Fully Present Post 50

I’m just as frustrated as 70% of Americans over our limited choices for president in 2024. Let’s be honest about how our current choices were decided by a few wealthy old white men with oversized egos who are fighting proxy wars over the future of the United States using their checkbooks. We’re screwed because we allowed them to dictate our choices. And we’re even more screwed because they aren’t looking for talented, forward-looking ethical leaders with wit and intelligence and creative problem-solving skills. There are plenty of younger Americans who fit that bill, but they’re not on the presidential ballot. Long shot, independent candidates, threaten to push us into the arms of the candidate we least desire. If these rich old men were trying to do the best for this nation, they wouldn’t force us to choose between two old men with oversized egos who can hardly produce a coherent sentence nor offer this nation the kind of unifying leadership that cuts through manufactured culture wars and inspires the best in people.

But we can’t sit this election out. In 2024, we must choose the lessor of two evils. Those who are deciding to ignore the election or to vote for the independent candidate because they feel betrayed by the monied selection process must be convinced to vote for one of the two major candidates. Despite the unfair way they were forced upon us, these two men, however flawed and unworthy, represent two different visions for the nation’s future. So, we absolutely must choose.

Trump represents the efficiency and simplicity of having a single ruler (with the help of his loyal advisors) who makes all the social, economic, and security decisions for the nation. With the military at his command and the absolute immunity he demands, he can easily and quickly “fix” everything on behalf of the nation, no matter how ruthless, violent, and inhumane his methods. The Trumpian way promises loyal subjects the freedom to live unthinking, unchallenged, uneducated, simple lives of endless work and play in their imagined 1950’s utopia, absent inconvenient truths like climate change and human rights violations. Trump followers gladly accept that their contract depends on their adherence to the religious, social, and economic dictates of the leader, despite his personal corruption and immoral behavior.

It’s easy to accept dictatorship when the leader looks like you and professes a commitment to protect and impose your religious and social values on those you dislike. For the sake of unity and peace, Trump supporters are okay with the idea of punishing anyone who falls outside the narrow confines of social acceptability, or anyone who questions, fails, or worse, rebels against the ruler’s dictates. What Trump and his wealthy backers are offering appeals to white Christian nationalists because they see this as a simple way to rid society of homosexuals, feminists, the disabled, and the economic competition that comes from immigrants and people of color.

They are clearly employing the very effective method of gaining their power by soothing the bruised egos of the underclass. For those who have failed to realize the American dream through their own lack of wit and effort, it is comforting to hear that their lack of progress is because of immigrants, feminism, gay rights, and anti-discrimination policies that “unfairly” help “undeserving” black and brown people. They promise to roll back of any policy that encourages, empowers and enables immigrants, women, gays, and people of color to get ahead so that righteous Americans can succeed.

Those who are funding and advising Trump relish the opportunity to maintain and increase their generational wealth and power through an endless supply of poorly educated workers. It should come as no surprise that Trump openly shows contempt for the media, for the educated, for science, and the courts. As authoritarians do, he promises retribution on anyone who opposes him and on those who try to hold him accountable for breaking numerous laws. His is the way of dictatorship that depends on an undereducated, apathetic, and a sufficiently frightened population to seize and remain in power.

History tells us that while authoritarians project power and control through brutality, the people are eventually crushed by their lack of freedom, stifled by an eventual lack of creativity and vibrancy required to fuel economic growth, and depressed by the absence of self-determination needed to pursue personal happiness. This is the vision Trump and his wealthy backers are offering. The only winners in this scenario are the wealthy, well-connected and powerful.

Next week, I unpack the hard work, messiness, and continued struggle the other side is offering in President Biden.

I am a Christian in the sense that I have accepted Jesus as my savior, and I try to follow His teachings. I am also a person who believes in the freedom that comes with the separation of church and state, a key component upon which our nation was founded. As a citizen, I exercise both my right and my patriotic obligation to petition our government. And so, I again wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson. I share this letter, hoping to inspire my readers to write letters to him and to other lawmakers on issues of concern.

Dear Speaker Mike Johnson,

Yet again, I find myself writing to you based on something you said that I find deeply disturbing.  I see you and I hear you and I know you are coming from a place of sincerity.  However, I believe that you are sincerely wrong in your assessment of God and His judgement of our nation.  Jesus made it clear to us that God isn’t in the human government business anymore, but in the personal relationship business.  The religious leaders of the Jesus’ day were obsessed with this world and Jesus tried to turn their eyes to His Kingdom in the heavens, not made with human hands.  He told them in Matthew 22:21 “render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”  God is interested in the eternal salvation of souls through belief in the sacrifice of Jesus who took the sins of the world upon Himself on the cross.  So, why are you so obsessed with other people’s “sins”?  You should be a minister, preaching the Good News, not a politician trying to do what God already determined was not possible because the heart of men must be reborn, not coerced into morality.

What’s even more upsetting is that you chose the most immoral and despicable human being among us as your representative, Donald Trump.  The form of idolatry around guns and Trump worship is mindboggling.  I would think that the Almighty could find a more articulate, more competent, and certainly more decent human being to bring about the return to God you so desperately think is needed. Your weapon of choice is a gun, not love.  You chose a person who insults our military, sexually assaults women, dodges the draft, evades taxes, defrauds people in business, and hates immigrants who are not white, as your nominee?  Make that make sense to any thinking human on the planet.  I think Jesus is shaking His head in dismay.  You’ve forgotten that Jesus told Peter to put down his weapon when he tried to defend Jesus against the state.

