The Plea of a Morality Oriented Voter

My moral concerns were at the forefront of my choice of John Kerry for my vote in the presidential election of 2004. Not that I felt Kerry to be above reproach. I did see him as a man I trusted much much more than I trust Bush. When forced to speak in a short time frame he is capable a eloquence in support of moral values I tend to share with him, and with a lot of Democratic voters.

The aggressors in the struggle to reduce the influence of the West in the Middle East are desperate people using their most effective weapon in this phase of the struggle. My morality calls for an understanding of the motivations of the people of the Middle East. I believe that the moral thing to do is to start from the premise that humans should work on developing a culture which is in balance with our planet. I believe that we can achieve this through mutual respect and goodwill, although this will be a slow process during which adequate military force will have to be maintained.

I know that it is immoral to bomb, strafe, burn, and destroy civilian lives in Iraq. It is a immoral to ignore any concern or even discussion at the highest levels of government of the casualties we have caused and are causing in Iraq. It would be immoral if the US did not seek to hand over power to Iraqi leaders who have the confidence of the Iraqi people.

It is immoral to give unequal treatment to the highest social class in America, and to limit the opportunities for the lowest classes to participate in the system. It is immoral to give special tax treatment to different groups which are equal in citizenship, but vastly different in rights. Why should some family heads in America be given special treatment in comparisons with others. Are not the demands of family life and parenting equal throughout society?

The Gays and Lesbians made a huge error in pushing for the right to marry before the election. From the standpoint of morality, however, I believe that the moral position is acceptance of love between people as a positive factor. In my religious orientation I believe that Jesus represents love, especially in the sense of agape, and the spreading of love is the key to the survival of humans. This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Jesus reduced the 10 comandments to one, and that one dealt with love. The miracle of the fishes is that love led to the whole multitude receiving the food which they needed. What is the economic message of that story?

Belief in Jesus does not imply a literal reading of the Bible.

I believe in Christian action in society to ameliorate the ills of society. I feel that both Chelsea and I are very motivated by a sense of Christian duty to society. I believe that Christians should be self-effacing about their religion. People should be helped without expecting them to accept the beliefs that I might have, although I would hope that they would adopt the path of understanding and conciliation.

Many of my friends are speaking of emigrating. Some liken the situation to that of Germany in the 1930's. I am not yet ready to emigrate. Maybe things are not as bad as we might think. This year I expect the continued devaluation of the dollar, an attempt by the President to cut taxes further but a revolt in Congress on both sides, increasing IMF lecturing of the US, difficulty in the US in financing the foreign deficit which will force the rasing of interest rates to draw in foreign capital but will cut employment. Iraq will become worse and worse. Here I hope that things will go the way the administration depicts them. Bush is going to sink or swim now. If he sinks, I hope it does not hurt all of us tremendously.

I have resolved to do one thing in the furture: point out the morality underlying the positions of liberal Christianity, and stop allowing the right to be the only "Christian" side. Read Bill Moyers' sermon at Riverside Church recently to see a sophisticated presentation of this position.