You may have heard CNN’s Lou Dobbs declaim about this issue recently, in ways that seem to make immigrants the main culprits in the decline of the middle class.

The Campaign for America's Future is now recommending a new book by Yale political science professor Jacob Hacker, entitled The Great Risk Shift: The Assault On American Jobs, Families, Health Care, And Retirement-And How You Can Fight Back.

Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign, writes, "The book has extraordinary explanatory power – made all the more compelling by Hacker's skillful use of short vignettes – stories of individuals and families coping with sudden unemployment, the loss of a breadwinner, a seriously sick child, or the mounting costs of education." He adds that Hacker is setting forth a "plan for health care for all – a plan that would guarantee choice of either traditional private insurance or a new cheaper Medicare-style system – while rapidly getting all Americans covered."

See more comments on the Campaign for America’s Future website >>

If anybody out there has read this book,
or can read it soon and give us some comments on it,
we’ll be happy to share it here.
Just send a note!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pressing for steps toward peace

The Friends Committee on National Legislation urges that given the general rejection by voters of the Administration’s war policies in Iraq, supporters of peace should press for four steps toward negotiating some kind of settlement, through a bipartisan congressional push for:

1. Setting a date certain for U.S. military withdrawal;
2. Bringing the armed Iraqi nationalist resistance to the negotiating table;
3. Simultaneously starting up a regional process – including Syria and Iran -- to support and stabilize Iraq; and
4. Providing U.S. underwriting for Iraqi-led reconstruction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outlaw Empire Meets the Wave: Five Questions for Our Future

We have posted and published reflections before about the "New American Empire," and the theological and ethical objections many of us have to the whole enterprise.

Tom Engelhardt, who runs the Nation Institute's Tomdispatch.com ("a regular antidote to the mainstream media"), is the co-founder of the American Empire Project.

He helps us see the recent history of the President’s imperial adventure, and is not sad to see the election as a desperately needed challenge to it. But he closes by offering five questions that challenge Democrats, especially, to face the realities in which they just might be able to play a little more effective role. But that’s no sure thing, he makes clear.

The five questions:

Their introduction to the final report in the series:

Religion is playing a multi-faceted role in the approaching mid-term elections. Candidates across the political and theological spectrum are making unprecedented religious campaign appeals as political strategists strive to find the winning mix of religion and politics. Democrats, who have struggled in recent years with how to deal with religion, are not only shoring up their traditional Black Church base, but also reaching out to Catholic, Mainline Protestant and even evangelical communities. Republicans are trying to mobilize their religious conservative base while at the same time pulling in new voters. And experts say whatever happens at the polls on November 7 will help both parties hone their faith-based outreach plans for the next two years.

In the final report of the show’s special series exploring the intersection of religion and politics in the 2006 elections, Kim Lawton looks at how the faith factor is transforming the political landscape and what it means for the 2008 presidential race. According to Allen Hertzke, director of religious studies and a professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma, "In my 20 years of following the religious scene, I have never seen religion as politicized as it has been this year in the congressional and gubernatorial races. And so, what we’re going to see, I think, is it set the stage for a highly politicized religious environment in 2008."

Christian values and the coming elections  [10-12-06]

We’ve just completed producing 150,000 copies of Voting God’s Politics: An Issues Guide for Christians for Election 2006. While in the past such guides have often been used in divisive ways by other organizations to narrow the issues or mobilize voters around one party or candidate, we believe this issues guide provides a biblically centered framework to inspire prudential voting decisions in this year’s election. We’re able to offer copies of this issues guide free to you to distribute. No catch. Will you commit to distributing 25 of these to your congregation, friends and colleagues? 50? 100? If you and 1,499 others can distribute just 100 issues guides, we’ll reach our goal of distributing an additional 150,000 guides — and lift up a broad set of moral issues this election season.

+ Order FREE copies of the Voting God’s Politics Issues Guide today

+ Download a toolkit with ideas about how to distribute the issues guide

Because we know that you are active in your faith community, we wanted to let you know about what we hope will be a powerful tool for educating and mobilizing Christians in this midterm election. And we need your help to make sure this free resource is available to as many voters as possible.

