Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Colt



Palm Sunday 2013
Others,

There was a time when it was thought that if the ruler was Christian, society would be fair. This concept was the establishment of a state religion.  It is conceivable that some leaders were as fair as they could be given the perpetuation of historical precedents irrespective of respect for civil and human rights. 
The fact that establishment allows for people to be tortured or killed when they don’t belong to the state religion calls for a political principle that doesn’t require citizens to adopt the same religion as the political leader. Freedom of religion is a right that is not limited to the elite, the poor or any faction in society.

The kingdom of Armenia was situated between the Roman and Persian (Parthian) empires. The story of the conversion of the king by an advocate for Christianity follows:  
Gregory the Illuminator
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/114.html
"When he was still an infant, his father assassinated the King of Parthia, and friends of the family carried Gregory away for protection to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he was reared as a Christian. About 280 he returned to Armenia, where he was at first treated severely, but eventually by his preaching and example brought both King Tiridates and a majority of his people to the Christian faith. About 300, Gregory was consecrated the first bishop of Armenia. He died about 332."

Christianity as the State Religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_the_Illuminator#Declaration_of_Christianity_in_Armenia
"In 301 Gregory baptized Tiridates III along with members of the royal court and upper class as Christians. Tiridates III issued a decree by which he granted Gregory full rights to begin carrying out the conversion of the entire nation to the Christian faith. The same year Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion. The newly built cathedral, the Mother Church in Echmiadzin became and remains the spiritual and cultural center of Armenian Christianity and center of the Armenian Apostolic Church."

Kingdom of Armenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia#Antiquity
"King Tiridates III (AD 238–314) made Christianity the state religion in AD 301,[31][32] becoming the first officially Christian state, ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration under Galerius, and 36 years before Constantine the Great was baptized."


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Hate groups are fundamentally exclusionary. They don’t recognized rights for others unless they are subordinate to the rights of the “group”(anticipate “party”). When the focus for rights is shifted to those who won’t extend respect for others, the rights of the law abiding, the merciful, the friendly or those dedicated to building fairness in the diversity of society are trivialized. This exclusionary policy shows belief in aggression with cruelty as the design for leadership.
Establishment
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/18/lessons-in-how-to-hate-from-experts/
School officials insist they do not endorse these hate groups, nor has any student ever been converted to their way of thinking. Instead, the classes are held so students can witness the extreme views such groups espouse and know how to avoid them.
However low in income members of hate groups may be, there are those among the wealthy who claim elite status by virtue of belief in the power of laying claim to the will to power. They perpetuate social division in the lower reaches of the social status as based on income level.

When those who have less are fighting for that small amount that is presented as the prize in the contest, they are not thinking about how unfair the elite are or have been. They won’t consider how unfair policies lead to unacceptable conditions within society. This allows the elite to increase the amount that they take.

The Westboro Baptist Church is not that far removed from the KKK, neo-Nazis and other factions. Hitler, after all, claimed to be a Christian. He just laid claim to Aryan faith. The Aryans proposed that the leader was Christ, the demi-urge of God the Creator; that the demi-urge had to destroy what had been in order to create a new world order; that cruelty rules with deception for the will to power.
Factions don’t respect rights for others. They are seeking to establish themselves as the elite; the state religion; the new world order.  

Ride the Colt (Fm Ps.118)
We live with those
who believe that greed is God
or cruelty rules the world.


Experience without cruelty
or greed however
shows that love guides
intelligence with wisdom.
There are those who are wealthy
who do not believe in greed.
There are those with power
who do not believe that cruelty rules.


Blessed are those
who walk in the way.
Give thanks.
God is good.
Let your mercy rule.


Let the people say,
“Mercy endures forever.”
Ride the colt that has not been ridden.
Share the joy of faith. Celebrate
the glory of heaven.
Shine forth with love.


Open for me the gates of paradise.
I will enter. I will give thanks.
This is the gate to justice;
the portal for praise!
The righteous will enter
and be satisfied.


The stone that the builders had rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the LORD’s doing.
It is marvelous in our eyes.


The divine will has been fulfilled.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
The rule of law respects
civil and human rights.


Please save us from cruelty, God.
Protect us from greed.
Have mercy on us!
Blessed are those who come in the name of the LORD.
We will bless you in the assembly of holiness.
We will form a procession with palms that reach
to heaven.

We will shine forth as rays from the sun.
God is the LORD!


You are the LORD, God. We thank you.
You are Christ. We exalt you.
Give thanks.
The mercy of Christ
will endure forever.


================
Reagan's trickle down economy was marked by the push for an increase in CEO salaries. It wasn't a push for an increase in salaries for executives. The goal was to reduce middle level management and decrease cash flow because "personnel costs are highest" and CEO's make "the jobs."

Making the CEO salary higher didn't improve the economy. It just made the rich richer. The reduction in cash flow seriously damaged the middle class. The working class has been subjugated to the dictates of the CEO. The policy change did not improve organizational efficiency or effectiveness. It simply ensured that unfairness was to be regarded as the norm.

Abe's call for a small increase in salaries is more like Gerald Ford's WIN (Whip Inflation Now). The idea was to stimulate the economy by increasing the circulation of cash.

Lawson Inc., a convenience store chain, has been making profits. They increased salaries for their employees.

Not Reaganomics
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/22/business/japan-profits/"Mr Abe's big idea is that more companies should emulate Lawson so that Japan begins to generate expectations of steady growth in incomes."


The Republican party had been espousing statements that ascribed a status of worship to Reagan. The problem is that Reagonomics has done more to decrease representation in constitutional democracy than anything than the error in the “era of good feelings” when single party dominance was regarded as the basis for feeling good.
The future calls for us to ride the colt that had not been ridden, but we need to look to the past for policies that have worked for people. Obama-nomics has favored stimulus to keep the economy from collapse. It has used the stimulus idea from the “WIN” strategy, but companies have not been encouraged to raise salaries for employees.

Let some enterprising CEO’s in profitable enterprises take a chance. Take a cut in salary to increase employee salaries
There are those who have grown accustomed to the elitism promoted by the unfair advantage achieved by the use of loopholes on top of the tax breaks given to the wealthiest. Their rule needs to be taken down.

Linkin Park – Burn It Down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxytyRy-O1k
I played soldier, you played king
And struck me down, when I kissed that ring
You lost that right, to hold that crown
I built you up, but you let me down
Close the loopholes. Take a stand against establishment.

Steve K.

 

 

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