February 22, 2015

What Is Our Common Good?

Posted by Jacqueline (Bonin) Gargiulo under Politics | Tags: , , , |
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Maybe it has occurred to you already? That the partisan state of politics is what has stagnated our country in so many ways at the state and federal levels? We have come to a standoff with each other, no longer a country united, but a country divided, and “a house divided cannot stand.” Right?

Historically, it has been times of trouble that have brought the country together. We have gone to war together, and rightly so, when it was truly necessary, but that doesn’t seem as clear to us anymore. Can going to war be a sustainable purpose? I think not. Though we are much more aware and even connected to major conflict around the world, over the centuries and even decades, the number of major conflicts has diminished. We are now dealing with late bloomers and fringes, for all intents and purposes. So, no, war will not sustain us, and especially that of our own instigation outside our borders.

The big question in my mind is, what are the common vision, mission and values we can rally toward as a country that do not speak to destruction but to a brighter evolution for us?

Is it possible for us to break away from pundits and partisan politics to really sit down together and truly communicate to discover what is truly our common good? Can we stop interpreting our past into partisan beliefs to discover who we are and what we truly stand for in the 21st century?

Without a way for us all to look forward in one direction, I fear we are bound to keep traveling in circles, going anywhere but where we might all want to go.

  • The first step is to get away from our rhetoric of accusations – this is obvious in all media, news and social especially.
  • The second is to share our perspectives and interpretations respectfully and truthfully – which may require some personal reflection and introspection, because we all too often spout off what we hear that seems to match what we think we believe.
  • The third is to listen.  Listen with open minds, and yes, hearts, too, to what our fellow citizens are trying to share with us.

If we could each, as individuals, do more to hear each other out and seek to understand, I don’t know the exact outcome, but I am fairly certain that it will be a far sight better than the state we are in now.

 

August 28, 2012

Is a businessman what we need in government?

Posted by Jacqueline (Bonin) Gargiulo under Politics, Religion | Tags: , , , , |
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I am hearing again that we need a businessman to lead our government. I am not sure this is the case for a number of reasons.

For one, government does not work like business, and it isn’t supposed to do so. When it works efficiently – and you’ll get no argument from me that there are plenty efficiencies and adjustments that could be pursued in government programs – it acts as a counter-balance to our private sector.

Reason two. Good people are in business. However, there is much to indicate that America is permeated with the need to win. Winning in business translates to making the most money.  As humans, good people fall prey to this ideal, and when they do, they lose sight of their fellow Americans, indeed their fellow humans, and our need to support one another. In fact, as Christian Americans, we are called to do all things in love for – in service to – one another.  Unfortunately, as humans, we fall prey to the idea that winning is a competition of one against another.  If we are a Christian nation, in my view, we should be pursuing ideals that win for us all.

Reason three.  As I recall, Bush was a businessman, as were many on his cabinet.  There are plenty of indications, Halliburton for one, that led good people in government to capitalize on their position and subordinate duty to country.  We see it also in legislation passed that removes our government bodies from the laws they make.

Being in service to our fellow Americans, in fact humans, is a tall order, and too many well-intended people, simply either never know this concept out of lack of experiential context or lose sight of it all in the name of winning the money game.  It happens in the private sector, and it happens in government.  Our perspective can draw us to see this issue to be in either the private or government sector, but its really an issue of our humanity.  There are plenty able to voice their interpretations of the Word of God, but as in all things, the doing of God’s Word – through whomever S/He has spoken – is key and the most challenging of tasks.

When we find our religious practice, in truth, I have faith that we’ll find our way to evolving the greatness of our country to put each other before the dollar.

Respectfully,

~ Jacqueline

 

July 22, 2011

TMI

Posted by Jacqueline (Bonin) Gargiulo under Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , |
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I must reveal that I had a serious lack of appreciation for the conspiracy theories spun by Glenn Beck.  It occurs to me, though, that he might have generally been on to something.

I read, years ago, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom by Dr. Christiane Northrup.  One of many observations and recommendations she shared was to “turn off the media”.  Her reasoning, which still rings true for me, was that we have enough in our own lives to be concerned for and about.  Think about it, our families, our health, work, friends, the list goes on.  It’s just too stressful to know about so many things over which I have no control whatsoever!

My going on 9 year old daughter was told at school to not believe anything on the internet.  With its advent and the ability of anyone to post anything, this actually makes a lot of sense.  Whatever we read, we must consider the source, and often times, we would do well to do some of our own comparative research.  Well, folks, I would suggest doing the same with our news media.  And here are some reasons why…

1) In Reagan’s years, the Fairness Doctrine that governed news media was done away with in the United States, though not necessarily in other parts of the world.  BBC still presents news like they always have and similar to how the US did prior to Reagan’s era.  Anyone else recall?

2)  In order to gain a profit, news media must compete for our attention.  To do this, generally speaking, each entity chooses a market, and then proceeds to tell that market what we want to hear in ways we want to hear it in order to gain our faithful attention, and, er, market share.  In this case, no pain, no gain.  When we aren’t being exposed to both sides and – truly – being given the opportunity to decide for ourselves, what’s the personal growth in that?  Most of our news media in the US not only gives us the news but interprets it for us as well.  Saves us time and gets our attention if its the interpretation that immediately makes sense to us, but doesn’t this make us akin to cattle?  I, personally, find it rather condescending.

3)  How many times have we, and more importantly our children, been exposed to information that might have been better left alone and dealt with on the local stage rather than on the national or global stage?  I’ll leave it at that.

4)  I, personally, voted for my politicians because they know politics better than I and generally trust their views align enough with mine that the outcome will work for me.  I am ok to let them do their job and make the compromises necessary to get things done.  So, the bombardment in the news media of every little step our politicians takes is, for me, way too much information.  And, it certainly speaks to our current seeming standstill.

Bottom line, politicians aren’t our biggest issue.  I dare say they’d get a lot more done if the media hadn’t created a whole slew of micromanagers with whom they need to contend.

‘nough said.

Make it a discerning day,

~ Jacqueline