As an older person who grew up in the evangelical church, I recall when this new theology you espouse entered the church through politically minded Republicans.  They lifted scriptures like 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked way, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Someone even turned it into a nice song.  They took on the issue of abortion as a national sin that would bring God’s judgment upon us all.  They used the example of Sodom and Gomorrah to stir up anti-gay sentiments and fears that our nation would be judged if we allowed it. 

The problem is that God changed His strategy when it comes to the wicked ways of men.  Your theology elevates temporary political power above the actual teaching of Jesus to love God, to love thy neighbor, and to preach the gospel so that souls can be saved and escape the eternal judgement of God in the end. God has preserved a day of judgment for those who reject the salvation offered to them.   According to 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”  This world and everything on, is temporary.  Jesus left us with the mission to preach the “Good News” of the gospel, not the “bad news” that our government on earth will condemn you, imprison you, and harm you if you don’t adhere to our Christian beliefs. 

As an educated person, I assume you know that history has repeatedly showed us that changing the heart of people to believe in Jesus can’t be accomplished through war, torture, murder, re-education, nor laws.  It is the kindness of God that leads man to repentance.  Jesus is our example.  His kindness, mercy, healing, generosity, and love drew followers to Him.  He shows compassion to the sinner, the sick, the hungry, and the immigrant.  Your party does the exact opposite.  It’s no wonder fewer people are going to church and that the saying, “there is no love, like Christian hate” is so prevalent.

You and your backward Old Testament “mean and murderous” God theology is causing real harm to our country and to the Christian message.  There was never a time when this nation was a shining example of Christian values.  It was a nation that began with the murder of native Americans to steal their lands.  It was a nation that brutally exploited the labor of black slaves, raped the women, and separated families.  It has always been a nation that discriminated, exploited, oppressed, and harmed the weak, including women. 

So, if God was going to execute the judgement you so fear, it would have already happened over the genocide of the native Americans, over the exploitation and mistreatment of slaves, and over the oppression of women.  The beauty of this nation is that it was founded by people seeking freedom from religious tyranny and who espoused a novel aspiration that all men are created equal and endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  That is the beauty of this nation that made us a city set on a hill in the realm of mankind. Our freedom and our diversity with an eye towards equity and equal opportunity is our strength and appeal.   

You and your Party do not get to prescribe happiness for others. Your job is to make laws that provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.  Your job is to follow the Constitution and to ensure equal rights under the laws.  Let God be the judge of individual choices as He has already told us that He is the final judge of men’s hearts and actions.    

Sincerely,

Dr. Juanita Hall

Follower of Christ, Voting Citizen of the U.S.

Women in industrialized nations are no longer delivering the average of 2.1 babies needed to replace their current population. At the same time, people in these countries are living much longer. As explained last week, the situation is a crisis in the making because these countries will soon lack an adequate supply of youthful laborers to fuel their economies and support their elderly if nothing changes.

The reality is that maintaining a country’s infrastructure, supporting the elderly, and creating demand for new goods and services requires the ingenuity, strength, and energy of a youthful labor force. Leaders of these industrialized countries know that the status quo is unsustainable. They face a dilemma. Either they somehow convince or force desirable women to have more babies, they allow their population and economies to dwindle into eventual oblivion, or they welcome immigrants from foreign countries and foreign cultures to prop up their economies and support their elderly.

Until recently, the consensus was that our government’s policy of welcoming the wealthy as well as the most talented and the highly motivated from every nation, has served us well. But as these immigrants have become increasingly people of color, white nationalists have grown wary of the demographic shift. The unspoken reality is that our country has long benefited from the brain-drain of poor developing nations, making it more difficult for them to make economic progress. But individuals will do what they believe is best for themselves if given the chance and migrating to countries that offer greater freedoms and more economic opportunities is a temptation too difficult to resist. The U.S. university system was a preferred destination and great immigration opportunity for the privileged few for many years. Only recently have other countries enhanced their universities and begun to recruit international students as well. This includes China.

It is not surprising that many people seeking safety, freedom, and economic opportunity find Europe, Canada, and the United States an attractive destination. With the exception of native Americans, certain Mexican Americans, and the descendants of slaves, every American or their descendants arrived at the U.S. border for one of these reasons. The words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty are an invitation unique to the United States: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

But there are those who would erase those words if they could. I’m referring to Donald Trump, his advisors, and his followers who would close the doors particularly on those who are risking everything to come here because they are largely people of color from what Trump calls, “shit hole” countries. He is correct to say that these countries aren’t sending us their best and brightest because we poach their best and brightest every chance we get. However, they are sending us able bodies willing to work.

It is time that we acknowledge that our foreign policies, including brain drain, and our demand for cheap labor as well as illegal drugs have caused economic hardships, dangerous conditions, and political instability in those “shit hole” countries, making them poorer and more dangerous. What nation wouldn’t allow highly motivated uneducated laborers to migrate to the U.S. where they can work and send money back home to help boost their economy? Both individual humans and desperate countries are just trying to survive.

As a person who spent a career dealing with the U.S. immigration system in a higher education setting, I know that the immigration system in the United States has been broken and underfunded for many years. There is a relatively easy and fast path to citizenship for the wealthy, talented, and well-educated. And each October or November, high school graduates and those with work experience from countries with low immigration to the U.S. can apply for one of 50,000 green cards in a lottery system run by Homeland Security. There is also a path through family connection. Depending on the actual relationship, the annual cap limits, and a crazy backlog of cases, the wait for family unification can be 6 months to 20 years.

Everyone else is out of luck. The pathway for people outside these categories who are willing and able to work involves too few temporary worker visas to meet the demands of both industry and would-be migrant workers. And so, the failure of Congress to pass adequate legislation has created a situation where desperate people from unstable countries cross our border and claim asylum while others sneak in illegally. The Republican House purposefully fails to adequately fund our border patrol and immigration processing systems to meet the demand while simultaneously broadcasting to the world that our border is completely open. Of course, the system is completely overwhelmed. Republicans want Americans to experience the crisis they perpetuate in order to blame Biden for it and re-elect Trump or some other Republican.

