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Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey

Do you identify as a Democrat, Republican, or Independent? Whichever label you accept for voting is a respectful “courtesy” statement to others! Any label you wear, political or not, provides valuable, low-level information about who you are and what you prioritize. Some wear their labels loudly, some resist being identified with any group, including gender, race, religious preference, and political groups. When the goal is searching for and applying governing truth in a free republic, it is rude and harmful to insist on the right to privacy and cling to an “undeclared” label. Being forthright about identifying with a political party saves a lot of time and moves past the tedious group task of repeatedly “inspecting our naval”. Political parties work at producing value platforms to allow people to sort themselves, so every premise does not have to be established anew for every group action. Every group communication must include some revealing common presumptions to allow time to be spent accommodating freedom of speech. The clearness of a party label definition is critically important for obvious reasons. Resistance to political stereotyping is understandable because of the fear of inevitable envy, discrimination, racism, pride, prejudice, and other painful human shortcomings; however, the hiding of our world view is a harmful over-reaction.

No label is comprehensive. I am comfortable labeling myself as “Republican”, but I quickly qualify my position explaining I am also a “constitutional conservative” to make sure I am not being included with the “Republicans” who think our US Constitution is obsolete! I also feel compelled to add that while I see my party label as compatible with my total identity, it is subservient to my real identity and values tied to belief in Jesus Christ. Partisanship is not a religion even though it may look like it sometimes, but nobody is expected to embrace partisanship at the cost of violation of his or her conscience!

Elected legislators and governors are expected to wear partisan labels for good reason: to provide information to the voters they are proposing to represent. Like all States, Alaska is just now finalizing a redistricting plan (akredistrict.org) to adjust the “weight” of every Alaskan’s vote to reflect the 2020 census results. In your voting district all three recognized parties should be busy re-organizing according to their respective rules and traditions. The process includes identifying party officers, candidates, and issue advocates and platform planks starting with the grassroots precinct level, to be finalized as the official reorganized State Parties. It is your call whether you are going to involve yourself in what too many now view as a waste of time. Many of you are engaged at some level, but judging by recent embarrassing low voter turnout, most are not. Disdain for politics has done incalculable damage to the proper functioning of our republic. Alaska has become particularly vulnerable because we have a legislative branch of government constitutionally weighted to be weaker than normal. The legislature is supposed to be the most responsive branch to the access and will of the sovereigns (We the People), so our government, in effect, has far less voter influence to make and enforcement of good laws than we should. I won’t insult you with details to inform you about how to get involved; but I will “prod” you by declaring we have exactly the Juneau representation we deserve. Especially if you are one who chose to hide your political identity!

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This post was also submitted as an article to The People’s Paper.

“Unsay” can really only mean “say more”! It’s an official and impossible word in Webster’s! We cannot retract words spoken! Words spoken do their job! We can only say more words to “double-down” on what has been said or to deny, “eat crow”, or humbly apologize. We are too often quick and careless with our words. It’s wise to analyze the power of the tongue and to wield words appropriately, keeping them honest, kind, wise, apt, and few.

Freedom of Speech is arguably the ‘lowest common denominator’ of all inherent human rights! It’s “where the rubber meets the road” to confirm all men are created equal. “Speech” inevitably exposes every human being to being known/judged by others. Consider the scope of the commonly known introduction to the Gospel of John; “In the beginning was the WORD (“logos”). The Word was with God, and the Word was God”! This couldn’t be more profound! It’s stunning to contemplate how speech is part of the very definition of the beginning of all things and is associated with the very nature of man and God. Speaking and listening are foundational to all relationships. Unleashing the tongue, whether for good or bad, is an awesome power.

