with world leaders; it happens with community leaders; with family leaders; with politicians and faith leaders. And it happens over and over again.

And yet we continue doing the same thing, seemingly refusing to learn from history, from past events, from well-founded words of wisdom from friends and family.

And so it is today with so many of us.

In some cases we are part of the willing posse, buying into the illusion of leadership perfection. Friends warn us, yet we believe. It is how we were brought up. It is deep in our faith DNA.

In other cases we are in the resistance from the get-go and can not understand how our best of friends don’t see the clearly evident evil of  – in our eyes – a phony leader. We warn them, yet they persist in their unbending support for the leader because their fixation on a particular outcome, be it pro-life or judicial control.

As a practicing Catholic – that is, we are practicing but we don’t have it quite right yet – we are aghast with the blatant failure of our faith leaders to grasp the severity, emergency, and immediacy of the catastrophic age our Church is living through. These leaders are tone deaf. You want to give them the benefit of the doubt; you pray for them; you try to understand their meek statements and attempts at theological calisthenics.  Yet, it simply does not feel right. Rather it feels you are being played. It feels they are buying time. It feels they are about one thing and one thing only: Power.

And so it is, of course, with our premier national civic leader, the President of the United States of America. In his case, it seems it is not only about Power. It is only about himself. Nada mas. Nothing more. The criticism are many: The atrocities he says, his demeanor, the way he behaves, acts, talks; coupled with his evident lack of human decency, empathy, and authentic care for others; and, add to that his persistent lying and total disregard for empirical facts.

Yet many tell us to accept these undisputable shortcoming for the greater good. Many tell us that it is the results that count; keep the eye on the prize; don’t get swayed by the waves of criticism. Stay strong. Believe. America first. At all costs… These leaders will tell you they are the victims of deranged fanatics who want to destabilize the cherished institutions and question the bedrock of our core beliefs – be in our faith or our country.

They will instill doubt in our minds. They will question our allegiance, our commitments, our steadfastness to your core values if we dare disagree. They will insist that they have the answers for the greater good. Just trust them. Hang in there. There is a brighter future under their leadership. Their’s is the way. Remember you are the servant, they are the masters. Pray. Obey. They know best. You have incomplete, biased, and inaccurate information. Facts are in the eye of the beholder. They can best interpret facts for you. Beware of group-think. Remember the group-think people, the academics, scientists, and other self-proclaimed thinkers are all against us, these leaders will tell you. They will tell us that these “others”  don’t understand us, they want to tear us down…. These self-centered corrupt leaders will do whatever they have to do to make you think their authority is unquestionable. 

We, however, must say ENOUGH!

Leadership without informed, skeptic, questioning, discerning followers is not leadership: it is power grabbing; it is manipulative governance; it is authoritarianism.

Whether it is one specific leader at the top – as it is evident with the President of the United States – or it is a team of corrupt appointed leaders – as it is evident with some bishops and priests in the Catholic Church – we have a choice to make as participants in the flock, as residents of this Nation.

As with most things in life, three choices mark the extremes.

[1] Choice one: Leave – and disengage

[2] Choice two: Accept – and live on

[3] Choice three: Resist – and work for change

I choose the third.

The Catholic Church is my Church. It is far from perfect, but it has provided me the foundation for my life’s spiritual journey.  I am not going to let a bunch of criminals disguised as leaders to steal the beauty, grace, love which is the Catholic Church. These criminals belong in prison. I will work with every ounce of my spirit to see that we as a Church cleans our soul and focus on service as theology.

The U.S. is where I live. It is far from perfect, but it is where I am by happenstance of life.  I am not going to let this sorry excuse for a President that we have to steal the aspirational – if unfulfilled – ideals of this Country. I will resist with every ounce of my body to see to it that he does not perverse the ideals of the United States  into a warp sense of conceited ego-centric ‘me first’ nationalism.

#RESIST

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Two weeks after the mid-term elections, I have not had the ‘aha’ to write a new blog posting.

I did run across this article this morning in America Magazine that is very much the posting I wish I would have written.

Can we reclaim civility and decency in the public square? I hope – I pray – and I will act to do so… Easy? No. But indispensable if we are going to reclaim decorum and shape a new way of doing governance that invites discourse, manages disagreement, and respects all participants.

