Burns Strider2013-06-20T07:08:45-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=burns-striderCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Burns StriderGood old fashioned elbow grease.Fighting Terrorists, Not Sovietstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.11087342011-11-23T15:52:04-05:002012-01-23T05:12:01-05:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
Yes, the world has moved on, but not the American Defense budget where billions of dollars are being wasted on outdated Cold War programs designed to protect us from last century's threats.
With the super committee failure and deficits forcing cuts to defense spending, every dollar wasted on Cold War threats is a dollar taken from giving our troops the equipment and training they need to meet modern challenges. This TV ad from the American Values Network seeks to set the stage and deepen the conversation on the military we need and the spending priorities reaquired to get us there.
Cuts to defense spending are a reality; it's now not a question of whether to cut programs, but which programs should be cut. Currently the size of our nuclear arsenal is based on ability to survive and respond to a pre-emptive Soviet attack. Despite this, some in Congress still want to spend $700 billion on outdated nuclear programs. This means real sacrifices to equipment and training our troops need to fight current threats.
Lawmakers who support obsolete nuclear programs should be forced to defend why they're doing so over modern military needs. Every presidential candidate should be forced to answer whether they would be willing to let our troops go without needed equipment for a 21st century military rather than cut our spending on bloated Cold War nuclear systems.
Times have changed. We don't play vinyl records on our iPods; we don't use pay phones when we're out and need to make a call.
And, we shouldn't be funding last century's battles, especially when it comes at the expense of our troops. We need to be equipping them to fight terrorists, not Soviets.
VIEW AD HERE]]>6 Reasons Mississippians Said No to "Personhood" Amendmenttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10830792011-11-08T22:46:46-05:002012-01-08T05:12:01-05:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/"Personhood" initiative they'd be sharing space with on the ballot. More than a few candidates, believing it was the only safe path, chose to take a public position in support of the measure defining human life as existing at the moment of conception (or cloning, or a twinkle in an eye). Disease, rape, incest not counting as exceptions. Nothing would. Felonies for everyone.
Mississippi has a massively conservative voting base and heavily entrenched conservative politicians and institutions. Polling showed white and black voters overwhelmingly favored the initiative.
In January, I sat in the lobby of a Washington, DC hotel with a group looking for ideas on how to defeat Personhood. My advice, partly, based on my experiences with races in the South, polling data and my personal knowledge as a native Mississippian was to assume its passage, run a singularly grassroots operation and craft a campaign that would look beyond Election Day. Fortunately, I did suggest a flexible campaign with data collection and growth capacity in case the unexpected happened and defeating the measure came into play.
The unexpected happened. Mississippians defeated "Personhood" driving a stake in the heart of a movement that was planning on sweeping, state by state, through the nation.
Why did they lose in arguably the most conservative state in the Union? Why did the anti-Personhood forces win a majority of the vote in Mississippi? Here are six reasons Personhood failed in Mississippi:
6.) The Personhood Initiative language was poorly crafted and made for bad policy. Doctors, for instance, became concerned about the legality of carrying out their oath to save lives. Medical groups organized. This created a foundation for thoughtful people to begin speaking out. Policy generally doesn't win elections but it does create the intellectual depth political passion and message need to prevail.
5.) Clergy stood up and said no. The Episcopal and Methodist Bishops for Mississippi publicly opposed the measure. The Catholic Bishop would not support it instead offering a critical critique. This empowered other ministers to begin speaking out. By the numbers, nothing trumps Southern Baptists in Mississippi, and their leaders remained lividly in support of Personhood. But, Methodists are the second largest denomination in the state, the Episcopal bishop and his family are legendary profiles in courage for Mississippians and the Catholic bishop's pro-life credentials brought attention to his refusal to support the measure. The clergy who spoke out provided a moral framework for the bad policy argument and an even larger moral foundation for voters.
4.) Haley Barbour, the Guv himself, publicly raised concerns about the implications of the measure; right before saying would vote for it. But, he chose to share his concerns. Why? I have no idea. He's an excellent political strategist. Like President Clinton, he's his best strategist. I find it hard to believe he didn't speak out knowing he would have an impact against the measure. He did. Haley "green lighted" many to do what they wanted to do. Vote no.
3.) The Mississippi NAACP announced their opposition to the measure. Derrick Johnson is the president. He is about as courageous and shrewd as they come. He took a stand. And, you know what? The large percentage of black Mississippians supporting Personhood began to crumble. It was leadership in action. And, it changed the outcome. A voting majority began forming of African Americans, white Democrats and upper middle class, educated white conservatives.
2.) "Mississippians for Healthy Families" organized; then they organized the state around defeating personhood. It was this group that brought together the policy concerns, messaging and grassroots organizing that synergized the opposition. Prior to the existence of "Mississippians for Healthy Families" there were only voices in the wilderness throughout the state in search of a movement. This gave them a movement. They connected these voices and brought depth, know-how and resources. Basically, they turned the opposition into a campaign; a winning campaign. Perhaps, "Mississippians for Healthy Families" has a second legacy in creating the largest and most powerful progressive database and organization in Mississippi.
1.) The forces who brought Personhood before the public insulted the intellectual and cultural sensibilities of thousands of Mississippians. They assumed Mississippi would be a cake walk. They provided grandma's 1970's abortion language that didn't speak to many younger, yet conservative, Mississippians. They were sloppy in their organizing and flippant about their opposition; condescending. Their official Personhood website looks like my child's 4th grade class designed it.
I talked to many Mississippians leading up to Election Day; acquaintance after acquaintance, folks I grew up with and know as devout social conservatives. And, to the last one they were voting NO on Personhood. They were turned off by those leading the Personhood campaign. They were insulted by the assumptions of how they thought and that they were supposed to follow the leader without question. They didn't.
There's a lesson here about showing up in Mississippi without your game face on. As the Ford Expedition set grows in the 'burbs with their venti bolds in the cup holders so does the sophistication. Don't bet the farm unless you've invested in the crops. Otherwise, you will lose. Ask the people of Personhood.
]]>License Plates, Heritage and Fellow Mississippianstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.8238252011-02-15T22:37:42-05:002011-05-25T18:30:24-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
Forrest, born into a large, poor family was a self-made man amassing a fortune through cotton planting, land speculation and slave trading. He was one of the very few to enter the Civil War as a private and rise to the rank of General. After the war came to an end he was one of the initial leaders of the Ku Klux Klan.
Forrest's obituary says of his pre-War years, "He was known to his acquaintances as a man of obscure origin and low associations, a shrewd speculator, negro trader, and duelist..."
During the Civil War, General Forrest had many noted moments including the Fort Pillow massacre of black soldiers who had laid down their guns. A letter written to his sister immediately after the massacre by Confederate soldier, Achilles Clark, provided this account:
"The slaughter was awful. Words cannot describe the scene. The poor... negroes would run up to our men, fall upon their knees, and with uplifted hands scream for mercy but they were ordered to their feet and then shot down. I, with several others, tried to stop the butchery, and at one time had partially succeeded, but General Forrest ordered them shot down like dogs and the carnage continued. Finally our men became sick of blood and the firing ceased."
Klan leader Forrest had a few noted moments after the War, too. Author Andrew Ward writes, "In the spring of 1867, Forrest and his dragons launched a campaign of midnight parades; 'ghost' masquerades; and 'whipping' and even 'killing Negro voters... to scare blacks off voting and running for office.'"
