Significance of Class Warfare

Remember the French Revolution?  That social upheaval was spurred on by the insinuation of a mercantile or commercial class into the Aristocacy, whose longevity to that point in history depended upon its agriculture.  It is no small thing that Napoleon traveled and even conquered neighboring countries in an effort to expand France's commerce and trade, even to the shores of Africa.  The tide was turning from agriculture to commerce, as a dominant force in the country's growth.

President Obama in his latest series of talks to the people has called upon the wealthy and elite class to bear their "fair share" of the financial burden to bring about a strengthened economy, as if just by appealing to its members' sense of justice the economy would improve.  He fails to recognize that in the end justice results from a fight, a conflict with one side only emerging as victor.

The wealthy in the US are privileged because they have fought to emerge as victors.  They got the federal government to greatly reduce their tax rate and maintain favorable capital gains tax advantages.  How?  In today's political arena, a candidate needs lots of money for mass media ads and in general to conduct a smart campaign.  His contributors may include the poor and the middle class, but he must depend on the wealthy and the corporations whose CEOs are drawn from its class to manage.  Simply put, from a marketing standpoint, only the wealthy are in position to elect the candidate.  And once elected the legislator's thanks to his financial benefactors in return is a tax system that favors the high and upper middle classes to whom he has become beholden.

There are TV propaganda networks like FOX is in the US across the world, e.g., Venezula, 24/7 espousing the line formulated and marketed by the wealthy, i.e., in the US, by the Republican Party. Time was in the US that the unions were much stronger and powerful.  Their sources stemmed from the ever present threat their existence could mean in closing down an industial plant's operations by whatever means they deemed appropriate.  Management, representing the upper classes, cajoled them, appeased them; and sometimes brought in security to fight them.  But I believe it was the rise of industrial psychology and the study of psychology in major universities, in companies, the emergence of departments of human resources, that ultimately weakened the propaganda of the unions, which stressed the harm management could inflict upon  working class members.
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Some of these points above were made at this past week's meeting of the current events discussion group of the Osher Lifelong Learning Center, Extension Division, University of Nevada-Reno.  The group was discussing the basics of the US tax system and how some of these have been developed.

The overall point I got from the discussion is that the Republican Tea Party members in the House of Representatives are correct when they say that they are in the House, not to compromise, but to war and fight for what they believe (and what the wealthy of this country, their real backers, encourage them to aver).                 

A Moslem Renaissance

During the night hours yesterday, I listened to an all-night program in which an economist was discussing the significance of the revolutionary tendencies in northern Africa.  I'm sorry, I don't remember his name! I disagreed with the point of view he expressed, however.  For him, it seemed the Moslems of these countries were taking to the streets and congregating in the plazas because they're out of work with little to occupy their minds; and they want JOBS!

I tended to agree with his analysis, as I understood it, about the United States' expanding its imperialism into this region--for reasons of strengthening the dollar and gaining greater US presence through the work of such organizations as the CIA.  It seems logical, after all!

But what he fails to grasp is the social and religious significance of this Moslem  Renaissance.  These people are expressing their tradition and heritage; and taking pride in themselves by so doing.  They may not understand all the nuances of a democratic regime; they do understand they are Moslems and Arabs!

For lo these many years, Moslems have had to live in the shadow of the European and American giants.  They have felt lost, discouraged, and truly downtrodden.  Their leaders have taken advantage of them, because they knew they were nothings to the West and their leaders were doing the bidding of the West.

But now they know: they are Moslems; and the Moslem faith is the fastest growing religion in the world!  Through this simple identity, they are amounting to be somebody.

Who can make fun of the Iranians for finally asserting their own independence after countless attempts by the West to control them?  I believe there is arising a solidarity, an identity between the Iranians and the Turks; and this bonding is spreading encouragement and enthusiasm among all Moslems in the Near East.  They don't have to be Westerners in order to be worth something.

I've listened to Levin and other radio talk hosts condemning the Moslem faith for this or that tenet.  What, in essence, they are contending is that if you aren't ready. as they judge it, to establish a democratic republic, you have no right to be in control of your own destiny.  More jingoistic hogwash!  Let Moslems be; and let them come to be!  This diatribe against the Moslem faith is rooted in a religious bias according to which only in Christianity is there a firm and true foundation for the state and its government.  Go to hell!  And by the way, read Paul Tillich's theology on your way there.  

Exclusivism, Religion's Bugaboo

Here in El Paso, I've been attending the First Baptist Church on Sundays recently.  At their Adult Sunday School session this past Sunday, we got talking about Chrisitianity's exclusivism, as suggested by the Bibilical passage "I am the Way...no man cometh to the Father, but by Me."

Some in class stood up tall for Chrisitanity claiming its Truth leads to everlasting life.  I pointed out that the Baptist ministers and lay preachers I grew up listening in my youth were of the type referred to as the "hell and damnation" preachers!  They still exist today: you can see them in the homeless shelters run by funamentalist groups.  These gospel zealots tell the poor and hapless, seated as if members of a congregation--though in reality they are waiting to be fed but must hear the sermon first--that if they miss the opportunity now being presented them to be saved, they are bound for eternal fire and brimstone.  "Don't bother yourself about the food of bread and beans we'll be handing to you, my brothers and sisters,  benefit from the spiritual food I'm giving you,  Now is the day of salvation!" the preacher shouts out.

There's no doubt in my mind that some of our military abroad--in Afghanistan and Iraq--are of the same  fundamentalist persuasion, convinced of the rightness of their Chrisitan beliefs, all founded on Scripture to be sure--the preacher, holding up Jesus and eternal salvation on one hand and the Devil and hell on the other; and then insisting that each listener reach for one.

During the discussion, in retort, I too cited Scripture: Mathew 7:1: Judge ye not that ye be not judged!  "There's no place for exclusivism in Christianity." I explained,  "You preach the Christian message; and if it falls on deaf ears, move on!--as Paul and his entourage did in the Early Church.  But you don't go around condemning people for not accepting the Christian faith!"  I also alluded to Scripture where Jesus was persecuted from the beginning of His ministry--a Jewish crowd in Nazereth, composed in part by religious  orothodoxists (whom St. Paul called "Jewish legalists") wishing to throw Him of a cliff.  He was ostracized by the very Jews he was brought up with, because of His teachings that starkly differed from those traditionally held.
     
Well, I wasn't very popular among that Sunday School adult class.

In Iraq, the indigenous Christiana and in Egypt, the Coptic Christians are suffering today from persecution at the hands of Islamic zealots, who blindly follow Islam as the only true faith.

The opposite to exclusivism is religious tolerance.  So long as religious believers, no matter the religion, are convinced they are privy to the Truth; and they are granted the right to pronounce judgment on those who don't believe as they without social consequence in their exercise of that right, there will be religious bigotry pervasive in that land.  I note that in Egypt, many Moslems, including the Egyptian government, are coming to the aid of the Coptics.