The reality is that we need these workers. We need people with expertise in IT, healthcare, and the sciences. We need labor for jobs that few Americans are willing to do. The problem for white Christian Nationalists is that the workers who want to come here are people of color from “shit hole” countries with cultures and religions they fear will reshape the country. It’s not enough that their policies have stifled the fertility rates of minority women to a degree that absent immigration, the nation will become whiter. But White women simply aren’t having enough children either.

So, they stoke fears. Fears that immigrants are stealing jobs that black people should be doing (wow!). Fears that immigrants are bringing drugs. Fears that immigrants are committing violent crimes. Fears that immigrants are bringing diseases. Fears that immigrants are draining our healthcare, welfare, and education systems. And worst of all, Trump repeated the hateful words of Adolf Hitler by saying they are “poisoning the blood” of our people.

Contrary to conservative political rhetoric, illegal immigrants do not vote. They are less likely to commit crimes and have a positive net contribution to our economy. Their labor and spending contribute to the bottom line of Social Security and to local economies. In particular, the undocumented are doing jobs for lower wages and sub-standard working conditions that no American would bother to do. Their cheap labor contributes to lower prices for the goods and services we all enjoy.

The problem for white “Christian” nationalists who fear being replaced by people of color from “shit hole” countries is that the white people from other industrialized countries, whom they wish to attract, don’t find the United States particularly attractive beyond our interesting wealth of diversity and the creativity that it brings. They love our food, our music, our movies, our sports, and our parks. We’re good for the occasional vacation. But our healthcare system, our education, our childcare policies, our gun violence, and our politics are less attractive than their own. And so, Republicans can’t escape the changing demographics that immigration will bring.

So, in preparation for the coming demographic shifts, they must attack the equal rights and democratic powers granted to every American citizen under the law by our current Constitution. They are willing to throw out the Constitution and start over if it will allow them to retain their political power, wealth, and cultural status as the standard bearers of the nation despite their diminished numbers. They wish for a return to a boss to subordinate relationship with people of color. The question is whether we will fall for it.

Not surprisingly, it makes white nationalists feel better to hear their candidates promise to round up and deport all illegal immigrants. Imagine the chaos and labor crisis that policy will bring. It also makes white nationalists feel better to hear their leaders claim that this is a “Christian” nation and that all the laws should be made in accordance with their beliefs. The push to force births isn’t really a moral issue, but one of survival for people who look and think like them. It is not lost on the Republicans leaders that women of color are having fewer children and that when they do, they and their babies are more likely to die in childbirth than white women and their babies.

The solution is an acceptance of the reality that more people of color are being born into this world, particularly in poor nations and to accept the fact that every rich industrialized nation will depend on their labor to survive. We must also acknowledge and mitigate the damage our demand for drugs, our brain-drain policies, our wars, and our climate destroying activities have inflicted on countries so as to drive mass migration. The solution is not to have more babies as the planet cannot support more people, but to redistribute the people we already have and provide them with the dignity, rights, and respect their humanity deserves. Keep the words on the Statue of Liberty!

It is time for we as citizens to pressure our lawmakers to build and fully fund a new immigration system that meets the demand for labor and processes people for entry in a timely way that also ensures our border security.

I’ll probably be long gone from this earth when most industrialized countries face the very real repercussions of an upside-down population pyramid. As fertility rates fall below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman in most industrialized countries while life expectancy rates continue to rise, the number of homegrown youthful workers needed to support economic stability, productivity, and care for the elderly will shrink to crisis levels if something is not done.

The U.S. went from women bearing an average of 3.148 children in 1950 down to only 1.786 children projected for 2024. While it certainly isn’t the lowest fertility rate in the industrialized world, it is still precariously low. On the other hand, life expectancy rose in the U.S. from 68.14 years in 1950 to 79.25 in the current year. Despite the wealth of the U.S., we are nowhere near the top in life expectancy among industrialized countries. In fact, we are closer to the bottom. I attribute this to poor lifestyle choices coupled with overly expensive and inaccessible healthcare.

I recall learning in school that over-population was an existential threat to the planet. Humans were using up limited natural resources, forcing animal species into extinction, polluting our oceans, and causing the planet to overheat. So, some people celebrate the lower fertility rates, especially among industrialized nations where most of the over-consumption occurs. Others fear the very real demographic changes and cultural shifts that immigration would bring if it’s the only solution to support their economies and care for an aging population. These immigrants will come from poor and illiterate countries where the fertility rates remain well above the 2.1 replacement rate.

At the top of that list are the countries Donald Trump referred to as “shit hole” countries whose people he adamantly wants to prevent from immigrating to the U.S. The entire continent of African leads in fertility rates with an average of 4.1 children per woman. This is followed by the poorer, less industrialized countries in Oceania who far exceed the 2.3 fertility rate for that continent which includes Australia and New Zealand (who are below replacement rates). The same is true for Asia and South America where the poorer countries exceed the average 2.0 fertility rate of the continent. In fact, South Korea and Japan have the lowest fertility rates in the world and have near top life expectancy.

In other words, the immigrants of tomorrow who will supply the labor and support the elderly in the industrialized nations of the world will be black and brown people if they can be enticed or forced to immigrate. Projections indicate that by the year 2050, the population of the African continent will be three times larger than the population of the European continent. Already, African people are migrating to Europe in record numbers, and many are starting to enter the United States through the southern border.

