So, what's my beef with Clarence? None personally, I assure you.
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Ukraine Has Already Won This War (daniel l. goetz)
Feb 26, 2022
The invasion of February 24, 2022 crystallized for me how completely Putin’s Russia has alienated Ukraine over since he took power 22 years ago.
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If the internet or TV makes you “sad or mad”, though, maybe it would be useable and functionable to start a news diet, and ingest less and less, and then see how you feel. If it’s better, then you may have found an extemporaneously soothing formula for not letting all the news get you down.
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Democracy is Sacred. (ken grotewiel)
May 28, 2022
This is a letter to the editor from Ken Grotewiel that accepted by the Lawrence Journal World for publication on May 28, 2022. Ken is one of three writers for Our Sacred Society, a publication on Writers.com
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If the public does not view the Supreme Court as an unbiased “decider” in cases it accepts, and it appears to be partisan, then every decision it makes after that becomes suspect.
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We must negotiate and share the most accurate descriptions of reality that we can, together, imagine, even though we never get it exactly right.
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Seeing so many workers throwing off the yoke of slavery is a good sign in my mind. It’s about time. Throwing off this yoke will mean higher incomes and higher amounts of savings.
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For those of you too young to remember these days of bipartisanship and compromise, and for those of you who lived through these times but didn’t notice or have forgotten this era of bipartisanship, it did exist.
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It seems that we have very little in common these days. Politics is at the forefront of accusations made about things on which we disagree. It can be politics in general, or more specifically on issues like guns, abortion, masks, and income inequality. Maybe science is something we could all agree on?
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Democracy takes constant energy to maintain and advance. If we don’t provide the energy our democracy needs, then I fear that our democracy will face its own untimely death. And as with all death, there is no going back.
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Anger is getting the best of us. (ken grotewiel)
Mar 7, 2022
In contrast to most of our history, today any compromise is total capitulation. Advocates today would rather hope for a solution in a mythical future where they will get everything they want.
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Building our democracy from scratch was no small achievement. Even for George Washington. (ken grotewiel)
Mar 7, 2022
Washington is truly the “Father” of our country, not just its first President.
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Thanks to the hit Broadway Show Hamilton, George and our democracy are back on the map (ken grotewiel)
Feb 27, 2022
How in the world was he able to build the actual fabric of our country — from scratch?
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Common ground is a hard-won necessity for a thriving democracy. Our common ground is strengthened when we come together under conditions of equal status in order to gain a better understanding of the truth and of each other. That common ground erodes when we do not.
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Theocracy is a hard sell. While for a small minority of Christians it would be manna from above, for everyone else it would be a non-starter. It means that a Christian sect and the State would be one and the same. That’s theocracy. Photo by iMattSmart on Unsplash For the people who thirst for a Christian nation, it fits nicely inside a Trojan horse. But why hide it if it’s so great? Theocracy would be tough sell. So welcome to the stage, autocracy! That means having one supreme leader serving as…
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Theocracy is a hard sell. While for a small minority of Christians it would be manna from above, for everyone else it would be a non-starter. It means that a Christian sect and the State would be one and the same. That’s theocracy. Photo by iMattSmart on Unsplash For the people who thirst for a Christian nation, it fits nicely inside a Trojan horse. But why hide it if it’s so great? Theocracy would be tough sell. So welcome to the stage, autocracy! That means having one supreme leader serving as…
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Theocracy was once only an intellectual curiosity for me. Now theocracy is much more on my front burner with the Lt. Governor of North Carolina openly for it. And Mark Robinson is a Republican. That is a fact. And Republicans are the only major party actively working to create a theocracy as a governing structure for this great country of ours. Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash What then are some of the finer points on what theocracy means to Lt. Governor Robinson and his allies in North Carolina? …
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Part One: The Box I’ve had these dreams for several months. They leave me feeling as if I’m stuffed in a box that I can’t get out of. The dreams are of my childhood in the 1950s in an “everybody-knows-everybody-else” small, rural middle-American town. Our town was divided into religious communities separated by social and cultural walls. Most of the time, members of one religious community were moderately polite to those of another. Sometimes they even shopped at each other’s stores. But every n…
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Researchers have identified Americans most likely to propagate disinformation (daniel l. goetz)
Jan 26, 2022
To reduce and control disinformation, society must deal effectively against those who sew chaos and division. In dealing with family, friends, and colleagues, practicing compassion is required.
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It's time for a more resilient country
Jan 20, 2022
Photo by Anastasia Hisel on Unsplash We need resiliency more than ever In my lifetime, which is getting longer every day, I have seen a lot of give and take throughout our democracy. So many times in fact, I can’t remember even one example at the moment. That’s why older people have wisdom, just not backed up with reliable memories. Oh yeah, I recall Republicans, Democrats and President Clinton agreeing to a compromise that balanced the Federal budget. I admit it was in a land far away and long …
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Freethought and the Search for Identity
Jan 14, 2022
I believe that America needs our leaders of all stripes to come out in support of policies, programs, and institutions that support our faith in democracy.
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The Founding Fathers got it wrong
Jan 12, 2022
When facing the cold reality of Christian power, the first step is to realize that 75% of Americans do not belong to the White Evangelical and White Catholic denominations that drive the “Christian” agenda.
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Religious views can trump all laws.
Dec 10, 2021
In Kansas now, our newest law allows anyone to refuse getting a Covid vaccination required by an employer simply by saying it’s against their religious beliefs. You don’t even have to say exactly what religious beliefs are being violated.
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6th Grader's Look at God
Dec 7, 2021
Nature’s God does not sit on a throne like a king. My name is Kenny Grotewiel. I’m in the 6th grade. My teacher said I had to write a book report. I picked a book called Nature’s God. Before I get to that, these are my brothers and sisters. I'm the tallest. Back to the book. It talks about looking at God in a new way. Nature’s God does not sit on a throne like a king. God does not tell people what to do. This God is inside nature. That means he is in me I guess. Some really smart peopl…
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Does one believe in government of, by, and for the people? That’s the faith test that allows persons to declare themselves faithful to American democracy.
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Humanity has always used religion to define what we hold in common, as a basis for internal social solidarity. Our own history features a continuous stream of Christian revivals uniting citizens in the face of new challenges. Indeed, there are many voices today advocating a Christian renewal for resolving our differences.
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Morality is joy.
Nov 15, 2021
Punishment from an all-knowing God is a good motivator to be moral, right? Then why are there so many terrible transgressions in and outside organized religion? So much for the punishment motivator.