PERCEPTION

It’s all in the eye of the beholder. That rule of thumb seems more compelling in today’s political climate – and is impacting every facet of life. How one perceives existence has more influence on outcome than any other factor. Today, in fact, perception is more powerful than reality.

President Barack Obama perceives the world through a different set of glasses than his progressive base that worked so hard to get him elected. He views Republicans as worthy, distinguished opponents with similar goals for the betterment of all. As an outcome of this distorted perception, compromise is not only the instrument, but the objective. Thus, progressive issues are thrown under the bus, promises broken, and ostensible appeasement made with enemies of labor, environment, and social justice.

Notably, to prove his commitment to bipartisanship, the President cedes major concessions from the onset by appointing prominent corporate Republicans to head high-profile economic, energy and jobs task forces instead of drawing from a talented pool of progressive specialists. What’s he trying to prove? How conciliatory he is? The result is his voting base becomes disenfranchised – suppressed to the degree the next election cycle is poised to hand power to the right-wing. How can he not see what he’s doing?

Elizabeth Warren is sent packing to Massachusetts and Paul Krugman totally ignored. Instead, Obama courts the Republican CEO of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt, to be his jobs czar – neglecting to take into account GE’s outsourcing thousands of jobs to China, Brazil, and elsewhere.

Obama’s political eyesight is myopic.

On the other hand, Tea Party Republicans perceive Democrats, generally, and Obama, particularly, as enemies of democracy and America. They have no respect for Obama and Democrats, nor do they feel obligated to show any. Their worldview is polarly opposite to Obama’s. Compromise is impermissible and a sign of weakness.

These battling perceptions, both inaccurate, have led to polarization, which results in government gridlock. The victim between the dueling views is the average citizen wedged betwixt the vice grips. Because the principals never pay the consequences.

Obama insisted the government could not break contracts when it came to TARP taxpayer dollars shelled out to big banks and Wall Street. So, billions in bonuses were mandated to be subsidized by taxpayers because CEO contracts didn’t permit the cessation of bonuses to the guys that ran the economy over the cliff.

In contrast, union contracts between workers and companies/government are broken without remark from the right, because ordinary workers don’t make billions and, thus, don’t have the means to hire lobbyists to buy politicians. Oh, yes, their collective bargaining rights and benefits can be cancelled, unions busted, and agreements nullified arbitrarily. But no billionaire suffered from the `08 Crash, only the rest of the world. We pay for their corrupt indulgences while they make out like bandits – more than any time in history.

A double standard is the norm in an unjust, plutocratic world. Wall Street is too big to fail, while Main Street deteriorates to pot-holes and dust. Corporate welfare is okayed without fanfare, while welfare for needy and unemployed Americans is denied – denounced by the right with no mention of the other. It’s the perception, their worldview, that drives them to hypocrisy favoring the rich. How opposite to Jesus Christ and Robin Hood can one be?

Meanwhile, we have no true representative of progressives – just a President who sees compromise as both the means and the end.

The gridlock state of America is real. Some have accused me of just holding a pessimistic view, that events and movements [now sculpturing our world] may be interpreted in a brighter light. They say my perception is off and I can’t see clearly.

Like the pessimist who observed a pile of manure and stated the obvious, “Well, there’s a pile of shit.” Next, the optimist strolled by and countered, “Oh, that’s just fertilizer. The pile’s so high, there’s got to be a horse in there somewhere.”

In today’s America, we’re obstructed by a great, big pile of shit Republicans left as their signature legacy. The optimist might come along and hope for better results than what’s visible by way of ignoring the foul-smelling obvious. The realist (pessimist) is the progressive, the optimist is Mr. Hope – Obama. While the party that dumped on America is the GOP. Who has the clearest vision and best interests of the American people at heart?

It’s a matter of perspective. If you’re one of the 99%, you see your job jerked out from under you, your home foreclosed, and your tax dollars bailing out billionaires and paying their bonuses. If you’re one of the elite 1%, you see the vast majority as a threat to your privileged lifestyle. But if you’re Obama, you still only stubbornly see compromise as the sole vehicle to reach consensus with adversaries that laid the big pile and are proud of it.

The Occupy Wall Street movement may have a ripple effect, though dismissed by the predictable FOX and radio right. And the ripple is only momentary. Because there’s no focus, no foresight.

What’s required is a visionary revolution of fresh perspective and new ideas that inspires America back to innovation, invention, and improvisation – the same ingredients that pulled us out of other depressions and crises in the past.

