Politics - Julie Clawson

Voting Record

Posted on November 3, 2008July 11, 2025

It seems that the world has been put on hold as the election approaches (at least from the perspective of the US media). All conversations revolve around the election. So that’s what your getting here – totally random thoughts about the election.

I tried to explain to Emma earlier why tomorrow was a special day after she in her totally three year old logic stated – “I can get a haircut on Tuesday because Tuesday isn’t a special day.” After I attempted to explain the concepts of President, the United States, and voting she got really upset and said she didn’t want anyone to be faster than her (Emma in 2040!). I had to play the mommy as linguistic anthropologist to understand that she thought “running for president” meant a footrace and that she didn’t want anyone besides herself to win. So I clarified to be told by her that she wants “Mr. Cain” to win because he has a better name. Then she informed me that velociraptors are her favorite dinosaur because they have the most fur. Some days I just don’t ask.

But her comment about names struck me because there are so many out there who are voting for one candidate or the other because of similar inane reasons (including name). My last post was a rant on such uncritical voting habits, so I thought this post should be a confession of my record and the sometimes flimsy reasons behind my voting habits.

I mentioned here before that the first election I remember was 1984 when in the first grade mock ballot I attempted to vote for just the VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro because I thought a woman should have a turn at President. The first election I voted in however was in 1996 – Clinton vs. Dole. At the time I felt like there was no choice but to vote for Dole no matter who he was or what he stood for. He was a Republican, Clinton wasn’t. I was a Christian so I had to vote Republican. I was in my freshman year at Wheaton College and was surrounded by similar attitudes. Dole won by a landslide in the mock campus election and the handful of people who came out for Clinton were called some seriously evil names.

Not much had changed four years later for Bush vs. Gore, at least on campus. I was in grad school at Wheaton at the time. I recall the student newspaper reporting on some political science students who had worked at a Gore rally. The backlash of that was intense – students and alumni writing in to express their astonishment at the sin the college was letting its students participate in. Even though the students had expressed that they themselves weren’t democrats (they just went for the experience), they were guilty by association.

I was torn in that election. I knew that there were a number of issues that I agreed more with Gore on than with Bush, but I still couldn’t get over my evangelical upbringing enough to vote Democrat. Sad, I know.The issues that stick in my head that were deciding factors at the time were the facts that Gore had recently sided with pharmaceutical companies to keep cheap generic drugs for AIDS out of Africa and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) that I liked what Bush had done for education in Texas. So I voted for Bush. I remember being in Bruce Benson’s Christianity and Postmodernism philosophy class that evening as the returns came in. I think the only three Democrats on campus were in that class as well. We took an extended break to watch election coverage in the lecture hall and they formed a small but vocal cheering section for Gore. I recall being somewhat indifferent about who won (a good thing given that it took forever to find out). I voted for Bush out of obligation, but the part of my that cared about the issues wanted Gore to win.

Then came 9/11 and the Iraq war, and by 2004 I was part of the anyone but Bush camp. I liked Nader, but didn’t want to throw away my vote, so I voted for Kerry as a lesser of two evils choice. I was pregnant with Emma at the time and had been put on strict bedrest just a week before the election. Getting out to vote was one of the two times I broke that strict bedrest rule. The election occurred right before everything hit the fan with our jobs at a Baptist church (we were scary emergents, you know the rest), so the women prayer warriors still cared enough to call to see how I was doing stuck on the couch all day. I mentioned to one of them that I had gotten out to vote (not mentioning who I voted for) and she praised me for being willing to risk my health for the sake of electing God’s candidate. I let her assume whatever she wanted to assume…

So here we are on the eve of one of the most exciting elections I can recall. It has also seen some of the saddest elements in our society emerge as the sexism and racism still present in our society surfaced. I am fascinated to see Christians (some at least) break away from the party allegiance and vote independently. I have a feeling that this change is permanent and that we are entering a new era of American politics. Early in this race my wish was that it come down to Obama vs. McCain. At the time that outcome seemed impossible, but I thought then that I could live with either candidate. McCain has disappointed me since then, and Palin seriously frightens me. So contrary to my toddler’s name affinity, I’m voting for Obama. I don’t see him as a savior, or our only hope, or all those other far-fetched accusations I’ve heard. I think he will be good for our country and the world. I’m not going to rehash the issues here, but just say that for the first time I am casting a positive vote for someone whose vision I support.

