Conclusion

This Heartear project is complete, and I am changed.

One friend asked my wife if this experience was going to make me a Republican. While I am not changing political parties, I will be a more critical, better informed liberal.

Another friend asked me if the process was healing. Not healing but transforming. The project exercised my mind and spirit much in the way daily physical exercise increases stamina and capacity for effort.

Encountering the other rather than avoiding, and trying to understand rather than judge strengthened my resolve to seek beauty, delight and kindness each and every day, year by year, thought by thought.

Understanding versus indoctrination

Article

PBS Islamic Lesson Plan Encourages Students to Identify with Radical Jihadists

PBS LESSON PLAN TEACHES KIDS TO SYMPATHIZE WITH RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM

Christian Action Network letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos

Summary

Breitbart and its like are reporting on a finding from The Heartland Institute (a "free-market think tank") that objects to a lesson plan offered by PBS Learning Media because its one-sided emphasis on the Palestinian perspective indoctrinates young people to sympathize with terrorists.

Quote

"The material {sic} go far beyond mere education about the Islamic religion in comparison to other religions. They are undisguised indoctrination materials, effectively a Sunday school class for Islam. The materials encourage impressionable age children to study Islamic prayer, Islamic doctrine (e.g., the Five Pillars), and Islamic practices without any hint that these matters are to be compared to or contrasted with the prayers, doctrines or practices of other religions. They are entirely stand-alone promoting the religion and practice of Islam. The indoctrination materials include worksheets, questions, activities and media that lure children into Islamic worship. "

Attorney letter on behalf of the Christian Action Network

Understanding

The conservative media gets a twofer with this story because it entwines public broadcasting with Islamic terrorism. Beneath the surface is the conflict between religion and secular humanism. The story also gives us an opportunity to consider the role of critical thinking in education.

The lesson plan is reportedly for 5th through 12th grades. These are young people who are of an age where they are aware of  the news and forming their identity. The lesson plan provides them an opportunity to consider a perspective other than their own and get beneath the headlines. Critics fail to recognize the role the teacher will play in responding to the students' opinions.

Religion and politics merge when it comes to Islam and the combination is combustible. My friend Marcia mentioned last night, "Everyone is afraid."  Indeed. Let's pay attention to how fear drives us and how far we are willing to go, how much we escalate, because of our personal fears.

Historical or hysterical perspective?

Article

Why Progressives Hate Steve Bannon’s Cyclical View Of History

Summary

A correspondent for The Federalist argues that liberals reject a cyclical understanding of history because it counters their idea of progress toward utopia.

Quote

"Progressives take it as a matter of faith that history has sides, that it is heading in a certain direction, and that it’s up to us to usher in a secular paradise. For progressives like Ashbrook, merely anticipating a crisis in the age of Trump makes a crisis more likely to happen, which might harm the progressive cause. Hence, writers like Howe are guilty of enabling people like Bannon."

Understanding

We have such a knack for creating the illusion of control. We construct cyclical patterns of history to model what we should expect in the future. We imagine spiritual-poetic values in creation as Martin Luther King Jr. articulated, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." We use books Steve Bannon reportedly likes to predict how he will act. Or, self-disclosure alert, we get up an hour early each morning to scan media sources outside our personal bubble to try to understand what the hell is going on.

This tendency of ours is useful and limited. It is vanity to over play the extent we are in charge  but as The Boss wrote, "at the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe."

I want our leaders to have a fully formed worldview and act out of a thoughtfully earned philosophy. I also want them humble enough to know their worldview isn't the only viable perspective.

Spicer holds the mirror

Article

Liberal Media Attacks Sean Spicer Over Poorly Worded Hitler Reference – Ignores Years of Obama Anti-Semitic Policies

Summary

The Gateway Pundit defends Spicer by -

1. Pointing out Jared Kushner is Jewish
2. Claiming the Left is hysterical
3. Attacking Obama

Quote

"It would be naive and stupid to say that what Sean Spicer said was anti-Semitic. That is a plain and simple truth regarding this entire situation and it is part of the double-standards game that the left loves to play when it comes to their “supreme leader” Barack Obama – after all, without double-standards, the left would not have any standards to speak of." 

Understanding

The conservative media sources I scan each morning for Heartear usually cover the same topics. That was not the case with coverage of Spicer's chemical weapons remarks yesterday.  Fox News and the National Review made no mention of it on their websites. Breitbart buried the story. The other blogs defended Spicer by claiming the Left was over-reacting. The Gateway Pundit article referenced above went to the greatest extreme to apologize for Spicer.

Spicer botched his job yesterday. Our mistakes can be our best teacher. How we respond to the mistakes of others offers teachable moments too. Our reaction to his incompetence shines a powerful light on our own character, biases and values.

Wishful thinking

Article

An Indispensable Nation After All

Summary

William Murchison in The American Spectator praises Pres. Trump for seeing beyond the Nationalist perspective of "America first" and intervening in Syria.