But where is that leader with vision? For, without vision, the people perish.

Barack Obama, I believe, needs to transform himself into that visionary. He has the intelligence, background, and potential to lead America back to greatness. He only needs a change of perception – assimilating the viewpoints necessary for success. He needs to recognize Republicans for what they are – untrustworthy opponents determined to destroy the nation to take his job – and he needs to act accordingly: AROUND them.

If unwilling to discard his long-held skewed perception and misconceptions, the nation perishes.

To stubbornly hold the passive approach is worse than Bush digging in his heels to cover up the big lie of pretext by claiming God orchestrated bombing Baghdad. Not only is Obama’s base greatly disappointed and repressed, but the country is damaged – on the edge of Depression. And without an energized base, Obama may lose, not to mention the loss of Senate, House and future Supreme Court appointees.

The cost could not be higher if eyes remain closed or vision blurred.

The Big Canary in the Economic Coal Mine: POST OFFICE

The realization came to me last February as Wisconsin’s Governor Walker and his pals in the Republican legislature prepared to pass a law decertifying public unions, destroying collective bargaining, and cutting teachers’ salaries and pensions. I knew then a trip to Madison was in order. So, we joined 100,000 workers circling the Capitol at the high-point on March 12.

 

 “But where’s Obama?” many questioned. “Just when we need the President’s support, nothing but silence.” Teachers, nurses, firemen, custodians, state workers, and police were angry – disappointed they had cast votes for the man who promised devotedly to put on walking shoes and demonstrate with workers if collective bargaining was ever challenged.

 

The promise of “change one can believe in” was not imagined but clearly defined by Candidate Obama.

 

Now, the damage from lack of support was dismissed by union leaders at the peak, but hindsight tells a different story. Only two Republican state senators were recalled instead of three or six, which would have given Democrats a majority and reversed anti-union measures. This, to me, was direct evidence Obama is to blame for the sin of omission. He could have energized the Wisconsin vote, but didn’t.

 

National union leaders could have also called for a state-wide general strike but instead opted for recalls. Big mistake. While enjoying an invigorated movement, they could have nailed Walker. Obama’s walking shoes were never put on, so why hold back with lesser methods?

 

The base’s leaders are weak. Right aggression calls for an equally strong left aggression. Appeasement is surrender. Thus far, we only witness appeasement.

 

As predicted, now we find the largest public-sector union under attack: the American Postal Workers Union, along with the carriers’ and mailhandlers’ unions. Obama could have stopped it at the gate last February in Wisconsin but didn’t, either out of cowardice or sticking to his constitutional lawyerly misconceptions.

 

Teachers and state workers didn’t cause Wisconsin’s budget woes, neither did postal workers and their unions cause the Postal Service’s pending collapse. The seeds of financial ruin were, of course, planted by “conservatives” years ago – but only allowed to incubate due to inaction by Bush’s successor, Barack Obama – only in office by union support.

 

In 2006, the Republican-controlled Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, signed by George W. Bush. This law requires the Postal Service to do something no other business or government agency has to do: Pre-fund its future retiree health care benefits. This is a 75-year liability that has to be paid in 10. The Postal Service is required by law to pay $5.5 billion every September 30 – end of the fiscal year – to meet this congressional mandate.

 

The Post Office has been paying this $5.5 billion installment for four years into a trust fund for employees who have not even been born yet. This is the burden that is creating the “financial crisis” for the Post Office. The Great Recession (along with its ugly sibling, the soon-coming Second Great Recession/Depression), has certainly affected the Postal Service. But even in these, the worst of economic times since the 30s, the USPS has had a net profit of $611 million – not taking into account the ridiculously mandated overpayments Republicans planted in `06 during the lame-duck before Democrats took over.

 

The crisis is a purely manufactured one – as are the other crises (economic and subsequent social mayhem soon-to-follow) now gripping the U.S. and Europe. Bush sowed the seeds; Obama was reluctant or hesitant at revocation; and now we’re past the incubation phase into the harvest. The effects of Republicanism is now manifest. (Happy now, rightwingers?)

 

The postal crisis has energized postal workers across the U.S.