This is the person the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans want to honor, remember, memorialize on license plates as part of their commemoration of the War Between the States.
This is the effort, honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest on license plates, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said he wouldn't denounce.
Speaking as a Mississippian to these fellow Mississippians I must say this is an effort I find horrific, absurd and unbecoming of the Mississippi I love.
You belittle all Mississippians by seeking to memorialize our history by elevating images and memories of anyone who articulated and carried out some of our worst moments.
General Forrest belongs in history books and museums where we learn about and from our past, where we ponder those moments we must never repeat. He doesn't belong as a person of honor in the commemoration of our heritage and history.
When debates arise over symbols and heritage and identification I am infuriated when such ideas as this license plate rears their ugly heads. We can't have one state, much less one nation, when we embrace symbols that reflect a tense and asymmetrical heritage.
It's a false heritage we seek to elevate when our symbols divide rather than include. Our energy and spirits are washed down into the gutter when we fight to uphold a heritage that seeks to alienate rather than embrace.
Yes, some of our heritage belongs in museums. We have plenty of nobility and decency to embrace and stand on, stand on together, without the insecurities and ignorance of racism elevated to places of honor.
My credentials as a Mississippian and Southerner are unimpeachable and this license plate idea from the Sons of Confederate Veterans needs to end. Governor Barbour may not be willing to denounce it but I am as are thousands of Mississippians. We all should.
]]>Republicans Are in Schism!tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.8214082011-02-10T12:26:52-05:002011-05-25T18:30:24-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) holds its yearly conference in Washington. Make no mistake, schism is official within the world of conservative politics.
CPAC has stood at a commanding perch within the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan joined and spoke at their conferences on several occasions. Pundits and media crowd the gallery to get a view and digest the interactions within all the conservative organizations who come together at this annual conference. Conservative political leaders take to the podium to espouse their strongest rhetoric against the coastal elites, popular cultural indicators and liberal bastions of power -- garnering wild applause from their proletariat and headlines out to the nation.
The CPAC conference has been the starting block to Presidential aspirations and unifying right wing themes for many years.
No more.
The massive Republican base known as the Religious Right that stretches and weaves in and out of voting precincts across the quilt of our nation has ramped up their revolt. They're not present this year.
The political right wing of the church and the Republican Rotarians out at the country club have long been at odds over priorities, but Republican leaders have managed to bind together these social and fiscal agendas into a common voting bloc since Reagan.
The differences, though, have always smoldered. These polar worlds have been connected by fragile bridges and held together with duct tape.
The Religious Right, dating back to Falwell and Robertson, offers the embodiment of one part of the Republican Party. Their fear-mongering draws millions of Americans to their cause. And, these religious crusaders have faithfully delivered their followers to the Republicans on Election Day. They have embraced their social issues with zeal and looked the other way while those without voices, the poor and hurting, take a back seat to the wealthiest by Republican fiscal policy.
Out at the country club we find the fiscally conservative Republicans, those who are singularly focused on the macroeconomics of big business and GDP. It's the Peggy Noonans in their cardigans and sensible loafers. They roll their eyes at the religious conservatives while crafting their elite view of America. These Republicans can't stomach alter calls and a raised hand during prayer... bless their hearts.
But the country clubbers have needed the Religious Right for their votes. And the Religious Right has needed the country clubbers for their empowerment.
Yet this week, at CPAC, the conservative faithful have boycotted. The massive base is missing.
The Family Research Council, the Media Research Center, the Liberty Council, the American Family Association, Concerned Women of America, the National Organization for Marriage, and Washington's largest conservative think-tank, the Heritage Foundation are not attending.
Why? They are protesting the inclusion of one particular organization named GOProud.
Now, a visit to GOProud's webpage reveals a mission statement reading "GOProud is committed to a traditional conservative agenda that emphasizes limited government, individual liberty, free markets and a confident foreign policy. GOProud promotes our traditional conservative agenda by influencing politics and policy at the federal level." .
So, what's the problem? GOProud represents gay conservatives.
Country clubbers, your helpmate is in revolt. Despite GOProud's commitment to your traditional values of smaller and limited government they do not reflect one value of the Religious Right -- they're not straight.
And, that's enough for schism. The fragile bridges and duct tape has dry rotted.
This drama, for the moment, is really not about who is winning the soul of the Republican Party. Rest assured, both sides have amassed an arsenal to compete for such a lofty prize. It's about the fact that a schism between the two competing ideological centers diminishes the whole of the party. A house divided cannot stand. One cannot serve two masters.
The Religious Right's unwillingness to attend a conference with gay Americans in attendance, which, while pretty darn horrific by itself, also showcases the deeper fears and anger of the Religious Right.
Nick Gillespie over at Reason hits on something worth noting while discussing Grover Norquist, a key CPAC leader:
"Mr. Norquist serves on the GOProud advisory board and also has advocated legalization of drugs, open borders and amnesty for illegals; supported closing the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay; opposed aspects of the USA Patriot Act; and supports the construction of the Ground Zero Mosque. He is actively promoting the Obama administration's "engagement plan" with Islam, which has the Muslim Brotherhood's seal of approval. He certainly has a right to hold those views, but it is false advertising to call them conservative."
Does this have anything to do with the an emerging belief within the Religious Right that CPAC has been taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood?
Norquist is unimpeachable when it comes to being a stalwart for low taxes and small government. But, when it comes to social issues, he doesn't fit into the hard core world of the Religious Right's ideology.
Norquist is only one of a long list of macroeconomic Republicans the Religious Right once found ways to work with. But, no more.
There is a schism in the Republican Party. The Religious Right is flexing its muscle. It's a bicep that has delivered millions to the polls for the Republicans. They're making their play. The country clubbers are flexing back.
Rest assured, the winner will not be the Republican Party.]]>Senators Kyl and DeMint Exploit Faith for Political Meanstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.7973122010-12-15T16:08:38-05:002011-05-25T18:20:30-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
Kyl and Demint, after being the driving forces in delaying a vote to pass the New START Treaty, now say it would be "disrespect[ful]" to vote on New START during Christmas, believing instead they should be home. I wonder what our troops who will be working during Christmas think of their need for a vacation?
And, they call it "sacrilegious" to vote, during Christmas, on New START. Hmm, voting on a treaty that promotes peace during the holiday celebrating the birth of the "Prince of Peace" is sacrilegious?
These latest tactics are, at best, sad; at worse, they are sacrilegious in their distortions of Christianity and disrespectful to our hard working and committed troops.