It’s reprehensible to not listen to fellow-humans. Even worse, it’s downright evil to use power and influence to intentionally prevent speech, which is censorship! It’s arrogant to not listen, but a far greater insult to disdainfully use force to shut someone up. This is why it’s so shocking to see the blatant censorship of the big-tech online platforms unveiled. They show no remorse as they crassly continue to screen information as if they are above all law! Social media platforms have NO authority to use censorship to deliberately influence “We the People”! The deliberate censorship of reports of what was on Hunter Biden’s laptop; the reports COVID-19 may have leaked out of a Chinese lab; and the select cancelling of social media accounts reveal despicable arrogance ­­– a disdain for freedom of speech!

Yet, “We the People” (the sovereigns) are understandably torn. On the one hand, most of us demand protection of freedom of speech, but, on the other, we are repulsed by government over-regulation of business – including social media platforms. Our elected government is not qualified to regulate these corporations wisely and constitutionally. Many so-called “statesmen” spend two-thirds of their time campaigning and are determined to stay “out of the weeds” on tough issues like this. Also, most voters are users of Twitter, facebook, You Tube, Amazon, Google! To become a user, “We the people” must click “I Agree” dozens of times, yet in the end, do you know what we’ve agreed to? We are all part of the problem!

The remainder of this editorial is intended to call your attention to a question about a proposed solution appearing in a recent AMAC news report: “Could Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Hold the Key to Defeating Big Tech Censorship?” (https://amac.us/could-bitcoin-and-cryptocurrencies-hold-the-key-to-defeating-big-tech-censorship/) I am neither endorsing or promoting the concept, but it may be an irresistible solution whose political moment has come!

To understand, first review “Web 3.0”, or “Blockchain”; “computer science wizardry” designed to allow information to be stored and accessed on a completely decentralized basis – outside the control of any single entity”. It is being successfully used to avoid Federal Reserve system manipulation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It may ultimately even destroy the Federal Reserve’s power to inflate currency! The idea is to use the same wizardry to prevent any social media giant control of social media “speech”! Some emerging startup companies are suggesting the potential of eliminating both government and private sector censorship of free speech online! This is an amazing claim! Bitcoin has become mainstream, but so far, blockchain-protected speech is theory. It jolts the imagination to ponder the potential. It might be good for potential stock options? Could this have anything to do with the rumors of a Trump social media platform? Such an enterprise could even be designed from the ground up to be free of the toxic and addictive algorithms allegedly promoted by traditional social media platforms! The concept is new, and it is big! Granted, this seems futuristic, idealistic, and impossible hype – just as Bitcoin did not long ago!

I suggest we keep our guard up! As we all know, anything that looks too good to be true, probably is. The “decentralization of media control” is not the same as ensuring the integrity of information – just as decentralization of monetary control policy does not automatically ensure a utopian economic system. The censorship we are observing is terrible; so bad in fact, we may be forced to take drastic action, but we do not want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire of anarchy either! At this point, neither a decentralized monetary system nor a decentralized social media system is time-tested. We need to move slow.

One of the fun things about being a legislator is that you are expected to use a gavel! A gavel is the cool hardwood hammer often associated with judges and courtroom proceedings. Anyone who has ever had the honor of being selected to preside over a meeting encounters the reality of enforcement of freedom of speech! The gavel is a symbol of trust in the person selected to preside. It is also a symbol of a “rule of law” over the meeting … a surprisingly complex set of rules in Robert’s Rules of Order or Mason’s. In politics, a person who is clever and knows these rules typically rises to the top and too often seems to quickly begin “legal bullying”, also known as censorship. A group member who does not know the rules is often intentionally marginalized by members who know, or pretend to know, the rules. While the rules are tedious, they are not hard to understand or apply if you remember their purpose –enforcing freedom of speech. Every member who has a “vote” on any decision made by a committee must be given a fair and equal chance to speak for or against whatever agenda item is “on the table”.

