Benevolence

#556

There have been 13 US Presidents during my lifetime. Only two stand out as unusual men, Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. By the time a man climbs the political ladder to gain the presidency, most have found that their ladder was leaning on the wrong building. They had climbed the ladder leaning on the building of compromise instead of the building of integrity. Don't ever confuse success with celebrity. Think of Madonna and Helen Keller. The Bushes, father and son, Clinton, Carter, Obama may be celebrated but they were not successful.

Eisenhower said, “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”

This week, Americans have filed their income tax forms. Only about 50% of Americans pay income tax...they pay the rest for the 50% of their fellow citizens who do not pay any income tax. But, for the 50% who do pay income tax, I want you to think about the following; 48% of your income tax goes towards warfare, 30% for present conflict and 18% for past conflicts, either care for veterans or interest on the debt imposed by passed wars. The thousands who lie buried in cemeteries, killed in what they thought was their battle for the preservation of the American Democratic Republic cannot speak for themselves. The thousands of veterans who draw a pittance of pension for service (even those who like your writer are 100% disabled) and who go through the traumatic problems involving their healthcare at VA facilities, know the problems of their service...an ungrateful nation...the never ending trauma of having experienced the horrors of war.

In the back of every veteran's mind, particularly as he looks at his own children and the children of others, is the dilemma of what happened to so many innocent children...victims of warfare. This very day, drones (unmanned miniature military planes) are dropping their bombs of destruction on the uninitiated, impoverished people of Pakistan, where most of the Afghanistan war has moved. As Americans sit on their Lazy Boys watching the romance of war, and Hollywood can make it so romantic on their television screens, there are those both here and in war zones who live with the holocaust of war disaster every day. Most of you have never depended on a white cane to get you around, know the afflictions of using a wheel chair in a bathroom or experienced the delirium of unsuccessful sleep. Most have never been to military funeral, seen a widow or mother handed an American flag off the casket of a loved one. The truest form of “benevolence” is to seek safety and security for all people around the world.

God always warns us ahead of time when a storm is approaching, natural or man made. On the farm, we could tell from the action of chickens or other bird life (animals with a brain about the size of a pea), the cows would always head for the barn, the dogs and cats would act a little strange, when a storm was approaching. Before the 4940 B.C. Flood Noah warned the world about God's wrath. The Lusitania was sunk May 7, 1915 by a German torpedo certainly showing the beginning of WWI. Mr. Hitler made no secret about the beginnings of WWII. It is known that America had warning about the Pearl Harbor attack. There was certainly sufficient knowledge about the 9-11 attack. When these things happen, and respond we must, why not limit the military action to military objectives...military ships, planes, training facilities and storage depots? Why subject civilian populations to military destruction? As we have seen with the Marshall plan after WWII, Japan and South Pacific countries after WWII, we can go in, at the expense of the American tax payer, rebuild structures in a “benevolent” manner but there is no way to restore human life or the disasters brought on the living.

Our Bill of Rights relates only to the individual. Our freedoms relate collectively. The most “benevolent” thought of a government, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are not benevolent enough to protect the most innocent of life, the unborn.

Samuel Adams, founding father, principle of Republicanism said, “Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.” With “benevolence” it is time to defend the only privacy we have left, choice in healthcare.

On the whole we badly have needed to cover the uninsured and this legislation, when implemented, will do that. The fact that not everyone will be covered is surely true but this is a major step in the right direction. I am very concerned about the proposed cuts in Medicare. I have to believe, and I do, that these will not occur to anything like the extent promised because of the predictable push-back of seniors and health providers and state governments.

So what that means is this will add hugely to the federal budget deficit, not a happy prospect to be sure. I continue to believe that our nation must press ahead with additional health system reform, which from my own experience, is badly needed, delivering quality care at a much lower cost. We can do that, but it will stretch us like nothing we have ever done before, just like this process has challenged our political system.
So… Health reform has passed… with much more to come! I believe we will be arguing about all of this for months, indeed for years to come.

Our “benevolence”, as Christians, in a one time Christian nation (the Supreme Court declared USA a Christian nation from 1799 to 1892) should extend to our own individual lives and our way of living. For those of us raised in poverty, living poor even during good times, living a life of chastity and obedience. Consolation is found in knowing, we can show love one to another...the Christ-like example. The heathen will rage, there will be an increase in crime and corruption but we will hold on to our faith. The Apostle Peter showed his lack of faith, as he warmed himself by the enemy's fire, as he denied our blessed Lord, but it was Peter, who waded from the water to greet our Lord by the Sea of Galilee and who answered three times how much he loved Christ just as he had denied him three times. On the the day of Pentecost, 7 days afterward, I would have been the first to say to Peter, “we don't need you to preach to us” but, Peter's sermon on that day, lead to the salvation of 3,000 believers...such a powerful sermon. Jesus Christ knew “benevolence”. At his resurrection, it was Peter specifically specified to be told, “go tell Peter”. (Mark 16:7)

We have the example, claim benevolence.