The declining birth rates coupled with increases in life expectancy is a burgeoning crisis current political leaders are starting to grapple with. The rhetoric and proposed policies presented by conservatives, liberals, and humanitarians differ according to their view of humanity with regards to diversity, equity, and inclusion. To say that deep rooted xenophobia and racism aren’t embedded in policy discussions at the highest levels is to deny the shortcomings of human nature.

Republicans want to close the border, severely limit immigration, change constitutional protections, and force women to have babies. Democrats want an orderly immigration system that preserves human and constitutional rights, embraces the demographic and cultural diversity immigrants have always brought, and welcomes the youthful influx of labor needed to maintain a viable economy. Humanitarians seek the welfare of all mankind and want to limit fertility, end brain-drain policies, and eliminate militarized borders which are arbitrary lines created to hoard and control resources.

The future of our nation and its immigration policy is being shaped as we vote in every election. The reality is that the U.S. has been and must continue to be a nation of immigrants if it is to survive. The Republicans know that trying to force births is a losing proposition, especially if they are unwilling to enact policies that support childrearing. It appears that their back up plan is to force people to work longer, limit healthcare, and to roll back constitutional rights so that they can remain in power and maintain their wealth as the proportion of white people significantly decreases relative to the numbers of people of color.

In my next blog post, I will continue my observations on our current immigration dilemma.

Today is the last day of 2023 and I’m just thankful that I survived the year. It was a tumultuous year, filled with incredible highs and accompanied by far more struggles and stressors than usual. Huge highlights in 2023 included the birth of two of my three grandsons, our family photo shoot for my birthday, my aunt’s birthday party, and an abundance of rain in Southern California. Beyond that happiness, the year was filled with the stress that comes with supporting immediate family members as they leaned on me through miscarriages, multiple surgeries, long visits to emergency rooms, multiple cancer biopsies (including one of my own), a lot of chronic pain, mental health challenges, crazy work stressors, childcare issues, and of course the fight to preserve our democratic republic. Covid-19 remained a concern for us, and it also seemed like I woke up every other day to learn that a friend or a public figure I admired had passed on. On balance, it was a rough year.

To say that I was physically and mentally drained by the unrelenting demands of 2023 is an understatement. Despite all the family issues, I felt compelled to remain engaged in the fight to help prevent our nation from falling victim to white “Christian” nationalism rule. The threat to our collective civil liberties is real and I could never forgive myself if I stayed silent in the face of this threat.

So, even though it was painful, I stayed informed by watching Congressional hearings on C-Span, reading the newspaper, watching documentaries, and listening to the commentary of historians, legal minds, and political scientists. I vented a lot on Facebook and Instagram. I took part in Tic Tok political discussions. I wrote about issues in this blog. I sent letters to the President, to congressional representatives in both the House and Senate, to the Department of Justice, and to the Democratic National Committee. I donated to political candidates, to civil rights organizations bringing lawsuits, and to political activist organizations fighting for our democracy. Even though I was exhausted, I stayed engaged. Admittedly, I lacked the emotional capacity to engage in arguments over the wars in Israel and Ukraine. I found myself repeatedly tuning everything out as a survival mechanism, for which I feel some guilt. However, I recognized that I was operating on emotional overload and sought moments of relief whenever possible, otherwise I would have fallen into paralyzing despair.

I found moments of respite each day in prayer, morning stretches and walks, music, puzzles, experimenting with new recipes, cleaning, gardening, computer games, and Korean dramas. However, unlike in previous years, a call or text for assistance inevitably ended my rest too soon. Sometimes I couldn’t even get through a meal without some calamity presenting itself. This was 2023. Never enough time to fully recharge my physical and emotional battery.

I guess my greatest challenge in 2023 was the lack of personal relaxing time to fully recharge and reflect. However, I am truly grateful that all of my loved ones survived the year with our relationships intact, with our finances in order, and with enough emotional health to hope for a better 2024.

I know that too many people are hurting and remain in harm’s way as the new year begins tomorrow. There are too many people who are struggling with loss, instability, and fear of the future. Much of this is the result of the poor decisions made by those in power. The masses suffer when the greedy for wealth, power and pride are allowed to lead.

While my wish for every reader and for the world is a safe and much happier 2024, I recognize that wishing is not nearly enough. 2024 will continue to be a year of struggle that will require the focus and engagement of every thoughtful and considerate human being if we are to secure a brighter future than our recent past. We need good leadership. I just pray that I find the stamina to do my part to ensure that.

I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving. I know I have much to be thankful for and I am grateful that I was able to express everything with loved ones over a fantastic meal. I especially enjoyed watching my grandson Ryder enjoy his first Thanksgiving.

Last week, I shared the first of two letters I wrote to the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. This week, I share the second letter I sent to him earlier this month. My motivation for sharing these letters is to encourage my readers to exercise their free speech liberty to express their needs, desires, and expectations to government leaders who have the power to pass laws and institute policies that impact our lives.

Many have the attitude that they don’t bother with politics, but they forget that politics bothers with them every day and in almost every way. These next few years will bring about the biggest changes to personal freedoms, decency, and opportunities if the Republicans who secured the Supreme Court are able to win the presidency and the Senate and retain power in the House of Representatives.

November 18, 2023

Dear House Speaker Johnson,

This is my second letter to you since you became the Speaker of the House.  Since becoming Speaker, I have learned a bit more about your views on the role of religion in our government and I watched you endorse the candidacy of Donald Trump.  How disappointing.  Of course, you have the right to your religious beliefs, and you can endorse whomever you choose.  My concern is how those beliefs and your endorsement affect our Constitutional freedoms, given your position.