In my 10+ years working in the Alaska Legislature, I have seen some terrible Chairpersons. Too often the tendency is to become too comfortable using the authority entrusted by the gavel as a license to get his or her own way! Both the majority and the minority quickly lose touch with any sense of what the real majority opinion may be when real discussion and debate are not rightly protected.  On the other hand, too often, the minority uses the rules to try to allow any decisive action by filibustering with nonsense to cause gridlock and delay. It is difficult to judge a Chair’s motives, but some ultimately demonstrate his or her commitment to allowing everyone to speak fairly. Others, seem to be committed to shut out opposition, valid or not.

The first use of a gavel in a meeting is to call the meeting to order at a pre-determined start time. A Chairperson who meekly squeaks out his or her suggestion to start the meeting has no clue what the gavel is (or doesn’t have one) and is off to a very poor start. In a properly advertised meeting, with a proposed agenda, a chair who sharply smacks a selected spot on a hard, noisy surface is well on his way if everyone in the room is genuinely startled by the loud “crack” very near the start time. The higher the “startle factor”, the better. An ideal start might include a stifled smile from the chair and maybe a giggle or two from members who have been rudely pulled away from the typical chit-chat before getting down to business. A good start “rap” is a ceremonial consensus that the group is there to go to work to hear each other out and make group decisions/actions. That consensus is best maintained if the gavel only “speaks” loudly when maintaining the mission of the meeting. A good chair will supply a resounding “crack” when someone crassly interrupts or is caught degrading someone for holding an opposing perspective. Another good time to make the gavel “speak”is to mark the moment of every group decision to be recorded as “for the record” in the minutes. It is also good to use the gavel to mark begin/end times of “at ease” (set times for restroom or refreshment breaks) and of course the sharp rap to mark adjournment of the meeting.

Again, actual meeting rules are complex and do not describe specifically how a gavel is to be used, but they are there to establish the underlying authority of the Chair based on enforcement of Freedom of Speech in the context of the consensus needed for any “official” group decisions/actions. In America we tend to think of the gavel as a symbol of justice because it is used by our judges in similar ways – ultimately to highlight official sentencing and judging after carefully protecting appropriate time for the prosecution, defense, jury, and judge to speak and act.

One of my favorite memories demonstrating the power of the gavel and breaking all the official rules was in response to an unruly testifier offering a lengthy verbal diatribe directed at a previous speaker. A legislator stood up without being called on and said, “Madam Chair, if you don’t use that gavel to stop this abuse, I will come and get it from you and use it myself just before you have me hauled out.” It was a very effective demonstration of the authority typically attributed to the gavel, without even using one! This event cemented my own appreciation for the responsibility of a chairperson as symbolized by those little hardwood mallets, gavels. When you get called on to chair a meeting, start with a long look in the mirror to make peace with whatever motives you see behind the eyes looking back at you. Then, resolve to listen carefully to everyone and to do what you can to enforce equal opportunity for every legitimate speaker – even if the allocatable time is merely minutes per speaker… and even if the vote is against what you believe. Your job is to bring the group to a vetted decision more than to make sure the majority always wins. You will not likely be able to do this if you do not appreciate the depths and value of the significance of Freedom of Speech.

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The first half of this post was also submitted as an article to The People’s Paper.

We are well into what we call the “Holiday Season”. Millions of Americans are celebrating our most religious and wonderful Holy Days (Advent, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter)! Perhaps contrary to popular opinion, these holidays have everything to do with politics and government because they celebrate the ultimate source and essence of authority… the essential element of governing. Ignorance and tension between religious and political authority was not the intent of the American anti-establishment clause — just the opposite. Any law only has authority when it is a “legal” law – one endorsed by a higher “religious” authority of a supreme God. (“Religious” as related to belief in the being and perfection of God and His revelation). Our government is not authorized to enforce a particular religious denomination or sect, but, more importantly, it is to enforce religious freedom without enforcing restraints unless the restraints are necessary to prevent violation of inherent rights of others. Government employees and representatives are not exceptions. They are entitled to religious freedom like anyone else, to apply the “wisdom” of their religion to decisions they make on our behalf. This is why brutal campaign transparency is the necessary best option for everyone.