Quote

"George Bush’s democracy-for-everybody line of business was unrealistic; but so, in a world whose dangers he tended to slight, were Barack Obama’s sermons and lectures. If Donald Trump can miraculously steer the indispensable nation between rock-’em-and-sock-’em and oh-mercy-me-what-can-we-do?, ours might prove a safer, freer world."

Understanding

Murchison characterizes our opponents as "punks and thugs" who can be subdued by a strong leader willing to assert forceful intervention.  He proposes the Trump administration should apply to international affairs the New York City "broken windows" policing strategy of bringing down violent crime through zero tolerance of vandalism.

Peace through force is magical thinking as long as we dehumanize our opponents. Even the conservatives cheering Pres. Trump's leadership wish he had a coherent, thoughtful plan or philosophy.

Court intrigue

Article

Donald Trump’s Pick For Top Economic Adviser Is Pro-Immigration, Pro-Outsourcing

Summary

Breitbart attacks the choice of Kevin Hassett to chair the Council of Economic Advisors. The article goes back and forth between two points -

1. The nomination is a win for the corporate, business-first faction versus the populist, America first faction in Pres. Trump's administration
2. Hassett's policy positions don't account for all the social costs of immigrants 

Quote

"That’s a standard pitch from D.C.-based legislators, agency officials, and political advisors, all who stand to gain from a more powerful national economy and a greater inflow of taxes — no matter how immigration changes the distribution of income or the [sic] hurts the prospects of ordinary Americans and their children."

Understanding

Hassett has outstanding conservative and academic credentials. The extreme opposition from Breitbart makes the publication seem like Steve Bannon's town crier.

This alleged power struggle between factions in the White House could be important; especially if it is true that Pres. Trump reacts tactically to situations rather than from a strategic philosophy. Policy might come from whoever whispers in his ear last.

The outward appearance of this administration seems similar to the court of Henry VIII with rival nobles vying to influence a mercurial king. Me thinks Jared Kushner is Cromwell.

The Syrian dilemna

Article

The Middle East: Where American Political Idealism Goes to Die

Still against Intervention in Syria

Bombing Syria: Six reasons why we shouldn't have

Trump's Dangerous Syria Missile Strike

So You Want To Go To War In Syria To Depose Assad. Can You Answer These 14 Questions First?

The Case for Strikes In Syria Is Better Than The Case For War

Summary

Lots of conservative opinion against intervention in Syria. Concerns range from there being no strategic interest for the U.S. to a war there will be too difficult to win.

Quote

"The U.S. attack is an impulsive intervention in a civil war in which both sides — the Damascus/Tehran/Moscow alliance and its Sunni-jihadist/sharia-supremacist opposition — are hostile to the United States. It is a war in which Bashar al-Assad’s continuation in power, dismal as that prospect may be, is in no way the worst conceivable outcome for American national security."

Andrew McCarthy

Understanding

There are competing strains of thought at play in conservative opinion.

Interventionists proclaim -

• America is back
• Obama is gone
• The U.S. is destined to enforce morality on the world order
• Showing force is good

Nationalists assert -

• There is no benefit to us
• Trump is inconsistent
• We can't win
• We don't know who we are we helping

This debate might be the epitome of a first-world problem. Our power and geographic distance from war zones give us an option to pick and choose. Our position removed from the fray comes with a heavy intellectual and moral burden, but we get to decide whereas victims in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan.... etc. can only hunker down or flee.

How can we look away? How can we send soldiers to die?  The answer depends on our vision for our country. America first and forever?  America the last best hope for the world?

Moral leadership with cruise missiles

Article

Trump air strikes tell Syria's Assad the game is up on chemical weapons

Summary

A Fox News commentator applauds Pres. Trump's decision to attack a Syrian air base. He asserts it was the perfect balance of "kinetic response and forward-leaning diplomacy."

Quote

"President Trump appears to be reasserting American moral leadership, as President Reagan once did.  This event boldly called him out, and we should all be glad it did. He apparently heard the call, did not hesitate, did not over or under calibrate, and did not tweet."

Understanding

What are the consequences of using cruise missiles to assert moral leadership?  The strike will affirm for those who believe in American exceptionalism that we are fulfilling our unique mission to transform the world. There will be a bounce for Pres. Trump's approval rating. The calculations in diplomatic conversations with Russia and China will include our renewed willingness to use military force. North Korea will be inflamed. Assad and his supporters will pause and ponder how far will Pres. Trump go in pursuit of Syrian regime change?.

Cruise missiles are a limited tool. Moral leadership will come from a range of sustained, consistent actions grounded in significant principles.

The questions are more important than the answers the missiles delivered. Can we pursue American exceptionalism without hubris? Can we moderate our use of force to be appropriate for specific objectives? Can we avoid going so far down the road of aggression that we have no way back to stability?

