Unitarian Universalism as a Political Platform
Fellow Americans, we are in a world of trouble and if we (that’s you and me) don’t take steps to make things better they are going to get drastically worse. As a culture/nation we have become very lazy; we have become complacent; and we have left it up to our "elected” officials to handle everything for us. They are doing a poor job of it and it’s time we take back control. If our forefathers could see us now, they’d be dumping oil in Boston Harbor.
Except for a small handful of sheep who can’t think for themselves, I believe that we are all in agreement that change is needed and it is needed NOW. This is not about being Republican or Democrat, this is about whether or not you can hold your head high and say “I’m an American” – these days I can not. I am embarrassed by the leadership of this country and the complacency of it’s citizens (that’s you and me, again).
It is clear that we are a nation divided – “polarized” to use the popular media term. It is that very polarization that is allowing the current state of affairs. We won’t come together to work on anything because we are so far apart and so stubborn that we can’t compromise. As a result, something far worse then compromise is occurring. It is time that we stop concentrating on our differences and instead focus on our similarities and work toward a solution.
At the risk of sounding like I am mixing politics and religion (which I am NOT) I would like to propose a Unitarian Universalist approach to our political problem. (Here me out – this is a good metaphor) There are many religions in the world, and the majority of them pretty much outline the same guidelines, but they have a different name for their God(s) and they tell different stories to illustrate their teachings, but in the end, much of the teachings are the same. But yet wars are waged over the slight differences and the need to have "my" religion be the ONE religion. And then the Unitarian Universalists came along and basically said: we don’t care what you call your God(s) (if any) or which story you believe (if any), we believe in “right relations” and as long as you believe in “right relations” then we’re all cool. You know what "right relations" is – you know right from wrong; you know what makes a good person vs. a bad person – do right; be a good person; be true to yourself and to others and try to make the world a better place.
Why can’t we take this same approach to politics? Why can’t we forget the semantics of right and left and concentrate on what we ALL want. Yes there will be differences between us, but we are not accomplishing anything productive by focusing on those differences, in fact, it is causing our self-destruction. We all want peace, we all want relief from poverty, a decent health care system, a healty environment . . . (the list goes on and on). So let’s put our great minds together and find a way to make it happen. Let’s be the UU’s of politics and say: we don’t care what you call your political party (if you even have one), we believe in “right relations” and as long as you believe in “right relations” then we’re all cool. You know what "right relations" is – you know right from wrong; you know what makes a good person vs. a bad person – do right; be a good person; be true to yourself and to others and try to make the world a better place.
Except for a small handful of sheep who can’t think for themselves, I believe that we are all in agreement that change is needed and it is needed NOW. This is not about being Republican or Democrat, this is about whether or not you can hold your head high and say “I’m an American” – these days I can not. I am embarrassed by the leadership of this country and the complacency of it’s citizens (that’s you and me, again).
It is clear that we are a nation divided – “polarized” to use the popular media term. It is that very polarization that is allowing the current state of affairs. We won’t come together to work on anything because we are so far apart and so stubborn that we can’t compromise. As a result, something far worse then compromise is occurring. It is time that we stop concentrating on our differences and instead focus on our similarities and work toward a solution.
At the risk of sounding like I am mixing politics and religion (which I am NOT) I would like to propose a Unitarian Universalist approach to our political problem. (Here me out – this is a good metaphor) There are many religions in the world, and the majority of them pretty much outline the same guidelines, but they have a different name for their God(s) and they tell different stories to illustrate their teachings, but in the end, much of the teachings are the same. But yet wars are waged over the slight differences and the need to have "my" religion be the ONE religion. And then the Unitarian Universalists came along and basically said: we don’t care what you call your God(s) (if any) or which story you believe (if any), we believe in “right relations” and as long as you believe in “right relations” then we’re all cool. You know what "right relations" is – you know right from wrong; you know what makes a good person vs. a bad person – do right; be a good person; be true to yourself and to others and try to make the world a better place.
Why can’t we take this same approach to politics? Why can’t we forget the semantics of right and left and concentrate on what we ALL want. Yes there will be differences between us, but we are not accomplishing anything productive by focusing on those differences, in fact, it is causing our self-destruction. We all want peace, we all want relief from poverty, a decent health care system, a healty environment . . . (the list goes on and on). So let’s put our great minds together and find a way to make it happen. Let’s be the UU’s of politics and say: we don’t care what you call your political party (if you even have one), we believe in “right relations” and as long as you believe in “right relations” then we’re all cool. You know what "right relations" is – you know right from wrong; you know what makes a good person vs. a bad person – do right; be a good person; be true to yourself and to others and try to make the world a better place.
posted by 10-8-ious | 2:56 PM
1 Comments:
“And then the Unitarian Universalists came along and basically said………” let me paraphrase here, “ We’ve got it right. Always we need to be is UU’s, it’s the best religion”. By throwing the label on and making the comparison, I think you violated the philosphy that you are trying to push in the first place. That political (or religious ) parties, alliances or labels don’t mean anything, as long as we agree on some basic premises which you refer to “right relations”. Putting a label like UU politics on it then becomes hypocritical.
But I’ll let you off the hook, because in principal I agree with you. It really isn’t about semantics or labels or parties or religions. It is how we, civilization as a whole, treat each other. I believe that there are a basic set of needs that we all have and that if society is truly civilized, then it can find a way to make sure that basic needs are met for all. Yes, we should be able to put our collective intelligence together and come up with a workable solution.
But there are caveats that we need to be aware of. First thing that we run into is defining that basic set of needs and principals. If we are to accomplish something concrete we will have to further define "right relation" what is right, what is wrong. What makes a good person? A bad person? What makes the world a better place? When we start to define this, a lot of opinions, insecurity and selfishness is going to rise to the surface. Which is exactly why we have multiple political parties and many, many religions. Everyone agrees that we need “right relations” but who gets to define what that means and what is in it for me……
Don’t get discouraged though. These facts of human behavior shouldn’t deter us. What we need to do is identify where we can agree on substance for which we can act, collectively, regardless of our affiliation, political, religious, beer preference or otherwise. Pammy also brings up some very good points regarding money and third party politics. I tend to think that if we are smart we learn how to make the system work. But that is a blog in itself (one which I don’t have the time for right now). I would rather turn my efforts to problem solutions. Stuff I can affect, right now, right here! And there are a couple of things that have stoked my boiler recently.
One is the jobs situation and the local economy. I think the first thing that we can do in this area is understand why we are in the situation we are in. Being educated allows us to look at ways to turn the system around. We then can help educate those we encounter on a daily basis and make informed decisions come election day. And we can WRITE. We write blogs, why not letters to the editor, to elected officials, to each other. You know those e-mails that get passed around about if you e-mail a picture of your dogs butt to 5 friends you’ll see Moses in your morning Latte’? What if it was something of substance? That we can do.
Another thing (related) is there are a lot of people in our own communities that are below the poverty line. They need help with basic living standards, food, toiletries, basic home repairs to keep the rain and snow out. And we can roll up our sleeves and look each other in the eye and talk about number one.
The best thing we have going is these dialogs. They help us put our collective minds together. So we need to talk more, blog more, write more. Be proud to live in a country where on the first Tuesday in November you can vote for a president and be calling him an as_hole before inauguration day, and NOT get put in jail for it.
Great thought provoking blog 10-8. Keep it up!
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