Although the choice of topics has more often than not been serious as a heart attack, I've had an absolute blast writing this blog for the past several months. Many thanks to all who have read, and all who have responded with comments, in particular those who haven't seen eye to eye with me. I look forward to an even more invigorating time in 2010.
For the record, some things I wish I had spent more time on this year are state and local politics (notably the 2009 VA governor's election), the role the Catholic Church is playing in American politics (on abortion and health care in particular), and the general topic of global religious freedom (specifically, that vote in Switzerland to ban minarets raised my hackles a bit - I think a review of the W&M Wren Cross controversy may be in order). I expect my primary focus next year will continue to be accountability and transparency in matters of war and peace, but I do hope to broaden the palette a little bit as well. Of course, there's also the final season of LOST to discuss, plus my upcoming monthly series, titled From a Certain Point of View, a sprawling exposition and defense of the Star Wars prequel trilogy as high moral theater. (No, not kidding.)
My final words for 2009: The belief that all men are created equal, and the command to treat our neighbors as we ourselves would be treated, are inseparable. American government relies on the faith that if every citizen gets the same dignity, liberty and basic opportunity, the whole prospers. Forfeit the former, and risk losing the latter. So trust in, and demand, the truth from those to whom we give the authority to tax us, arrest us, and make war on our behalf. The illusion of impenetrability in matters of security, high finance, or the machinations of government, is just that - an illusion. Let's take it to the streets.
God bless America, and Happy New Year. Peace and good will to you and yours.
2 comments:
Bill,
I enjoyed your ruminations, as always. It was nice to see the Wren Cross come up again in matters of religion.
Frankly I am torn in these Muslim matters -- having spent a lot of time in the Middle East and Pakistan, I believe that the end goal, even if it takes a thousand years, is Islam for the world, and I know many "moderates" who believe that this is Islam's destiny, by peaceful means or otherwise.
However, I am all for people being allowed to practice their religion -- that is what this country is all about. I welcome all, other than those who wish to kill Americans and wipe out our way of life. We need, somehow, to find a way to eliminate those whose Friday sermons are about hate, killing, and violence while preserving the rights of those who do not see the radical Sunni Islamist view as the correct path forward. As far as Switzerland goes, I have a problem with banning minarets, I think. I might agree with not having the call to prayer broadcast from the minarets five times a day; Muslims can and should make accommodations just as the rest of us are expected to. But it isn't much different from banning steeples and church bells. Frankly I think the American left would be perfectly happy to ban steeples if they could, since viewing them might be "offensive" to someone.
Hopefully our President is coming to see that radical Islam respects no views but its own, and terrorism was never really just in the imagination of George W. Bush, or even the result of his tactics and decisions. There will always be a pretext for radical Islam; it matters not how nice our President is and how much apologizing, bowing, and scraping he does (the people I knew in the Middle East would view that as weakness). America could bomb Israel and restore Palestine, and there would be other excuses -- the general "decadence" of the Western unbelievers is a good general theme.
My hope is that 2010 brings some realism to our President and his Administration; that pretending terrorism doesn't exist, and spending trillions we don't have, are not the sort of "change" we need. We were damn lucky on Christmas Day.
Happy New Year!
Hey Jim - your comment deserves a far more substantive response; I apologize for not having had the bandwidth to give it its due. I don't quite agree with your assessment of the roots of Islamic terrorism; I don't think it's so disconnected from real world events. Although you're right that some people will always be willing to fight and kill no matter what, I can't imagine that continuous images of dead Muslim civilians, American torture of innocent detainees, our constant support of brutal Muslim regimes that can't survive without repressing their own people, all has no impact whatsoever. We can do better, and it's far too simple to blame it all on irrational, intransigent foreigners.
Also, it's worth pointing out that as a Christian, it's my belief that Christianity is destined to take over the world at some point, and that Scripture doesn't speak of a particularly peaceful transition on that account. I don't think that qualifies me as a radical, so I'm cautious about judging Muslim claims to eventual spiritual dominance too harshly. We all have our traditions and beliefs, and it's critical that external assessments of those be kept separate from our objective judgments of choices and actions.
In any event, it's truly gratifying to be in touch with you again - I always enjoyed our discussions at the height of the Wren Cross controversy. More to come, I sincerely hope.
Best,
Bill
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