As I said in my first letter, I am a long time Christian.  I accepted Christ as my Savior on February 14, 1971, and have been a follower of Christ’ teachings since then.  I recall when the mission of the church was to share the good news of the gospel with those who were willing to listen.  We strived to live exemplary lives as lights in the darkness, full of compassion and generosity to those in need and without judgement and condemnation. Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  He taught us to be forgiving.  He taught us to welcome the immigrant.  He taught us to give to the needy.  And He taught us not to judge because vengeance and judgement belonged to God.  Our one job was to spread the Good News.

We had no political agenda until the church was infiltrated by men seeking to exploit our voting numbers for the purposes of their own power and greed.  They introduced the notion that abortion was murder by misusing Old Testiment scriptures like Jeremiah 1:5 to oppose abortion: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you: Before you were born, I sanctified you: I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” I read this as God predates our existence and that the womb is a place of formation of the human body or earth suit.  I say this because Adam did not become a living soul until he breathed the breath of life after his body was formed.  And in Luke of the New Testiment, it explicitly states that Elizabeth was in the sixth month of her pregnancy (after viability) when the baby leaped in her womb upon hearing the greeting of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:36 – 41).  The Bible repeatedly describes this body as temporary, as dust, as in 2 Corinthians 5:1, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The fact that nearly 25% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage confirms for me that life does not begin at conception. And the fact that my girlfriend delivered a baby without a brain, but with a heartbeat, who never took a breath, solidified this fact.  I find it interesting too, that Jesus said absolutely nothing about abortion.  He talked about protecting children who were living and breathing outside the womb. And even if a miscarried or aborted fetus is a person as some believe, they should take comfort in the fact the soul of the unborn fetus is in heaven.  Religious beliefs differ, so we should let God be the judge of the person who got the abortion or the doctor who performed it.  They too, are equally entitled to their religious or non-religious beliefs to guide their behavior as they pursue their happiness.

The second thing these men introduced was a notion that somehow our country was special to God and would be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah if we allowed wickedness to persist.  They kept quoting, completely out of context, 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin heal their land.” This sounded ridiculous to me because Jesus only talked about individual salvation through belief in Him. He already laid out the temporary nature of this earthly kingdom.  He didn’t try to change the government to enforce God’s laws, he tried to change human hearts to ready them for the Kingdom of God. 

The third thing these men tried to do was convince us that this was a Christian nation and that the founders were all Christians.  I knew from history class that this was not entirely true.  Some were Christians, but others were deist, and still others were atheists. They tried to convince us that separation of church and state was a mythical concept.  However, the very first Amendment of our Constitution guarantees us the freedom of religion and prohibits the establishment of an official religion in our government.

In more recent years, politicians have mounted an attack on the LGBTQ community using the church.  I once argued with a pastor’s wife that no one chooses to be a homosexual as a lifestyle.  Just like no one chooses to be transgender for the fun of it.  Jesus never condemned homosexuality, although it has certainly existed throughout recorded history.  He did, however, call out religious hypocrites, religious show-offs, idolatry, rich people, financial cheats, and people who judge others. He replaced the Old Testament laws with the law of love:  love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  Let God be the judge.  Jesus made it clear that people need healing, acceptance, and compassion, not judgement and condemnation from other people.    

I am a Christian and I am also a patriot.  I am proud to live in a country where the preamble of our Constitution states that the purpose of our government is to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and ensure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.  Those are the things I expect my Congress and executive branch to be working on. We have real problems with access to healthcare, crime, environmental threats, national security, and poverty.  These are the things you should be addressing. No one should be using our government to impose their religious beliefs on others.  That is against liberty and justice!

In this nation, all people are created equal and are supposed to enjoy the same rights.  We should be moving in that direction, not away from it.  I value your freedom of religion as much as my own.  However, neither of us has the right under our Constitution to impose our religious beliefs on others. You don’t believe in gay marriage, then don’t get gay married.  You believe abortion is murder, then don’t have one.

Your job as a representative is to uphold the Constitution and to ensure that the civil liberties of all Americans are preserved, even if you personally disagree with the personal decisions of Americans about how to pursue their own happiness.  That is between each American and his or her God, if he or she has one. You are responsible for saving your own soul and I hope you will remember that as you guide the House of Representatives.

As Americans, we have the responsibility to participate in our democratic republic. For now, we have the constitutional rights to free speech and to petition our government. I don’t want to ever lose these rights and so I wrote two letters to the new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, to express my concerns and expectations. In this post, I share my first letter of two letters to encourage every reader to write his/her own letters or emails to our lawmakers at every level of government. In these perilous times, it’s going to take our collective voices to ensure our democracy for future generations of Americans. Here is the letter (absent two sentences that I removed because they were inappropriate to share on a public platform).

October 26, 2023

Dear House Speaker Johnson,

Congratulations on your new position.  It is a position that carries the weight of the country along with the hopes, health, and happiness of its citizens, and the preservation of the individual civil liberties of ALL Americans.  

My greatest fear is that you may not view all people born in this country or naturalized to be equal citizens deserving of the same rights to the pursuit of life and liberty.  You have taken positions in the past that lead me to fear that you think men should have more rights than women, that Christians should have more rights than non-Christians, that white people should have more rights than people of color, that sic-gender people should have more rights than non-binary people, and that heterosexuals should have more rights than homosexuals.  I hope I am wrong and that you support the notion of our founders that all men are created equal and endowed by the Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

That said, I feel it necessary to share who I am and why your election as speaker is so concerning to me.  I am a married Christian female, a descendant of slaves (African American), a senior citizen, a cis-gender heterosexual mother of three productive citizens, the grandmother of three bi-racial grandsons, and a consistent taxpayer and voter.  I consider myself a fortunate person who had the extraordinary aptitude, resilience, energy, and determination to overcome the race and sex discrimination I encountered multiple times throughout my education, career, and daily life.  It would take a book to describe each of the battles I encountered since childhood and how doors were closed but I summoned the courage to find a window. I encountered far too many closed or limited opportunities.  One time I had to quit a high paying job because there was no other avenue to address the sexual assault perpetrated by my white boss.  He was a lot like Donald Trump! 

