Politicians: Learning from a Red Sox Nation

Baseball thinking can help Governor Rick Perry, Representative Eric Cantor, ex-Governor Sarah Palin and Representative Michele Bachmann to become statesmen and women.

It occurs to me how the bumper sticker seen around New England reading "Red Sox Nation" can provide behavioral leadership training for extreme partisan politicians like the GOP wanna-be presidential line up. Those bumber stickers supporting New England's faithful Red Sox fans just might offer support to politicians who are intransigent about ideological differences.

Red Sox Nation means New England, the regional place where the USA democracy began. It's where the Shot Heard Around the World was fired on the bridge at Lexington and Concord Massachusetts signaling the start of the American Revolution.

All kinds of people live in New England, i.e., rich, poor, Republicans, Isolationists, Socialists, Independents, Democrats, Libertarians and Green Party types, to name some.  But they put differences aside when it comes to being a Red Sox Nation. New Englanders love their Red Sox.


Baseball fans know how New Englanders stuck by their Red Sox for decades, despite the team never winning a world series, until they broke the "curse of the Bambino" in 2004 .  But this blog is not about winning, it's about loosing.  When the Boston Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series game, it was because an individual goofed; but he has since been vindicated. He is Bill Buckner.  I want to thank Bill and give him credit in this blog, because this gentleman makes my point

If Red Sox fans today can stand up to cheer Bill Buckner when he throws out the first pitch of a home game at Boston's Fenway Park, then I submit that intransigent politicians can surely get over their ideological differences and solve problems.  Even in loosing, the fans understand the team is important and Buckner was just one player on the Boston Red Sox.  He can't take the fall or the glory alone.

Okay, life is not like a baseball game, or is it?

Red Sox Nation people get along despite the diversity of the six close knit states called New England. Despite high levels of emotion spewed out during a baseball game, the Red Sox Nation stands steadfastly behind the entire team, even honoring Bill Buckner.

Some American politicians entrenched in narrow minded thinking lack respect or deference for how others feel or believe about the role of government. They should take lessons from the place where our Democracy began.

To be statesmen and women, they could learn a little about compassion from the fans of the Red  Sox Nation.

Statesman and woman are compassionate, intelligent human beings who rise above partisanship. Their leadership skills demonstrate love of country more than support for polarizing ideology.

When right wing extremist presidential candidates are in New England testing their messaging during campaign bus trips,  we should invite them to watch a Red Sox baseball game at Fenway.  They will see fans from six or more US states (and maybe Canada, too) all rooting for the same home team. 

Dominionism and Constructionism

Regardless of how the concepts "Dominionist" and "Constructionist" are defined, they're both frighteningly iconic words. They're similar attributes when applied to the rhetoric of American Right Wing Extremists (RWE-RWEs). But they are polar opposite concepts.

As I understand it, Dominionists, in a nutshell, espouse that America is divinely destined to be Christian.  Of course, supporters could say my simplistic definition is too abrupt, but they can't deny the religious manifest destiny of my understanding of Dominionism.

Constructionists, on the other hand, take a concrete literal interpretation of the American Constitution authored by Thomas Jefferson.

How can both concepts be supported by Dominionists who are also Constructionists?

Thomas Jefferson wrote and the US Constitutional Congress adopted:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".
This statement was later upheld in the courts and subsequently interpreted as calling for separation of the church and state.  If the strict interpretation of Jefferson's words are supported by Constructionists, then  they simply cannot, using any reasonable thought process, claim Dominionism.

Therein, of course, is the root cause of RWE-RWE antics. By declaring their ideas true, they eliminate logical thinking as a path to improve their understanding of how to inspire, lead, compromise or influence people.

RWE-RWEs rule by decree. They embrace concepts whether they're supported by science, or not; based on logic, or not; even standing up for beliefs proven to be untrue.

For example, RWE-RWEs believe global warming is not real, regardless of the science to support the argument. Illogical support for Dominionism and Constructionism, as tenets of Americanism, are confusing to challenge, but RWE-RWEs love it when their convoluted thinking goes unchallenged.

