Rick Warren, the pastor who presides over the massive Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, is now taking heat by many who share many of his same view points on social issues. Last week, Warren was on Larry King denying that he ever campaigned and supported Proposition 8, the amendment to ban gay marriage in California. Prior to this week, Warren and President Obama were protested from the left when Warren gave the invocation at Obama's Inauguration.
A good point made by Chris Matthews today...Warren is a pastor, exclusive to some degree to those who follow the same belief system about God. Not rocket science, and hardly controversial is this statement. So why is he so immersed in the political scene?
The answer: Us.
Church vs. State. And the separation, or not, of the two. Religion is something so ingratiated in the fabric of our culture and at the same time, a fine line that his constantly been walked and interpreted by many a political animal.
My argument: Politics is one thing. Policy is another. Politics contains bargaining, negotiating, protesters, people with signs, shenanigans, pursuasive techniques based on ends and not means. Policy is drama-free, a bit unexciting, powerful, meaningful, substantive, and most of all, rational. Policy can be arrived at through the politics of smart and well-intentioned people.
What Do I Mean By This? Marriage is a lawful contract that legally binds two people, allowing for, among other things, the benefit of joint health insurance and tax breaks. Marriage doesn't have to be done at a Church or any other religious institution. The Church is a ceremonial place, bent on tradition and dogma. Fine. I find the same tradition and dogma at the beach. But marriage, the legal contract it is, has just as much to do with a Church as does a beach. Meaning, it doesn't. A separation of Church and State that's already built into our system.
So why is this an issue to literally rewrite the rules to ban gay marriage, or how the Christian Right says, define it as a binding contract between a man and a woman? Politics. Not Policy.
John Mayer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPOBMzMTP4U
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Running for Perspective - Madoff, Cramer, Stewart
In a week featuring swindler Bernie Madoff, a somewhat sane Jim Cramer, and a sobering and serious Jon Stewart, I found my running a good place to discover my own reality. My runs, well not all but some, had this sort of guy-standing-sedately-as-a-tornado-chaotically-swirled-around-him feel to it. Kind of like some of those Zack Braff scenes from the movie "Garden State"--like when the airplane experiences turbulence, people go crazy, and he sits mildly, staring blankly.
Some of the runs I do are boring, a struggle to just keep performing the act. These didn't have that feel. No performance and no act. Instead, they felt like an escape to normalcy, where the legs just move and the arms sway and the last thing I'm thinking about is what I'm doing.
My decisions to run this week were instinctive and the time spent was alone, as if I am someone famous and had to have my "Justin Time." On a side note, whenever someone places their name followed by the word "Time," there is a decent chance he or she may take themselves way too serious (or at the very least, publish a blog).
Occasionally, my mind slipped into the week's top news events. On Friday's run, I recalled the Stewart-Cramer interview. I'm usually not defensive of people who screw others for personal gain, which was Stewart's overt inference to Cramer. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little remorse for Cramer. My feelings dissipated, both at the time I watched the berating and in retrospect at effortless mile 4 when I thought about one line, "This is not a fucking game."
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Stewart_to_Cramer_Its_not_fking_0313.html
Immediately, my mind recalled the American traditionalists who I know. My grandfather--the long-time Ford employee; two of my friends--Merrill Lynch employees; my dad--a banker...people who put much of their stock, both personally and financially, in security. All of them suffering in one way or another from a massive financial storm that occurred in a blink, and without warning. Like the aforementioned tornado.
"So what now," I thought, as a light sweat maintained itself somewhere around mile 6. The truth of the matter is I don't feel like someone who truly knows much about the economy or the collapse itself. I'm just now starting to figure out how to manage my own money (albeit, I am a bit of an entrepreneur).
On Saturday's run, a relatively short 4.7 miler (that's a pretty good estimate) with nearly perfect Santa Monica weather, the running conversation (pun intended) arose yet again in my head. This time I came to, not an answer, but a resolution. Having not looked up the actual definition of an answer or a resolution, I decided an answer means that one feels absolutely right when they come up with an "answer." When one "resolves," however, the absolutism isn't there. In my head, when I resolve, it's like this is what I'm choosing to believe or this is what I'm going to do, whether it is right or wrong this is the best I can come up with.
