Conquering the Divide

What follows is a response to the following face book status: 

When u have nothing to say. . Divide and conquer. Typical Lib tactic. More wealthy dems in congress and senate than repubs.
 
I never intended for it to be this long or to stay up so late writing it.

Enjoy or don't, whatever, just my 2 cents, which is now probably worth about half a cent and falling. This is simply my observation and if you are offended by what you read, know that i am also offended by what I see.

The power of money can only be overcome through the power of unity. The advantage of the rich over the poor is the ability to freely use time and resources to secure and increase their own wealth and power.

The poor (the diminishing middle class) however, have neither time or resources to spare and unity is next to impossible except by those who are in a position to make great personal sacrifice in doing so. The time of the "poor" must be spent scrapping for the resources of simply living. Many people I know live from check to check and are really only a couple of checks away from financial despair. This includes those that have left their corporate jobs as they come to find that loyalty to the company is decreasingly returned with a mutual  loyalty to the employee. It's become more like,"My pockets are fat, so...good luck with that. You got your pay, now be on your way.". There to be little to no future in the security of the steady check and company loyalties, besides simply daily sustenance.

I speak from experience, and I'll simply leave it at that as I don't need to bite the hands that feed. Suffice to say, this was the motivation behind my face book post: Remember if you stay at a company, and work hard enough long enough, you'll eventually be a really hard worker who's been there for a really long time. All that said it's far easier for those with money to divide and conquer when the proverbial carrot of the "American Dream", wealth and prosperity, is dangled in front of those who are without, and have been for sometime. Those who remember better days, when that dream seemed attainable. People who are starving and fighting for their lives will do unthinkable things without remorse if they think it will sustain them for one more day, and all the more so if they think they can get out of the situation entirely.

From this decline is born the mentaility of many of those who call themselves "conservatives", as their actions become increasingly distant from the conservatives of yesterday. In the hope (illusion) of becoming a member of the ultra rich elite, many are willing to work against their own best interests. While saying they want smaller government, but opening the door for an even greater stronhold for the very source of government corruption, big business. While government ideally offers us a voice, business has no obligation to do so, and thus the very unions that modern "conservatives" want to works against, were born. American workers (men, women and children) toiled and suffered, working in the most inhumane of conditions paid very little, straggled and unified against oppression to gain workers rights, which we benefit from today, and which "conservatives" now wish to do away with.
WHY? To return to those conditions?

Very little dividing and conquering is required among those who cannot even manage to unify because they struggle to simply make ends meet. So while divide and conquer may in deed be the tactic of politics, it is the tactic of politics with big business as its puppet master. It's a problem that extends far beyond party lines, Tea Party, Democrat, Republican, whatever, although I clearly see this mentality to be prevalent in certain parties more than others. We seem to love our government for the rich, by the rich, with justice for all (who can afford it). Money begets money, and the opposite is primarily true. Rare is the exception.

A friend of mine recently posted: "Anyone who believes corporations are evil I am more than willing to assist you in your convictions to come to your home and confiscate any and all products you own made by a corporation. I also challenge you to quit your corporate job." To which I would reply, corporations are not evil anymore than money is evil, but it has been said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. People are bought and sold as goods on the open market. 
Throughout all of history, money IS power. Stop, and ask yourself, "Why is that?". Because he who controls the resources controls the people.

It has also been said that the love of money os the root of all kinds of evil. But the approach on my friend's post above almost seems to express the attitude of,"If you don't like the pollution in the air, then stop breathing." Polluted or not you still gotta breathe, and so here we are breathing in the factory filth of greedy businessmen, acting like we enjoy it so we can get that next check.

Let me say here, so we are clear,  I'm not suggesting that any form of government is perfect, or that there aren't employers who don't genuinely care both about and for their employees, I'm simply saying that when money enters the picture corruption will usually follow shortly there after. I would also say, as i have in the past, that while I couldn't say for certain that there are no Christian politicians, the success of one seems to come primarily at the expense of the other, but (and I'm being generous here) rarely do both prosper together, and certainly not in today's culture. Let's move on.

