Reparations

Anonymous: This trilogy is concluded with sincere gratitude for all who have suffered these comments on the Hollywood Republican battlefield of ideas. Being true to oneself, guarding your honor and integrity, and maintaining an open mind earns the love, honor and respect of mankind.

Reparations

This is the “Reparations” offering to the trilogy “Redistribution of wealth”, “Anti-colonialism” and “Reparations.”

“This is a crisis.”

And the appetite for reparations is of grave concern for receiving without giving corrodes the soul and is not excluded. Did Edmond Burke have that thought?

“I am very doubtful whether history shows us one example of a man who having stepped outside of traditional morality and attained power has used that power benevolently.” C.S. Lewis “The Abolition of Man”

“We must be the change we seek”, at all levels. The political morass America is experiencing today is symptomatic of a culture that has taken, unfortunately, a wrongheaded detour, abandoning the Judeo Christian foundation of our country, the freedom of religion, and the intrinsic values, at one time, embraced by our founding fathers, rejected by currentism, those principles essential to Faith, Hope and Charity. America, and yes, the world, has deviate from a moral conscience.  Lies are no longer lies, just the new lexicon for politicians.

Reparations are indemnifications, to make amends for, for damages caused. One finds this emotion deeply and cleverly embedded in the argument for redistribution of wealth and power. Look more to exciting the common man to unsustainable expectations emanating from “social justice” promises not sustainable, the real purpose often is the selfish and malevolent motives of the dishonest elite, the corrupt ruling class, and self absorbed inteligencia.

This is an issue that draws heavily on guilt, the fault, responsibility, the blame, and culpability of the present generation for misdeeds of others, other religions, other cultures, and past generations. This is the foundation of Fabian socialistic reparations.  It can be and is often tainted. We are angry about our economy and the world views us as too rich.

The role of religions, their mission and goal in history and present day has often been sullied. What were the Holy Crusades really all about? Is the concept of restitution and reparations ever raised in this context? Man is fallible, thus religions error, the Church sexual abuse scandal is an example. Slavery, racism and war are terrible. Do we learn, become better and move on or do we maximize the extraction of “redistribution of wealth and power”, expand and perpetuate restitution and reparation by manipulating the guilt complex. Is this not another form of “plenary indulgences” so we can build our Tower of Babel instead of finishing the construction of the Vatican, the original intent of “plenary indulgences”? Devoid of the true spiritual we are lost.

The “oppressed” of the world are real and deserve parity in the concept of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But for the purpose of “control”, the George Soros of the world, those at the heart of “top-down, bottom-up, inside out” chaos, the populous if lacking a solid spiritual moral platform, will look to the “government” for peace and salvation. Where has this ever worked? As for George Soros, Part 1 and 2 of “Glenn Beck Paints George Soros as “The Puppet Master””, is a must read for those who insist on due diligence. Do your own research. Trust but verify.

Remember the words of the renowned James Hal Cone, “And while “blackness” is sometimes referred to as the “oppressed view”, Cone has also said “The only way in which your repentance, your forgiveness can be authentic, your reception of it can be authentic, your repentance can be authentic, is that you give back what you took – and white people took a lot from black people. The only way you can be saved according to this theology, if you are the oppressor, is to give back what you took through reparations.” How many have ever viewed this statement in the context of “black” meaning “oppressed” and “white” meaning “oppressor, only?” Even Cone has elucidated “Being black in America has little to do with skin color.” Ponder that!

German WWII reparations essentially targeted the “good people” who did not do enough to stop Hitler and were still alive. Germany, it is reported, just paid its last installment on the debt for WWII. Some are still alive today who were responsible for that catastrophe. And it is also true that some who had no hand in that evil have carried the burden and paid the price. Often, very often life is not fair. “What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger.”

