Religion and Geopolitics Review: Saturday, October 1

by Dr. David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch

I. PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

HILLARY AND LESTER WIN ROUND ONE: Lessons to learn.

JILL STEIN (GREEN PARTY) - FOREIGN POLICY INTERVIEW: She is a lot more specific than Bernie Sanders and would have had a much more substantial debate with Mrs. Clinton if she had been the competitor in the primaries. When the Greens seem more practical in foreign policy than the presidential candidate of the Democrats and the Congressional leadership of the Republicans, then "Houston we have a problem."

MRS. CLINTON AND RELIGION: A righteous Methodist is a liberal Democrat and her dreams of being a lady minister after politics. There is a clear candidate of the WASPS - it is not Donald Trump.

TWO UNLIKELY AND ELOQUENT ENDORSEMENTS OF TRUMP: Trump as the anti-war candidate from RFK speechwriter, Adam Walinsky. This article is a succinct scathing overview of the failed neocon policies of most Republicans now championed by Hillary Clinton. We have been waiting for an articulate anti-war Democrat to make this case. This is the case. The article has generated tremendous heat on the liberal Left.

The two excerpts below are from an excellent article on Trump’s ideas by Professor Joshua Mitchell who teaches at Georgetown and in Qatar.  Also this analysis from a Republican representative who applauds Trump as a true alternative to the Republican elite:

1) "Michael Oakeshott, an under-read political thinker in the mid-20th century, remarked in his exquisite essay, 'Rationalism in Politics,' that one of the more pathological notions of our age is that political life can be understood in terms of 'principles' that must be applied to circumstances. Politics-as-engineering, if you will. Republicans themselves succumbed to this notion, and members of the rank and file have noticed. Republicans stood for 'the principles of the constitution,' for 'the principles of the free market,' etc. The problem with standing for principles is that it allows you to remain unsullied by the political fray, to stand back and wait until yet another presidential election cycle when 'our principles' can perhaps be applied. And if we lose, it’s OK, because we still have 'our principles.' What Trump has been able to seize upon is growing dissatisfaction with this endless deferral, the sociological arrangement which looks like comfortable Inside-the-Beltway Republicans defending 'principles' and rank-and-file Republicans far from Washington-Babylon watching in horror and disgust."

2) But do not mistake the part for the whole. What is going on is that "globalization-and-identity-politics-speak" is being boldly challenged. Inside the Beltway, along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, there is scarcely any evidence of this challenge. There are people in those places who will vote for Trump, but they dare not say it, for fear of ostracism.

THE OAKESHOTT ESSAY: Rationalism in Politics.

"The moral life is a habit of affection and behavior; not a habit of reflective thought, but a habit of affection and conduct. The current situations of a normal life are met not by consciously applying to ourselves a rule of behavior nor by conduct expressing moral ideals but by acting in accordance with a certain habit of behavior. The moral life does not spring from the consciousness of possible ways of behaving and a choice determined by an opinion, a rule, or an ideal from among these alternatives; conduct is as likely possible without reflection. Most of the current situations in life do not appear as occasions calling for judgment or as problems requiring solutions. There is no weighing alternatives or reflecting on consequences, no uncertainty, no battle of scruples. There is on occasion nothing more than the unreflective following a tradition of conduct in which we have been brought up. And such moral habit will disclose itself as often in not doing, in the taste which dictates abstention from certain actions as in performances."

FROM ANOTHER OAKESHOTT ESSAY: "Citizenship is a spiritual experience, not a legal relationship."

II. ISLAM AND THE MIDDLE EAST

YEMEN - SHIA BLOOD COVERED BY SAUDI MONEY: It isn’t just Americans who are killed by the Saudis; then memories washed away in a river of cash.

PUTIN ALLY IN CHECHYNA - ANOTHER KIND OF MUSLIM: Re-elected in full armor - a character in the drama.

THROWING CHRISTIANS OVERBOARD: One of the more telling tales of refugees was the boat in which Christians were thrown overboard by other refugees because they were thought to be the cause of storm. In sea lore, there is a legend that if there is a JONAH on board who God wants to punish, then get rid of him or lose the whole boat. The Christians have played Jonah for along time in the Mideast wars. They may need a place of their own for serious trustworthy protection.

