“IF NOT US, WHO?”

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #294

My best reflection of the year 2020 was captured by a T-shirt I recently saw a man wearing that said “Let’s Make Orwell Fiction Again!” Yes, in many ways this year that is soon coming to a close has been a trying one. But we also are about to celebrate Christmas and the time we continue to strive for “Peace on Earth.” So, with that Christmas Spirit in mind, I announce to you that Dr. Jo Ellen Chatham and I are forming a movement we are calling “If Not Us, Who?” The thrust of this movement is to be a unifying and healing political force that is similar to www.Pro-moteUnderstanding.com, which focuses on the commonalities of the world’s religions and philosophies.

The idea for this movement came to me when we recently were taping an interview for our “Becoming America” series with Dr. William B. Allen, who is a distinguished and sophisticated Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. During that interview I asked him if he agreed with me that the United States is a better country today than it was 10 or 40 years ago, and that it will be even better 10 or 40 years from now. He responded by saying that he was sorry I had asked that question since he feared that, because of the way our country is now heading, we only could have about one more generation left to keep us from getting worse. This deeply troubled me – hence our new project. So in the upcoming year I will be asking you to join us in these efforts to confront this warning and those also by Dr. Walter E. Williams and former Congressman Tom Campbell, which are, in turn, “The best time to scare people, be wrong and persist in being wrong is when the costs of being wrong are borne by others,” and “Politics makes it easier to attack an opponent’s position than to advance one’s own. Nuance dies in the toxic environment of social media-based politics. If you’re explaining, you’re losing; and simply to rebut the demonized version of your own position qualifies as losing. Far simpler is to demonize right back.” To bring unity and peace back to our land, and respond to these three warnings, we must re-establish an atmosphere of quality discussion, concern and compromise, and do away with today’s increasing climate of fear, demonization and vilification. Please join us in these efforts. But in the meantime, Shalom and Merry Christmas!

Question for the week: What do you call a giant lizard that solves crimes? An Investigator.