In fact, prominent Christian leaders have something to say about it::
"I can think of no more appropriate time of year for the Senate to pass a treaty that promotes peace and good will. Surely that is the kind of gift that is worthy to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. For two Senators who have steadfastly opposed this on political grounds to now use Christmas to justify their position is a cynical manipulation of religion in the worst possible way. It is this manipulation of the Christmas season that is truly sacrilegious." ~ Rev. Jim Wallis, Founder Sojourners
"Senator Kyl's and DeMint's statements suggesting Christmas is a reason to delay action on a treaty aimed at reducing the threat of nuclear war is a misuse of the Christian holiday. If anything this time of year should be an encouragement for our leaders to work harder for peace on earth in response to God who wills peace for all. Peace is major theme of the Advent season and celebration of Christmas. The National Council of Churches looks forward to being able to celebrate ratification of this treaty to reduce nuclear stockpiles and improve verification. Any delay would be contrary to our commitment to peace on earth." ~ Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of Churches
"In the season when "Peace on earth..." was declared at the coming of the Prince of Peace, there is no better time to ratify the new START Treaty that will make peace and our national security more certain." ~ Rev. Dr. Joel C. Hunter, evangelical mega church pastor
"The American Catholic bishops have called on the Senate to ratify the New START agreement. To do so now, in this season that for many marks the birth of the Prince of Peace, would be especially poignant. Senators Kyl and DeMint insist that working on New START over the holidays would dishonor people of faith. That's transparent. Working men and women are at their jobs in this holy season -- before Christmas, after Christmas, and for some even on Christmas Day. I'm convinced the Christ Child specially blesses those first responders, military personnel, health care providers, and other emergency workers who spend His birthday in service to others. Senators, truly honor Christians. Stay at your desks until this work to which you have been called is resolved." ~ Stephen Schneck, Director, Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies, The Catholic University of America
"Passing the new START treaty has profound moral implications for human life. As Christians, we believe that Christmas celebrates the birth of the Prince of Peace. There is no better way to honor this central moment of our faith than to pass this agreement. Any claim that the treaty has not been vetted is simple political gamesmanship. Now is the season to step back from partisanship and act together for security and peace. It is in keeping with our effort to embody the message of Jesus in this holy season, and it is good for our nation and the world." ~ Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK
"Christians can disagree in good faith on the best way to apply our faith in the public arena, but the statements by Senator Kyl and DeMint are the worst examples of faith in politics. They have been working to kill START for weeks. A concern for the faithful isn't driving their arguments or they would have mentioned faith earlier and Senator DeMint wouldn't be working to push the debate until Christmas. This is cynical partisan politics masquerading as piety, and our leaders should be above that." ~ Eric Sapp, Executive Director, American Values Network
"The attempt by New START opponents to use Christmas for tactical political advantage is profoundly offensive for three reasons. First, this move represents the worst mix of religion and politics. As one who ministers among a rising generation of Christians, I see countless peers walking away from their Evangelical faith because political tactics just like this have sullied the name of Christianity. Our belief motivates us to bring a moral witness to the democratic process -- but the cold-blooded use of religion as a political weapon dishonors the Lord Jesus Christ and harms the evangelistic integrity of his church.
Second, the claims made by Treaty opponents are patently unbiblical. The teaching of the New Testament, from Jesus Christ (cf. Mark 2:27) to Paul (cf. Rom 14.5-6), makes clear that the work of righteousness, justice and compassion should never be pre-empted by a legalistic appeal to holidays. And it would be all the more abhorrent if the Prince of Peace's birth were used to stop a measure to reduce nuclear weapons. Third, those of us who stand within the Just War tradition believe that military service should be exercised as a vocation of peacemaking. The American servicemen and -women deployed abroad will not spend Christmas with their families, nor will they take the day off. Though we wish that all Christians could be with their loved ones this holiday, it should not be too much to ask that Congress not abdicate their duty while so many stand in harm's way. I hope and pray that all American Christians, especially pastors, will publicly reject any attempt to use our faith for tactical political gain." ~ Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, Founder of Two Futures Project, Chairman of Global Task Force on Nuclear Weapons for World Evangelical Alliance
]]>Nancy Pelosi Should Remain As Leader of the House Democratic Caucustag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.7796212010-11-05T15:06:12-04:002011-05-25T18:10:25-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
Republicans pretty much say it all. Why would they spend millions and millions demonizing Ms. Pelosi? Because she's ineffective? Because she can't move legislation? Because she's poor at politics or governing? Did they spend millions blasting her because she's not a thorn in their side? Exactly. They don't want her as House Democratic Leader because she is effective, moves legislation, knows her politics, and can govern. Nancy Pelosi is a thorn in the side of reactionaries who want to move us, at high speed, back to the past.
Nancy Pelosi can hold the Democratic Caucus together. I worked for Speaker Pelosi for several years, serving as her liaison, internally, with the Blue Dog Democrats and, externally, to America's military veterans, rural Americans, and faith communities. Prior to joining her team I was the Chief of Staff for a Blue Dog Member of Congress. The best way for me to articulate my experience is that I learned a lot about sticking to ones convictions while keeping a diverse group moving forward. In the new Congress, her skills will be desperately needed to hold the line. Her convictions to core Democratic principles are without question.
Speaker Pelosi can raise resources -- a required commodity in winning elections like it or not. And, Nancy Pelosi can raise the resources needed. Again, this is really indisputable. Her fundraising ability is nearly unprecedented, especially within the House Democratic Caucus. Also unprecedented has been her desire, vision and willingness to use those resources well where they are needed. Not holding it but moving it. And in doing so moving forward the issues and causes that we are about as Democrats.
She has the winning strategy. The Speaker likes to coach her colleagues that if you take a swipe at someone then be prepared to receive one right back. The opposing party may want to consider the ramifications of that in the coming months! She also teaches that when you are about to do something tell your constituents what you are going to do, then tell them while you are doing it and, finally, tell them you did it once you have finished. Get the message out ... and be transparent. I've witnessed and been part of moments when legislation seemed lost and it wasn't the staff and strategists in the room who developed and, literally, carried out the plan overcoming the obstacles and passing the legislation. It was the Speaker. Nancy Pelosi has the winning strategy.
Under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi, Democrats have introduced and passed historic legislation such as health care reform, the largest single increase in veterans' benefits in American history, women's rights initiatives, Wall Street reform, and, lest we forget, cutting taxes for 95 percent of the American people and millions of small businesses.
Nancy Pelosi puts working and middle class Americans first. Yes, the Republicans definitely wanted to demonize her. They don't want her around. We need her leadership.
I talk often about narrative. I lament, that as Democrats, we too often miss the essential, foundational step of sharing our narrative with the American people. We jump to discussing programs, touting macro numbers and ... well ... we end up sounding like Beltway policy wonks. Sharing our narrative is about telling our story and connecting around the coffee table on common issues and shared values. It's then, and only then, that we can share our policy, plans, and legislation.
Speaker Pelosi is a living narrative of American values ... from her Italian Catholic upbringing in Baltimore to the stories of family who fought for our freedoms (including an uncle who gave his life at the Battle of the Bulge during World War Il). Today, she is devout person of faith who treasures a family who treasures her back. She's a grandmother who is only a thought or two away from telling of the latest events in the lives of her grandchildren. Speaker Pelosi's belief and unabashed support for working and middle class families comes out of her own great American story.
Yep, she's the right person to keep leading the House Democrats.
]]>Manning Up to Sharing Our Testimony as Democratstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.7780632010-11-03T01:21:25-04:002011-05-25T18:10:25-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
Democracy can be hard, too. The harsh realities of money and its undue influence on working folks and middle class Americans simply seeking what's best for their families, communities and the American dream becomes nakedly apparent at times.
Americans often feel empowered, get involved, become part of a movement and they win. Then the sausage-making of policy and governing elongates the envisioned road map of their hope and change. Folks become disillusioned and step away. They are not naïve. It's incumbent on the political process to properly discern their vision and create the space for it to remain alive and active.
I do politics centered within faith and values. And I do it as a Democrat. "Narrative" is a word I hear and use several times a day. Back home, in Mississippi, the operative word would "testimony." I've joined fellow believers at many Sunday night services when the floor was open for anyone to stand and share their testimony -- they tell their friends what's happening in their lives, how their faith is supporting and informing them and share the work of their God in their lives.
Everyone has a testimony. In the public marketplace of ideas and politics we don't cotton to the testimony of any one faith. All can share their testimonies as Americans from the standpoint of their values and how they shape their public views.