Here’s the article that appeared on America Magazine’s November 19th, 2018 edition, “We must build our public square on civil dialogue”, by Matt Malone, S.J.

We must build our public square on civil dialogue

The genius of the American founders lay in their ability to design institutions that would call forth the best in a fallen humanity while containing the worst. The separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution, novel for its time, is a good example of this theo-political balancing act: No single person can be trusted to wield power; therefore, power must be shared among many and policed by a legal system of checks and balances. Yet our founders also recognized that the U.S. Constitution is but one part of a larger whole called the American political economy. As I have previously noted in this space, while the United States does have a single document called “The Constitution,” with an uppercase T and C, the American system also presumes nonconstitutional values and customs that are just as vital, if not more vital to the health of our democracy.

Among these indispensable customs are decorum and civility in public argument, which largely distinguish a polity from a mere mob. A presupposition of our political economy is that reasonable people can and do disagree about important public matters and that they will do so through spirited yet civil public argument. Americans have not always been civil or decorous with one another, of course; but until recently this was the minimal expectation, and when one failed to meet it, some social penalty was often applied.

Yet the words of the previous paragraph now seem as quaint as a telegram. The public discourse has devolved to such an extent that the value of civility itself is now openly questioned as often as its conventions are routinely violated. “You talk about somebody that’s a loser,” President Trump recently said about a journalist. “She doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing…. But she’s very nasty. And she shouldn’t be. She shouldn’t be. You’ve got to treat the White House and the office of the presidency with respect.”

That last bit is true. But the president should be treated with respect because all people should be treated with respect. That is the value that justifies civility. Embedded in the very notion of democracy, of a free and fair society, is the principle that we are all worthy of respect or none of us is. When challenged about his lack of decorum, Mr. Trump responds by telling us that he is the victim of slander and is therefore justified in employing a bombastic style. People hit him, so he hits them back, his handlers tell us. Yet that is the moral reasoning of a 12-year-old. Few parents would accept the excuse “Everybody else is doing it” from their children. So why do we accept this justification from the president? Why do some offer it in defense of his actions?

I am well aware that Mr. Trump is not the only demagogue in the country. A quick glance at my Twitter feed is enough to establish that sad fact. But Mr. Trump is the only one who happens to be president of the United States and, as such, has a greater duty than most to deploy his rhetoric with prudence, decorum and moral clarity, an extra-constitutional but nonetheless essential duty of his office, one he consistently fails to execute. While Mr. Trump is far from the only culprit in the demise of the civic discourse, he is the most visible; and, whether we like it or not, he establishes the standard for others. As we used to say growing up on Cape Cod, “a fish rots from the head.”

It is unlikely that Mr. Trump will change his ways. But we can—if we want to. I fear that too many of us, while loudly complaining about the polarization and coarseness in our public discourse, quietly rather enjoy it, even if only subconsciously. Deep down in places we don’t like to talk about, we seem to get a thrill from the politics of destruction. It makes us feel powerful, if only for a moment. Cain didn’t kill Abel, after all, over a mere difference of opinion. He killed him out of jealousy, arrogance and pride. So too do we.

Overcoming sin requires grace. Our founders knew that. They did not understand civility to be something like a social contract: We agree to treat each other a certain way; and if the other party breaks the deal, then we are released from the obligation. No, our founders understood that the duty to be civil is not rooted in social custom but in the divine command to love one another. And God didn’t say: “Since some of you are not loving one another, all bets are off.”

God doesn’t ask us, he orders us to love one another. Civility is one way we carry out that command. The task of every citizen, but especially the Christian citizen, is to testify to this divine command in all our public actions; to labor to build a public square that calls forth the best in a fallen humanity while containing the worst, a place where destructive confrontation yields to creative encounter, a place of true civil dialogue not for the sake of one but for the many.

https://www.americamagazine.org/magazine/2018/11/14/we-must-build-our-public-square-civil-dialogue

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What a wild ride. And a week after the election, it is not over yet.

For the record, below are our last few weeks’ worth of Facebook postings as a reminder of what was – and to get us ready for what is to come.

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You know you are a Trump supporter if you believe some, most, or all of the following.

(Remember, you have a choice. While the opposition is far from perfect, it is certainly more decent – and better – than Trump and his ex-Republicans useful idiots. #VOTE!)

Muslims are terrorists.

Mexicans are rapists.

