Hurricane Outrage

Contraflow begins Sunday morning. That means that the interstate from the Mississippi Gulf Coast will run every lane northbound to accommodate people evacuating from the path of a Category 4 hurricane. This is to accommodate the mandatory evacuations from the three coastal counties. Jackson is the destination. Jackson is also the only major airport north of Biloxi and Gulfport, and I-55 will get also be the primary evacuation route for people from Slidell and other Louisiana towns.

Jackson is the staging ground for the Red Cross and most emergency responders because they are close enough to be accessible without being in the direct line of fire.

In 2005, after Katrina devastated south Mississippi, my wife went with others from our church, hotel to hotel, providing food and resources for families who were providing their own shelter, at the first safe hotels they could find north of the storm.

Tonight, Gustav is a Category 4 hurricane, and it likely will begin to make landfall the day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow, The Senator from Arizona and the Governor of Alaska, with their depth of knowledge in hurricane disaster preparedness, are coming to Jackson to "check on preparations." They will bring with them Secret Service and an airplane or two to the only major airport north of the storm zone. They will close intersections. They will motorcade over an interstate being used as an evacuation route. They will bring a press corps who will need hotel rooms. They will tax police resources. They will tax military resources. They will tax the attention of the governor, the mayor, the government. They will receive a "briefing" from MEMA, who surely have other things on their minds.

I thought the Palin pick was amusing yesterday.

Tonight, I am furious that any politician, from any party, in any election, would be so reckless, thoughtless and selfish as to distract from the preparations and endanger people running for their lives.

Have they learned nothing? They are terribly concerned about the perception of holding their festive convention during the storm but apparently are not concerned about actually getting in the way.

Promised Land

Representative John Lewis said last night, before Barack Obama's speech accepting the Democratic nomination to the Presidency, that this is not yet the Promised Land, but it's "a big down-payment, a big down-payment."

I am grateful to live in a land and among a people who get better, who manifest a spark of redemption, who take a social compact and aspirations to heart and who bend our history toward justice. I praise God for an America where Barack Obama is possible forty years after Martin Luther King, who was not possible himself forty years earlier. American women struggled for suffrage for 80 years before grasping the right to vote with the 19th Amendment, and here we stand beneath a shattering glass ceiling.

This is why I am a progressive, because we can see with our own eyes, in our own lives, across the breadth of a generation, that we can get better and better.

President Palin

If you just learned her name today, if you will see her for the first time at the RNC, are you ready for her to be our President?

Bob Riley and Haley Barbour have thicker resumes.

Happy Birthday, Senator. (More Horserace.)

John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate this morning. From a pure electioneering, political point of view, it's an exciting, bold move. She's smart, within conservative orthodoxy (except for those windfall profit taxes on oil companies. . . ), has a line on the energy debate, shook up her own party with aggressive ethics reform and investigation, and, yes, is a woman. She's a working mother of five, with one son headed to the army and newborn with Down's. She's impressive, no doubt.

She steals some of the "historic" thunder from the Obama campaign, and I am glad that we'll make some history one way or another. She also gives undecideds a big incentive to vote GOP if they were leaning to the right but compelled by making some Big American History.

The move is very odd to me, however, for one big reason. Obama's experience is a legitimate issue, and may be the strongest, most legitimate stick the GOP have to use against him. The Democratic opponents used it to good effect, and the McCain campaign trumps him all around on personal, political and governmental experience.

Now, they can't argue about it. How can they criticize Obama's inexperience with any credibility when they say that this half-term governor of a state of 600,000, once mayor of a town of 9000, is ready to be President in a heartbeat. John McCain turns 72 today, and he just announced that Governor Palin is ready to be Commander-in-Chief because she has been the Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard since 2005.

She is a great political pick, and so far, I like her personally quite a lot. She's compelling, and she'll energize the ticket.

She also disarms McCain's main line of attack.

Participation: A Working Theology of Politics

This is an excerpt from a paper I presented this summer at the Christian Scholars' Conference. This represents my current, evolving thinking through scripture and the role of Christians in politics and government. I know this is bare-boned theology, so bound up in scripture references and all, but sometimes I find good comfort in the command, example and necessary inference of the sola scriptura of frontier America. I also know this is too long for a blog post.


Very few Christians would dispute the callings, burdens and ministries owed to the sick, poor and vulnerable in the name of Christ and the glory of God. The contemporary debate occurs between those who would argue that God has placed this work only on individual disciples or congregations of Christians, not in the state, and those who would argue that this work and this problem reside with the nation-state or dominant culture where the Christians reside. This debate arises from two issues: whether Christians have any business engaging the secular state or whether Christians believe that engaging the secular state is effective to achieve the moral goal.