So after this long journey across the political spectrum, I’m voting Obama tomorrow. What’s been your journey?

Anti-intellectual Revolution

Posted on October 30, 2008July 11, 2025

Like most people I talk to I am impatient for the election to be over and done with already. The rhetoric and the mudslinging is to be expected of course, but this time around the intensity is profound. I’ve mentioned here before my frustration with the assumption I encounter everywhere that people are only voting for Obama because they are blind sheep or have been brainwashed. Or that if we vote for him we are not “real Americans.” These attempts to solidify and intensify the divide between us and them are a sad reflection on our ability to understand the other. But what frightens me the most is the undercurrent of such sentiments – an anti-intellectual stance that turns educated into enemy.

To be educated in this politicized environment is to be written off as brainwashed, elitist, and unAmerican. The educated voter who asks thoughtful questions is mocked in favor of some self-esteem rally gone bad message that encourages an “I’m okay, you’re okay, anyone not like us is weird” attitude. The average Joe (be that six-pack or plumber…) is fed the lie that to be educated is to be liberal and to be liberal is to be evil, so therefore education (and thoughtful intellectualism of any sort) is evil. Flawless logic of course.

I recently had some guy link to my blog saying that it is because of educated liberals like me that he votes Republican. When did education become a bad thing? And worse, when did mocking it become a political slogan? I know that there are many wonderful educated Republicans, but what I keep hearing over and over from them is that it is far better to be average and stupid. Perhaps this is just pandering to persuade a vote out of those least likely to think through the issues, but is creating a new uneducated elite really the best thing for our country or the world? I’m all for democracy and the voice of the people, but to vilify thinking enters some dangerous territory. Maybe it’s some brilliantly insidious conspiracy theory – glorify the average, mock the intelligent, and pave the way for a brave new world (or something like that). Or perhaps it just plays off people’s fears and jealousy issues. Whatever the case, having an education and being a thoughtful person has nearly become a crime in this country.

Jacqueline Carey, one of my favorite fiction authors, wrote about this recent trend in her monthly blog –

Many things about the last eight years in America have disturbed me, and one of the most subtle, yet profoundly detrimental, is the rise of anti-intellectualism. It’s like being back in junior high, only with a weird secondary adolescence twist where being smart, intellectually curious, and well-informed makes a person a condescending, out-of-touch, latte-sipping elitist… Electing a president of the last remaining superpower in the world is a lot more important than electing the junior high prom king. I want the smart guy in charge. I don’t want another cowboy filled with steely-eyed resolve, ready to trust his gut instinct. We’ve had too many guts with lousy instincts in charge. It’s time to give the brainiacs a chance.

I’m all for that. And for the record I really don’t care about what degrees from which institutions people have (if they have them at all), just that they are willing to thoughtfully engage. Reverse this trend of anti-intellectualism America – please. I want my leader to expect me to be thinking – not lauding me for being too American to think.

Politics and Jedi

Posted on October 10, 2008July 10, 2025

As the election ramps up and the vitriol flies I hear more and more people wishing that the whole thing would be over. We have been gearing up for this election for the past two years – rhetoric and promises have abounded, lines have been drawn, and the divisions in our society made clear. Even those of us who affirm involvement in politics are a tad nauseated.

It is obvious that the selection of the American President is not a unifying element in our culture. We expect little from the campaign promises because we know that the “other side” will on principle fight against their realization. So when someone stands apart from that polarized system and is capable of affecting change he or she captures our attention and admiration. It’s sad, but the existence of such people who can get stuff done is rare. Rachel Louise Snyder speaks to this in her book Fugitive Denim as she discusses one of these actual agents of change –

“Bono is one of the few people walking the earth today who can convince world leaders to change rules, to establish different priorities. He’s a lobbyist of the highest order; a salesman whose greatest tool is himself, his own belief.” (p.28)

Bono stands outside the system, but gets involved on the most basic levels where change is needed. He gets his hands dirty and uses his awe-inspiring celebrity status to use his voice for good. In this role he is less like a politician and more like a Jedi. You know, a Jedi – as in Star Wars, the Force, and lightsabers. In the mythology of the Star Wars universe, the Jedi were the guardians of the good in society. Committed to a mystical/spiritual path, they chose to serve their culture as peacekeepers, protectors, and priests. They were present in society and did the hard and dirty work themselves. They were not the government or minions of the government but advisers to the government. Their presence inspired awe and their word carried weight. They weren’t saints, but people trusted them and for millennia they spiritually guided a galaxy.