 

Around one-hundred union activists picketed in front of the Fort Smith office of Rep. Steve Womack Tuesday afternoon, September 27^th.  Union activists from across Northwest Arkansas met at the Fort Smith Little Theater, next door, where union t-shirts and signs were distributed for those marching both sides of the street -- back and forth -- while union presidents and officers were inside visiting with the congressman to present our take on the postal crisis. Then we heard Rep. Womack's reply. It was as if he didn't hear or didn't understand what the six officers explained. (Actually, it was obvious; he didn’t want to hear, as evidenced by his refusal to budge from party line.)

 

Union officers stated repeatedly, "We don't want nor need a bailout. Not one cent of taxpayers' money is needed to remedy the Postal Service's problem. The Postal Service has NEVER spent one-cent of taxpayers' money in its 235-year history."

 

There was a severe disconnect. Womack acted like he didn't hear a word we said.

 

What Womack vehemently disagreed with us on is his undying support for HR2309 and against HR1351. HR2309 (Darrell Issa's bill) would DESTROY the Postal Service, bust the unions, and send one-quarter million workers to the unemployment line. Apparently Womack is in lockstep with Issa, despite his public statements to the contrary.

 

The same pattern emerged across the country – as union leaders met with hard-line Tea Party Congressmen who wouldn’t stray from sacred ideology. Translation: Gridlock. The nation is paralyzed – except for Obama’s eagerness to compromise – even for that which should never be on the table, yet offered as a peace-token to the angry white men’s mob unwilling to give an inch but willing to witness the country suffer for ideological gain. The people lose when trapped between bully and balless.

 

HR1351, “The United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011,” is the only bill before Congress that will address the pressing financial concerns of the Post Office in a practical manner without eliminating jobs and services to the American public. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) introduced 1351 and presently has 211 co-sponsors. This is not a bailout, nor will it cost the citizens of the United States a single penny in taxes.

 

Despite the facts aforementioned, Republicans – along with their propaganda network, FOX – continue to drum it into the public’s head, “Bailout! Taxpayers’ money!” Just like other catch-word codes hatched by Luntz: “Death taxes, death panels, tax & spend, etc.” Republicans are marketers of decline and national shame. I just wish some champions would rise from the other side.

 

The fall of the Post Office is the big canary soon to collapse from suffocation in the mine. What other indicator does one need to wake up and start fighting for America’s survival?

 

Justice Delayed - Justice Denied

When are the war criminals and treasonous perpetrators of false wars going to trial? The millions of lives lost, the trillions from the treasury, the loss of national prestige, and economic collapse brought to us by these thieves … Where’s justice? Meanwhile echoing in the hallowed halls of the sacred Reagan Library, Republicans applaud deafeningly the execution of innocents and guilty alike in Perry’s gallows. Yet the true Texas crooks go free – George W., Turdblossom Rove, and Halliburton’s Cheney.

Cheney will never face justice, at least not in this life. He'll die first of a bad heart, literally and figuratively.  A stable national image means more to the White House for all time than serving justice to any of their elite. [Is that also true of Tony Blair’s Britain?]

How did Cheney avoid justice? Firstly, rightwingers are combative defenders of their own. Secondly, leftwingers will never pursue justice against high-profile opponents, much less defend their own successfully against barbs from the hateful right. They have no guts. Thus, America is caught in a vice between the brainless and the balless. Washington's gridlock is a manifestation of a deeper schism in this nation. The historic fault lines are in motion again, and we are all feeling the tremors. Gridlock’s victims are ‘We the People.’

The right is successful only because they are determined. Like a rock. Plus they're full of religion, albeit the hateful derivative, which fuels the movement.

The left is a failure only because it is undetermined and indecisive. Like a wet noodle. Plus it has no set moral charity to give its politics authority. The left has no religion, per se, just an ambiguous acceptance, a situational ethical standard never certain.

The other side is a false cult. They base decisions on myths set by skewed tradition and corrupt corporate influence. But fallacy is no factor; perseverance overcomes defective product. It's proven over 4 decades of American politics. Rove knows it; why don’t Democrats?

One side is based on facts and logic. But truth is no guarantee to success in today's climate. Lack of tenacity defeats good intentions. If only we had a Truman, Rogers, or Roosevelt leading the charge. But we don't. Our leaders capitulate and wave the white flag before the actual battle begins. There is no voice of strong reason, no one to speak truth to power. (Anthony Weiner did but got caught playing with his. Democratic leaders capitulated; rightwingers celebrated.)

We’re stuck betwixt meanies & wienies.