Romans 13 is the most direct address in the New Testament on the role of government and the governed. There, Paul admonishes every citizen and subject of the Roman empire “to submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” (Rom. 13:1) Paul describes the sovereign’s governor and explains the need to submit:

He is God’s servant, agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Rom. 13:4b-7)

Paul marks a clear delineation between the governor and the governed, the sovereign and the subjects. In Rome, as in most of the world until the Enlightenment, subjects and citizens had virtually no peaceful voice in their government. Sovereigns ruled by Divine Right or force of might with total authority, or at most, with the support of oligarchical courts. The Emperor ruled, and the subjects served.

As a Roman citizen, Paul enjoyed some privileges in the Empire, but by the time of his writing, Emperor Nero ruled as a dictator with no obligation to any representative Senate. Even so, Paul describes the government in terms of righteous ministry from God, and he teaches Christian citizens to submit and to pay their dues to the State. Jesus famously replied to those religious leaders who sought to trap him with a question of taxation by the occupiers: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Mt. 22:21; Mk. 12:17; Lk. 20:25)

After centuries, Western thought captured Greek notions of democracy. Enlightenment philosophers began to criticize unreasoned, obsequious genuflection to a throne and bridled against the notion of a Divine Right. These ideas found their experimental home in the British colonies of North America, and perhaps for the first time in human history, the stark distinction between Sovereign and Subject, Governor and Governed, blurred as a new social compact became manifest. The boldest and clearest articulation of this experiment appears in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Justifying the proposed Constitution and urging its ratification, James Madison articulated the theory of American republican government in The Federalist No. 39:

What then are the distinctive characters of the republican form? . . . [W]e may define a republic to be. . . a government which derives all of its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of people; and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior. It is essential to such a government, that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it. . . . It is sufficient for such a government, that the persons administering it be appointed, either directly or indirectly, by the people. . .

In Romans, Paul admonished citizens and subjects to submit and to pay rightful dues. Christ called his followers to be salt and light, to be shining lights, to glorify God and to transform the world by their presence in the world. (Matt. 5-7) Christ did not call for the overthrow of governments or the co-opting of the state to achieve spiritual ends. The apostles did not advocate for reform of the Roman state to ensure justice, although the apostles and prophets certainly do call for justice.

Paul explained that governments exist by God’s hand to administer His will. When Christ encountered government officials, functionaries and soldiers, he did not command them to leave their posts but to act justly and to love mercy.* When Paul taught Roman soldiers, even his own jailers, he did not teach them to leave the Empire’s service, but he converted them to the way of Christ.(See, e.g., Ac. 16:28-34) In Romans, he declared magistrates and functionaries to be God’s servants to administer justice and government. (Rom. 13:4-6)

In the United States of America, however extraordinarily, individual subjects are the collective sovereign. The governed govern themselves. The sharp distinction Paul observes between the State and its citizens does not exist in the United States. Rather, the roles coalesce where the people have an active, fruitful voice in their own affairs, representatives and policies. The government responds directly to the will of the people, at least regularly at the ballot box, if not more frequently as private interests press the government to move. Thus, every American, including American Christians, bears the burdens of submissive citizenship and righteous, merciful sovereignty. In matters of governance and policy, Christian Americans must abide the Rule of Law, must submit to just laws and must seek to implement just and useful governmental policies and laws.

Scripture asserts an obligation is to “do all things to the glory of God,” to approach all of the work given to a believer as if it were God’s very work. (I Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:23-25) If Americans are both subject and sovereign, then American Christians are bound to consider public policy and the role of the public, secular government as if it were God’s own work, to His glory. At the very least, Americans who seek to obey this scriptural mandate must consider public policy, law and the government as potentially just, useful, prudential, wise and effective solutions to the problems besetting neighbors in the great community.

In the instant [election], Christians must consider their roles as governed and government. If the public policy is unjust, then Christians must answer as participants in that public policy, as self-governors. If the free marketplace is unjust, then Christians must answer as suppliers and demanders, buyers and sellers, consumers and providers, individually and communally, being cautious to avoid holding the free market as sacrosanct before unjust effect. If our healthcare system obstructs basic care for the poor, entrenches illness and hastens the death for those on the economic margin of our nation, then Christians should be aware and active to remove those obstacles.

If Christians would seek to rectify an unjust policy or state of circumstance, then Christians rightly should consider the judicious use of the State to address the problem. If progressive use of government is a useful means to address the great disparity in healthcare for the working poor in the United States, the great waste of resources in a skewed marketplace and the adverse effect on the life and health of less affluent neighbors, then Christians should make good use of the available tools.