As fanciful as it is, I wish there were more “Jedi” in our society today. People who stand outside the systems, but who guided by spiritual conviction and a deep abiding love for others are able to speak truth into that system. And because they are serving they are deserving enough of respect that people actually listen. It is curious that it is a rock star and not a politician or religious leader who holds that role in our society. We could just dismiss this as cultural obsession with celebrity, or we could be vulnerable enough to explore what those other leaders are lacking.

I for one am sick of talks about mavericks and the like. I’m more interested in guardians of the good than propaganda. I’m hoping for more Jedi.

Myopic History

Posted on September 21, 2008July 10, 2025

So one of my favorite TV shows of the moment is Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. It’s a snarky, highly self-aware food/travel show that eschews touristy conceits in favor of telling local stories. Good stuff.

Well the other day I happened to catch an episode on Laos. Now I doubt the typical American traveler is planning a vacation to Laos anytime soon. Most of us know nothing about Laos (as the episode bluntly pointed out). But the purpose of this particular episode was not to sell US viewers on exotic destinations, but to instead say “see how stupid and uninformed we Americans are of the ways we have screwed up the world.”

I know about as much as the average American about Laos – that is next to nothing. I even majored in history and took an Asian history class (for which the prof decided to skip all of South East Asian history because it was just too complicated … but perhaps because it was just too controversial for a school like Wheaton). So like any “good” American I knew little about our illegal acts of war in Laos during the Vietnam war. Or how the country still is plagued by millions of unexploded bombs scattering the countryside – waiting to be uncovered by farmers, builders, or children.

In the episode Anthony Bourdain follows a team that is uncovering these death traps lurking in the fields of Laos. And he sits down to a simple meal with a family where the young father had his arm and leg blown off when he accidentally uncovered a bomb. Families paying high prices for their country being a pawn in the game of nations before they were born.

What struck me as I watched the episode was the unapologetic attempt to show Americans our dirty laundry that doesn’t make it into textbooks or AP exams. It’s hard to ignore current conflicts, although the media does a great job of hiding the brutal reality of Iraq. And it is easy to justify violent engagement in WW2 (as Godwin’s Law repeatedly demonstrates…). This is even a country where some people still think it’s wrong (even sinful) to question US involvement in Vietnam (”but of course colonialism is a good thing…”). But the less than pretty and often completely illegal military missions our country has engaged in are generally unknown to the average American.

I was well into college before I even learned about US military manipulations of dictatorships and coups in Central America. But I didn’t learn such things in my classes. A very social justice oriented friend who also happened to be Hispanic did her best to educate people on how the US has controlled and harmed other countries. Of course the response from other students generally was to deny her stories and to call her biased and unreliable. Few ever took the time to ferret out the truth – choosing to place blind faith in the absolute goodness of the USA instead.

War is often seen as only a glorious endeavor and these covert operations to protect our own interests are swept aside and hidden away. Maybe it’s too hard to chant “USA! USA! We’re #1″ when the battle isn’t spun as “protecting our freedom” but is in reality the rape and slaughter of peasants because they occupied land full of mahogany forests we coveted (Haiti 1915). So we just stay confused and accuse the rest of the world of being jealous of our freedom when they speak words against us. Maybe if we would just get over ourselves we would realize that the Lao man whose limbs were blown off just wants to provide for his family again. They aren’t jealous of us, perhaps they just want to reclaim all that we have stolen from them.

Convention Thoughts

Posted on September 4, 2008July 10, 2025

I’ve been avoiding watching the political conventions. Granted I am way too busy attempting to unpack, but the rhetoric at those things is generally pretty nauseating. But I happened to catch a bit of the GOP one last night while we were out to dinner (still haven’t uncovered cooking supplies…). I think Mike got annoyed as I kept reading with incredulity the lines presented in closed captioning on the TV. Some things go beyond nauseating to seriously depressing. I’m sure there were some stupid things said at the Democratic convention also, but the half hour I caught of the GOP last night was disturbing.