What is this issues guide? It is an easy-to-read, fold-out brochure that outlines the seven themes we believe Christians should consider in Election 2006:

1. Compassion and economic justice
2. Peace and restraint of violence
3. A consistent ethic of life
4. Racial justice
5. Human rights, dignity, and gender justice
6. Strengthen families and renew culture
7. Good stewardship of God’s creation

The guide also includes "10 things You Can Do Before the Election," handy suggestions for those who are looking to put their values into action. As a bonus, these brochures were printed using 100% wind power in a carbon-neutral process. You can get a sneak peek at the text of the guide by downloading our letter-sized paper version in PDF — click here.

Is this legal? Yes! We’ve produced this guide specifically for local churches and 501(c)(3) organizations. We’ve conducted an extensive legal review of it to ensure that neither we (nor your church) will be in any legal jeopardy because of this issues guide. Because it’s important to know the law, we’ve included a special IRS fact sheet in our toolkit, which you can download by clicking here.

[9-29-06]

As the election draws near ("looms" might be a better word) and the Religious Right raises voices again in favor of the "values" it holds dear, it’s clear that other people of faith are speaking out as well.

Progressive people of faith hold faith-and-values events

For more information, see the text description or the poster.

The faith-and-politics scene is complex, with many twists in our old "right vs. left" lines of division.

There are "moderate evangelicals"

A recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune examines the growing number of students at two evangelical colleges in the Twin Cities – Bethel University and Northwestern College – who say firmly that they are evangelical, but who see matters of sexual orientation and "defending marriage" as non-issues. They are deeply concerned, though, about poverty, about global warming, and many other issues. While Focus on the Family and James Dobson may represent the traditional religious right, Jim Wallis of Sojourners is much closer to the thinking of these "evangelical moderates," and he asserts that this group is gaining strength rapidly.

The full article >>

But then again, there are still some pretty far-out groups on the Right.

Nick Coleman, a columnist for the Star Tribune, reports on a new documentary film called "Jesus Camp," which introduces viewers to a Bible camp called "Kids On Fire," where the children of evangelical Christians are indoctrinated in a militant faith that sees nonbelievers as opponents and secular government as an enemy to overthrow.

Dressed in combat gear, the campers "pray for Jesus to re-make America in his image. Or, more accurately, to re-make it according to the plan of the adults who are turning these children into good little Evangelical mujahaddin."

This must be deep in the Bible belt, you say? No – it’s in North Dakota. To learn more, click here.

Coleman concludes: "Well, Christians, maybe it's time to pray for peace and to vote not just on Biblical principles, but specifically on New Testament principles, such as the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’

"But that, of course, was back in the days before he started wearing camouflage."   Coleman’s article >>

If you have thoughts or information to add to this consideration of
new forms of faith-and-politics dynamics,
please send a note!

House Republicans pass legislation to allow torture – by whatever name   [9-28-06]

Yesterday the House passed a bill that would allow the Bush administration to use interrogation methods that certainly look a lot like torture, even though the President has been careful to call them something a little less than torture. The bill also would allow the President to prosecute detainees accused of terrorism, with little regard for the niceties of basic and constitutional rights.

The Senate is likely to act soon on a similar bill, which has been allowed to move forward because some of the leading Republican "moderates" reached a compromise with Bush.

It seems unlikely that any mere citizens can resist this legitimizing of torture and abandonment of basic human rights, but just in case you want to try – or at least do informed grumbling about it – here are some helpful resources >>

Healthcare Now is urging people to support genuine health care reform, even as the healthcare insurance industry presses harder to keep things as they are or make the system even more profitable for them.  They are encouraging people to bring suit for "insurance company malpractice" for denial of needed medical service, and to tell their stories for a new film being planned by Michael Moore.

They also provide brief comments (and links to other material) on these issues and events:

A Religious Right-sponsored "Values Voter Summit" this week is nothing but an attempt to drum up evangelical support for Republican candidates before the November elections, charges Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The supposedly non-partisan event, which takes place in Washington Sept. 22-24, is sponsored jointly by political affiliates of Focus on the Family (FOF), the Family Research Council (FRC) and other Religious Right groups. It features a line-up of GOP officeholders and presidential aspirants.