Too many legislators do not appreciate the exhausting fight it takes to overcome these obstacles to escape poverty in this country. They therefore have no understanding nor impetus to address the underlying reasons behind criminal behavior in high poverty areas. In addition, too many legislators do not appreciate the complications encountered in pregnancy.  I have never had an abortion nor a miscarriage, but I have plenty of female friends and family members who have. Each situation was sad and difficult.  I am a Christian who believes that life begins with breath (or the viability to breathe when born) as it says in Genesis that Adam became a living soul when God breathed into the body of Adam.  I believe that this body is just a tent, an earth suit that is formed in the womb to possibly house a soul and so I don’t grieve early miscarriages and abortions as if a person was killed.  Years ago, one of my Christian girlfriends gave birth to a baby without a brain.  It had a heartbeat.  It never breathed. The umbilical cord provided the oxygen and it was pronounced dead shortly after birth.  I realized then that a heartbeat is just a mechanical mechanism.  I recall when Republicans came into our church to sell the idea that life begins at conception as a political issue. Shame on Christians for buying into this political ploy that has no Biblical basis. And even if that is someone’s true religious belief, they have no right to force that belief onto others.  Like my friend, they don’t have to get an abortion, but let others who believe differently do what they believe is right for them.  God is ultimately the judge anyway.  I’m hopeful that you are actually pro-life, and not just pro-birth.

I am staunchly pro-life in the sense that I want our government to protect the lives of the already born  by making sure that the most vulnerable among us do not go hungry and have shelter, that all of us have access to healthcare, and that none of us are gunned down in the streets, grocery stores, churches, schools, concerts, bowling alleys, movie theaters, and dance halls because we fail to regulate access to guns. 

I’m hopeful that you are a Speaker who acts on the purpose of our government: to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.  In my mind, this means passing laws that actually deal with our border security, gun control, and our national security issues in the world including the middle east, Ukraine, and China.  It means providing affordable healthcare, infrastructure, gun control, a worldclass education for our all our children, affordable childcare for working parents, and a safety net for the vulnerable.  And finally, it means ensuring that all Americans enjoy the same civil rights regardless of their age, sexual orientation, gender, finances, or race.  It should never be more difficult to vote because you live in a poor area. 

I’m wealthy and I live in a wealthy area, and it has never taken me more than 10 minutes to cast a vote.  However, I’ve seen people waiting in lines for more than nine hours to cast a ballot. That is voter suppression!  And unfortunately, voter suppression happens mostly in Republican run states.  As a leader of your Party, I’m hopeful that you will seek policies that meet the expectations and needs of the majority of the American people so that it is no longer necessary to enact schemes to either win or try to overturn elections to stay in power.  I find your support of Trump’s 2020 election lies reprehensible, and you should apologize for your behavior to gain much needed trust.

And finally, as a Christian, I sincerely hope you end your support for Donald Trump.  By every measure, he is a person of low moral character, flawed intellectual acumen, and unpatriotic in his actions and rhetoric.  He is a horrible example to our children of what a human being should be and an embarrassment on the international stage. I hope you disavow all loyalty to him. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Juanita Hall    

I hope you, too, will take the opportunity to share your thoughts, experiences, and expectations with the man who has the power to ensure the lawful certification of the next election and to bring laws to the floor of the Congress to either protect or deny the civil liberties for all Americans. The address is:

Speaker Mike Johnson, H-232 The Capitol, Washington, DC 20515

:

A lot could happen before November 2024 that would prevent Trump from being elected to a second term. It’s what I’m praying for–some unforeseen circumstance or court decision that saves us from the perils of another Trump administration. But just in case my prayers are not answered, I spent some time thinking about what our country would have to endure should he be re-elected.

This week, I focus on the chaos that is likely to ensue as Trump enacts his stated agenda. From his previous term to his election promises, it should be no surprise where we are headed under his leadership. Trump wants to be a dictator. I predict that Trump will spend the year filling his administration with loyalists who aren’t necessarily experts or even competent, but with ruthless white nationalists who will do his bidding without hesitation. Like all modern authoritarians, he will fill election oversight posts with his loyalists to ensure any future elections are in his favor. He will need armed nationalists to carry this out and he already has them lined up.

Trump has said that he will pardon the January 6th insurrectionists and take revenge on his political enemies including district attorneys, the department of justice, disloyal judges, and the media. In his second year, having vanquished his enemies, I predict that he will unleash his army of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, armed white supremacist groups, sympathetic police and military members as well as any remaining government agencies to silence any dissenters, deport Muslims as well as non-white undocumented immigrants. Just this week, he promised a round-up and detention camps. He will end birthright citizenship and paths to immigration for people from “shithole” countries. He has already stated that he welcomes white immigrants from countries like Norway.

To fully accomplish his agenda, he will need to completely destroy our system of checks and balances. At this point, I predict that there will be a bloody last-ditch effort from brave patriots to stop him. This fight will test the resolve of Congress, the Supreme Court, the remaining military, and patriotic Americans to preserve our Constitution and our democratic republic.