First I caught Romney’s speech. The one where he said that for America (which he later called the hope of the earth) to be the head of the world family we need to stop failing the family at home. And how are we failing the family? According to him by allowing the poison of government assistance to flourish. If only welfare and Medicaid were abolished the family would improve. Besides trying to provoke class warfare, I just have to wonder what he was smoking. Does he not realize that things like Medicaid are what help families to survive? Case in point – if not for government assistance to help me pay for the six digit medical bills I accrued in the past year our family would be struggling to survive. The salary of a pastor and personal insurance, although more than a lot of people have, barely covered anything. What would Romney have had me do? Abort Aidan to avoid such expenses? If he wants to help build strong families, he needs to support things that allow families to be families.

Then there were the even more disturbing signs being waved all over the place. They read “Country First” and “Prosperity.” Are those really the two most important values of the GOP? Nationalism and Wealth? For the party that claims to cater to religious crowds how can they promote values that outright contradict the message of Jesus? Or how could any committed follower of Christ choose to support such values? I’m not saying that the Democrats are any better here, just that our country is insanely far off track and we have blindly followed along.

And of course to top it off there were the men and women wearing buttons with Palin’s picture that said “Hottest VP.” Honestly, at what point in this country do we get past seeing women as just pieces of meat?

So Romney, contrary to your assumption last night, there are many days when I am not proud of my country. And last night was one of them.

Singing the Songs of Zion in Babylon

Posted on July 22, 2008July 10, 2025

Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill .
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-
he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.

The exiles hung up their harps and wept. They called curses upon their enemies, praising those who sought revenge for their misfortune. The joy and passion of their faith crumbled under the weight of exile. Dwelling in a foreign land surrounded by unbelievers whose lifestyles they despised the Israelites withdrew into themselves. Despair, fear, and hatred replaced the songs they had once sung. They longed for home – for the Jerusalem they once loved. The home only an exile can long for – an idyllic place free from oppression and sin. A conception based more on nostalgia than reality. And this nostalgia consumed them to the point of desiring the worst forms of violence and revenge upon their neighbors. They claimed citizenship elsewhere and wanted nothing to do with their current homeland.

Seeing this attitude among the exiles, the Prophet Jeremiah sent them a letter. He wrote –

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

Settle down. Plant gardens. Seek the peace and prosperity of Babylon. A far cry from the calls for revenge involving bashing babies’ heads against rocks. Basically, Jeremiah tells them to get over themselves and their self-centered whining. God has placed them in Babylon and they need to stay faithful to who he has called them to be. Instead of blaming those around them for the lose of something that never really was, they are to become a part of their new community. They are to put down roots, get involved, and work for the good of that community.

I see this same dynamic at play in the church today. So many Christians (both liberal and conservative) are disgusted to be in “exile” amidst the sinful, secular, bastions of empire. They curse the culture, they curse the government, and metaphorically hang up their harps and withdraw from the system. Since the system is evil, they choose to wash their hands of it and refuse to get involved.

This is especially true in election years. All around me I hear the call to abandon the system lest I be seduced into believing it to hold my salvation. I am encouraged to merely stand at the periphery and observe – not tainting myself by choosing a candidate or even by voting at all. I am reminded that my allegiance is not to this land as if it was only the otherworldly things that matter.

And I admit that I am in exile in Babylon. The pain and suffering around me testify that the Kingdom of God is not yet fully present. I lament the actions of empire and absolutely do not see my salvation in any manifestation thereof.

But.

I am still going to seek the peace and prosperity of where I reside. I will settle down and build community. And in seeking to do these things I will get involved. I will care enough about those around me to vote. I will not place myself above the everyday working of my community by not condescending to use my voice to affect change. And I won’t just get involved in an advisory holier than thou sort of way either. I will get dirty as I put down roots and take a stand. I will serve the Lord and will do so within the community I call home – even if that home is Babylon.

True peace and prosperity serve God. And I have no fears about seeking such even in America. I will not hang up my harp and relinquish hope because my hope is in God and not in the land. Exile should not result in silence, but activism. And so I do not disdain the politics of Babylon, but bring the joy and hope of Zion into my new home.

This post is part of a Synchroblog on God and Politics. I will post links to the other participants as they become available.

Experience and Empathy

Posted on July 7, 2008July 10, 2025

I’ve been thinking a lot about empathy and experience these past few weeks. I am fully aware how my access to a top rated hospital and health insurance saved mine and Aidan’s lives. Even as the medical bills pile higher and higher, I know that without on demand imaging services and easily available medications things could have gone much differently. I am beginning to understand (a little) of what most women in the world face when they bear children – the uncertainty of if they or the child will even survive.