We waited and waited for our Knight in Shining Armor to rescue us from the Evil Empire of the Right.... only to be sorely disappointed when that Knight turned on us in quest of acceptance from enemies determined to destroy him (and us). We've been thrown under the bus for the sake of an attempt.... an attempt to persuade the Right of its evil ways and appeal to their better angels (which they have none) to come to the table in good faith and compromise to achieve solutions. We told our Knight over & over it wouldn't work. But he refused to listen. Now we're in pickle.

Justice denied will lead America further down the path to decline. Failure to counteract the Bush era’s errors will certainly lead to Depression, followed by fascism leading to civil unrest and a Third World America. One evil begets another if not corrected along its stream. Obama has refused to correct; so, America proceeds down that path.

ONCE UPON A TIME...

Today marks the tenth anniversary of 9/11 – a day that will live in infamy. How have we done over the decade? Does our post-9/11 behavior honor the victims? I can’t help but visualize Osama bin Laden looking up from Hell celebrating the decline of the U.S. But there should be no self-satisfaction. The weakening of America is not the fruit of Osama’s labor; it’s the result of rightwing politics coupled with Democratic leadership’s cowardice. And such has been the condition throughout the post-period. The two parties are the evil twins “Meany” and “Weiny” – as former Congressman Alan Grayson correctly tags them. One places party over country while the other fearfully surrenders to every demand. Result? We’re all screwed. ONCE UPON A TIME… working folk had power in America and used it to better themselves and their country. The story actually begins before unions became influential. So, let’s back up a bit further.

ONCE UPON A TIME… there was a Great Depression caused by over-speculation and corruption on Wall Street. The Stock Market crashed in 1929. So, voters got together and threw the bums out in Washington that were in collusion with the bankers and greedy speculators that caused the mess in the first place. And they put a man in the White House by the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (elected 1932, inaugurated 1933).

FDR was a wise and kind man who saw clearly what the root causes of Depression were: (1) Lack of government oversight; (2) Extreme disparity of income; and (3) unfair, unbalanced tax and labor policies favoring the rich. To jump-start the economy, he immediately started work programs such as WPA and CCC. He launched Social Security and the National Relations Labor Act (which helped workers). The whole package was called THE NEW DEAL, because it drastically changed the course of American history for the better.

Naturally, the opposition fought back hard. They hated FDR and all he stood for because Roosevelt gave the working people a chance. So, they took over Congress in 1937, focused on the national debt, forcing the country deeper into Depression by mandating the U.S. pay back its obligations at an accelerated pace that had accrued due to the economic collapse they’d caused.

As predicted, their austerity measures (cutting the budget, jobs programs, social safety-nets, etc.) caused another small depression right in the middle of the big one. So, it wasn’t until after World War II started in 1941 the country finally climbed out of Depression, because the government again spent lots of money to pay for necessities… like the biggest conflict in world history.

After the war, unions were powerful, working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income. Anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. Many jobs were union jobs, and this meant they had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for them if they were treated unfairly.

People now refer to this period as the “Good Ol’ Days,” and rightly so. But what many forget is this: Unions and unwavering Democratic leaders were what put the “Good” into the “Ol’.”

Once upon a time, working people understood their history. They remembered the 1930s what condition the country was in and who put them there and why. They recalled the New Deal and National Labor Relations Act – how these programs initiated in the 30s helped them off the streets and soup lines.

Now we live in a different century where a lot of younger workers forget or never knew. Side issues are now more important than labor – like “Obamacare” and “guns-God-gays.” Little do they realize – the “side issues” are designed by unscrupulous political operatives to derail their jobs, livelihoods, and futures. If workers can be distracted by tangents, then corporatists and the greedy elite will have succeeded in destroying labor, and by destroying labor, they will have succeeded in destroying America.

America is also negatively impacted by the current President who sees himself as an Abraham Lincoln instead of a Franklin Roosevelt. Times demand an FDR, but we’re saddled with Mr. Nice who bargains away bedrock benefits and rights for the unlikely chance at enemy acceptance. Opponents are respected more than supporters. Understandably, the base is discouraged to the point of handing the 2012 election to any contender, including a Perry, Palin or Bachmann. It’s a situation he alone has created and will lead to driving nails in the coffin – if not swiftly reversed.

I believe the state of health of domestic labor is the canary in the coal mine for all America. As our jobs evaporate and relocate elsewhere, everyone can clearly recognize decline in this country. Have you driven America’s streets lately and noticed the creeping blight? The nation’s appearance is disfigured when compared to yesteryears, and that’s only the surface symptom of a serious chronic infection: encroaching fascism.

