Politics and Spiritualism
The movie "News of the World" depicts life in 1870. Former Confederate soldier Captain Kidd (Tom Hanks) travels from town to town reading the newspapers for a paying audience. From when news occurred to when most people read or had the news read to them because they could not read, was measured in weeks, months, and even years for some people. Politics has not changed much since the founding of our nation in 1776. Nearly 100% of We the People participating in government lived a religious life based not on progressive reality but on stories that were first told over and over generation after generation, century after century, and finally written down -
Earliest writings: Parts of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) may have been written as early as the 10th century BCE.
Torah: The first five books of the Bible (the Torah or Pentateuch) were likely compiled and edited during the Babylonian Exile in the 6th-5th century BCE.
Completion of the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible was likely complete by around 100 CE.
The New Testament was written later, in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE.
Why do people use CE and not AD?
BC stands for "Before Christ," and AD stands for Anno Domini, Latin for the "Year of Our Lord." Because non-Christians do not consider Jesus to be their "Lord," scholars developed the non-religious term "the Common Era," abbreviated CE. BCE stands for "Before the Common Era."
Thus, Political Correctness!
American Constitutional Democracy was designed to work alongside people who live religiously. From 1776 until 1963, the religious spirit of America united the US Republican and Democratic parties. In 1962, 90% of US citizens lived religiously; today, only 64%. What about tomorrow? How has the loss of this unifying force changed America?
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams
Politics Today
However, the political news/opinion cycle today is real-time to minutes. Google search has replaced the planned trip to the library to do research. Your library is the smartphone in your pocket. Soon, AI will assist experts using prompt engineering to produce more ideas, knowledge, order, control, and intelligence in a fraction of the time and effort previously necessary.
The gentlemen gathering at the coffee shop to discuss news of the day and politics, like Benjamin Franklin's junto, has been replaced by 24/7 social media. Massive, diverse groups collaborate over political news within minutes. Political opinions change in hours and days instead of months and years. The vote of We The People and the resulting representative government we end up with for years to come can no longer keep up.
The result is government by political opinion:
1970 Political Correctness
1990 Critical Race Theory
2013 Black Lives Matter
2014 Woke
2024 Antisemitism
We have witnessed a perfect storm of intellectual elites, "professors", following Saul Alinsky's 12 "Rules for Radicals". In contrast, most of the US, We The People, follow the 1776 Constitutional process designed for creeping, cautious, and objective Democratic incrementalism.
While 72% of Americans support Israel defeating Hamas and 80% of Americans support Israel, our political news cycle and college education are being damaged and stolen by a minority of political opinion using illegal, in-your-face hateful acts. The result is nothing like what a Democracy should be. Radicals are supported by money and influencers who do not respect our Rule of Law; they hate American Democracy.
Our young people are "changing America," their way of giving meaning and a bit of a selfish feeling of success to their otherwise struggling student lives. Our freedom to protest is our greatest strength and vulnerability to enemies who want to overpower, control, and use the US.
The internet and social media have revolutionized how we execute politics, action, and the Rule of Law. Once, political discussions and debates were confined to physical spaces such as town halls or over dinner tables, with the understanding that politics is an opinion, not a Constitutional Law. Now, they span the globe, occurring at all hours on platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Reddit.
The last time American Democracy worked nearly as designed was in the 1990s when Democrat Bill Clinton was President. The 104th United States Congress convened in January 1995; House Republicans voted former Minority Whip Newt Gingrich—the chief author of the Contract with America—to become Speaker of the House. The new senatorial Republican majority chose Bob Dole, previously Minority Leader, as Majority Leader.
The Tail is Wagging the Dog
Political Correctness -> Critical Race Theory -> BLM -> Woke -> Antisemitism
A small representative government answering to a majority or a supermajority of its citizens is fundamental to a Constitutional Democracy. Anytime a tiny faction of The People can cost and control others, democracy is threatened. Unearned entitlements are immoral and disincentivize the creativity and efficiency of free-market capitalism.
Social charity is a family and religious responsibility. A tithe is a portion (10%) of your income given to your local church. (The word tithe means tenth in Hebrew.) Because the custom of tithing is biblical, many Christians and Jews practice it as part of their faith. In 1962, with 90% of people tithing, the Church helped the needy more justly and efficiently than the government could.
Today, more US citizens are secular, more individuals seek more and more personal wealth and comfort, and more individuals take on one of the many new-age ideologies that demand entitlements as just compensation for oppression. These factions have split our democracy. Many look to the government instead of the church to help others. Socialism: These days, Christians, now 64% of the people, are tithing only 2.5% of their income, much less than in the past. President Johnson started the Democratic Cancel Culture, which has displaced religious charities to buy political support.
Hundreds of new political factions tend to follow the hard-to-ignore and undemocratic "Rules for Radicals." Thus, they often perpetrate attention-getting acts and soon after present themselves as the oppressed victims. A democratic socialist government's solution is to grant entitlements to such minorities hoping to get political votes, which is not how a Democracy and its free market capitalism works.
Similarly, enormous government spending is less efficient and inevitably leads to Private Enterprise Oligarchies like those in China and Soviet Russia.
We, The People, get ripped off. America is in decline.
