| A Declaration of Independence |
|
 |
|
I won’t question President Bush’s belief that the Creator wanted him to run for president. I feel like the Creator placed me in the classroom, and has kept me there these five years. The purpose of this column is not to berate the president or the “evangelicals” who gave the president four more years because of his “moral values” (the words in quotations are media concoctions, not real terms used by you or me). Nor am I arguing that President Bush is the anti-Christ, or, as some quieter Christians call him, the Blasting Blasphemer. I believe any attempt to preach politics will fail, as will any attempt to politicize faith.
This is simply a declaration of my independence. As a Believer. An aspiring person of the Way. A person who strives to be a Christian, which means “Christ-like.”
I recently discovered that God is not a member of the Republican Party. Nor is he a member of the Democratic Party. Nor is he in the Socialist Workers, Green, Reform, Communist Parties, or any other political entity. I believe He is present in everything. I believe He speaks to anyone, even non-believers, even non-church people. I believe He has a plan for each individual in this chaotic, fallen world. I also believe in His unlimited capacity for forgiveness and mercy to those who acknowledge Him.
I am not a theologian. I’m sure a number of theologians out there have a ton of doctrinal questions and criticisms for what I am about to say.
But this is a declaration of independence. A declaration of faith.
Republicans deny that the “evangelicals” who stayed home in 2000 were the single decisive element in this election. They are right. Whether they dismiss these claims for political reasons or not, it is clear that President Bush and other Republicans have come to take the Christian vote for granted. You will not hear this on Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer won’t comment on this for a while, Karl Rove may not take it seriously, and Tim Russert can’t make any predictions on the Today show about this. And Grover Norquist doesn’t have an angle on me to win my vote.
As I said, this is a declaration of independence. I don’t speak for all Christians, or even a percentage of Christians. That would contradict the independence that I am currently declaring.
The Sunday after election day, countless pastors and church leaders declared victory over the misled sinners in the Democratic Party, and chalked up a victory for God and country.
The fact is, there is an underground movement that doesn’t trust this president or his big-business allies. I have a few “moral values” of our own. For example, the morality of sending over 1,000 of our most dedicated young men and women to slaughter. Or how about the morality of misleading the American public to justify a war that has turned into little more than a global game of Whack-a-Mole (thanks, Rob, for that one)?
Here at home, my moral values are dismissed an spat upon by this sitting president. How about that tax cut? Listen, folks, don’t you remember that you had to claim that tax cut as income last year? I’m no economist, but to me, a tax cut should be an actual tax cut. Health care is a joke in this country, and continues to be. When Senator John Kerry proposed providing poor people with the same health care enjoyed by our leaders in Congress, the president scoffed and harped on the cost to taxpayers. I haven’t looked this up, but that doesn’t seem like something Jesus would do.
Is this a man guided by “moral values”?
In our nation’s classrooms, the president has created a straw man right out of the conservative agenda to destroy public education. You create an “accountability” system that relies on hopelessly skewed and subjective data. Then you declare the incompetence of teachers, society’s favorite scapegoats (yeah, my brown brethren are participating in this scheme—y’all ain’t off the hook!). Then you privatize the system so that it’s not your problem—and you’re rid of that pesky professional association of teachers.
Oh, yeah, and the Bush administration called me a terrorist. Outgoing secretary of education Rod Paige said it was a joke, but I hope president Bush realizes that I wasn’t laughing when I entered the voting booth a couple weeks back.
This is not what I consider strong “moral values.” The man occupying the Oval Office has a number of moral transgressions to his name. As do we all.
The difference is, I’ll admit it.
President Bush professes that he opposes abortion, and all indications are that he will push an absolute ban on abortion through the legislature. But this president stands by passively watching another type of abortion. Nearly 50 million children (an optimistic estimate, according to many in the know) live without health insurance. The companies who employ their parents are not under any federal mandate to provide the benefits that would allow them to live in dignity. Here is a question: what is the difference between killing a child in the womb, a practice described by the president himself as “reprehensible” and “beyond the pile” and slowly killing a child over the course of eighteen years? (assuming, of course, they live that long)
So here we are. Four more years with this president, without the accountability of another election. He has the full power of the national legislature, the majority of state governors, and soon, the Supreme Court. The time has come; if this president claims a monopoly on moral values, it is time to see what his morality truly is. He has put himself and his party at risk by portraying himself in this manner: the moral crusader battling sinners and charlatans. He has created a standard that cannot be met by any human institution; in my spiritual view, human institutions are doomed to fail, 100% of the time.
And if you still believe that this president mirrors your own “moral values,” perhaps you ought to take a moment and re-examine yours.
Gerardo A. Muñoz is going to be in SOOOOOO much trouble for this.
|
←
Back
|
|
|
|
view more photos
view more videos
El Semanario New Mexico 
El Chicago Hispano 
El Semanario