In fact, to be successful, candidates must share their narratives -- their testimonies -- in order to win. Any candidate can knock on a door, but only candidates who have connected, personally, with common values, will get into the living room where they can share their plans once elected.
A candidate can drone on for hours about policy and trillion dollar debt and reducing deficits. A candidate can talk about how many people will be served by health care reform or how much money will be ultimately saved by that reform. But, unless that candidate has shared their personal values, showcased who they are and connected on the common ground - person to person, family to family -- of shared goals for America then all the wonkish, faceless talk is fruitless.
We, as Democrats, sometimes miss this foundational set of building blocks that leads to Election Day success. It's not a cynical overture to voters but rather a rational, valid part of sitting down with Veterans, clergy, labor, business leaders and others to tell them who you are, what you believe and why you share common values with them.
Faith often plays a central role. Another term I often use and hear being used is "authenticity." It's not about being of a certain religious belief, but it is about not hiding that belief under a bushel. It's about a candidate letting her light shine in a way that consecrates their faith, or non-faith as it may be, as being in tune and in touch with the values of the voters.
There's a growing chorus of voices bemoaning the ongoing losses, by Democrats, of the support of working class Americans. Many drive pickups and hunt and fish. And, most hold fast to a belief in God. They also hold fast to a belief in the predominance and promise of America. Democrats, too often, simply fail to connect on personal levels with these important Americans. So, when we begin espousing disconnected policy and wonkish legislative goals we have no common ground for hanging our hat. We're still on the front porch.
Republicans are often good at sharing their testimonies and being invited off the front porch into the living room. They freely share their faith, make the relational meetings stick and connect on the common ground of shared values.
Sadly, when doing this, Republicans take extraordinary and improper steps, and turn God into a secular icon and Christianity into a civic religion. A false litmus test forms demanding a certain type of, just not faith, but Christianity, for candidates to fit into.
This is bad for America, and creates a false assumption about the narrative of faith and values that turns off many progressives.
Republicans, their leaders and politicians, sadly bow at a false alter in this respect. But not before they manage to solidify the foundational set of building blocks that helps them attain Election Day success.
We, as progressives, as Democrats, shun the secularizing and politicizing of faith. We should. But, we go too far and allow that concern to build a wall between authentic and needed narrative.
We must man up to sharing our testimony.
]]>Fox News, Talk Radio, and "Imam Obama"tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6918412010-08-24T16:40:25-04:002011-05-25T17:25:21-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
In hindsight most anything can be done better, but anyone who has been following national politics should know Obama is a prayerful Christian. He doesn't wear is faith on his sleeve (or as a chip on his shoulder), but he rose to national prominence with a speech that was perhaps most known for its focus on faith. And he has not shied away from speaking very publicly about how the resurrected Christ is his Lord and Savior when the situation was appropriate. Some point to the fact that Obama worships at camp David instead of a DC church, but neither George W Bush nor Reagan went to church on Sundays while they were in the White House so that can't be the explanation.
So where is the confusion coming from? The misunderstanding many Americans have about Obama's faith is not an accident or something that just happened naturally. It is the result of a widespread and constant misinformation campaign by Fox News and right wing bloggers and radio hosts.
These pundits are bearing false witness and sowing seeds of doubt about a fellow Christian who also happens to be their President, and they should be ashamed. Of course, Fox and others will argue they are just asking questions and they can't be held responsible for the statements made by their guests or people they are interviewing.
But anyone who has been through high school knows how the rumor mill works: "I've heard from several people that Susie hooked up with Melissa's boyfriend last night. I don't know if that's true or not, but she did have that crush on him in 7th grade, and I saw her heading into the parking lot with him after the game. She says she didn't, and I'm not going to contradict her, but it does make you wonder..."
Or put another way:
Hannity guest Brigitte Gabriel: "President Obama was born into the Islamic faith. Raised as a Muslim as a child . . . I cannot speak on what god he prays to in his private space," but "all the signs show that he has a very soft spot for the Islamic world."
Fox and Friends: " The fact that his father was a Muslim, he was raised as a Muslim for awhile, and went to a madrassa school in Jakarta." - Steve Doocy "There is some reports that Wahhabism was the curriculum there, which is a problem because they start with "We hate America" and work their way back from there." - Kilmeade
Fox News' Special Report graphic asks of Obama: "Islam or Isn't He?"
Washington Times' Jeffery Kuhner: Obama is a "cultural Muslim."
Fox's Bill O'Reilly: "What is clear to everyone is that President Obama was soft, almost subservient to the Muslim world."
Fox's Glenn Beck: Obama's comments show "contempt for the Scriptures."
Limbaugh: There is "confusion over the identity of Imam Obama." "Obama says he's a Christian, but where's the evidence?"
All of these public statements are overlaid and lend credibility to a coordinated and sinister mass email campaign that spreads even crazier allegations and "facts," which people find all the easier to justifying forwarding to friends after hearing Hannity or Limbaugh or the latest Fox and Friends show.
What the Pew survey shows is the danger posed to our Democracy by news organizations that are driven by a partisan or ideological agenda instead of a search for the truth. And lest we get too high on our horse blasting Fox News, our side has started down the same path. Fox and the GOP may be worse, but when the American people start only getting news and information from those willing to twist the facts to match our world view, our entire system of governance is at risk.
The 4th Estate and reporters and editors who care about the truth need to wake up to what is happening. Bloggers and independent journalists need to rise up and demand accountability (even of those on our side). And all Americans need to hold our news organizations accountable. Because folks, if Fox News and the right wing blogs and radio pundits can get 20% of Americans to believe a lie about the President of the United States , what else is possible? It's the stuff of dystopian novels, and it should scare the hell out of all Americans. ]]>Newt Gingrich Rejects Religious Freedom and the Golden Ruletag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6639952010-07-30T14:50:32-04:002011-05-25T17:10:24-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
They stand with pride and a sense of duty that has never left them since the day they stormed the beaches of Normandy, fought for inches of earth on the Korean peninsula or patrolled the Mekong in Southeast Asia. They did it for freedom, for America, for you and me. You look in their eyes and realize they would do it again.
Newt Gingrich does these patriotic American war veterans -- and every American, really -- a gross disservice when he says a mosque should not be built in New York City because it would be too close to Ground Zero and it would be for the Muslim religion, which he associates in its totality with terrorism. Then he says we should not allow such a religious institution be built on American soil because Muslim nations don't allow Christian and Jewish churches and synagogues on their soil. (Read: Gingrich calls for America to be like Saudi Arabia.)
Basically, in his sprint back to power, Gingrich shreds the constitution both in its enshrined verbiage and practical application. The bedrock freedom of religious liberty is encapsulated into our most sacred national documents such as our constitution. And the belief and practice has been dearly held by each subsequent generation of God-fearing Americans.
We're really left no doubt that a World-War-II-era Newt Gingrich would have been quick to arrest and place Japanese Americans in internment camps because, well, they looked like the enemy. Courage and hope and resolve made us the victors in World War II, not those sad moments when the constitution was trampled on out of fear and a sense of helplessness.
But it's fear and helplessness that Gingrich embraces in his belief that America should simply shred the constitution and begin denying the religious freedom for which our fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers sacrificed and fought over our history. Mercy, we have sons and daughters, sisters and brothers fighting for those very freedoms in Iraq and Afghanistan right now.
