Election Week 2020

 I feel like this is a week I need to blog as this election is probably one of the biggest of my lifetime.  So far the polls have Biden ahead but that was the case in 2016 also with Clinton.  Suffice it to say that I overestimated 'Merica in 2016 and I won't do it again in 2020.  I hope Biden wins, but I suspect Trump will stay in the White House another 4 years.  If it's close, it'll be like the "hanging chad" fiasco in Florida, and his hand-picked Supreme Court will likely rule his way.  And let's not even mention all the voter suppression going on in communities of POC.  It's ridiculous that many Texans, Georgians etc have to stand in line for hours in order to vote during a pandemic. Perhaps it's just a self-preserving thought process so that my hopes for this country aren't shattered again.  Perhaps it's because I know so many Trump supporters that continue to support him despite:

• Mexico didn't pay for his wall - in fact, there is very little of his promised wall (which I was never for)
• Over 500 refugee kids separated from their parents
• His promised medical program that never got rolled out despite having the Senate and WH for 4 years
• His history of racism - Condemning the Central Park 5 who served years in prison despite them being innocent, his promotion of the stupid "birther movement" claiming Obama isn't an American citizen, calling Neo-Nazis "very fine people" (imo anybody who loves Confederate statues is a racist as they care more about the loser slave-loving Confederacy than they do about actual living people or the people who died for the Union and to end slavery), made it sound like refugees are rapists and gang members, continuing to call COVID-19 the China Virus despite knowing it impacts the way Asians in America are treated, etc.  I could go on and on but it's fruitless because they will always defend him.  And as I now know, even if they consider themselves to be "not racist," him being a racist is clearly not a deal breaker to them.
• His disparagement of military leaders.  The GOP is supposedly more pro-military and "patriotic" than Democrats.  They decry athletes protesting peacefully by kneeling during the anthem, yet they're okay with him talking smack about those that served the country (calling them suckers and losers) for decades like John McCain who was once the GOP nominee for POTUS.  They are willing to overlook that he dodged the draft like a coward with "bone spurs" and none of his kids ever tried to serve anybody but themselves. He's even tried to block immigrants who served in the U.S. military a path to citizenship.
• He has paid very little in taxes, as little as $750/year.  While it may be "legal," it doesn't make it right.  Slavery was legal once too.  People are so impressed that he didn't take his presidential salary (other Presidents have done the same), but ignore the fact that over $1 Million of taxpayer money has been spent at Trump properties.
• His continuous "downplaying" of the virus which has now killed almost a quarter million Americans and is surging again across the country.  He caught it himself and, of course, got the best of care and recovered... yet STILL encourages large crowds of people, many maskless... and he mocks people who are wearing them.

Here's what they like about him:

• He cut taxes.  The problem is that it also added to the deficit and the biggest beneficiaries (large corporations) continue to layoff workers and send jobs overseas.  Also, taxes are not a bad thing to me if they provide services and infrastructure.  As Jesus said, "Give Caesar what is Caesar's."  There are a lot of Christians out there who don't even tithe their 10%.  So it's no surprise that many of them also will try to cheat Uncle Sam like Trump does.
• The economy - Republicans conveniently forget that the Obama administration handed over a pretty good economy. Also, Obama's last three years saw more job growth than Trump's first three years.  I'd also like to add that other countries who have handled COVID better are also getting their economies up and running faster than the US.  Trump downplayed the virus because he didn't want the stock markets to suffer - in the end, he could care less about lost American lives than his "economy."  The shame of that is that, because the US is doing so poorly with the virus under his "leadership," we haven't been able to reopen as quickly as others.  How hard is it to be a role model and ask people to wear masks?   It's really annoying how people that are against a woman's "right to choose" can't even put on a friggen mask (but that's another subject that I'll hit on next).
• Supreme Court justices - There are "pro-lifers" who vote on this single issue alone.  They ignore the fact that abortions happened when it was illegal too, and that they will continue to happen whether it's legal or not. I happen to believe that the best way to reduce abortions is to provide better sex education, contraception and social services for struggling families (who do want to keep their children).  Nonetheless, if your biggest thing in 2016 was SC justices, Conservatives now have a 6-3 majority on the court... so you can vote on other pro-life issues (beyond the womb). 
• You can say "Merry Christmas" again? I don't know what other people's experience is, but I live in liberal California and have never felt that I couldn't say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, etc.  This is just a bogus argument to me.  There is no "attack on Christianity."  To me (and I'm a Christian as the title of my blog says), it's the other way around.  Christians are attacking the right for LGBTQ people to be married, use the restroom (which has stalls btw), etc.  Nobody says atheists, Buddhists, etc can't be married - so why can't LGBTQ?  I live by this: Love God and love my neighbors.  If my neighbor is atheist, Buddhist, Christian, whatever - I love them.  And for those folks that say, "God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve..."  I say, "Yes, he did create Adam and Steve... just as he created Abraham and Sarah who shared the same father."  A lot of people think incest is "yucky" but apparently it was okay for Jews at that time.  My point is this - those were culturally different times when I guess that was okay.  By the same token, I'm not gonna argue with same-sex people getting married.  It doesn't bother me at all.  If anything, it bothers me that it bothers other people.
• He's cut back protections for climate change, air, water, etc.  Conservatives call it regulations, liberals call them protections.  It's no use arguing the finer points cuz nobody ever changes their mind.  My opinion is that God created the world and asked people to take care of it (Genesis 1), so I prioritize caring for God's world and environment. We have enough brains in the world to use solar, wind and other sources of energy that He provides... whereas oil is a finite substance that we need to drill the earth for.  And let's not even start down the trail of wars fought over oil.
• Middle East "Peace" - Again, this is more smoke and mirrors as the "peace" was merely formalizing ties between people that weren't at war.  I contend that there is no real peace until Palestinians and Israelis are at peace. As my friend and pastor the Rev. Dr. Larry Jay said: "When it comes to Jerusalem, I really don't think God cares whether it's Israel's or it's Palestine's.  Theologically, the temple was destroyed, thus making Jerusalem's spiritual significance void as God's Spirit technically withdrew from a building made of hands to a building found in the hearts of people.  Thus, I don't think it's important and that it's all politics.  Conservative Christians may state that the Bible says Jerusalem belongs to Israel.  But the Bible ultimate says that God does not live in a temple made of stones but in a temple made of flesh.  Ultimately, I believe it is none of our America Christian business.  There are more important issues our world is facing and starting a war over land should not be one of them."
  

