Religion Unites and DIvides

 Religion has always been important in America's fabric. You could even say it's the thread that stitched us together. Each British American colony was a haven for some religious group. In the realm of religions, the Church of England was quite young. Henry VIII had only formed it 250 years earlier. It was also not known for being exactly accepting of other faiths. Thus the Puritan, Quakers, Catholics and Jews of England headed to the New World.

"The Church'' was the center of their communities no matter the faith. When colonists arrived they built their houses & barns first, their churches with schools second, and lastly the "town", you know the business district. I always found this very interesting through the eye of capitalism. They were satisfied with going back to a barter economy until the necessities of life were quenched; their housing, food, a place to worship and educate their children. When those needs were satisfied, that is when Main Street came into being. 

Each colony set up a colonial government for local matters. Were those laws Christian laws? Not anymore than any other system of laws. A system of laws can be said to reflect the prevailing religious beliefs of a society concerning truth, fairness, morality and respect for the local beliefs in God. Therefore America's laws are not Christian laws, they are laws aimed at justice for all written primarily by men of Christian faith.

In the run up to the Revolution religion was a stepping stone to overcome because for many colonists the King was also the head of their Church. For them, revolution against the King was a sin. It would be as if the Catholics in Maryland declared war on the Pope. 

Prior to the Civil War preachers in the South justified their support for slavery [apartheid] from their pulpits. In 1776 we accepted our differences and joined forces. In 1861, we didn't, we went to war against each other. In 2023, some are still using religion as a justification for the fascist treatment of others. 

The politics of the Christian Conservatives running the RNC are much more closely paralleled to the politics of the Confederate States of America. Writer Aaron Sorkin called them the Crazy Christians. The followers of the modern MAGA Movement are determined to replicate how the Antebellum South was living in an aristocracy that rivaled the Royal Families of Europe. Now MAGA seeks a ruling White minority in America, ending democratic rule.

Get off the couch, organize, demonstrate, march - Hell, warm up some molasses to about 98 degrees and grab a bag of feathers. Do something but do it together. Keep the faith in a democratic republic, one nation, out of many people, with justice for all people. 

A New American Spring

The spring of 1765 is often referred to as the American Spring. In 2010 the Arab world erupted in protest over the repressive regimes they were living under. That was dubbed the Arab Spring. 

In Boston, in 1765, the government of King George III was instituting a series of taxes meant to recoup the cost of the Seven Years War, a part of which was the French and Indian War fought in the Colonies But mainly it was to punish Boston for opposing the King. 

The problem was the Colonists had not voted for the Coercive Acts as they were called in the British press. Sam Adams and the Boston press called them the Intolerable Acts and Adams was determined that they would not stand. Eventually this fight became the American Revolution and Sam Adams was its father.

After the revolution and the ratification of the Constitution Pres. George Washington warned about fracturing into political parties. By the time his successor was chosen we had already completed that fracture. 

Sam Adams had warned of a strong federal government. Eventually he supported the Constitution but only once it was amended to include the Bill of Rights.

In America, in 2023, we face a new intolerable situation. For decades the Republican party has controlled the Electoral College. They have gained control of the legislatures and congressional delegations of a solid block of religiously conservative states. In 2000 and 2016 the Electoral College handed control of the Executive Branch to the loser of the popular vote on the power of those states.

Republicans have only represented more than 50% of the total population once since 1990, in 1996. In fact in a 30 year period between 1990 and 2020, 1996 was their highwater mark. Over that period they have represented on average 47.3% of the American population. 

A look at an Electoral Map shows their strength is in rural America. Rural America tends to be more openly religious and staunchly conservative than metropolitan areas. They once believed they were going to be a permanent ruling majority. Now they are settling for a ruling minority.

Two thirds of the population oppose the MAGA Movement in general and Donald J. Trump in particular. "The Donald" dominates the current Republican Party. This means that today's patriots, those defending the democratic republic, have twice as many supporters as the Patriots had over the Loyalists in 1765.

America's voting populace is divided into three main groups, Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Prior to the 2022 midterm elections the breakdown was 28.5% Independent, 29.4% Republican and 38.8% Democrat. In normal times this would be a healthy breakdown. These are not normal times.

The freedom of the press, the institution that started the Revolution, is under attack everyday by MAGA Republicans. I grew up knowing I could trust the nightly news whether I was watching Huntley & Brinkley or Walter Cronkite. The breakfast table was a scene of bowls of breakfast cereal hidden behind everyone's section of the morning newspaper. The local newspapers (plural) published twice a day, with multiple editions of both the morning and evening editions. America was informed. Today FoxNews makes certain its audience is not. 

In colonial times, newspapers, pamphlets and broadsides were the mass media of the day. They were the radio, TV and Internet of the Eighteenth century. Publishers in those days published different points of view. However, they agreed on the facts. For instance, they knew that when a loyalist newspaper wrote about The Coercive Acts they were referring to The Intolerable Acts. However both sides agree their purpose was to punish the colonies for supporting Massachusetts and Massachusetts for dumping their overtaxed tea into Boston Harbor. Mainly because that became a thing that year with colonies with harbors dumping tea or burning the ships carrying it. [My distant cousin, Dr. Charles Alexander Warfield, and the MD Sons of Liberty burned the Peggy Stewart to her waterline October 19, 1774]

Now we have much farther reaching communication tools then they did. Electronic media publish stories at lightning speed compared even to a 20th century daily newspaper or an 18th century newspaper, which was published by setting type by hand and printing one page at a time. 

Now 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube - every minute. This is why it is so important modern day patriots ban together to fight MAGA, fight nationalism and fight the falsehoods that MAGA nationalists call "alternative facts". And they need to wage that fight here on the Internet, the new national commons.

Sam Adams got colonists to ban together to form what he called committees of correspondence. The blogosphere started out with a great many posters but lost contributors to the faster paced Facebook & Twitter.  I've blogged since early on. Blogger.com, DailyKOS.com, Medium.com, and now you can add substack.com, they all are forms of modern day committees of correspondence. 

On "Sam Adams' Ghost" all the opinions will be mine. The topic will be the government. More importantly it will be about how the American government is supposed to be a citizen participatory democratic republic. Your senators and representatives should know your opinion. 

By today's population demographics Boston in 1765 would be a small town today. Most citizens eventually knew who Sam Adams was so when he went to represent them in the Continental Congress they knew he would vote for their interests. They trusted him, even bought him a new suit to wear. Both of your senators and your one representative should know your name. [Or at least their staffs' should know you.]

Today, the Internet can turn all of America into a small town where people from Baltimore join with people from both Portland, ME & OR to write to their lawmakers to let them know how they, as constituents, want them to vote. The American people can turn the Internet into one large committee of correspondence. By doing that, they will get lawmakers that vote the way they want.

As an activist I have always advised that citizens have http://senate.gov and http://house.gov bookmarked. You should also have your state lawmakers contact info bookmarked. You may not believe this but your lawmakers' staff read your emails. If you are making a valid point or reasonable request they will act on it. 

One last piece of advice before I close this out. When you get that invite to a fundraiser for a state lawmaker, frequently the donation being asked is $25 or $50. It will be money well spent because you will get not only facetime with the lawmaker holding the event but also other lawmakers showing their support.

What the next topic will be will depend on the news cycle and the MAGA controlled GOP. I will certainly be keeping an eye on Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Donald Trump's failed coup and stealing of classified documents.

Barry Considine

Son of Liberty 2023