What type of nation are we?

[Tom Rinaldo]

When we discuss Social Security, when we discuss Medicare and Medicaid, that is the question that should be asked. Every society on Earth, for as long as there have been societies on earth, makes choices about how the elderly, about how the weak, and about how the youngest among them will be provided for. In almost every case there is a recognition that those who are healthy, able bodied, and in the prime of their adult lives, must collectively make sure that those who are not do not suffer when that suffering is avoidable.

For those who are Christian there is no better teacher for that need than Jesus Christ himself who in Matthew 25:31-46 said:

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

"He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

The Republican Party is always among the first to proclaim that the United States of America is the "greatest nation on Earth". Almost all agree that the U.S.A. is among the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest, nation on Earth. So when the lives of of our old, our young, and our ill lie at stake, what are our priorities?

For generations Americans, largely but not exclusively under the leadership of Democrats, have striven to protect our vulnerable by providing and seeking to strengthen an economic safety net to prevent them from falling through society's cracks to be dashed on the hard pavement below. That is a social value. That is a societal priority. But is it a higher priority in America today than the cry of "What's mine is mine!" coming from those least in need?

Numbers shift, budgets ink runs black or red, but reality doesn't change. Sick people always need medical care. The elderly always need safe housing Children always need food and a quality education.

As long as America can afford to provide tax shelters for the rich, we can afford to provide housing for the elderly. As long as America can provide tax incentives for the wealthiest among us to invest overseas, we can afford to invest in the education of our young. As long as America can afford to give tax breaks to Energy corporations making all time record profits, we can prevent people dieing in unheated homes.

I suppose a day may come when America as a whole is poor, when America can no longer afford to provide for it's elderly, ill and young. But any day America cuts Medicare is a day when America is far from being the greatest nation on Earth. The wealth exists in America to provide for those not in the prime of our lives. It is being hoarded by the one percent who for decades have redirected America's prosperity into their own off shore bank accounts. We are not a poor nation. Poor people understand the importance of sharing.

We are a nation with moral values. The question is, what are they?

[Igel]

1. Individual.

That's the quick answer.

Otherwise you're forced to accept that however good you are, if America doesn't deal wisely with the weak and poor and imprisoned then all Americans, as a whole, whatever their own attitudes and actions, will be told, "Depart from me."

Unless all salvation is secular and to be found in the state, in which case "cast into hell" just means "wrack and ruin as a nation." Some believe that, I guess.

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. Sometimes I'm tempted to muse about theology

Clearly religion is important to most of humanity, good and evil and all of that... But I am always amazed by how easily people who claim faith in a religion disregard basic teachings of that religion. It is impossible to misinterpret that teaching from Jesus. There are always cases where one teaching collides with another and the way foward gets thrown in doubt as a result, but so many so called Christians don't even bother to contemplate how this teaching from Christ gets ignored by many so totally.

Of course I only used a Christian quote because so much of the Republican Party so strongly identifies as Christian. The moral question is the same for those of other faiths or no faith at all. Republicans are usually the ones who so often like to proclaim that we are a Christian Nation. If so it must be some reinvented form of Christianity that doesn't value the New Testement (and no i don't mean Mormonism, lol)

[Bake]

3. One that is royally screwed if Rmoney wins in November.

That. Is. All.

Bake

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. And maybe even if he doesnt...

Especially if we lose the Senate. Either way money interests must be beaten back. Greed must become unacceptable to a strong majority of Americans.