Buddhists

Ugly Nativism Rears Its Head Once Again With Donald Trump!

Nativism–anti immigrant rhetoric—has reared its ugly head, with Donald Trump attacking immigration once again, pandering to the most ignorant and despicable elements of American society.

America is a land of immigrants, with only native Americans having a claim to being otherwise, but we all know how native Americans have been treated throughout American history for four plus centuries!

Generation after generation, hatemongers have exploited the disease of nativism to divide Americans and gain or retain political power.

They have used hateful rhetoric to attack Catholics, Jews, Asian Americans, Hispanic-Latino Americans, African Americans, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and every other minority sect that goes against their white Christian supremacy advocacy!

America has been strengthened and prospered by immigration over and over again, and the nation has been renewed by the contributions of people who come to our shores, and those who are born here of immigrant parents.

Demagogues, including Donald Trump, and a multitude of MAGA Republicans, have picked up where others pursued an equivalent agenda in past generations.

But the idea of setting up massive detention camps and reviving the separation of children from their parents is horrifying, and reminds us of the Nazi concentration camps, and similar mistreatment of minorities in China, and innumerable other dictatorships in nations around the world, which do not gain much publicity in news media.

Every effort and motivation must be made to stop the promotion of hate and division, as it only promotes authoritarianism within America and internationally!

Wrong For Vice President Mike Pence And His Wife Karen Pence To Promote A Bigoted, Narrow Minded View Of Gays, Lesbians, And Transgenders, Not In The Tradition Of Jesus, Who Promoted Tolerance And Open Mindedness

It is extremely disturbing to see Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, the Second Lady, Karen Pence, to be promoting an anti gay, anti lesbian, and anti transgender agenda.

Karen Pence is teaching art at a right wing “Christian” school that bans gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual teaching and other staff members, and also bans students of those descriptions or students who have parents of those groups.

They also promote an extreme right wing view of Christianity, including against premarital sex, adultery, and preach that women are to obey their husbands.

What century are we in? This is NOT a Christian nation, as we have always promoted, from the Founding Fathers onward, the principle of the separation of church and state.

We may have a majority of people in this nation who were born to a broad based Christian parentage, but of many different sects and beliefs, and that is not the same as saying we are a “Christian” nation, as we are a nation of all religions, with no favoritism or preference for any one religious belief. Jews,Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, other religious minorities, and even atheists and agnostics are all protected from any persecution, discrimination, or mistreatment by any institution.

For Karen Pence to have such a narrow minded view when she could be the next First Lady is a demonstration of a woman and her husband being so outrageously hateful, discriminatory, and prejudiced, and is unacceptable in a future President or First Lady.

We have never had this before, and if the Pences end up in the White House, and try to impose their theocratic views on the nation, they are in for a massive battle and struggle, as the vast number of Americans will not tolerate such bigotry.

The Obscenity Of “Religious Freedom” And Bullying Of Gays In Tennessee And Mississippi!

It is amazing how the most Right Wing religious groups argue for “religious freedom”, as if there is any denial of the rights of people to have their own religious beliefs!

For a nation where the vast majority are Christian of one sect or another, it is preposterous to argue there is an attack on religious freedom, when, if anything, it is Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and agnostics who are endangered in their right to religious freedom.

But devout right wingers in Tennessee have now managed to push through the state legislature a bill to allow bullying of gay boys and girls, a particular growing problem all over America, in schools, and that those who bully them cannot be prosecuted due to “religious” freedom!

The number of suicides of young gay boys and girls, and barely legal adult men and women, has grown by leaps and bounds, and it is essential to fight such bullying as a crime that is prosecutable!

No one should be allowed to use the veil of “religious freedom” to discriminate against anyone at any age, based on sexual orientation.

Hopefully, the law, if signed by the governor, Bill Haslam, will be appealed and lead to revocation of a hideous law! Even if Haslam vetoes, however, the bill is likely to become law with a Tennessee Senate vote of 32-0 and a House vote of 90-2!

It makes one wonder what has happened in Tennessee, a Southern state rapidly deteriorating into being similar to Mississippi, which has also passed an anti gay discrimination bill based on “religious freedom, and Governor Phil Bryant has signed it.

Federal challenge of these laws must move ahead expeditiously!

The 113th Congress Most Diverse Congress In History

One of the greatest results of the Congressional Elections of 2012 is the tremendous diversity that will be present in the upcoming 113th Congress, which begins on January 3.

Just in the new membership, there will be:

4 African Americans
10 Latino Americans
5 Asian Americans
24 Women
2 Hindus
1 Buddhist
1 Non theist
4 openly gay
1 openly bisexual
1 gay of color
4 born in the 1980s

It will include such likely stars of the future as:

Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, whose brother, Julian Castro, is Mayor of that city
Joe Garcia, who is the first Cuban Democrat to represent Miami
Ted Cruz, second Cuban Republican Senator, from Texas
Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, first Hindu Congresswoman
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, first Buddhist Senator
Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Iraq War hero and diabled from her service in the war
Lois Frankel of Florida, former Mayor of West Palm Beach
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, professor and promoter of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, first openly gay Senator
Patrick Murphy of Florida, youngest member of the new House
Joseph Kennedy III, son of former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II, and grandson of Robert Kennedy

It will be a most interesting Congress coming up in 2013-2014!

1912–Triumph Of Progressivism! 2012–Triumph Of Progressivism!

A century apart, America veered to the left, and we had a triumph of progressivism both in 1912 and 2012!

In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Eugene Debs, and even, to some extent, William Howard Taft, promoted an agenda that would set the standard for the future New Deal and Great Society and ObamaCare.

Now, in 2012, we have institutionalized the New Deal, Great Society, and ObamaCare for the future; and we have seen more women elected to the House and Senate than ever before; we have seen openly gay candidates win in the Senate and House and in local races; we have seen the first Buddhist Senator and Hindu House member from Hawaii elected; we have seen labor help elect a whole group of progressive Democratic Senators across the nation; we have seen Hispanics and Latinos play a major role in politics; we have seen a more progressive House and Senate emerge; we have seen Barack Obama given political capital to bring about greater change in his second term; we have seen the Supreme Court preserved as a balanced body for the long term; we have seen the progressive vision of TR, Wilson, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, even Nixon and Ford, Carter, and Clinton preserved and enhanced; and we have seen a repudiation of an interventionist foreign policy , as under the neoconservative influence during the Presidency of George W. Bush.

America is moving forward into the 21st century, just as in 1912, we moved forward into the 20th century. We have repudiated, in 1912 and 2012, returning to the 19th century!

The “Science” Republicans Vs. The “Faith” Republicans

Part of the struggle for the Republican Presidential nomination is between those who believe in the validity of science, relating to global warming, evolution, and stem cell research, and those who believe in the literal interpretation of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

On one side are Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney; on the other side are Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and sometimes, in an inconsistent way, Newt Gingrich, who is intelligent enough to know better!

Are we to have a possible future President who repudiates science and wishes to lead a holy crusade for Christianity in a world in which we must somehow coexist with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other religious faiths that look at the world differently from us?

In a country founded on separation of church and state, to avoid religious conflict, we are now faced with the real possibility of a “Crusade” mentality which will undermine our national security!