It is ok to grab women by the pussy.

It is fine to bash the disabled.

Gays are not ok.

Blacks better should know their place.

Jews are too powerful.

Journalist are the enemy of the people.

Transgenders should not exist.

There are many “good actors” in the KKK and similar organizations.

Sports figure should have limited freedom of speech in the ballfield.

The tax cuts are helping the average American.

We don’t need insurance to cover pre existing conditions.

Deregulating the big banks will not lead to another financial scam/collapse necessitating a bail out like back in 2009.

Public education can be fixed only by dismantling it.

Climate change does not matter.

Putin is a friend we can not criticize.

North Korea, the Philippine, and Poland have strong leaders worth praising and emulating.

Most African and Latin American countries are shit holes.

Canada is not our friend and deserve  a tariff war.

Saudi Arabia is our friends simply because they buy arms from us, even though women have very few rights and they can murder American journalists.

Ted Cruz father was involved in the assassination of JFK.

Obama was not born in the USA.

Puerto Rico does not deserve to be treated as part of the USA.

Making abortion illegal at any time is of paramount importance without regards to the unintended consequences or the willingness to welcome the baby with insurance, child care, and early childhood education.

Voter fraud is in the millions.

It is ok to make voting more difficult, including instituting a rule that you must vote in every election or be removed from the rolls.

It is ok for a candidate for governor simultaneously be in charge of regulating the elections.

It is ok for the President to consistently lie, be divisive, and make America small –AND call himself a “Nationalist”.

It is ok for the President to keep his tax return secret.

And – before someone posts a similar list from Obama or the Democrats as a response to this post – remember: It is Trump who is the President now; and it is the Republicans that are in power….

It is time to correct this insanity… #VOTE!

p.s.: Don’t assume your family and friends are voting. Encourage them to do so. Offer to drive them to the polls, to baby-sit – whatever it takes… Yes, YOUR vote makes a difference.

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You wake up one morning and realize you live in a nation that came to be through genocide of a native people, built on the back of African slaves, and maintained by the cheap labor of Latinos.

You wake up the next day and realize your religion is infested with pedophiles and sexual deviants – and governed by many morally bankrupt leaders.

How do you survive that one/two punch to the gut? How do you respond to the blast of reality that challenge your core beliefs?

Should I stay or should I go? Should I stay in this country? Should I stay in this Church? How can I possibly be complicit in building a nation with rotten roots or participate in a church corrupt at the core?

How can I declare allegiance to a nation led by an amoral, divisive, cheating, lying President? How can I contribute financially to a church paying for the legal defense and princely lifestyles of criminal clerics and bishops?

Oh, how to respond to this convergence of malice in civics and faith?

We Catholics have to each wrestle with this catastrophic moment in history and in our lifetime in ways that make sense to us as individuals – lest we become hopelessly depressed or “comfortably numb” (as the Pink Floyd song says) to the point of paralysis.

Some will walk away – literally or figuratively. Many will feel rightfully disgusted with the current state of affairs and withdraw from participating civically or in the Church.

Both this country and our Church are imperfect, incomplete, and dysfunctional. Of that there is no doubt.

You can certainly detach yourself from the gutter politics of the moment and turn your back to the horrors going on in the Church. You can certainly simply live life enjoying the immediate satisfactions of the consumer and entertainment culture and society; and you can certainly live life without the Church, in your own private faith space… Ultimately, some will say “we don’t need politics or theology.”

Or you can feel emboldened by this historical challenge and commit to do your part in reclaiming the goodness embedded in many of the people of this country; and rebuilding the Church affirming the beatitudes as put into practice by so many in our Faith.

Two paradigms come to mind:

[1] Don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good; and,

[2] Do everything as if all depends on you knowing it all depends on God.

Pragmatically, functionally, and logistically this means two simple things:

[1] Vote in elections.

[2] Do service with the poor.

Yes, your vote counts. And yes, your service makes a difference.

Convincing friends to vote to end this presidency and supporting your favorite Catholic charity working with the poor and/or immigrant are simple things we can do. Today. Everyday. Without much fuzz. Without long winded debates.

It is not a perfect solution. It will not end all the malice. But it will certainly move the needle.  It will certainly matter – personally and for the common good…  Even a little. And that is o.k. Tomorrow will be another day.

Don’t despair. Keep the Faith. Pray. Act.

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