Flags or No Flags: A Biblical Perspective

This letter below was written by my father, James M. Couts, two years ago, addressed to the church council, of which he was a member. Before writing the letter, he was a Lutheran Minister for 28-years, and now runs the largest rural summer-feeding program in the United States.

He was born ouside of Mansfield, Ohio, the youngest of six children, to one of the poorest families in the state. He didn’t have electricity until age 12, when nearly everyone he knew already had a line connected. He is white.

I post this today, because I believe it explains a perspective rarely taken into consideration in today’s Jeremiah Wright-driven politics–and politics-driven religion. Also, I hope it sheds some light on the theological camp from which Rev. Wright was preaching; he was preaching from God’s side, not America’s.

Enough with my blathering, here’s the letter:

Democrats, We’re Fucking This Up: A Call for Party Unity

If your life is anything like mine (e.g. you’re on the Internet, all day), you already know the ins and outs of the race for the Democratic nomination. Day after day, columnists and pundits play Hot Potato with home-spun topics, and we watch and read in return. So I’m not going to waste our time here with all the twists and follies. (Look them up if you like.) But Democrats, listen, we are seriously fucking this up. Sen. McCain, a Republican, is leading both Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton, nationally. This, after only two weeks of the Republican machine throwing stones at Obama, as Clinton stood silently on the sidelines. The Democratic National Convention begins five months from tomorrow, leaving only two months until the general election.

A Short Note…

Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama, Democrats, Independents and supportive Republicans: NOW is the time to fight. Now is the time to dig in our heels and demand our country be greater than it’s one fickle dimension–put-on or put-off. Let us realize a greater politics that can only serve to strengthen our nation, our economy, our standing in the world. Our lives right now. Be proud of yourself and your country by standing up on shaky ground; by beating back the criticisms of hypocrites and box blathering fools. Now is the time to fight.

We have one chance, right now, to prove to ourselves and to the world, that we can recognize quality when we see it. Not the static quality of “America is Great.” For today, in this changing world, that is not enough. Instead, let us embrace a dynamic quality, an energy constantly moving forward, that challenges us to greatness beyond what our past has afforded thus far.  It is this “dynamic quality” that Sen. Obama embodies. And that guarantees the change we demand. Now is the time to fight.

Mr. President, You’re Thinking About This All Wrong

I stole my headline from a Chicago Tribune article, by Cass R. Sunstein, a colleague of Sen. Barack Obama at the University of Chicago Law School. Though they’ve been friends for “nearly 15 years,” Sunstein raises few points about Obama that many of us don’t already know: He’s a good listener; he’s interested in hearing all sides of the issue; he rejects the Red State-Blue State dichotomy, etc… Mr. Sunstein does, however, speak particularly highly of Sen. Obama’s grasp of “policy and detail,” and gives specific examples of his refusal to bow to Washington’s operational status-quo.

For Fuck’s Sake, Enough With the Bombs, Dude!

What about this for an idea: don’t blow people up. Huh? How ’bout that? I’m not saying you can’t blow shit up. Listen, I like lighting off a firecracker or two. But the point is, that dude, over there, had a hand. And now he doesn’t. See what I mean? It’s not a good story to tell at a barbeque, let’s just put it that way.