Yet Gingrich says we should act like those very nations and deny religious freedom.
Reagan once borrowed from St. Augustine, calling America a "shining city on a hill" that demonstrates for the world how democracy works and empowers people through freedom, trust and dialogue. Gingrich, in one fell swoop of political desire, dethrones Reagan's imagery and calls on Americans to follow the example of other nations that do not hold to a belief in religious freedom.
What did our ancestors fight for, Mr. Gingrich? What are our friends and family fighting for right now?
The Golden Rule is essential to all of us. We all hold it as a belief, a philosophy, to strive for. It is both simple and profound in reminding us to treat others as we would want to be treated.
As an Evangelical, I hold the Golden Rule high as a core tenet of my faith. Yet Gingrich trashes that, too. In saying that we should not allow a mosque to be built because other nations don't allow churches or synagogues built on their soil, Gingrich is really saying that we should treat others as they treat us. Don't lead; for God's sake, follow. Don't seek the moral and ethical high ground; seek a get-even-often-and-quick strategy that only Machiavelli could love.
Mr. Gingrich is simply wrong. And he must know how he spits in the face of those who have defended our constitution on the battlefields of war, with so many precious lives taken away from us in defense of our liberties. He must know that a "shining city on a hill" does not follow examples of others but rather leads and sets examples.
We are Americans. Gingrich is calling us to be less.
And, Gingrich must know that turning the Golden Rule on its head is a house built on the shifting sand. It cannot stand. My faith and my confidence in that faith and in my nation compel me to seek the truest meaning of the Golden Rule.
Gingrich's desire to rise back to power, maybe even through an attempted run for the White House, makes me more deeply consider FDR's admonishment that the "only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
We can't allow our fears to overtake our pursuit of a more perfect union.
We can't allow our fears to undermine the very freedoms we seek to uphold.
And we certainly can't allow political fear-mongers like Newt Gingrich to divide us -- not only from our national tenets and our faith but also from each other.
We have nothing to fear when we act like Americans and embrace living up to the wonderful and lofty tenets, goals and freedoms we have always sought. Destroying our freedoms by seeking to emulate the rules of other nations for the sake of protecting the values of our own nation is ridiculous.
Shame on you, Mr. Gingrich.
]]>Wrong-Headed and "Half-Assed," Graham Caves When Real Leadership Is Neededtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6150952010-06-17T11:45:47-04:002011-05-25T16:50:20-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/has said in the past, "We refuse to accept the argument that the United States cannot lead the world in addressing global climate change." In a political era fraught with extreme partisanship and a 24/7 news cycle contributing to the polarization, it was exciting to see an elected official stand up for what he believes in even if it diverged from his party's status quo.
Unfortunately, as this new ad by the American Values Network demonstrates, in the last month Sen. Graham has changed his tune. All the reasons Sen. Graham supported climate legislation haven't changed, just his willingness to stand by them.
Senator Graham recognized the urgency of the climate change issue and the many consequences that will result if we don't take action. These consequences include threatening our national security, as we send "nearly $800 million a day to sometimes-hostile oil-producing countries." Failing to do anything about climate change also threatens our economic security, as Graham has pointed out one example of how China is dominating the green economy. Indeed, President Obama recognized this as well, saying in his address from the Oval office last night that "countries like China are investing in clean energy jobs and industries that should be here in America."
Ultimately, doing something about climate change is a moral imperative, as the negative consequences from doing nothing most negatively affects the poor and will leave our children in a world of trouble. On the other hand, the benefits of passing climate change legislation are numerous.
These include, but are not limited to, the creation of millions of new jobs through investing in renewable energy, sustaining our leadership in the new world economy, improving national security and cleaning up the air to improve environmental and health standards around the world.
Comprehensive and extensive climate change legislation needs to be passed in order to achieve these desired ends. Creating and passing such legislation is going to require politicians to work across the aisle, despite the partisan environment. As Senator Graham said, "We can't be a nation that always tries and fails... we have to eventually get some hard problem right." It appeared for some time that Senator Graham was going to be the man who was going to step up and be the leader in the effort to pass this crucial legislation.
Unfortunately, for Graham, and for every American, he has retracted his support for the comprehensive climate change legislation he developed with Senator Kerry and instead has lent his support to what he himself called a "half-assed" energy bill.
America used to be leading the world in innovation and in responding and adapting to how the world is changing. This is because there were men and women who were willing to take the risk to fight for what they believe in, no matter what the consequence. How long will America stay in the dark? How long must we wait for politics to be put aside and for a leader to step up to respond to the climate change crisis?
As Graham said, "We can either be followers or leaders." What will it be Senator?
(Andrew Robinson, a 2010 Fellow at the American Values Network, contributed in researching and drafting this piece. Robinson, a Hillsborough, NJ native, is a senior at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA where he is receiving dual degrees in Political Science and Religion.)
]]>Big Daddy's Rules for the 2010 Campaign Trailtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6090042010-06-11T10:42:12-04:002011-05-25T16:45:26-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
This is not healthy for our nation. Not the opposing opinions; those are good -- but rather the unwillingness to respect and engage people who think differently.
Sarah Palin's brand of politics, for example, defining some Americans as being from "real America" and others as wherever it is she thinks they are from (a city, perhaps?) is bad for America. Such political warmongering implodes our core values.
Our first calling, in politics, is to protect, honor and leave better our American system. If we tear down the American political process by doing and saying anything to win then we have failed that calling before we ever begin.
I'm all about winning. And I live for hardball politics. I get it naturally. But, dividing and angering voters; displacing the common ground of being American from under their feet in order to win has catastrophic consequences.
The campaign cycle of 2010 has had a tumultuous start. Tea Party libertarians screaming from street corners, unhappy workers taking on incumbents, disgruntled faithful praying that the administration will keep its promises, Birthers repelling from black helicopters into the American mainstream and town hall meetings resembling Three Stooges re-runs have been forever social networked into our national psyche.
Something is askew!
National media, noted bloggers and talking heads have salivated over the trends they have attempted to stamp onto this period of our political history. Somehow Pennsylvania, Arkansas, California and Nevada primary election results are rolled together like a fatboy and passed around the room without regard to individual, regional or state politics. It all means the same thing?
I even read some writers who were angered that Blanche Lincoln had defined herself as an Arkansan and opposed to many of the current Beltway antics. They thought this was wrong -- dirty politics.
WTF!?
Folks, we can do better. I'm pretty sure we must.
My father was an old Mississippi cotton farmer and politician, God rest his soul. He was known as Big Daddy by nearly everyone in Mississippi. He stood at 6'7", weighed in at over 330 pounds and wore a suit, cowboy hat and cowboy boots 7 days a week. Jesse A. "Big Daddy" Strider was Sheriff of Grenada County for 24 years. My uncle has since been sheriff and my oldest brother is currently sheriff.
I realize sometimes, at strange moments, how universal Big Daddy's lessons and brand of politics were. He lived out and taught a progressive brand of politics that was about doing and not talking. It was about simply taking the right reality and putting it into action.
When I worked for Nancy Pelosi, I saw my father's politics in her politics all the time. I certainly saw it in Jim Clyburn's. And when my former boss, Hillary Clinton, says that the best rule of politics is following the Golden Rule then I hear Big Daddy all over again.
I have shared many Big Daddy's sayings and teachings in the past. They're worth re-sharing as we enter the 2010 campaign season for the sake of winning and bringing us together:
"A pick up truck beats a Cadillac any day of the week."