God’s authority was openly acknowledged in our founding to justify the revolution and endorse our sovereign America. The right to govern at all, is about “sovereignty.” We are born with a conscience, preferences, and innate rights – as individuals. America’s sovereignty is assigned to “We the People” (NOT, the government “we the people” created and maintain). The right to self-rule belongs, from beginning to the end, to the People – under God’s authority. Our system of government withholds (limits) authority from what has been called “the swamp”. Governing is bottom-up, with God on top.

The authority of government becomes abusive and illegal the very moment it prohibits or forces something contrary to God’s authority and His truth! The very first sentence of the Declaration of Independence is a “religious” justification for our government. “Entitlement” for our governing is by the authority of “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”. The Declaration also includes an appeal to the “Supreme Judge” and “Divine Providence” to make it so! Every patriotic statement and every defense of America expressed is necessarily a religious statement. “We the people” must never lose sight of our responsibility to keep our government and laws under real Sovereign authority.

I recently read a public comment by an influential friend claiming America has “the most authority-averse culture in world history!” We may have the tendency, but we have not arrived yet – I hope! Only God knows how many of “We the People” trust Him. Yes, there is evidence of resistance to these holidays and aversion to prayer in our schools — and even to the posting of the Ten Commandments in our court rooms, but tendencies can be temporary or even misunderstood. Just because there appears to be a cultural aversion to Divine authority doesn’t prove anything about what is really going on with any person’s faith in God. American foundational goals for truth, freedom and justice are a very deep commitment and may again suddenly dominate. Consider the host of citizens who have served and paid the ultimate price themselves for these things! It is past time for believers to stop being falsely polite, to break our silence to openly celebrate the real Governing Authority Who has been being revealed since the dawn of time. It seems rather obvious the stunning greatness of America has its roots in the God in Whom We Trust!

Merry Christmas, and may your celebrations be complete with the love of family and friends; plenty of food and joy, gifts, thankfulness, justice, and even contentment and confidence in your chosen “religion”. Please do not foolishly discount or suppress America’s foundational beliefs — especially adherence to Trust in the sovereignty of the very same God acknowledged on our coins.

Join with the millions whose religious faith in the authority given to Jesus as acknowledged in this famous Christmas Carol… Emphasis is mine as I newly recognized these words this year.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing, (celebrate)
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found, (The entire earth)
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove. (Including our republic)
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
– Isaac Watts, 1719

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This was also submitted as an article to The People’s Paper.

This world seems really harsh right now and from what we hear in the news, there is only uncertainty about a bright future. News media can be turned off/tuned out, but if you have recently lost your job; are crushed by the thought of national, state, or your personal debt; if you have Covid; lost loved ones; or any number of other challenges – feelings of thankfulness may seem harder to come by than they once were. To elicit thankfulness, we often remind each other to make a list of the things we ARE thankful for and focus on them, but sometimes saying we are thankful does not make it so. An analysis of the anatomy of “giving thanks” helps us generate the real thing.

It is an honorable deed to encourage your friends and family to BE thankful when we sit down to eat our traditional thanksgiving dinner! While nobody wants to be preached at about a responsibility to be thankful, most people appreciate the reminder. At its root, being thankful is an emotion, not a duty to be performed. Websters 1828, explains “gratitude” is an agreeable emotion of the heart initiated by a favor or benefit received from some benefactor. It is as natural as happiness generated by sunshine or birds singing. “Thanksgiving” (giving thanks), on the other hand, was defined in 1828 as an expression of gratitude…an act of will, an action spawned by gratitude. I cannot help but wonder why these nuances are now almost lost and the two terms, gratitude and thankfulness are used as merely synonyms. I suspect one reason is because emotions (gratitude, happiness, sadness, peacefulness, etc.) can all be disingenuous and we aren’t sure whether to trust their veracity, even in ourselves. We like feelings of gratitude but are reticent to trust them just because they are expressed, even if we are the ones expressing. For another thing, there is an implied “debt” to a benefactor involved, even if it may have nothing to do with the benefactor’s motives. We naturally want to do good things in return as part of the gratitude we feel. Children feeling gratitude are evilly exploited until they get “street smart” (wisdom on the nature of man), mature feelings of gratitude generate profound expressions of thanks. We also naturally resist the humbling reality we may “need” a benefactor in order to feel gratitude.