The Rev. Jill Martinez, who was nominated for Moderator of the 212^th General Assembly in 2000, and who joined the Witherspoon Society in the same year, is running for Congress in California's 24th congressional district. That district covers Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and, she says, appears to offer a "winnable race" for a Democrat in what has been a Republican district.

If anyone is interested in learning more about her campaign, there’s information on her website – including a brief bio sketch and policy papers on issues such as education, health care, housing, the need to "change course in Iraq, immigration policy ... and more.

She can be contacted at jill_martinez@verizon.net or by phone at (805) 446-3000. Her Ventura office is located at 89 California Street in Ventura, and her Santa Barbara county office is at 1301 East Clark Rd, in Orcutt.

Summer breaks have come to an end. Washington political leaders and advocates have begun their work. In this mid-term election year, the end of this session will come quickly so that all members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senators can spend time seeking your vote in the November elections. They have fewer than 19 session days scheduled before Election Day.

It would appear that the war in Iraq, stem cell research, tax cuts and immigration are among the hot topics of the electorate. A study guide with excerpts from General Assembly policy on these and others issues can be found at www.pcusa.org/christiancitizen/newstudyguide . This is the Christian and Citizen Election Year guide on the web page of the Washington Office www.pcusa.org/washington.

This week’s issues are:

Investigators have known for a decade about terrorist plots to bring down passenger jets with liquid explosives. So why, all of a sudden, did Bush ban most liquids on flights?

Robert Scheer, a veteran journalist and writer on presidents past and present, is now managing a website called TruthDig.com, the main focus of which seems to be reports and analyses that provide sharp criticism of government policies and actions.

Dr. Ray Heer, a long-time Witherspoon member, has dealt with his "great discontent with what’s happening in our country" by setting forth his own perceptions of what principles and policies would create a better life for the United States in these difficult days.

His "cover letter" to his daughters explains more about his motivation for this undertaking, and his introduction acknowledges that his platform is formulated without the need for compromise, but is offered as "the idealistic dream of one citizen of what a platform might look like with a concern for the common good, overlooked in so much current rhetoric."

In her usual – umm – forthright way, Molly Ivins puts our country’s political scene in perspective as she discusses "Flag Burning and Other Dubious Epidemics."

She believes that what we have here is a difference over moral values. The Republicans are worried about the flag, gay marriage and the terrible burden of the estate tax on the rich. The rest of us are obviously unnecessarily worried about war, peace, the economy, the environment and civilization.

About 2,000 clergy members have so far signed the letter, and they are seeking more signatures, urging people to spread the word.

They also ask supporters to encourage their congregations to oppose the amendment.

Visit clergyforfairness.org to find out more about what you and your faith community can do. This site now contains additional updated resources for your use, such as:

Due to budget cuts in Presbyterian programs, the Washington Office is creating a new network system called "Witness in Washington Weekly" to replace the Stewardship of Public Life Networks.  It will start in late June after the General Assembly and will be activated only when Congress is in session or Presidential actions warrant it.

Toll-free Call In Days - Stop Budget Cuts    [5-1-06]

Not many months ago we were expressing concern about the "New American Empire." Now Jim Hightower, Texan and the author of Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush, reminds us that an imperial presidency must go along with the empire.

He provides a quick survey of President Bush’s continuing efforts to expand the powers of the presidency – to include spying on, imprisoning and torturing American citizens in the name of ‘security.’

Bill Moyers argues that American democracy is threatened by perversions of money, power, and religion. Money has bought our elections right out from under us. Power has turned government "of, by, and for the people" into the patron of privilege. And Christianity and Islam have been hijacked by fundamentalists who have made religion the language of power, the excuse for violence, and the alibi for empire.

His closing words:

Action Alert from the Presbyterian Washington Office

For the latest in the rapidly shifting legislative actions on immigration, our Presbyterian Washington Office provides a great deal of helpful information: contacts, suggestions for action, background information and more.   It's all here >>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interfaith Worker Justice provides good resources for use in congregations this weekend or next

What You Can Do To Support Humane U.S. Immigration Reform Law, an action bulletin insert

Remember the Immigrant, a responsive reading

What Faith Groups Say About Immigration Reform

In addition, you can find Celebrating immigrants, an interfaith immigration service, on our website.