Were German reparations the most effective form of compensation for the Holocaust, and WWII? Research the life of Simon Wiesenthal the Australian-Jewish Holocaust survivor who spent his life after WWII dedicated to the simple but consuming task of Nazi war hunter, a man who affected the conscience of many nations while being responsible for the “final or legal solution” of many Nazi War criminals. Is there an act or injury for which reparations are indispensable, where justice trumped the ability to forgive, not ever to forget. If not, peace is not on the horizon.

Reparations rarely mend emotions; unite cultures, people or nations. In the current world reparations and financial settlements through civil actions are almost indistinguishable. Victims are silenced through confidentiality; predators, offenders, and criminals buy their freedom. There is genocide, the pirates of Somalia and their ransoms and the religious sexual abuse scandal financial secret settlements.

The Catholic Church has mired itself in the priest pedophilia scandal for the past century. Sexual abuse of minors by priests has received significant media attention in Canada, Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Belgium, France, and Germany, while cases have been reported throughout the world. The Vatican has mounted a sovereignty defense along with “Crimen Sollicitationis”, waxing immunity, which has been translated by some to mean “one can lie if the truth will harm the Church.” The assistance given to fugitive Nazi war criminals by the Roman Catholic Church has been well documented. The secular public sector treats pedophiles quite harshly, as is appropriate.

The Church sexual abuse penance, the financial “confidential” settlements, is an example of shameful reparations that bought freedom for the oppressors, permitting the predators to sin again, covered up the majority of offenses, conclusions allowed by the John Jay Report, commissioned by Catholic Bishops, and the Murphy Report, a public inquiry conducted by Ireland, reports that obscured the true magnitude of this evil and enabled the predators, by virtue of confidential financial settlements, to erect an impenetrable wall against the transparency of equal justice. One is sympathetic with the continued pain, sacrifice, physical and mental suffering of the victims. They deserve justice, an infinite allocation of spiritual kindness and peace. Reparations are easily and often corrupted. If one addressed the USA and Canada alone, this legal strategy of settlement increases to over $2 billion.

Please take note of the Shannon Ivey essay about pedophilia called “Synonyms.” And here is a sterling “example” of a constitutional “right” being corrupted. This “right”, to free speech, has been relegated to the lowest level of the dark side of the human spirit. This is human debasement with no constitutional “freedom” to cause this harm. There is relatively little in the way of champions against this malevolence, pedophilia. There are soldiers dying on the front lines in the battle against Muslim extremists. There are no champions against pedophilia predators in the public sector that would rise to the level of a Simon Wiesenthal hunter, with the exception of principled lawyers, who are up against a behemoth, secular progressivism, and Crimen Sollicitationis, who are miraculously making inroads. If the moral firewall is in shambles, as “Synonyms”, and “bishop-accountability.org” exposes, in great detail, with an infinite ability to verify, then look in the mirror and embrace that very uncomfortable personal accountability and responsibility. It all happened on our watch. The pedophile victim deserve everyone’s’ aid and support. Have we not let them down?  Reparations are a miserable substitute for prevention and have absolutely no moral equivalency in the restoration of these damaged souls. The harm is permanent. And the silence from humanity is deafening. And we struggle to differentiate reparations from settlements.

The Economist states “Complacency has blinded the Vatican to the gravity of the abuse crisis.” The populous demands reparations. “But things change when there is evidence of criminal activity, and efforts to hide it (Crimen Sollicitationis). “Instead of fiddling about with their own arcane procedures, they (the Church) should enlist lay authorities to help them clean up and obey the law, …(a project for Michael Josephson Institute of ethics), just like everybody else.” “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it,” a quote from Albert Einstein.

These problems in no way diminish the good that ethical, moral, faith based activities that many institutions provide. The problem is, where are they, pushing back against the “pedophilia evil” much like we expect, rightfully so, of good Muslims to “push back” against “Jihad” radical Muslim terrorism? LAT 11/01/2010 Baghdad church siege ends with 52 dead. Baghdad -Iraqi security forces stormed a Baghdad church where militants had taken an entire congregation hostage for four hours, leaving at least 52 people dead, including a priest, Iraqi officials said Monday. These are the good, the many, the martyrs. And in this case, reparations most always equal revenge.