Translation: Don't get fancy. Don't get fancy with your words, with your plan or with your attitude. Folks are looking for one of them to lead.
"Every tub has got to sit on its own bottom."
Translation: In the final analysis the candidate has to carry the day. The candidate is who the voters want to hear from, not outside organizations or talking heads. Only the candidate can ultimately speak for the candidate.
"If you're driving down the highway and see a car coming toward you in your lane then you're going to change lanes."
Translation: Don't get in the way of your friends. Find a way to settle, before you enter the courtroom of public opinion and elections.
"If you come up on an old, yella, mangy dog and that dog is barking the word "God" then let him bark.
Translation: Don't challenge, denigrate or dismiss the faith of anyone. A person's faith represents the core, the essence of who they are. It's one of their most personal choices. You tear that person down if you tear down their faith. Hell, join them. It can probably do you some good.
"Be careful what you say about someone, you're probably talking to their cousin."
Translation: You're probably talking to their cousin.
"In politics if you take a swing at someone you better be prepared to take one right back."
Translation: I actually learned this one from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I share it with candidates and young political operatives all the time as I travel the country. It helps you think down the road to where your decisions are taking you.
"Preach it three times: before you do it, when you're doing it and after you do it."
Translation: It's not just enough to believe it or even do it. People must know where you stand on an issue. They must know your actions. Just doing something without getting the news out is a waste of good time. I run across people running for office all the time who had done good things but no one knows. They're even indignant that others don't know of their good work. Well, they lose no matter how much time they waste being indignant. Tell your story and tell it often.
"No one ever had to apologize for something they did not say!"
Translation: Don't talk if you don't have too. If it doesn't help you, remain quite. If you're unsure if it helps you keep your mouth shut. You must know for certain what you're saying and why. Don't take chances saying something you likely can't fix.
"The person with the khaki pants, sweaty shirt and straw hat driving the old truck is probably on the local Bank Board. The slick guy with the pin stripped suit, silk tie, tasseled shoes and new car probably owes the bank."
Translation: Big Daddy was never impressed with those who put on airs. He had a lot of things to say about it. Being flashy was artificial to him. He wasn't against spending money and living good but he was against anyone who seemed to take pleasure in using material items to show off or feel superior to others. We all know that flashiness is a waste of time in politics.
"Take the blame. Be responsible."
Translation: Don't pass the buck. Never, NEVER pass the buck. Stand up and take it when things go bad.
"Spread the credit."
Translation: And when things go good, let people know who all was involved. Share the wealth and it will be returned to you over and over again.
"The Golden Rule is the best rule to follow in politics."
Translation: Secretary Clinton says this. Treat others as you would like to be treated -- that's the rule, isn't it? Just imagine if that rule was applied prior to every action, statement and decision in a political campaign.
"The world would rather see a sermon than hear one."
Translation: This is from Congressman Jim Clyburn who relates a beautiful story about being in college and deciding, against his father's dreams, he was not going into the ministry. When he took the long drive home and told his preacher father there was a long pause then his father said, "Well, son, the world would rather see a sermon than hear one." That's powerful. St. Francis of Assisi said preach often, sometimes use words. Our political system would be much stronger with more action and less talking.
"Don't kick a person when they're down."
Translation: When people are at their lowest, no matter what they did, no matter how bad, it is not the time to pile on. Show them attention, love and support. Let them know they matter. This was Big Daddy's philosophy not just in politics but for how the inmates were to be treated at his jail. Not your normal take on how a Mississippi Sheriff may run things. And he kept running his jail and Sheriff's department because his county would give him 70 - 75% of the vote nearly every time he was on the ballot.
"Remember your raising."
Translation: Cissy Ross Pierce was getting ready to move to Korea with her soldier husband who was being stationed there. There was a big going away party on our farm with all the families of Pea Ridge in attendance. At the end of the party, Big Daddy hugged Cissy and simply said "You remember your raising while you're over there." I was a little boy at the time and wasn't there. But I've heard this story a hundred times by Cissy who did indeed live in Korea before she and her family returned home to Mississippi and rejoined our community.
I think it would bode well for all of us if we took time every now and then to remember our raising.
There you have it -- Big Daddy's for the 2010 campaign trail along with a peppering of Clinton, Pelosi and Clyburn. I doubt Big Daddy considered himself a post-modern philosopher, but what he taught and lived is relevant today -- relevant to winning and to bringing us together, as one. Both are possible.]]>Big Daddy's Rules for the 2010 Campaign Trailtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6089052010-06-11T10:35:42-04:002011-05-25T16:45:26-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
This is not healthy for our nation. Not the opposing opinions; those are good -- but rather the unwillingness to respect and engage people who think differently.
Sarah Palin's brand of politics, for example, defining some Americans as being from "real America" and others as wherever it is she thinks they are from (a city, perhaps?) is bad for America. Such political warmongering implodes our core values.
Our first calling, in politics, is to protect, honor and leave better our American system. If we tear down the American political process by doing and saying anything to win then we have failed that calling before we ever begin.
I'm all about winning. And I live for hardball politics. I get it naturally. But, dividing and angering voters; displacing the common ground of being American from under their feet in order to win has catastrophic consequences.
The campaign cycle of 2010 has had a tumultuous start. Tea Party libertarians screaming from street corners, unhappy workers taking on incumbents, disgruntled faithful praying that the administration will keep its promises, Birthers repelling from black helicopters into the American mainstream and town hall meetings resembling "3 Stooges" re-runs have been forever social networked into our national psyche.
Something is askew!
National media, noted bloggers and talking heads have salivated over the trends they have attempted to stamp onto this period of our political history. Somehow Pennsylvania, Arkansas, California and Nevada primary election results are rolled together like a fatboy and passed around the room without regard to individual, regional or state politics. It ALL means the same thing?
I even read some writers who were angered that Blanche Lincoln had defined herself as an Arkansan and opposed to many of the current Beltway antics. They thought this was wrong - dirty politics.
WTF!?!?!
Folks, we can do better. I'm pretty sure we must.
My father was an old Mississippi cotton farmer and politician, God rest his soul. He was known as Big Daddy by nearly everyone in Mississippi. He stood at 6'7", weighed in at over 330 pounds and wore a suit, cowboy hat and cowboy boots 7 days a week. Jesse A. "Big Daddy" Strider was Sheriff of Grenada County for 24 years. My uncle has since been sheriff and my oldest brother is currently sheriff.
I realize sometimes, at strange moments, how universal Big Daddy's lessons and brand of politics were. He lived out and taught a progressive brand of politics that was about doing and not talking. It was about simply taking the right reality and putting it into action.
When I worked for Nancy Pelosi, I saw my father's politics in her politics all the time. I certainly saw it in Jim Clyburn's. And when my former boss, Hillary Clinton, says that the best rule of politics is following the Golden Rule then I hear Big Daddy all over again.
I have shared many Big Daddy's sayings and teachings in the past. They're worth re-sharing as we enter the 2010 campaign season for the sake of winning and bringing us together:
"A pick up truck beats a Cadillac any day of the week."
TRANSLATION: Don't get fancy. Don't get fancy with your words, with your plan or with your attitude. Folks are looking for one of them to lead.
"Every tub has got to sit on its own bottom."
TRANSLATION: In the final analysis the candidate has to carry the day. The candidate is who the voters want to hear from, not outside organizations or talking heads. Only the candidate can ultimately speak for the candidate.
"If you're driving down the highway and see a car coming toward you in your lane then you're going to change lanes."