Please take a moment using the attached link to send a letter to your Representative and Senators urging support for an immigration bill that supports a path to citizenship, family unification and strong worker protections, and opposition to punitive approaches that criminalize hard-working immigrants and people of faith who support them.

The rallies of the past few days and the unwavering support of the religious community has truly been inspiring. Let's continue to engage members of our congregations. God bless you in this work.

"It is a reproach to religion and government to suffer so much poverty and excess."
--William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, No. 52

“It is a Dick Cheney world out there”
[2-27-06]

Bill Moyers speaks on the issue of money and politics: Watching these people work is a study of the inner circle at the top of American politics. It is a Dick Cheney world out there - a world where politicians and lobbyists hunt together, dine together, drink together, play together, pray together and prey together, all the while carving up the world according to their own interests. It is time to fight again. It's not their government, it's your government.

FamiliesUSA provides an analysis of the proposed budget    [2-27-06]

On February 6, 2006, President Bush released his FY2007 proposed budget. The budget provides details about the Administration's health policy goals for this year, and will shape the congressional budget process that will take place over the next month.

In an effort to clarify what this budget--if approved--would mean for American health care consumers, Families USA has just released an analysis of the Administration's health care proposals contained in the budget.

It’s far more serious than the President acknowledged in his State of the Union address, says Peter Sawtell, Executive Director, Eco-Justice Ministries. He offers a sharp critique of the president’s way of framing the problem, saying:

If Mr. Bush was really talking about breaking our addiction, he wouldn't look to technology for the solution. Any addict on the long path of recovery has to make very hard changes, and the President isn't asking us to change much of anything.

He isn't asking anyone to conserve – to drive less, or to turn down the thermostat. He isn't asking anyone to deal with efficiency – to improve fuel economy standards for cars, or to insulate homes. And he certainly isn't asking us to change our national self-image as an economic powerhouse.

The fact of the matter is, the phrase about our addiction to oil was a distraction. That unexpected word pushed a very short section about energy into the news, and made it sound like a dramatic change in policy. But the fairly minor proposals that Mr. Bush named have almost nothing to do with breaking an addiction to fossil fuels.

News release from The Interfaith Alliance
[2-3-06]

Washington, February 2 - Today, following the election of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) to be Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, The Interfaith Alliance released the following statement by its president, the Rev. Welton Gaddy:

"The election of Congressman Boehner to be Majority Leader has the potential to be a disaster for the religious liberties of all Americans.

"Mr. Boehner has shown an almost total disregard for the Constitution's religious liberty guarantees and more than two centuries of American history. He has been a leader in supporting government funding of religious discrimination in federal, state, and local programs such as Head Start. And he is closely aligned with those who would impose creationism or intelligent design on our public school science classrooms.

"My fear is that Mr. Boehner might march us further down the road toward abolishing the religious liberty guarantees enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution, thus denying Americans the first freedom upon which this nation was founded. I hope this fear is not realized."

Founded in 1994, The Interfaith Alliance (TIA) is a non-partisan, clergy-led grassroots organization dedicated to promoting the positive and healing role of religion in a nation and challenging those who manipulate religion to promote a narrow, divisive agenda. With more than 150,000 members drawn from more than 75 faith traditions and 47 local alliances, TIA promotes compassion, civility and mutual respect for human dignity in our increasingly diverse society. www.interfaithalliance.org

Along with the numerous surveys of the "outlook for 2006" in various areas of social concern, the Presbyterian Washington Office has just published a paper offering a theological reflectionon why it is important for people of faith to be engaged in the issues facing us as members of a greater society. How should faith shape our public, social and political actions? This Biblical & Theological Perspectives, entitled "Through the Work of Our Hands and the Meditation of Our Hearts: Defining Spirituality for Contemporary Justice Seekers," was written by Dr. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty. A Presbyterian minister, she is now a member of the theology faculty at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky.