It’s one thing to intellectually acknowledge the need for better health care around the world, I am discovering it is another thing altogether to attempt to imagine oneself in another’s position. I knew the need for equity before, but my experiences have helped me to empathize. I know I am lucky and privileged. I don’t desire to trivialize or cheapen the plight of others by claiming to truly understand, but I am a firm believer that empathy is necessary if one is to truly care and make a difference. And experience helps with that.

This message hit me recently in two ways. In the first I saw how experience and empathy can be betrayed by selfish interest and in the second how the hurting can be betrayed by our lack of experience. In the first instance I watched with incredulous sorrow as John McCain denounced the Supreme Court’s decision to offer basic legal rights to prisoners of war. It has pained me to watch this former POW compromise his convictions over the past couple of years as he panders to what he assumes the voters wish to hear. The empathy his experience once gave him for those suffering similar abuses has been traded at the alter of greed and selfish ambition. He abandoned the call to care for the Other with compassion and now looks to secure his own desires. His experience has been betrayed and its lessons squandered.

The second message came to me as I was re-reading one of my favorite fantasy series. In this instance the main character has just managed to rescue a group of women from essentially sex slavery. These women were given money to help establish new lives after the horrors they had faced. Thinking on this, the protagonist mused, “There are many things wealth cannot buy, and most of those are enumerated by philosophers who have never woken wondering if this day would be their last. It pleased me to know that the survivors… would, at the least, not have to worry about buying bread” (Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel’s Avatar, p.463). That idea struck me as it reminded me of the number of times I have heard calls for monetary charity argued away with just such philosophical excuses. Those who have not experienced starvation or the horrors of life often think we are doing others a favor by not making them dependent on outside aid or by offering them spiritual (not physical) help. Our lack of experience prevents us from truly being able to empathize with them or see their true needs. Sure, perhaps money cannot buy happiness, but basic survival needs must be met before happiness can even be considered. In these areas perhaps empathy should always be promoted before sophistry.

I’ve heard it said that learning to see things from the perspective of the other is the highest and hardest form of development. It takes a lot to put aside the self and beginning to understand things from another’s perspective. Yet the irony is that our own experiences are often what help us to learn how to empathize in such ways.

Mother’s Day

Posted on May 10, 2008July 11, 2025

I think a yearly reminder of the original intent of Mother’s Day is always a good thing. A reminder that as women and mothers we can work together for peace, justice, and equality.

Mother’s Day Proclamation – 1870
by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

And this video (ht: Josh) I think makes a fantastic point about how we raise our kids determining the world they will create. What things do we tell them are important and significant in this world? Do we encourage them towards peace, justice, and equality? Or do we give such things lip service while really conveying to them that money and power are the really important things in life?

Religion Fit for Public Consumption

Posted on May 7, 2008July 10, 2025

I was reading about the history of Christianity in America the other day and I came across an interesting phrase. The author was addressing the ongoing need in our nation for there to exist “a religion fit for public consumption.” Such a religion of course serves not only to unify people but to create decent and compliant citizens. In essence it exists as both the opiate of the masses and the backbone of the country. It is something the Founding Fathers saw as a necessary element in creating a society even if they imagined themselves above participating.

I was struck at how tied to such a religion we Americans tend to be. This is a religion that dovetails with our lives as they already are. It shores up our economic systems, promotes civic duty and pride, and never attempts to challenge the status quo. It meets basic spiritual needs, helps create healthy social networks, and helps promote moral systems. Such a religion is safe, fit for public consumption, FDA Approved so to speak.

So it is no wonder that religious movements that challenge the civic system are derided or labeled heretical. Instead of appropriately keeping the system running, these religious movements counter-culturally offer revolutionary challenges. They don’t support life as it already is, but offer alternatives that question the basic assumptions and values of such ways. Their leaders ask hard questions and make uncomfortable statements. These religions are less about something the public consumes and more about leading lives of transformative justice, love, and mercy. You know the sort of stuff the Bible refers to as “true religion.”

These aren’t religions that form the backbone of a nation. Anything that retains the right to question the nations will never get it’s stamp of approval. A religion that actually affects the lives of its followers in radical ways is not “a religion fit for public consumption.” It never will be. So why do I still see more churches caring about being fit for public consumption than about following true religion? How have we been so deceived into idolatry?