TRANSLATION: Don't get in the way of your friends. Find a way to settle, before you enter the courtroom of public opinion and elections.
"If you come up on an old yella mangy dog and that dog is barking the word 'God' then let him bark."
TRANSLATION: Don't challenge, denigrate or dismiss the faith of anyone. A person's faith represents the core, the essence of who they are. It's one of their most personal choices. You tear that person down if you tear down their faith. Hell, join them. It can probably do you some good.
"Be careful what you say about someone, you're probably talking to their cousin."
TRANSLATION: You're probably talking to their cousin.
"In politics if you take a swing at someone you better be prepared to take one right back."
TRANSLATION: I actually learned this one from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I share it with candidates and young political operatives all the time as I travel the country. It helps you think down the road to where your decisions are taking you.
"Preach it three times: before you do it, when you're doing it and after you do it."
TRANSLATION: It's not just enough to believe it or even do it. People must know where you stand on an issue. They must know your actions. Just doing something without getting the news out is a waste of good time. I run across people running for office all the time who had done good things but no one knows. They're even indignant that others don't know of their good work. Well, they lose no matter how much time they waste being indignant. Tell your story and tell it often.
"No one ever had to apologize for something they did not say!"
TRANSLATION: Don't talk if you don't have too. If it doesn't help you, remain quite. If you're unsure if it helps you keep your mouth shut. You must know for certain what you're saying and why. Don't take chances saying something you likely can't fix.
"The person with the khaki pants, sweaty shirt and straw hat, driving the old truck is probably on the local Bank Board. The slick guy with the pin stripped suit, silk tie, tasseled shoes and new car probably owes the bank."
TRANSLATION: Big Daddy was never impressed with those who put on airs. He had a lot of things to say about it. Being flashy was artificial to him. He wasn't against spending money and living good but he was against anyone who seemed to take pleasure in using material items to show off or feel superior to others. We all know that flashiness is a waste of time in politics.
"Take the blame. Be responsible."
TRANSLATION: Don't pass the buck. Never, NEVER pass the buck. Stand up and take it when things go bad.
"Spread the credit"
TRANSLATION: And when things go good, let people know who all was involved. Share the wealth and it will be returned to you over and over again.
"The Golden Rule is the best rule to follow in politics."TRANSLATION: Secretary
Clinton says this. Treat others as you would like to be treated - that's the rule, isn't it? Just imagine if that rule was applied prior to every action, statement and decision in a political campaign.
"The world would rather see a sermon than hear one."
TRANSLATION: This is from Congressman Jim Clyburn who relates a beautiful story about being in college and deciding, against his father's dreams, he was not going into the ministry. When he took the long drive home and told his preacher father there was a long pause then his father said, "Well, son, the world would rather see a sermon than hear one." That's powerful. St. Francis of Assisi said preach often, sometimes use words. Our political system would be much stronger with more action and less talking.
"Don't kick a person when they're down."
TRANSLATION: When people are at their lowest, no matter what they did, no matter how bad, it is not the time to pile on. Show them attention, love and support. Let them know they matter. This was Big Daddy's philosophy not just in politics but for how the inmates were to be treated at his jail. Not your normal take on how a Mississippi Sheriff may run things. And he kept running his jail and Sheriff's department because his county would give him 70 - 75% of the vote nearly every time he was on the ballot.
"Remember Your Raising."
TRANSLATION: Cissy Ross Pierce was getting ready to move to Korea with her soldier husband who was being stationed there. There was a big going away party on our farm with all the families of Pea Ridge in attendance. At the end of the party, Big Daddy hugged Cissy and simply said "You remember your raising while you're over there." I was a little boy at the time and wasn't there. But I've heard this story a hundred times by Cissy who did indeed live in Korea then she and her family returned home to Mississippi and rejoined our community.
I think it would bode well for all of us if we took time every now and then to remember our raising.
There you have it - Big Daddy's for the 2010 campaign trail along with a peppering of Clinton, Pelosi and Clyburn. I doubt Big Daddy considered himself a post-modern philosopher, but what he taught and lived is relevant today -- relevant to winning and to bringing us together, as one. Both are possible.
]]>Coal Mines, Potato Salad, And Damn Good Peopletag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.5305342010-04-08T15:08:06-04:002011-05-25T16:05:22-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
It seems that every few years we find ourselves going through the same motions, experiencing the same feelings and faced with the same thoughts. The lens of the television camera and pen of the reporter transports us to a poor community living out the American experience tied together in faith, family, patriotism, and the wages of coal.
I also think of potato salad.
Several years ago I found myself needing to know about a person from back home in Mississippi. I didn't know this guy; didn't even recognize his family name. So, I emailed a friend and asked if he knew this person. The response came:
"He's a fine fella from damn good people. The kinda folks who bring potato salad to your house when mamma dies."
I smiled knowing exactly what he meant.
So many times, growing up and in recent years, I've departed the freshly dug graveside of a family member or friend out in the edge of Grenada and Tallahatchie Counties and returned to the church or a home, where all in the community would gather. With Dixie cups of iced tea in hand we visit and hold our paper plates awaiting our turn for the fried chicken and potato salad some precious aunt (such a title doesn't mean she is actually kin) with tender hands prepared for the faces she knows so well.
We bury our own. And we do it with love, care, God and each other. We do it as a community, an American community.
Coal mines seem to have a way to make this happen too soon for too many. Is there nothing worse than a father or mother burying a son or daughter? The tragedy we watch, like voyeurs, becomes some kind of cultural dispatch from a world of trailers, hillbillies and Dollar Tree dime stores, usually nothing more than a punch line to jokes in NW DC, Manhattan's Upper Eastside or the weekend homes of Malibu.
But, for a moment, we join in a tragedy. We see the families, the community. We feel the pain of their loss and taste the salt of their tears.
I always pray these are teachable moments, reminders if you will, for us in America's other places. Real America is here, there, everywhere. Of all the communities in all the rural, suburban and urban places we ultimately make one American community. And if tragedy can remind us of that, then let it.
This particular tragedy took place at the Upper Big Branch coal mine owned by Massey Energy. This company's history of negligence is noted. In fact, Upper Big Branch has been cited for problems such as failing to properly vent methane gas. Officials say this may be what caused the current deaths.
We should do something about this right here in Washington, on Wall Street, wherever it's in our power. Because we are one American community and community does just that - it takes care of everyone.
Yesterday's New York Timescarried an op-ed by Denise Giardina of West Virginia. You should read it. This is how she ended her thoughts:
In the area around the Upper Big Branch, families of the dead will gather in churches and their neighbors will come to pray with them. They will go home, and the same neighbors will show up bearing platters of fried chicken and potato salad and cakes. The funeral homes will be jammed, the mourners in their best suits and ties and Sunday dresses.
I think I'm going to have some potato salad because those folks who died come from damn good people.
]]>FOX News Funds Research and Smear Campaign Against American Pastortag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.5044332010-03-18T15:12:00-04:002011-05-25T15:55:20-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/funding opposition research and internet attack campaigns with the stated purpose of destroying the personal credibility of pastors who dare to question statements made by FOX commentators.
By now, many people are probably familiar with Glenn Beck's statement from a couple of weeks ago that any church that talks about "social or economic justice" is not of Christ but is instead spreading Nazi or communist propaganda, and that Beck's listeners should leave those churches. (Funny, Beck's own Mormon faith uses those terms throughout its website.)