These are very helpful resources for anyone who wants to understand, and perhaps have some impact on, legislation and policies in Washington.

Each topic is listed here, along with the headline on that document.  Click on each topic to jump to that document.

Africa
Making the Crucial Connection between Land Deprivation and Extreme Poverty

Civil Rights & Religious Liberties
Congress to Look at Immigration Reform, Domestic Spying and Voting Rights

Ecology & Environment
Legislative Progress Unlikely, though Midterm Elections May Provide Needed Attention

Global Security
Can the United States Rebuild Global Trust?

Health Care
Uninsured Americans Increase, as Congress Struggles with Budget and Cuts in Health Funding

Hunger & Human Needs
Congress Pursues Tax Cuts and Moves toward Slashing $40 Billion from Domestic Programs

Latin America
Challenges from the Left, as the U.S. Goes Deeper in Colombia, and Ponders Mexican Security Fence

Middle East
Pivotal Year for Israelis and Palestinians as Bush Administration Struggles with Iraq, Syria and Iran

Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

A Public Citizen press release, Jan. 18, 2006  [1-20-06]

Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook

The lobbying reform proposals put forward by both Republican and Democratic leaders to curb influence-peddling abuses in Washington appear to get at some of the most obvious and outrageous abuses perpetrated by felon and former super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But they fail to reach the heart of the problem - the influence of special interest money in politics.

As such, the two proposals can be characterized only as "reform lite."

We commend leaders for pledging to ban privately sponsored congressional travel, enact a gift ban and place new restrictions on members of Congress passing through the revolving door. Of course, the devil is in the legislative details, which we will need to see to determine how strong these specific measures will be to limiting lobbyists' influence.

However, unless Congress breaks the connection between politicians, lobbyists and campaign contributions, there will be no fundamental overhaul of Washington's system of legalized bribery. In the long run, Congress must ensure that congressional races are publicly financed. Lawmakers can start this year by reforming the presidential public financing system.

Unfortunately, the reform proposals laid out by Republicans and Democrats have two glaring omissions that should be fixed right away. First, neither would prohibit lobbyists from making campaign contributions, arranging fundraisers, bundling contributions from clients or serving on members' fundraising committees. Second, neither proposes an independent ethics watchdog to audit disclosure reports from lawmakers, staff and lobbyists and to conduct independent investigations of alleged violations. Without a much stronger enforcement mechanism, we fear new loopholes will be found and exploited.

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org.

Lincoln wouldn’t recognize the Republican Party in his native Kentucky county   [1-11-06]

Witherspooner Berry Craig describes the Republican Party chair in Larue Country, Kentucky, birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, as exemplifying a "party of theocracy" and born-again Christianity that is very different from Lincoln’s modest spirituality and commitment to ending human bondage. 

Tomorrow, Sunday, January 8, will see the third in a series of events held by the Religious Right to shape the federal courts in the ways they want. 

The group Faithful America urges people concerned about "justice for all" to sign a petition to let our Senators in Washington know that the religious conservatives are not the only people of faith who care.

Their announcement:

Millions of Americans of faith are about to be misrepresented in Washington through a well funded and heavily promoted effort called "Justice Sunday III." This attempt by politically-aligned right-wing religious fundamentalists aims to pressure Congress to load the courts with ultra-conservative judges. Congress must not hear only from religious fundamentalists. The rest of us deserve a hearing, too. You can help make that happen by signing the following petition, which will be sent to your Senators in Washington.

The Chicago Tribune reports that while faith-based groups are barred from proselytizing or engaging in other obvious religious activity when using federal funds, some are accused of doing just that in their programs to encourage teenagers to abstain from premarital sex or help substance abusers fight addictions.

Lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation accuse the faith-based organizations and the government of violating the constitutional separation of church and state. Meanwhile, experts say
the Bush administration is doing too little to monitor religious groups receiving federal money.

More >>

All items on US politics posted from 2003 through 2005 are archived on their own page.

For current stories (2007) on US politics >>

A major
Ghost Ranch event this summer!

July 28 - August 3, 2008

Paths toward Peace and Justice:
Spirituality, Earth-Care, and the Prophetic Word in a time of Violence

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