Should this battle be won by Trump through intimidation and violence, I predict that the Evangelical right who supported Trump through it all will finally turn on him and they will be next on the chopping block. I think they were fully aware that Trump is not a true Christian, but they thought he was useful. They know that he lies, he cheats, he falsely accuses people, engages in name-calling, is cruel, and loves money and power above everything. But they supported him to get a conservative Supreme Court to overturn abortion rights and make this a Christian nation. I predict that once he has gained unpresented power over the media, the military, and the courts, he will fully abandon the Christian right as fanatics who serve no purpose other than to annoy him. When they observe his unwillingness to codify their religious beliefs into actual laws, like he is already signaling regarding abortion, they will finally wake up and see the idolatry that gripped them and helped propel him an authoritarian to power who now threatens even them. History tells us that religious morality is a thorn and threat to immoral authoritarian rule. And Trump is not a moral acter.

Trump wants to run the country like he runs his businesses–without ethics and as the sole decision maker. He sees authoritarian rule as efficient and admits to envying dictators like Putin and Xi. If he succeeds in gaining the power of a dictator, I believe the world will look on in horror as Trump dissolves NATO, allows Israel to massacre the Palestinians, allows Putin to take Ukraine and other countries, and hands Taiwan over to China. His new world order will put him on par with other world dictators. Using the threat of military might, he will build his wall and force Mexico to actually pay for it. I predict that he will gladly rule the nation with the same brutality as other authoritarians. He has always behaved as a bully and there will be no one to prevent him from acting out this time.

I predict justice will be meted out in the streets by uninhibited police brutality. Suspected criminals, refugees, and immigrants will no longer receive due process. The shortcut will mass deportation, murder in the streets, and kangaroo courts to lock people up as a means of obtaining free labor. For the first time, migration will be away from the United States, not to it. Citizens who are able will flee to other countries.

I predict that companies and farms will experience severe work shortages, surviving on the free labor provided by a greatly enlarged prison population. It will be the re-introduction of slavery. I predict that charities will strive to assist the poor and infirmed as there will be little to no government assistance offered. Trump has never been a policy person and he pays little attention to detail, so without a fully staffed and functioning government, normal services will be disrupted if not halted altogether.

I haven’t even touched on the harm to the environment that will occur as he deregulates every safeguard, allowing for short-term financial gains across multiple industries that will put the planet in peril and make clean air and water difficult to sustain. I predict climate scientists and environmentalists will be silenced as research funding is prohibited. In fact, anyone who disagrees with him or criticizes him will be silenced. That’s what authoritarians do.

I’ve painted a very bleak picture. It’s actually more of a nightmare and I sincerely hope I am wrong. But more than anything, I hope none of us has to find out. We have the opportunity to stop this from happening at the voting booth in 2024 if the courts fail in the same way Congress failed to stop him. Of course, he is also elderly and has poor eating habits so nature could run its course to save us. But if all else fails, I recognize that the world is looking on and realizing that a second Trump administration is a clear and danger to the planet and to people across the world. I imagine the European Union and NATO are watching closely and I wouldn’t be surprised if they acted in concert to eliminate the threat.

As of today, Trump is ahead in four key battleground electoral states that will determine the presidential election regardless of the popular vote. Unless something changes, we may well be saddled with another Trump presidency that will likely be rife with indecent behavior, corruption, revenge seeking, unscientific and unsound public policies as well as a loss of basic civil rights and constitutional freedoms for millions of people based on White Christian nationalism, xenophobia, homophobia, racism, misogyny and a distain for education.

Someone said that even if Trump were to lose in 2024, he will again claim that he won and with Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House, he might well be successful this time in stealing the presidency. That will be the end of our democratic republic and help usher in the theocracy that Mike Johnson and many Republicans desire. Before anyone casts a ballot next November, citizens must understand that the Christian right wants to enshrine several cultural and legal changes that align with their interpretation of the Bible.

First, and foremost, they want their views and values to become the law. Having spent a good amount of time in a white evangelical church when it started to become politically active, I know their values, mindset, and distorted interpretations of the Bible and the Constitution. I recall vividly how Bill Jones, a prominent church member, introduced the notion that this was a “Christian” nation, founded by Christians and for Christians escaping religious persecution. He kept saying that there was no such thing as a separation of church and state and how it was made up by people who hated God. We all discounted his ideas as ridiculous and began to view him as a political fanatic. But fast-forward forty years, and we have the new Speaker of the House and several Republicans saying the very same thing.

In this series, I will reveal some of the values, mindsets, and interpretations of the Bible they wish to force upon the American people through political power, culture wars, and violence if necessary. At the center of their mindset is the role of women in relation to men.

The views of the evangelical church place men in positions of authority above women. They characterize women as lesser beings who are weak, indecisive, emotional, irrational, and in need of supervision and protection. The role of women is to get married and to be a submissive and supportive wife and mother. Her God-given duties are limited to that of sex-slave wife, homemaker, and sacrificial mother. She helps make his ambitions possible as his “help meet” and any personal ambitions she has are confined to narrow lanes that further serve the family and never conflict with her husband’s ambitions.

I learned firsthand that women were expected to overlook, forgive, pray for, and suffer through the cheating, the laziness, or even the mental or physical abuse of their husbands. For a time, my self-esteem was wrapped up in being the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker. But unlike most of my white female church friends, I not only had a college degree, but I grew up in a family filled with strong independent working women. So, with my working mother’s insistence and my husband’s approval, work outside the home was an option for me that I often opted for. However, even when I worked full-time, none of the home responsibilities and childcare were shared by my husband.

I don’t think it is a surprise that an educated, confident, and capable woman will eventually reject this lifestyle when her husband proves unworthy. And I was one of them. The first time my husband cheated with our housekeeper, the pastor told me to forgive him, saying he felt threatened by my job and so it was really my fault. The second time, a different pastor advised me forgive, not only the ongoing infidelity, but the STD that came along with it. It was only when my unrepentant husband decided that he wanted to stay married and continue his affair that I decided independence was far better than the subservient doormat I had allowed myself to become under the guise of being a good Christian wife and mother.