PAKISTAN AND INDIA: When Muslim-majority Pakistan was partitioned from Hindu-majority India, the prince of Muslim-majority Kashmir decided to go with India. Pakistan has been trying to get their fellow Muslims back in the fold ever since. A front-line in the clash of civilizations is getting hotter. More on Kashmir. And don’t forget these are two of the world's nuclear powers.

PRESIDENTIAL VETO OVERTURNED BY WIDE MARGINS - CONGRESS ALLOWS 9/11 FAMILIES TO SUE SAUDIS: Only Harry Reid voted in the Senate against it. How the House voted.
Normally the duty of our Congress would be to declare war on a country which has so organized against our people. But for the  financial and party  elites now governing our country, it still seems inconceivable to pivot and understand that the Saudi kings and Wahhabi keepers of  Islam’s Holy Cities are the enemies of America and "outlaws to Islam." The Bushes were tied to the Saudis in an old money, big oil sort of way. The Clintons are tied by the non-profit foundation schemes of the nouveau riche. King Abdullah of Jordan is the Sunni Hashemite leader who says we must fight the Salafist Wahhabis as "the outlaws of Islam."

III. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

SHOOTING, AND RIOTS - BUILDING A CULTURE OF PROTECTION BY FOSTERING AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AS A BROTHERHOOD OF FATHERS: It is the Protectors against the Predators. We should add there are the Agitators who always blame the Protectors. The Oklahoma shooting of an unarmed black man with his arms raised by a female officer was a very different event than the shooting of a black armed man by a black police officer in North Carolina. The Oklahoma officer properly charged with manslaughter was most likely motivated by fear more than racism. She never should have been there. In North Carolina, a mob is demanding release of the police video of a shooting before the investigation has been completed. The video is an important resource to sift out testimony of eyewitnesses which is still being taken in. There is no "public right to know" that trumps the need to do a proper investigation of the use of deadly force.

The police department in Dallas did not go on a looting or shooting rampage after their men were executed by a black racist. The North Carolina riots should be treated as an equally preposterous response. Politics is about organizing protection. All black men and white men are part of the protection pact and the police are the officers of that pact. At every opportunity we have to break down the false narrative of black victims and white police killers. This is poisoning our youth and confusing some of our sports stars. What if our sports leagues culturally argued for a male brotherhood of protection instead of the ACC championing planting guys in the girls' bathrooms. The media-fed racial identity narrative of black men vs. white police officers is a dead end. All of us, including the media and especially our sports culture, need to reintroduce the language of the civil rights movement of Christian and civic brotherhood. In our war against domestic murder and against the jihadists we need a new citizen protection pact. This is what a renewed American nationalism is all about in the inner cities.

Crime and urban violence is overwhelmingly a male problem and it will only be solved by a new commitment to socialize males as communal protectors, not racial enemies. We are American brothers and that ain’t no dog whistle to racists. It is a trumpet to integrate our sons into battle formation against our enemies at home and abroad. All of the most effective anti-terror actions since 9/11 have been groups of male citizens or soldiers confronting and defeating our enemies. From the firemen of New York to the armed citizen in St. Cloud, Minnesota to the Flight 93 "Let's roll, guys!" to the SEAL team who took out bin Laden - there is a protective form which is the Christian American way to protect the homeland. Let us forge a thousand platoons of brother citizens. And let us offer protection against the real murderers of black people - the everyday and the serial killers.

AMERICAN FEMINISM - A COMMITMENT TO HUMAN SACRIFICE THAT WOULD MAKE AN AZTEC BLUSH: Meet 400K/year Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood. She opposed Donald Trump’s maternity leave bill because it only applied to women (and their husbands) who give birth.

IV. R&G ROUND UP

IN CATALONIA SEPTEMBER 11 IS NATION DAY: Is there a case for Catalonia as a separate state? During the Spanish Civil War separatists, republicans, and anarchists fought against Franco’s nationalists. They were rabidly anti-Church. The anarchists later fought against republican and communist forces that were nationalizing the opposition. The Basque region was the other site of independence movements - the Basque were much more traditionally devout while Catalonia was one of the most militantly atheistic regions.

WHAT IS NORMAL - NORMA LATIN FOR STANDARD; MEASURE; A CARPENTER’S SQUARE: Anthony Esolen - the prince bard of contemporary Catholic literature.

COLUMBIA - DID U.S. INTERVENTION HELP? Plan Columbia.