The role of religion in politics

Article

The Left Can Cite Scripture for its Own Purpose

Summary

Ben Shapiro believes liberals select bible passages to justify their policies, but they don't actually believe in the faith. They believe in government.

Quote

"This is the theocracy of the casually religious — and it’s even less attractive than the theocracy of the Biblically extreme. At least the Biblically radical have a textbook guiding them; leftist theocrats merely follow the dictates of their own heart, imputing those dictates to God when the opportunity arises. This makes them not merely tyrants, but heretical tyrants at that."

Understanding

First, let's all tread lightly with the sweeping generalizations about intent and motivation when it comes to individual faith, morality  and ethics. You don't know me Mr. Shapiro but I am one of those liberal Christians you criticize and your narrow stereotyping of me weakens your argument.

I do appreciate the opportunity to consider the relationship between religion and politics. The Founders famously separated church from state. Contemporary conservatives offer religious practice as the alternative to government social welfare. They advocate that church volunteers can replace entitlement programs.

My practice in a faith community doesn't give me confidence that we are viable substitutes for professional social workers or publicly-funded safety nets. My practice in a faith community has enriched, grown and sustained qualities that help me appreciate the awesomeness of being and love my neighbor as myself.

That consciousness informs my values and political positions. I don't have to find proof-texts from scripture to justify my stands if I stand with integrity.

Playground rules

Article

Mitch McConnell: GOP evening the score by using the nuclear option for Gorsuch

Summary

The Senate Majority Leader told Fox News that the nuclear option is payback for Democrats breaking the rules of the Senate in 2013.

Quote

"I think they’re responding to their base, which says ‘Resist everything.’ It’s particularly ridiculous to watch it on Gorsuch because there are no good arguments to vote against Gorsuch. None whatsoever."

Understanding

So we've come to this? This is statesmanship? The Senate of the United States functions like a middle school playground?

Republicans want to get even for something that happened four years ago. Democrats want to show Republicans they should have given Merrick Garland a hearing. The consequence of their bickering is flushing checks and balances down the drain and throwing bipartisanship out the window.

Resist. Persist. It is so much easier to say 'no' than 'yes.'  So much easier to obstruct than construct. The most courageous senator will not be the one who filibusters for 10 hours. The most courageous senator will be the one who steps across the aisle for a conversation.

Create a solution not an enemy

Article

Righteous and Wrong

Summary

National Review reporter Jim Geraghty points out that too many political arguments boil down to the idea that "the real problem is those people."

Quote

"This is a key lesson learned in relationship therapy, workplace team-building exercises, and the like: “It’s not you against me; it’s you and me against the problem.” Unfortunately, too many on both sides of the aisle can’t internalize it."

Understanding

The worldview of the Left and the worldview of the Right can be so far apart, it seems impossible to find any common ground as the basis for pragmatic problem-solving. Even sitting down together to really listen and understand appears to be an unacceptable compromise of principles.

Principles do not have to be compromised to collaborate. Forego the hate speech, set aside the powerplay. Discover what we share in common and build a solution from what we both hold dear.

Let's be realistic about Islam

Article

Secularism is No Match for Radical Islam

Summary

Father Benedict Kiely, a Catholic priest, suggests Christians should strive to convert Muslims in order to defeat their violent faith.

Quote

"What drives a former criminal to commit acts of murder and destruction is exactly what drove Islamic militants to wreak the destruction that I witnessed in Iraq — it was my fourth visit there — and that continues to drive them all over the world. It is not, as we are relentlessly told by the experts, an “ideology” that must be “combated.” It is commitment to the faith of Islam, albeit a particular form of the faith." 

Understanding

Words can't describe the horror that is ISIS, but to equate them with Islam is like saying the Westboro Baptist Church represents Christianity. Exaggerating their threat to peace in the West is the kind of argument that launched the Crusades.

Let's keep a level-headed, realistic perspective.

Learning by example

Article

Throw Away the New Playbook

Summary

Jonah Goldberg writing in the National Review argues that Pres. Trump needs to start adhering to tried and true political practices to have a successful presidency.

Quote

"The simple fact is that new playbooks, like new ideas, are as a statistical matter more likely to be wrong than right (there are literally an infinite number of “ideas”; there is a very finite number of good, practical ideas). The essence of conservatism is to respect practices, customs, norms, and values that have survived the brutal acid of trial and error. “What is conservatism?” Lincoln asked. “Is it not the adherence to the old and tried against the new and untried?”"

Understanding

Goldberg suggests that political systems are like weather systems in that both are aggregations of specific acts of nature or self-interest accumulated into a pervasive, indifferent force.  Both the Left and the Right are delusional to think that, in the case of the Left, a high-minded intellectual principle will change reality; or, in the case of the Right, a businessman can cut a deal that will alter nature.

Perhaps the cold, hard reality of his administration's struggles will cause Pres. Trump to re-evaluate his approach and improve his ability to govern. Blindly defending him doesn't help him get there, nor does heated opposition.

The country needs reasonable debate now more than ever.