Radical demonstrations are not productive. Justice that does not ensure that consequences do not accompany illegal acts is bankrupting We The People. Spending more and producing less than at times of war, the US is in a financial death spiral. World War II almost broke the US, but we rose to defend the World Order and offer peaceful world trade. We paid off the debt of WWII by 1963 when LBJ assumed the Presidency. We abandoned the gold standard in 1973 and started our financial death spiral with President Obama's presidency, spending our way out of a recession in 2008.
Diversity, Misinformation & Finding Progressive Truth
Political leaders and candidates can now communicate directly with their constituents, broadcasting their messages without intermediaries. This empowering shift has democratized access to political discourse, amplifying a greater diversity of voices to be heard. However, it has also led to the spread of misinformation, creating a new challenge for the public to discern fact from fiction.
The internet and social media have revolutionized campaigns and elections. From fundraising to mobilizing volunteers to spreading campaign messages, these digital platforms have become transformative tools for political engagement. They have enabled grassroots movements to gain momentum and revolutionized how political campaigns are strategized and executed.
The internet and social media are not just tools for politicians and campaigns. They also serve as a forum for public discourse. Citizens can discuss, debate, and share their views on political issues, candidates, and policies. They can mobilize around causes, organize protests and demonstrations, and advocate for change.
However, this new era of digital politics is not without its challenges. Privacy, data security, and the potential for manipulation by foreign entities are all concerns that need to be addressed. Furthermore, the rapid pace of technological change means that the landscape of digital politics is constantly evolving, demanding continuous adaptation and vigilance.
In short, the internet and social media have fundamentally reshaped the political landscape, offering opportunities for engagement and participation and presenting new challenges that must be navigated with care.
Religious Political Correctness
From 1776 until 1960, throughout most of American history, politicians have used religious and political correctness to try to cancel the freedom of speech of their opponents and give entitlements to their political party members who are thought to be superior, religious, and socially loving, like a mother, the Democrat, or exceptional, spiritual, and valuing discipline and merit like a father, the Republican. Both the Democrats and the Republicans based their ideological political correct opinions, acts, and decisions based on religious morality, just as royalty had done for centuries.
Idealogical Political Correctness
Democratic President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, from 1960 to 1963, was the last Democratic President to follow religious and political philosophy as all Democratic Presidents before he had done. He and Martin Luther King both believed the following:
Rather than the vague pursuit of “equity,” I prefer a society premised on equality. Not equality of outcomes, but equality under the law and equality of opportunity.
In 1960, the birth control pill was first used, making Free Love possible. Hard Rock music was created, students accused their parents of hypocrisy, and the unpopular with the young Vietnam War boiled over. The first protests against the war in Vietnam occurred on college campuses across the United States. One of the earliest groups to coordinate these protests was Students for a Democratic Society, which organized protests as early as 1965. In 1969, America was deeply into the controversial Vietnam War, a conflict which many young people were firmly against, and the civil rights movement. Woodstock was a chance for the young struggling with modern life to escape into music and social encounters while spreading a message of unity and peace.
John F Kennedy (1963), Lee Harvey Oswald (1963), Robert Kennedy(1968), and Martin Luther King (1968)were suspiciously assassinated before 1970, and there are many unanswered questions. We do know that President Lyndon Baines Johnson changed the future of the Democratic party forever by creating political correctness entitlements to pay for the votes of those oppressed by racial discrimination. President Johnson's Great Society program became his agenda for Congress in January 1965: aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control and prevention of crime, and delinquency, removal of obstacles to the right to vote.
The 1970s saw an increased emphasis on civil rights, women's rights, and other social issues. It began the left's significant political correctness movement with all its big government deficit spending. This era saw the rise of liberal ideologies, emphasizing the promotion of equality of outcome and inclusivity. The term 'political correctness' came into widespread use, primarily to describe language, policies, or measures intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society.
As this movement gained momentum, it sparked debates about freedom of speech, censorship, and the role of government in regulating discourse. Critics argued that political correctness stifled free speech and created an environment of self-censorship, while proponents maintained that it promoted diverse inclusivity and respect for all individuals.
Into the 1980s and beyond, political correctness continued to evolve, becoming a significant aspect of American politics. Both major political parties have grappled with its implications, with debates often falling along partisan lines.
Today, political correctness remains a contentious issue in American politics. While it has led to greater awareness and consideration of diverse perspectives, it has also been accused of fostering division and stifling free speech. As we move forward, it will be crucial for society to strike a balance that respects individual rights and promotes inclusivity while safeguarding the fundamental principle of free speech.
Conclusion
The political landscape in America is at a crossroads. As we continue to navigate the digital age, we must strive to maintain the principles of democracy that our nation was built upon. We must ensure that the voices of all citizens are heard, not just those who shout the loudest or have the most followers on social media.
At the same time, we must address the challenges of this new era of politics. We need to confront the spread of misinformation, protect the privacy and data of our citizens, and guard against foreign manipulation.
Furthermore, we must ensure that political correctness does not stifle freedom of speech but promotes respect and inclusivity. It is essential to remember that every citizen has a right to express their views, even if they are unpopular or controversial.
Finally, we must not forget the importance of faith in American life. While our society has become more secular, the principles of charity, compassion, and community central to many religious traditions remain as relevant as ever. These principles can guide our political discourse and decision-making, helping us to build a more just and equitable society.
In conclusion, how we respond to these challenges will shape the future of politics in America. Through open dialogue, mutual respect, and a commitment to our democratic principles, we can ensure that our political system remains robust and resilient in the face of change.
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