RWE-RWEs were the group claiming President Obama was not born an American citizen in the US state of Hawaii.  These fringe political attackers of President Obama simply said what they believed to be true, regardless of the proof of "truth", otherwise.

In a world where mass communications transmits lies faster than truths, it's important for Americans to demand accountability from leaders, lest we fall off a political cliff due to some cooked up ideas spewed by a fringe political group.

Let's nip Domionism and Constructionism where it hurts the most: let's take out these concepts by applying the light of logical interpretations.

In other words, let's correctly define Dominionism and Constructionism for those hypocritical people who harbor both concepts for the sake of getting their own political way.

Can Governor Perry Pray His Way to Christianism?

Comedians certainly get laughs by creating buzz around hypocrisy, so why doesn't somebody go for the hilarity of a politician who prays for guidance but espouses anti-Christian social policies?

Politicians like Michele Bachmann (Sarah Palin without the charisma), Sarah Palin (Michele Bachmann with charisma) and now Texas Governor Rick Perry (Sarah Palin's wanna' be) would make wonderful anti-Christian dark night comedy fodder, if their hypocrisy didn't harm vulnerable people.  These high profile politicians and their followers espouse cutting social safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, programs for immigrants and military retirement benefits. All the while, they pray for guidance.

But wait! There's more. Each one of them is endorsed by the right wing extremist (RWE-RWE) T-Party that, hypocrisy cubed, are not a political party at all. Rather, T-party "baggers" are like a pack of junk yard dogs whose tails are wagging the nation's respectable Republican party faithfuls.

I'm not kidding when I ask for your prayers about this blog.  Help me understand where in the New Testament did Jesus Christ speak about exclusion of the elderly, poor, immigrants or veterans?  No where. Rather, Christ's message was completely opposite what the RWE-RWEs preach.

When Jesus Christ performed the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, he did not ask if people in the crowd were unqualified to be among his followers.

I was impressed when a friend sent my a column blog by Tom Zirpoli who writes for Maryland's Carroll County Times:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/tom-zirpoli-christianism-differs-from-christianity/article_443f74de-bd02-11e0-b162-001cc4c03286.html

Zirpoli doesn't make light of the hypocrisy around Christians who speak anti-Christianism rhetoric:  

"A Christian, by definition, is a follower of Jesus Christ." (Writes Zirpoli). "While it has been a few years since my Catholic schooling, I remember that Christ's main teaching was to take care of 'the least of my brothers'."

"Christ wanted his followers to feed the poor, to provide them shelter and to generally care for the poor as if the person were Christ Himself. Proverb 14:31 reads, 'He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God'."

"Being a Christian in America today seems to have a whole new meaning from what I learned from the Catholic nuns. For example, how did Christians go from believing that we are all God's children to the belief that some of us are illegal and need to be sent away?"

Thanks Tom, for printing up to the hypocrisy of the Christian Right.  I find it funny that many people among the Christian Right hold the US Constitution up next to the Bible, as being inspired writing, but they deny everybody but themselves the right to free speech.

Extremist Republican political buzz is focused like a magnifying glass collecting sun rays on the RWE-RWEs praying their way to political power. Governor Perry would have us believe he spent 40 days and nights in the Texas dessert before announcing his candidacy for US President.  During his meditation, Perry surely  found an Oasis of cash in them there cactus, because he'll need a Texas oil field full of it to win the 2012 Presidential election.  Meanwhile, I wonder if Perry prays for as much money as possible to fall from heaven, just to keep his prayers answered.

As a practicing Roman Catholic Christian woman, I find right wing Evangelicals to be devout in their religious beliefs, but laughable when it comes to putting their values into caring for all people, i.e., everybody - they act like the poor, the disabled, the veterans, the elderly, the children of immigrants and non-Christians must wear their cloth and speak their rhetoric.  Jesus Christ saved the sinners, he forgave those who crucified him and he offered salvation to the man who was hanging on the cross next to his tortured body.  Let's pray for Christian politicians to follow the values taught to us in the New Testament.

Let's pray Governor Rick Perry will not become a hilarity icon of Saturday Night Live.