There was an immediate response from pastors around the country citing the overwhelming call for economic and social justice in Scripture ... and Rev. Peg Chemberlin, president of the National Council of Churches, provided a wonderful summary of the Scriptural case on the Huffington Post. But the pastor who quickly rose to the lead of the Catholic, mainline, and evangelical rebuke of Glenn Beck was Rev. Jim Wallis, President of Sojourners.
And so with no scriptural or theological arguments to fall back upon, Glenn Beck apparently decided that his only option is to try to destroy Rev. Wallis personally. Personal attacks aren't uncommon from partisan commentators, but what is especially troubling about this most recent development is that Glenn Beck isn't just planning to throw insults; he said that he has been using his FOX staff to research everything that Rev. Wallis has ever said or done and to dig up dirt on the people who work with the pastor.
I know Rev. Wallis both professionally and as a friend. I've watched him coach my son in Little League baseball and prayed with him for the strength and success of our great nation. Beck's attacks are contextually fictitious to the point of being imaginary. It's quite sad, actually. He's about to overcook my grits. But Rev. Wallis continues to take the high road, speaking out for the power and calling of social justice, refraining from personal attacks, and reminding us that Dr. King stood down injustice and promoted social justice by confronting, not attacking.
But that is all for another time. Why is FOX funding research to discredit an American minister?
Clearly Beck knows that he doesn't stand a chance of winning this debate about the proper application of Christian principles to the public square on Scriptural or theological grounds. And he clearly has no intention of following St. Paul's command, found in Ephesians, that Christians "not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice." No, sir. Beck is on a mission to discredit and destroy the pastor who dared to question him ... and he's using FOX staff and resources to do so.
Does FOX agree with Beck's statements and command that Catholics, Protestants, and Mormons leave their churches? Will FOX allow Beck to continue to use staff and FOX airtime to conduct his promised week-long campaign to discredit Rev. Wallis? Will they continue to let him use their resources to launch Twitter and blog posts attacking Rev. Wallis and attempting to discredit the power of social justice?
]]>Congressional Pilgrims Going South in Search of a "Grace Note"tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.4865312010-03-04T18:28:35-05:002011-05-25T15:45:22-04:00Burns Striderhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/
My father, "Big Daddy," was the Sheriff in my native Mississippi County in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. I cook grits the labor-intensive way. And, let me be clear -- there is serious value, for me, in a tea bag as long as I can dip it in hot water, add ice and throw in a couple of cups of sugar.
I am a Southerner. A white son of the deep South. I came of age in the 1970s and 80s on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement. I watched black and white leaders figuring out how to make it work, how to bring it all together. My father would take me with him to the yearly NAACP Freedom Banquets in our county. We would hold hands in a circle and sing "We Shall Overcome." It felt good. I never noticed, at the time, the we were the only whites in attendance -- the first whites to ever attend. Today, all the local leaders -- bankers, school administrators -- attend.
There is no doubt that so much of what I do today in developing message and strategy around national issues and political campaigns came from those amazing people back in Grenada County, Mississippi, who had stood up, stood out and stood strong just to receive full billing as Americans. They touched my soul back then and I carry with me today.
It is with great anticipation and expectation that I prepare to be a pilgrim for a few days in my motherland. There is an organization in Washington extremely good at promoting unity and non-partisan dialogue. The Faith & Politics Institute has been around for about 18 years. Each year they sponsor a Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Alabama, taking Members of Congress from both parties to visit the historic churches and locations in Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery where American history played out in a most dramatic fashion. Civil Rights leaders and icons join and lead discussions with the group.
Our policymakers return to Washington profoundly changed, to say the least. This sojourn through living history always culminates with a commemoration of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma known as Bloody Sunday. 45 years ago, a young visionary named John Lewis led that bloody march. Today, as a U.S. Congressman, he leads his colleagues each year on the Pilgrimage and across that same bridge. Yep, it's a poignant, powerful moment, indeed.
This year, the Faith & Politics Institute's 10th Civil Rights Pilgrimage is this weekend, March 5 - 7. The Faith & Politics Institute will be offering a "Virtual Pilgrimage" throughout the sojourn with thoughts being posted by members of Congress, civil rights notables and others. I look forward to sharing these and my thoughts here at this blog on the Huffington Post.
Secretary of State Clinton often refers to 'grace notes' that are experienced through life. She is talking about those moments that touch the soul, when something special and soul shattering is experienced... something that calls us to understanding, feeling and action.
Several years ago I was running a congressional race down south. It was horrible. We were out of money; there was little cooperation internally and externally. Our opposition was drowning us with spending on television ads. It was so bad I decided to get out... not just out of that particular campaign, but out of the profession. I was ready to hang it up and find another career. My first son was an infant. It was a Friday, and I was already planning on flying to DC for the weekend to be with my wife and new baby; I just decided I would not return.
I was numb by the time I arrived at the airport in Atlanta. Getting through security did not help. As I walked to my gate, from behind, I realized a celebrity must be nearby because people were gathering around someone... there were flashes from cameras. Approaching, I heard, "Son, this is your congressman." And then, "Sir, would you mind taking a photo with my daughter?" The celebrity: United States Congressman John Lewis. The audience: white Southerners (I know Southern voices), mostly my age (I know slightly graying hair). Many were with their children.
So here I was watching the sons and daughters of the South... those of a generation who remember the remnants of Jim Crow and who had family and friends who grew up prior to the Civil Rights Movement. I know the things they have heard in their communities; the things they were told, by some, as children. But here they were introducing their children to John Lewis, having photos taken and getting autographs. And then one white gentleman stuck out his hand to Congressman Lewis and said, "Thank you, sir, for what you did for my family."
John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge 45 years ago and was beaten with baseball bats for doing so. John Lewis was imprisoned for saying we should all be treated equally, because, well, we are equal. John Lewis was spat upon and reviled. Me? Well, I had a bad week in a campaign office. And I was ready to quit. No baseball bats, no spitting, no imprisonment. Nope, I just had a frustrating week. I returned to DC, saw my wife and new baby and returned to that campaign and gave it my best. We did not win the race. We came close. But, I have helped many people of good will win campaigns since. I did not quit. Now that, folks, is a 'grace note.'
The change of 1970s and 80s is the reality our children live in, today. That makes change incarnate for me. It makes me smile.
This weekend I will travel to Alabama with policy-makers, icons and leaders. We will experience American history. We will also consider the future we can create when we put down our baseball bats, decide we are all in this together and choose to debate the issues instead of attacking each other.
On Sunday, I will join Congressman Lewis, other members of the House and Senate and scores of others and walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. There will be no violent hoards waiting. There will be no billy clubs or bats. We will celebrate how far we have come, and ponder how far we can go.
When it's all over I expect to do what I often do: return to my room, boil some water, drop a tea bag in it, add ice and some sugar, and consider the dream of one America.
This is what Congressman Lewis says about the Pilgrimage:
During this pilgrimage there are times when the walls between us come down. We begin to see ourselves, not as Democrats or Republicans, not as members of the House or Senate, not as advocates of differing views, but we see ourselves as Americans on a journey to discover our roots. In Alabama, we move through American history. The air is filled with the story of ordinary people with extraordinary vision willing to give all they had to redeem the soul of a nation. We come away with a deeper appreciation of our democracy, of the importance of our role as legislators, and the power of a determined people to make a difference in our society.
I hope to see you here and on the "Virtual Pilgrimage" in the coming days. ]]>