We may set out to humbly promote and grasp every inclination toward gratitude we feel in ourselves and determine to express them joyfully as a way of sharing our delight, but thinking about the “benefactor” and the “humbly” puts some damper on us! We don’t want to feel indebted to anybody (even if it is not the “givers” intent) because we want no strings attached to our autonomy. We also want to feel self-sufficient. If we avoid looking at the nuances, we avoid a deeper look at expressing gratitude. (Giving Thanks).

We must manage and control all our emotions, including gratitude. Part of the management of gratitude is to be able to answer related philosophical questions: Can you even feel gratitude if something good hasn’t been done for us? Does lack of gratitude reveal pride or callousness? Beware! You will encounter life’s most basic question: “Does God exist?” If He does, is the “Divine Providence” referenced in the Declaration something that generates gratitude? Having a national Thanksgiving ‘holy-day’ is certainly a wonderful event spotlighting godly thinking without establishing religion.

Back to the warm feelings of the traditional thanksgiving holiday. Expressing our thanks to/for other beings is the catalyst to generate more gratitude. A person who denies “Divine Providence” as referencing a benevolent God must limit expressions of gratitude to fellow human beings. Great Hymns, poetry, and music are expressions of gratitude primarily to God. I have never heard significant expressions of gratitude to an impersonal benefactor. Gratitude for life sourced from a formula (time + chance + natural selection) does not elicit the emotion of gratitude toward the formula. That would be ridiculous! Gratitude for created life sourced in the “I Am” of ancient Scripture is profound.

Choosing to “offer thanks” in any case is an honorable thing to do – in spite of the fact we may or may not feel appropriately grateful. If you deem yourself rebellious to God, you do still have valid things to be thankful for starting with your loved ones and family, but I suggest you are missing a much broader dimension. Atheist comedian Ricky Gervais promotes the opposite; “Atheists have more to live for because they’re not spending their lives anticipating what comes afterward. So they want to make the most of what they have.” For me, if what we see is what we get, it is much harder to accept covid deaths and suffering; covid masks, mandates, and over-reactions to them; shocking inflation; staggering debts; crimes; and wars. Trusting God offers a bigger picture AND promises ultimate solutions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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This was also submitted as an article to The People’s Paper.

Photo: Sir Charles Bell, Essays on Expression*

Terror and horror. Contemplate what is entertaining about fear. We are told Halloween consumer retail is second only to Christmas (~$8 billion in America this year!) Halloween candy and related frivolities are explainable, but the underlying reason for celebrating is awkward. Some of the Halloween traditions originated from a Celtic festival when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts of the dead returning to earth. They believed the lines between the dead and the living were blurred – for real! Read more on the History of Halloween and the commercial absurdity it has become at: https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween.

Supposedly, nearly 50% of Americans believe in ghosts! Also, consider the market for the genre of speculative fiction intended to frighten, scare, and disgust: Horror fiction, with well-known authors and producers like Stephen King.