*See, e.g., Mt. 8:5-13, Lk. 7:1-10 (Jesus praising the faith of the centurion on behalf of his servant); Lk. 19:1-9 (Zacchaeus, the wee little man); Ac. 10 (Peter and Cornelius the centurion in the Italian Regiment); Ac. 24-26 (Paul before Felix, Festus and Agrippa, concluding, “Short time or long – I pray that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am (a Christian), except for these chains,” at 26:29).

Party Politics

Many bemoan party politics, complaining that they turn our processes into corrupt, ugly fights. George Washington cautioned us in his Farewell Address, after the only non-partisan presidency, that we should shun political parties.

In our vibrant, messy, prosperous republican democracy, party politics have been corrupt and ugly, but they also serve as a bulwark and strength. Perhaps it is cliché, but competition does make us great, and fierce competition with fair rules generates our remarkable success in an experiment that relies more on an ephemeral social compact than the might of a sovereign.

Built into the Constitution is a separation of powers, pitting legislative, judicial and executive powers against the other with checks and balances to promote fair play, accountability and progress. The progress may be halting. The accountability may be flawed. The play may be rough, but we persevere, and our system grows more just, even in fits and starts, as we struggle with each other.

Others marvel at us, how we can thrive in peace even as we vehemently disagree and debate. We argue and maneuver and posture in the hope of winning hearts and minds and votes, instead of converting at the ends of bayonets or oppressing dissent. Minority parties rail and protest and vote, eventually waiting for the pendulum to swing them back into the majority, when they will be held accountable by a minority party, so that no one can cause too much damage in a term of office.

Instead of turning to vigilante feuds and bloodletting over disputes and power, we sue, we litigate. We compete, and if the rules and the process is fair and open, even the losers acquiesce peacefully. Our economy is based on competition, investment and smarts and hard work, to corner a market, to innovate, to profit and to win customers.

In this same spirit of competition, a free market of ideas, litigation and debate, we raise our political parties to debate, to struggle, to compete for the hearts and minds and votes of the people. The parties recruit, yes, but the parties also respond. They may look like they are responding to polls and popularity, but they may just be responding to the people and their principles and preferences.

History may declare winners, but we still are in the conversation, the debate and struggle for the great hearts and minds of our nation. Although the parties may yield to temptation and may drive us mad with bad tactics and parochial snobbery, they are our vehicles for the mighty exercise of our social compact together. We compete, and the competition makes us stronger.

Timetable

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed to a draft plan to remove U.S. troops from cities by 2009 and completely from Iraq by 2012.

Isn't this announcing to the enemy our date of departure? Isn't this "cutting and running"? No, it's smart, politic, necessary and good policy for the Iraqis and the Americans.

This would seem to favor the presidential candidate who has favored withdrawal, not the candidate who is at ease with 100 years of military engagement there.

It's hopeful change, no?

The Other Redeem Team

U.S. Women win gold over Brazil in China.

HOPE, all it's cracked up to be.

USA. USA.

Cry Freedom

Leroi Moore died yesterday of complications from injuries sustained in an ATV accident. He played saxophone for the Dave Matthews Band since its inception. That means that I've been listening to him almost daily since 1995, first on the way to Destin with other Fellas, then live at Memphis in May in 1996 and in Nashville in 1998 and all along the way. He has helped fill my life with beauty, song and dancing, and I'll miss him.

Peace to DMB and Moore's family.

Pretty good at this stuff

This is my post from May, 2006 regarding the then-fledgling presidential campaign. Of course, hubris mocks me and and dogs my every step, but I can't help feeling at least three-quarters-prescient, especially if the VP announcement goes the way I've been touting for months now.

(Elrod agrees, not that you can confirm it.)

Praying for Rain

I am pulling for Barack Obama, but something just dawned on me this evening that has my blood boiling.

He's scheduled to give his acceptance speech from the Mile High on August 28.

The NCAA football season opens on August 28. Vandy at Miami (Ohio)!

It's downright un-American.


(h/t KAT)

Georgia

Ambinder on the crisis in the Republic of Georgia.

We Americans all ought to be very careful not to allow ourselves to be bracketed into a conflict we do not fully understand. The enemies are not easy to identify. The allies are not easy to identify. The National Interest is not easy to identify. The Threat is not easy to identify. Our Capacity is not easy to identify, and any effort to nail down a short-term desired outcome might just set the stage for something much more interesting and attractive to the the belligerents.