As an educated woman with work experience and self-esteem, I had the luxury of making the choice to leave. Many do not. I recall reminding my pastor that I had read for myself that divorce with the prospect of remarriage in the case of infidelity was acceptable according to the Bible. I was free and after I filed for divorce, I left that church and its oppressive teachings behind. I vowed to never again marry under the same conditions. And I didn’t. The words, “obey” were deleted from my marriage vows the second time around. Instead, I opted for a partnership among two rational adults, and it works great because we respect each other and are faithful to each other. Support is no longer a one-way street.

This past week, I found it suspicious when Speaker Mike Johnson made an excuse for the absence of his wife by saying that she was tired from being on her knees in prayer for the past few weeks. I thought someone probably needed to do a wellness check on her. And then I heard her childlike voice in an interview and recognized the tone I associate with the perfectly submissive wife. The wives of these evangelical white nationalists like Mike Pence and Governor DeSantis all behave and sound the alike. The men are strong and confident having absorbed the will, energy, intellect, and ambition from their submissive wives to feed their egos. These are the same men who seek to control women across the country through their anti-abortion legislation. They are also against birth control.

I am convinced that their ultimate goal is to trap women into submissive marriages and motherhood through a process of cultural brainwashing and laws surrounding the reproductive process. They will eventually outlaw sex outside of marriage and censure media portrayals of it as indecent. The banning of books is a preview of their agenda. They will eliminate any social safety nets that provide single mothers help with food and childcare, forcing marriage, adoption, or extended family support as the only option for survival and once again labeling unwed mothers as immoral social deviants.

I already see young men and young women who have been taught in their Christian schools or homeschooled flooding social media with their message on the traditional role of men and men. These young men unapologetically claim their desire to find a good woman who will have their babies and obey them without question. These young women gleefully claim they just want to be protected, to be mothers, and “not have to think”. They vehemently argue against anyone who presents the notion of marriage between equal adult partners. The culture war is in full force on social media while the political war that will determine the legal status of women hangs on this next election.

It’s not a coincidence that the Republicans want to eliminate the Department of Education and that they are constantly attacking public school teachers as immoral people with a “WOKE” agenda. They need uneducated females much like the Taliban in Afghanistan need uneducated females to feed their egos and enable their personal ambitions.

The 2024 election is our opportunity to reject this white Christian nationalist agenda. It is up to us to ensure the civil liberties of women in this country, so each one can decide for herself the lifestyle she wants to live, whether submissive or independent.

It difficult for me to accept that Joe Biden and Donald Trump are basically tied in the polls. When I listen to people talk on C-Span or online, they are either staunch Trump supporters or merely tolerant of Biden.

I admit that since Biden announced his bid for re-election, I have been concerned about his advanced age. I admire his empathy and his policies, but I have huge misgivings about his motivation to run again. Is it hubris? Is it mistrust of the next generation? Is it ambition or ego? Is it lust for power? Or does he truly believe that he is the best man for the position because of his experience? Yes, to his credit he has experience, but he could die in office.

I’m also frustrated that we as the American people seem to have little choice over who can be a viable candidate for president. Why, in a country of 350 million people, are we stuck with two inarticulate old white men with questionable business dealings and sloppy handling of our government documents? It’s not like there aren’t plenty of younger, completely competent, energetic, compassionate, and articulate potential candidates waiting for their opportunity to run.

So, this week, I was happy to hear democratic Representative Dean Phillips announce his intention to run for president. Although he lacks name recognition and I had to research who he was and what he stood for, I think it is a great idea to have a robust primary for the 2024 Democratic nominee. So, I wrote to the Democratic National Committee to share my thoughts as a member of the Party. Here’s what I wrote using their contact us email address:

“I was thrilled to hear that Rep. Dean Phillips is entering the race for president.  Although I think Biden has done an excellent job, I have been concerned about his advanced age for some time now and have been longing for a viable alternative from our Party. 

I’m frightened that Trump might win because of a very obvious lack of confidence in Biden’s ability to fulfil another term with the vitality and mental sharpness we desire in a president.  Although I admire his character and policies, he appears weak and a bit feeble as he stumbles over his words and walks like the elderly man he is.   

I think we need a robust primary so that a strong candidate can emerge who, like Obama, can capture the hearts, minds, and confidence of the American people.  The presidency is a stressful position and we need a brilliant and energetic younger person to fill that position.

I am a baby boomer myself and my peers are either dying all around me, are enjoying retirement, or are sick.  We have had our time to lead, and I believe it is time to pass the leadership torch to the next generation.   

I’m not certain who is actually pulling the strings in the Party, but I am pretty certain that the leaders are not paying enough attention to the concerns, fears, and consternation of the voting public regarding Biden’s age and the controversies surrounding his son and the government documents he had in his possession.  Because of these things, he is a deeply flawed candidate, and can easily lose the election to that immoral and criminal Donald Trump.   Just the fact that these two men are tied in the polls tells you that we have a huge candidate problem. 

As I listen to younger people, I am not at all assured that they will turn out to vote for Biden or Trump.  They are not happy with either candidate and so I am begging you to have a primary and to encourage President Biden to step away.  He has served the nation well and it is time to find other ways to continue his service.” 

We have arrived at a time in our nation where we can no longer afford to be silent. Yes, our vote is our voice. But so is our pen, our protest, and our pocketbook. We must use all of these tools at our disposal to make our desires crystal clear in the loudest manner possible to those who proport to represent us. They respond to numbers.