Moral Values ​​– Fort Bragg Advocate News

The first debate showed that Biden is indeed an old man. He suffers from arthritis of the spine and walks slowly. He had a summer cold and his voice was hoarse. He spoke softly and lost his thread at times. However, when he did speak, he was relatively coherent and answered the debate questions with actual facts and policies.

Trump also showed his true colors. He is a pathological liar and a completely self-centered bully. After the debate, CNN’s fact-checkers documented over 30 major lies. Trump never answered the questions asked, despite repeated requests from the moderators, but kept returning to his standard fantasy: America is a hellhole, and it’s all Biden’s fault (or Pelosi’s, or the migrant invaders’, but never his). He refused to take responsibility for his actions, claiming that America was perfect during his time in office, but immediately went downhill after he left.

Biden seemed weak but relevant, and Trump seemed insane, autocratic and irrelevant.

Whether we like it or not, these are likely our choices in November. In America, however, we do not have an authoritarian president (although Trump and the Republicans want to change that). It is not just the person in the Oval Office, but an entire team at all levels of government that actually makes a difference. So in addition to focusing on the strengths or weaknesses of the presidential candidates, it is important to look at the team they are working with.

When the candidates were asked the only question about the climate crisis, Trump described how “perfect” water and air had been during his administration, and Biden talked about the IRA legislation, the largest climate action in the U.S. to date. Despite being hampered by their ties to big business, Democrats understand the climate crisis while Republicans deny its existence and in Florida are passing laws against any official mention of it. Trump told fossil fuel industry executives that if they gave him a billion dollars, he would repeal all climate laws that limit their desire to destroy the planet for trillions in profits.

The Republican-dominated Supreme Court (with Trump as chief justice) is waging a relentless war on women and longs to take us back to the days when women “knew their place” (barefoot and pregnant). Republicans in Arizona support laws dating back to 1864 and have learned nothing since then.

Republicans in Louisiana take us even further back: to Moses 3,500 years ago. The Ten Commandments are now required in every school in that state, setting a “moral standard” for all, and other Republican-led states are following suit. Bill Maher, a staunch atheist, recently pointed out that the first four commandments support God’s ego as if he were insecure. Another five prohibit killing, adultery, stealing, coveting, and lying (Trump fails at at least four of these), but there is no mention of rape, slavery, or child abuse. Perhaps Republicans aren’t too concerned about this, since they want to declare war on women, support low-wage slavery, and put children to work.

Moses led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and climbed the mountain to commune with God. The masses became bored and threw a golden calf to worship it, a remnant of their former religion. When Moses returned with the commandments, he was angered by this regressive behavior and the tribes were sentenced to wander in the desert for 40 years until all the transgressors had died. Moses’ God is judgmental, punishing the wicked, and fear of God is expected.

1500 years later, Christ brought a new set of rules that taught that one should love God, the essence of a oneness perspective. Both sets of rules are contained in the Bible as the Old and New Testaments, and fundamentalist Christians worship both sides. So one should be God-fearing to be a “good” Christian, but also love God.

This confusion of love and fear seems crazy, since they are two opposite things. Despite this, many people strive to live the spirit of Christ’s love, but the religious organizations founded by men are often geared towards fear, guilt, judgment and punishment.

The U.S. Constitution declares a separation of church and state, so that everyone can decide for themselves. Yet Republicans, who support self-proclaimed “Christian nationalists,” self-righteously believe they know what is best and are willing to impose Old Testament morality on everyone.

These are the decisions in November. The party leader is crucial, but so is what the party plans to do.

Crispin B. Hollinshead lives in Ukiah. This and previous articles can be found at cbhollinshead.blogspot.com.

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