We seem to be a culture of instant gratification, celebrity idolatry, and an insatiable need to be entertained. Thus our so called news reporting has turned in to the entertainment business, and no longer held to the standard of the sort of accuracy and fact checking it once held. In business, ALL business, the bottom line is ALWAYS the bottom line. So, the media is in  manipulated to appeal to a select audience, as with any television show or movie. It is a finely tuned marketing strategy, to sell advertising, achieve profits, and promote agendas without regard for equal time or even an effort to seem unbiased. Being a business that might be somewhat expected, but shamefully fact checking has gone out the window, so that even the so called "news" is used to promote the agenda of those who stand to gain the most from its manipulation. Let's be honest, that isn't you and me, that isn't the common man, it the top 1-2% controlling the wealth of this nation. An agenda of profits and cheap labor with people as resources to be thrown away when they're used up. (See my blog post: Jesus and Obamacare)

So, the media by careful marketing techniques sensationalize to capitalize, exploiting those things which may or may not be the case. Consequently  we cannot assume the actuality or any certainty of any situation based on the entertainment presented as news, we cannot entirely dismiss it either. We are left to our own devices and discretion in discerning the truth.

That is the divide and conquer. They make people, voters, feel informed with lies, and do so without actually informing them of anything at all. All that said, you cannot make anyone believe that which they do not wish to or are unwilling to believe, and even Jesus knew, and said this when his disciples asked him why he spoke in parables. However, this is exactly the confusion and uncertainty that religious leaders and politicians prey upon in swaying opinion and in gaining unmerited favor and credibility. The tactic is to polarize us in order that we would do to each other what they know they alone cannot do to us.

We are inundated daily with conflicting information and proudly perpetuate it, by passing along information  we are uncertain is even slightly accurate or truthful thus further escalating the tension between each other and widening the expanse in our political and social divisions. It is in deed a divide and conquer technique, based on the need of the rich to gather the single greatest resource we have, the one resource that they know they require to achieve their agenda, the strength and support found in the unity of the people compelled to action in an "us against them" mentality. We somehow seem to believe that the best interest of the rich will be ours as well, and that's just not true. As I always say, enough is enough, but too much is never enough, especially when it comes to the power afforded by money.

Never underestimate the strength and power found in the unity born of those believing they suffer mutual affliction especially when it is presented in the guise of some greater moral or self serving cause. We must examine our own convictions to think and decide for ourselves or suffer the consequences of others who would gladly do it for us.

This is one of the greatest dangers to our culture as I see it, the intellectually lazy religious and political populous of our culture. Inclined to parrot catchy sound bites rather than think them through and weigh them with the conviction of their faith. Claiming to have a Christian faith which by design should embody and define who they are on every level, that divine moral compass seems to be very separable from their political views.

People seem to want to believe in something, but seem unwilling to strive to understand what it is they profess to believe and how that should actually apply in considering the intention and values of Jesus . Many people claim a faith that they cannot explain to others simply because they do not understand what the faith they are claiming actually means. We have become afraid of the convictions we should embrace, and embrace those convictions we should fear because we do not understand the origin of either. Religion without conviction is simply wishful thinking, and how can we expect to have anything but misguided conviction if we don't understand the teachings of that religion, and the nature of the one who gives them?

At the end of the day we have to be accountable to our master, who or whatever that is. We must consider foremost the advancement of the kingdom which we claim our citizenship lies. I believe in doing so we may reconsider our view on many of the issues of our day. So for me, I must consider the issues as they relate to my own convictions of faith, so that I can be clear of conscience. I cannot defend government practices or pretend to know how government should run, I can only consider what I believe Jesus would consider and respond accordingly. Not only the spiritual human condition, but also the human cost and global impact of a culture that values profits over people, demanding stuff... more, cheaper, and faster.

Money becoming the justification for all sorts of unethical means to obtain it. (Unethical is about the nicest way for me to say that, and Jesus spoke quite frankly about the rich as well.) I'm simply trying to point out the hypocrisy in our approval by virtue of silence if nothing else, regarding the corruption, injustice, and inhumanity inherent within a system to which a blind eye is turned at best and justification by virtue of profit at worst.

It is man's cruelty to man, and it should be intolerable to anyone, but especially to those who claim the faith. But, the problem with government, is the problem with business, is the problem with the church, is the problem with the world, and the reality of it is, they're all full of people. People who should deny themselves affluence and luxury if that means that others may simply live. People who would instead deny others those things which they themselves desire to excess.

I hope it gets better, but I don't think it will.
God forgive America.

d(-_-)b