Our only option is sticking together with unwavering determination to throw the bums out. Like a family in the midst of storm, we must hold on to one another to make it through to a brighter day. Then we can sing with Judy Garland the lyrics of Wizard of Oz (1939):

“Somewhere over the rainbow, Way up high, There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow, Skies are blue, And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”

Once upon a time unions were strong and jobs plentiful. Those days will come again if we just hold on.  There may not be cute birdies flying over colorful rainbows, but at least we’ll have real hope for tomorrow.

The Republican Dream

In the 30s Republicans dreamed of destroying Franklin Delano Roosevelt while dismantling all social, banking and labor programs that were helping the country recover from Republican-born Depression.

Eighty-years later, Republicans dream of destroying Barack Obama while dismantling all social, banking and labor programs implemented by Democrats over 80 years that prevented the country from falling into Republican-born depressions like the 30s.

Republicans have always despised “safety-nets” because they believe only free-loaders and parasites partake. The unemployed stay in that condition only when granted support, they claim, and their favorite slur for a food-stamp recipient is “welfare queen.”

Everyone should know by now – Republicanism is an illness, not a cure.

Enough rant; it has long been determined the root cause of this century’s pending Great Depression – the final product of Republican politic. But what’s it like living the Republican dream (as opposed to the American)? It is now time to understand how to survive; past time to analyze why – as if no one knows except media bent on establishing false equivalency.

Let’s take ourselves into the near future to maybe get assimilated.

Republican America is one of declining wealth, dwindling resources, poor to no services, and dead or nearly dead industries resembling salvage yards. High interest rates are charged to the few approved. It’s a nation of freeways deteriorating to gravel pocketed by privatized toll booths, of collapsed bridges, and flights reserved only for the very rich. It’s a country of urban blight, one-third homeless, rusting factories, and boulevards boasting tattoo parlors, casinos, and check-cashing scams. Businesses are boarded on Main Street, skyscrapers crumble, while millions of homeless live on streets lined with empty houses.

Survivors in Republican America are forced to compete for vanishing commodities, resulting in riots, looting, theft, and murder. It’s simply the natural progression anyone could have predicted. With only scarce supplies and no mechanism to enforce rations, what other aftermath could result? Rightwing America is a very unsafe, unstable, and violent place where even the upstanding must compromise principle to survive and put food on the table. It deteriorates to the classic primitive contest – survival of the fittest where only the most brutal bring home the bacon.

Republican America flaunts unpaid, non-credentialed teachers, run-down schools, vacant colleges, and volunteer firemen and police. There are no unions; they’ve been decertified and busted. There are no student loans. Only a fraction seek higher education – and then only from wealthy families.

Textbooks are written and published by Christian right organizations. Subjects discarded are evolution, labor history, climate change, and sex education. Inserted are Judeo-Christian heritage and how devoted the founders were to Christ and church. Ronald Reagan is deified more than the framers, and “American exceptionalism” is the daily lecture.

Republican America, like Walker’s Wisconsin, restricts voting to citizens with government-issued photo IDs and “active” bank accounts, but makes certain these are almost impossible to obtain, especially in Africa-American and Latino districts.

Only white, evangelical precincts are favored. (One can catch a glimpse of future voting by observing Republican legislation in states captured by the Tea Party in ’10.)

In Republican America, fundamentalist Christian “morals” are legislated while crime skyrockets to historic levels. The more rightwing laws, the more crime. Gun violence runs rampant; still gun owners are protected. In fact, every citizen is encouraged to carry a weapon, and the right to carry concealed firearms is ensured federally across state lines.

Gay marriage is banned; all former marriages and state laws legalizing same-sex contracts are annulled. Indeed, gay sex is criminalized [like it was in the good ol’ days]. Thus, gays are again routinely victims of violence and unpunished murder. (The ultimate transgression is “justifiable” in the name of Jesus to eradicate evildoers, they assert.)

Abortion is banned. Roe v. Wade is overturned. (Meanwhile, wealthy Republicans send daughters, wives and lovers to Europe, Asia and South America for the “procedure.”)

Republican America is a police state. Except the “police” are no longer local, but poorly-paid federal troops. Major violence erupts first in urban centers, then spreads across the country. The Republican government feels compelled to suppress the outbreaks, then eventually suspends all civil liberties and elections.