More from Kaplan, whom I respect.

(Yes, I get too much news from The Atlantic, but it's got the goods. What can you do?)

PL

The Opening Ceremony was phenomenal, from start to finish, just astonishing and beautiful. I was so impressed that the statist commies would endorse such lovely, passionate expressions of human dignity, solidarity, creativity and love, and to execute it with such excellence. If they were trying to re-introduce China to the modern world, they succeeded beyond any reasonably wild imagination. Well done, Dragon.

One World, One Dream inspired to me to contribute a little more to the human condition today, so I extended my run to new lengths. This afternoon, in a beautifully mild, breezy day in Alabama, I ran seven miles, a new personal long. I feel awfully good going a little longer, faster, higher.

Go, World.

(Cheers, II.)

Context is Everything.

Monte Cox said that to our New Testament Survey class in the Fall of 1993. My brother, Eric, says, "Language is the only game in town." Those pithy truths are two profundities that drive my epistemology.

As this election cycle intensifies, after following it for more than a year, engaging in the rites of debate and discourse, alienating and being alienated by friends and colleagues with different points of view and party preferences, I am getting worn out.

My beautiful wife stumbled upon an old friend's blog, probably the smartest individual human we have ever know, and with whom I am proud to have been censored by a eldership of the Lord's Church. Richardson has a link to an account of a conversation between two ministers in the emergent church movement and a pastor at a Reformed Baptist Church. The pastor insisted on talking about doctrinal, propositional truths and categories, a model modern. The emergents insisted on talking about relationships, friendships, social justice and the Ministry of Reconciliation, model postmoderns. Although they left the lunch in peace, they did not leave in accord or in partnership.

I am grateful for the piece and its lucid, stark example of many conversations we've been having with people we love and with whom we disagree this year. I am learning that we do not disagree on outcomes very often, although we very often disagree about the language, assumptions, propositions and processes we use to get there. We disagree but do not know why, and because we are speaking different languages, probably won't on this side of Jordan.

Thank God for his mercy to all of us ignorant, presumptuous human beings who are stumbling around in goodwill mostly getting it wrong. He must love us a whole lot.

Buttered Biscuits

Elrod (oh, if only I could link to him; you’d be so impressed) rails today about his animosity toward avian mascots in baseball, most recently scourged by Screech of the Washington Nationals. It prompts me to reflect on our recent, persuasive trip to catch our first game at Riverwalk Stadium for our Montgomery Biscuits.

For my money, there is hardly a better nickname of a professional sports organization in America. The Biscuits are the Tampa Bay Rays AA affiliate, and they are the 2006 and 2007 champions of the Southern League, including minor league powerhouses Chattanooga Lookouts, Huntsville Stars, Birmingham Barons, Mobile Bay-Bears and the Mississippi Braves. The Biscuits thumped the Barons on our outing.

Riverwalk Stadium is new and beautiful. It’s converted from an old downtown warehouse, once a Civil War prison camp and, of course, production facility for, yum, biscuits. They sell some mighty fine biscuits in there, too, with locally produced syrup that will make your children very sticky. The stadium is a block from the Alabama River, the Riverwalk Amphitheater and fountain. A railroad runs parallel to the left field wall, close enough that trains occasionally catch homeruns. It’s a great place to catch a game.

Here is my big gripe: Although the Biscuits is a great nickname, this is a preposterous mascot:

Big Mo has nothing discernibly “biscuit” about him, and he frightens my three-year-old into a panic. Riverwalk is a great stadium, but it can’t stick to a theme: rivers or railroads? You decide, and there are plenty of options. So here we have a perfectly good baseball organization, with a clever nickname and beautiful stadium but no message discipline.
Go Mutant Mastodon Riverboat Railroad Breakfast Food!

This is not unlike my bride’s first college, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Once, they were the Moccasins, with an American Indian mascot who succumbed to racial sensitivity, only to be shorted to Mocs. The Moc evolved into a Mock, and now they are the Mockingbirds, except that the Mockingbird wears a railroad hat and sits on top of a steam engine (Choo-Choo, get it?). So go Mock(ingbird) Railroad Engineers!

Update from the AL-02

Sprouting up all over the district, "I'm a Bright Republican." One of the commenters says it's "dirty politics," and the GOP candidate is "irked." I think it's pretty clever.

I'm also interested in the phenomenon of a candidate running on his own personality and background against a candidate who seems to place most of his capital in party identification. Many Southerners like to say that they "vote for the man, not the party," and if that holds true in the -02, those voters probably will vote for the candidate running in his own skin.

Here's the sign.