I resolved in the "value of work." Another phrase brought up by Stewart, I resolved that "the value of work" trumps it all. With all the visions of vanity that lead us to fast money, quick cars, the country club life, and whatever else that may be over the rainbow, the value of work in the least, seems to just make sense. Find something you have passion for, then you'll work really hard at it, and the money will come because you're producing a high-quality product that people will pay good money for. And when the money comes, and it will, you'll have a better idea of what to do with it since you knew what you had to do to get it. Pretty simple.
The sport of running itself is simple. But it's not easy. What gets you furthest in running? Running. Not breathing techniques, stretch routines, plyometrics, training techniques. Those things make a difference, and sometimes a significant difference. But simply running. That's what gets you the furthest in running. Logging miles. Putting in the time and effort. Working. And so to it is our job, our relationships, our passions.
Off to run to a clear day and a clearer mind.
Good Song Coming to Mind: "Keep It Loose, Keep It Light," Amos Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmQFwIKsU1U
Justin
Some of the runs I do are boring, a struggle to just keep performing the act. These didn't have that feel. No performance and no act. Instead, they felt like an escape to normalcy, where the legs just move and the arms sway and the last thing I'm thinking about is what I'm doing.
My decisions to run this week were instinctive and the time spent was alone, as if I am someone famous and had to have my "Justin Time." On a side note, whenever someone places their name followed by the word "Time," there is a decent chance he or she may take themselves way too serious (or at the very least, publish a blog).
Occasionally, my mind slipped into the week's top news events. On Friday's run, I recalled the Stewart-Cramer interview. I'm usually not defensive of people who screw others for personal gain, which was Stewart's overt inference to Cramer. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little remorse for Cramer. My feelings dissipated, both at the time I watched the berating and in retrospect at effortless mile 4 when I thought about one line, "This is not a fucking game."
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Stewart_to_Cramer_Its_not_fking_0313.html
Immediately, my mind recalled the American traditionalists who I know. My grandfather--the long-time Ford employee; two of my friends--Merrill Lynch employees; my dad--a banker...people who put much of their stock, both personally and financially, in security. All of them suffering in one way or another from a massive financial storm that occurred in a blink, and without warning. Like the aforementioned tornado.
"So what now," I thought, as a light sweat maintained itself somewhere around mile 6. The truth of the matter is I don't feel like someone who truly knows much about the economy or the collapse itself. I'm just now starting to figure out how to manage my own money (albeit, I am a bit of an entrepreneur).
On Saturday's run, a relatively short 4.7 miler (that's a pretty good estimate) with nearly perfect Santa Monica weather, the running conversation (pun intended) arose yet again in my head. This time I came to, not an answer, but a resolution. Having not looked up the actual definition of an answer or a resolution, I decided an answer means that one feels absolutely right when they come up with an "answer." When one "resolves," however, the absolutism isn't there. In my head, when I resolve, it's like this is what I'm choosing to believe or this is what I'm going to do, whether it is right or wrong this is the best I can come up with.
I resolved in the "value of work." Another phrase brought up by Stewart, I resolved that "the value of work" trumps it all. With all the visions of vanity that lead us to fast money, quick cars, the country club life, and whatever else that may be over the rainbow, the value of work in the least, seems to just make sense. Find something you have passion for, then you'll work really hard at it, and the money will come because you're producing a high-quality product that people will pay good money for. And when the money comes, and it will, you'll have a better idea of what to do with it since you knew what you had to do to get it. Pretty simple.
The sport of running itself is simple. But it's not easy. What gets you furthest in running? Running. Not breathing techniques, stretch routines, plyometrics, training techniques. Those things make a difference, and sometimes a significant difference. But simply running. That's what gets you the furthest in running. Logging miles. Putting in the time and effort. Working. And so to it is our job, our relationships, our passions.
Off to run to a clear day and a clearer mind.
Good Song Coming to Mind: "Keep It Loose, Keep It Light," Amos Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmQFwIKsU1U
Justin
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