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) as a pacifist, deeply influenced by Leo Tolstoy’s’ “The Kingdom of God is Within You,” was for the peaceful resolution of issues. And when we arrive at the resolution of world terrorism, God permitting, will it be mire in the search for reparations for “whom,” from “whom?” Or will we capture the “peace,” move from the abolition of anything that prolongs, promotes and kindles revenge, hatred and division? Will we move backwards in the swamp of reparations or forward with the wisdom of Martin Luther King “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” Reparations are an obstacle of great concern.

And so as reparations are demanded through the redistribution of wealth and power how did the middle class become second class citizens or “Debt Serfs.”  And is part of that obligation from debt reparations? “One generation tolerated “it”, the next generation embraced “it.” “It” can be good or bad. “For the love of many shall wax cold – because inequity shall abound.” The argument is the disparity between “equal justice” and “social justice.” As with the national debt, our children will be paying for our sins. Are we comfortable with that?

Those who practice charity understand the value of wealth, the stewardship of the planet and the error of our current path to serfdom; these are the servants of “We The People.” Where has the generosity for Haiti, the victims of the 2004 tsummi, the earthquakes in China or Iran, the floods in Pakistan, Mexico, Arkansas, France and Ladakh disappeared to? And as the Hebrew Scriptures, Ezekiel, so eloquently, but unheeded proclaims, “The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity.” Did we give out of spiritual charity or guilt consumed reparations?

With a battered and bruised moral compass occasionally we are reintroduced to the value of “content of character.” Marin Luther King is the most memorable on this issue but there are others. The blog on “Diogenes” and reference to “The Josephson Institute of Ethics” , opened the door for a worthwhile bruhaha, a heated, passionate, soul searching spiritual discussion on “reparations”, the antidote thereof, the rebirth of individual responsibility and accountably, within our own souls. It didn’t happen.

And while we criticize, ruminate and pontificate on the content of other’s ideas, punishing the guilty, the relatives of the guilty, or the race, as in Caucasian, Asian, et al,  of the offenders, have we not, are we not ignoring that “We must be the change we seek!” Has the dialogue door on “content” of character, forgiveness, faith, hope and charity been slammed shut? And in the dust we left “Subjective vs Objective”, only to embrace reparations?

JFK remarked “I look forward to a great future for America – a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.” Have we not let him down?

The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way. We must learn that we do not hate capitalism, we hate corrupt capitalists. We must become that we seek. We need only to learn the unthinkable, to” think.” For, “A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes.”

Reparations, to most, mean “an eye for an eye.” Sadly our example is mostly the sins of colonialism, the redistribution of wealth and power, the tool to effect Globalism, the vanities of emergency aid, the crisis caravans, the ghoulish cavalcade that sweeps in during political crisis, or after wars, famine and natural disasters, serving their own mostly financial interests above those of their victims. Please, we pray, show us; prove to us to be wrong!

And we visit again Edmond Burke. “Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters (something that serves to restrict ones journey to peace and freedom from a self imposed dungeon).” “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.” And the appetite for reparations is of grave concern and is not excluded.

President Barrack Obama is reported to have said “As far as reparations were concerned that he was more interested in strategies to lift people up from the legacy of discrimination. Such strategies would include improving inner city schools, so students received a quality education.” Can we take him at his word? Sounds like Martin Luther King and America applauds that sentiment. The solution is in values, principles, performance and results.

History reminds us: “You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”

As Ezekiel, so eloquently, but unheeded proclaims, “The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity.” Remember always “We must be the change we seek.” There are an infinite number of possibilities to arrive at “truth” for the inquisitive mind. Doubt the very existence of Natures’ God, embrace the rational, discard all else and form your own opinions.

“And a crisis is too good to waste.”

Tags: Barack Obama, Economy, George Soros, Stimulus, Taxes

This entry was posted on November 27, 2010 at 9:36 am and is filed under Guest Writer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.