Fear is a real and negative element of human existence, so what does this say about our attraction? I am not sure, but even the most hard-core adrenaline junkies do not celebrate real death, disability, or dismemberment! It is possible to be fully functional in face of fear, but it always takes at least a bit of courage to look fear in the eye and at least consider what it is. Part of the reason we dread (avoid) real terror and horror is because it is always associated with helplessness, something nobody celebrates. Death is ultimate helplessness, and looms ahead for all of us, so we naturally dread it even if we really look death in the eye! It takes some level of “courage” or “denial” to be productive in the midst of the reality of fear, so, perhaps denial is justifiable at some level – but surely not to the point of fooling ourselves or our children. Death and dying are not always fiction! There is good reason to be rational so we can rationally manage risks and consequences.

It seems the Covid-19 global response reveals a dangerous tendency for global human denial of reality. Other indicators of this modern phenomena are the zero-tolerance safety culture and the absurd anti-God activism. The depth and scope of passions being reported related to wearing masks and dealing with vaccination mandates may be indicators we, as a culture, are slipping into a weird loss of awareness of reality! Anger and resentment directed at someone who refuses to put on a mask — or at those who are so fearful they do wear a mask and expect you to as well — both can be unsolicited “knee-jerks” based on fear. They can also be reactions caused by human tendencies even less flattering than fear, but they likely include the underlying “fear-motivation”!

We may say we are, or choose to be, entertained by fear (watching horror or the nightly news); however, observing human potential over-reactions to Covid-19 at anyone who disagrees with whomever, is very telling. These over-reactions at each other demonstrates many are being controlled by his/her fears of the over-all dread of eventually dying.  When we come to terms with the inevitability of death, we can use the wisdom to better understand the growing prevalence of covid crisis behavior. An analysis of why we are entertained by terror on one hand and avoid dealing with real horror of helplessness in death and dying on the other, may give us a new and helpful insights to deal with the covid crisis. Feelings of helplessness must always be managed or they become irrational phobias.

Part of human denial may be the consequence and/or the cause of aversion to looking to the Bible for answers to fear management. I have never met anyone who argues the solutions found in the Bible should be mandated by government — as it might mandate use of masks or vaccines! But, this does not mean answers are not given in the Bible — or that they should be avoided by our governing class! “Freedom of Religion” is wonderful! Religious values used to govern come from the consensus of “We the People” (voters) we have to live with, so we are all morally obligated to speak up when we social denial of reality.

A Bible riddle to consider as the basis for the point of this editorial: It is a bit of a “trick” question to urge you to consider why I presume we are “in denial” on this issue of fear. Not including any of the Ten Commandments we all know about, what is arguably the most used commandment of the New Testament. (‘Thou shalt not…’)?It is central and unique to both Judaism and Christianity. There is a very good reason for the common liturgical Latin greeting “pax vobis” (“peace to you”) or “pax vobiscum” (“peace be with you”).

This command has been used so extensively and commonly we respond as automatically as when we hear someone saying “Hello!” The most commonly glossed-over command: “Do not be afraid”! “Fear not…” This theme cannot be missed by anyone tuned to hear it. It is the message of Christmas; “peace on earth, good will to men!” It is everywhere in the Bible.

Check out one passage seemingly written for this Covid crisis:

Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the LORD of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. He will keep you safe.  – Isaiah 8:12

Why do we fear Covid-19? It is the helpless unknown of the discomfort of feeling helpless to prevent it, helpless to relieve the pain, helpless to recover quickly, which ultimately could lead to the helpless unknown of death. It is ultimately the death of the illusion of control we don’t like and we fear.

If you have chosen Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you have a particularly special promise in Psalm 23:4,

Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we have no reason to fear evil. He is with me; He will comfort me. (Psalm 23:4, paraphrased)

The next time your heart starts to race with the fear of the desolation and havoc Covid-19 seems to be wreaking, consider what you might do to deal with your underlying fear of death and helplessness. Fear is real, fear can keep us alive, but dread of feeling helpless MUST always be managed in order to deter the growth of irrational phobias. Jesus is not just “a” solution, He provided “the” solution on the Cross.

 

*Photo Credit: Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, as stated at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Charles_Bell,_Essays_on_Expression_Wellcome_L0021920.jpg