Republican America, in the literal, is Third World.

Republican America paves the road to revolution, for which true libertarian Tea Partiers achingly lust so they can try out their precious weapons on “undesirables.”

The religious right will never believe Republicans brought America to its knees. Neither will characters like Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and Frank Luntz. But, of course, they are all major contributors to the fall.

Question is – How are we going to genuinely survive? Really?

Who Would Jesus Do?

by Loren Adams, 7 August 2011 Right now the U.S. is on the verge of default. Mom and Dad told us what it was like during the Great Depression, but soon we may experience it for ourselves. The debt ceiling was raised dozens of times during Republican administrations, but somehow it’s different now that a Democrat sits in the Oval Office, especially a black one. So, the self-righteous Republicans destroy the nation for political gain. What else is new? That’s the way hypocrites behave.

The current Republican contenders claim they have direct access to God. Is this a joke? I nearly believe we’ve arrived at a bizarro world where everything is turned upside down. Texas Governor Rick Perry holds a state-sponsored prayer conference, Michelle Bachmann claims God commanded her to be President, Mitt Romney wears church-issued magical underwear, and the Tea Party says God wants them to shut the U.S. Government down. Who are these people?

It depends on one’s definition of “God.” Is God’s nature one of wrath or love? Republicans go for the “W” while liberals go for the “L”. Republicans are always fearful of demasculinizing Jesus into a weak, feminine character that feeds the hungry, cares for the sick, turns the other cheek, and focuses on the poor, etc. They prefer the Jesus of Revelation riding a white horse to slay millions at the Valley of Meggido.

The Republican Jesus carries a pistol in his holster, believes everyone else should too, and has zero tolerance for free-loaders and welfare queens. Rightwing Jesus is white and blonde with blue eyes (although born in the Middle East to Jewish parents).

It started with fundamentalist Bush claiming to have direct communication with God to be President, then to bomb the hell out of the Middle East while, as a result, destroying the U.S. economy. One could blame Bush for the nation’s fall, but wasn’t God at fault for ordering Bush to make all these mistakes? No, Bush was using God as a prop to commit political treason; Karl Rove wasn’t only “W’s” brain, but his God.

Remember when Bush claimed he received direct orders from God to bomb Iraq?

Would Jesus have bombed Baghdad?

Bush claimed he KNEW Iraq had WMD and was preparing to use them against the U.S., its allies, and neighbors. Since GW supposedly had a direct line to God, would Jesus have not informed him that no WMD existed in Iraq? Would Jesus have used deceit to influence a nation to go to war? A series of unjustified wars that led the U.S. to depression?

The crimes of the century were committed right in the White House, but no one seems to care, and Obama’s boy (Eric Holder) refuses to prosecute.

Would Jesus lie to get his way?

Would Jesus kill for revenge? Or to steal someone else's property?

Would Jesus make war against another country without provocation and without moral grounds?

Would Jesus treat working people and the poor with contempt and drive their incomes down while enriching the obscenely wealthy?

Would Jesus pray publicly to make a show of his religiosity in order to increase political power? Or would he pray in secret where only his Heavenly Father listens?

Would Jesus issue ultimatums, threats, intimidation, and coercion to have his way?  Or would he use love to overcome adversity.

Would Jesus claim to be “compassionate” while exploiting the poor, destroying Medicare and Social Security, busting unions, demanding lower wages for ordinary folk, and putting the tax burden on the middle and lower classes?

Would Jesus cause the deaths of millions as payback for an unsubstantiated threat against his daddy years before?  Or would he say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”?

Would Jesus jack up the price for prescription drugs for the elderly to pad the pockets of the rich?

Would Jesus not care about the environment, the forests, endangered species, man-made climate change, clean air & water?

Would Jesus lie, cheat, steal, kill, commit insider trading, and live the life of a hypocrite?

Would Jesus impugn the patriotism of another who fought valiantly in a war and was nearly killed saving his friends? (Swiftboaters)

Would Jesus need to lie about others to make himself look good?

Would Jesus rob from the poor to give to the rich?

There’s nothing today about the mean Republican spirit resembling Jesus Christ. More like Pharisees, they stone the prostitute (with whom they just had intercourse), rob from the poor, and give all stolen wealth to the top two percent.

"In as much you do to the least of these, you've done it unto me" – Jesus Christ, Matthew 25:45