WHAT A SPEECH
Depending who you are, it was sublime or it was ridiculous
*I’m co-hosting RISING on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in March. For those of you who are interested, those are the links from yesterday and today. I certainly made my views known.
Regarding last night…
It’s hard for some of us to believe how many people liked the President’s speech; for some, it’s hard to believe how many people didn’t. Donald Trump is a walking Rorschach test, I guess. Some of us see in him a great leader, and some of us grieve how low we have come that someone such as he would be President
It’s important to remember that neither group gets to be “right.” Each of us has the right to our opinion. No one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. On election day one group’s view gets to determine who will control the levers of power for a while, that is true. But every day of the year, no matter what year it is, everyone’s opinion matters.
That’s why those of us who do not agree with the President should never silence ourselves. Yes, we acknowledge that he won the election - in a democracy, it’s critical that we respect the will of the people. But that doesn’t mean we have to agree when in fact we don’t, and it doesn’t mean we need to acquiesce to things we feel go against our values.
In the words of President Teddy Roosevelt, written for the Kansas City Star in 1918:
"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."
It saddens me, of course, when someone thinks my criticisms of the President are “negative,” or “low vibration,” or a turning away from spiritual principle. To me, there is no higher spiritual principle than to abide by one’s conscience. Like everyone else, I’m simply trying to discern the truth as best I can and to speak it with all my heart.
Marianne, it is most certainly NOT unspiritual or unkind to speak out loudly against this horrible cult leader and his (often just unknowing) followers. You must continue to speak out against his inhumane and morally corrupt policies of hatred and bigotry. I would ask his supporters who call themselves "Christians" to consider their belief in the "Anti-Christ". It is ironic that those who claim to believe that he is coming, follow this man with such vigor and adoration. This is, in fact, a part of the prophecy, that believers will be decieved by his speeches and supposed magnetism. This is not just political differences. It is a matter of basic human morality and our country is being tested.
Marianne, it sounds like some of your readers are suffering from spiritual bypassing. One must recognize and name the truth in order to show compassion. It is not low-vibrational. If one ignores suffering and those who cause it, then one is complicit in the needless suffering of others. Jesus did not practice spiritual bypassing. His form of compassion was love PLUS justice.