I know nobody reading this is gonna change their minds.  This is just a reminder to me so I can look back and remember exactly what I was thinking during Election Week 2020.  As mentioned above, I'm preparing for another 4 years of Trump.  I won't be rejoicing if Biden wins, but I will be relieved.  I'll take a moment to be thankful the country isn't in as sad a shape as I thought... But I realize that there is still a LOT of work to do to get it where it needs to be.  Win or lose, my focus will still be on BLM because fighting racism and injustice is a nonpartisan issue...  It's part of loving my neighbor which is admittedly difficult for me on some days.  Please pray that my heart doesn't get hardened by my witnessing of White Evangelical Trump supporters. 

Diversity in Culture and Politics

When I was a kid, I attended schools in the Richmond School District (now called West Contra Costa USD) in the 60s and 70s.  The schools were fairly integrated and I believe I got a good view of how diversity enhanced my life.  My dad always worked for the Berkeley Unified School District - first as a PE teacher at Burbank Jr High, working up to being the Principal at Berkeley High (their only public high school) in the 70s and then retiring as Associate Superintendent.  He always had friends of different ethnicities coming over for Poker games at our house, and that reinforced my appreciation for diversity.

On the other hand, I also grew up in a Chinese-American home and went to SF weekly to see my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  We would go to Chinatown to mai soong (buy groceries) and later my uncle and aunt started taking me to the First Chinese Baptist Church in SF.  I got a good dose of cultural education during these trips, especially during Chinese New Year and Moon Festival time.

When I reached Junior High (now called Middle School), Berkeley Unified School District offered an Asian-American Summer School that my cousin and I attended (my older cousin was the Principal).  I remember learning a lot about the histories of Asian immigrants and remember thinking, "Gee, they don't teach us this stuff in regular school."  It was then that I realized that the education I was getting was mostly from the Euro-American standpoint; and that all the other minorities were probably experiencing the same gap in learning of their backgrounds and cultures.  This is especially true for Blacks and Natives who may have had their history glossed over because, let's face it, the truth is not pretty.

Since then, I've always been interested in the histories of different ethnicities and cultures.  They say "Variety is the spice of life" and I find that to be true.  Up until 2016, I was registered (like my dad) as an Independent Voter.  I welcome the chance to interact with people from different backgrounds and cultures, both socially and politically.  While I don't always agree with other folks, I'm okay with that.  If my friend is a Buddhist and I'm a Christian, that doesn't effect our friendship.   Same thing with politics - if someone's a Republican, I'll let them have their say and go about my business.  I usually go with the assumption that my friend or family member has good intentions; and that they are assuming the same of me.  There have been times that I've been proven wrong later, but I'd rather still start with giving the benefit of doubt.

What. A. Week.

 And it's not even over.  There's so much to unpack but I will try to keep this brief.

My thoughts on the "debate" - I watched 5 minutes of these two old guys interrupting each other and decided to binge watch Downton Abbey instead.  Apparently that was a wise decision.  Of the 5 minutes I did watch, Trump got to answer the first question uninterrupted... But when it was Biden's turn, it quickly became a shit show with interruptions etc.  I thought Chris Wallace handled one of the 2016 debates pretty well, but he had no control over this one.  That was quickly apparent so I changed the channel.  I already knew who I was voting for and I'm thinking most of Americans also know too.  For those on the fence, they probably got no clarity from this "debate."

My thoughts on the NYT report that Trump paid "$750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750. He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made."  This was no surprise to me; nor is it a surprise to me that his CULT45 followers don't care that they pay more in taxes than this supposed "successful businessman" did.  They brag about how he gave up his salary while in office (something many Presidents did), yet ignore how he's been cheating the country for decades.  They say, "Well, he was just smart and got out of paying taxes."  One Republican once railed at me and asked, "Why do you want them to take your money?"  He wouldn't even let me get a word in edgewise to say, "It's not really my money - it's just a resource God gave me to utilize."  Some of these folks who hate paying taxes call themselves Christians, but even Jesus said to "Give Caesar what is Caesar's."

My thoughts on tapes of Melania talking about immigrant kids separated from parents and saying "Who gives a F__ about Christmas stuff and decorations?  Suffice it to say that I don't really criticize first ladies or kids (unless they're adults and part of the Administration like Ivanka and Junior)...  However, I'll say this: Republicans gave Michelle Obama a much harder time for less than this, and I absolutely know they'd roast her if she made that Christmas comment.

My thoughts on the Breonna Taylor case (young black woman killed in her home while police came with a "no knock warrant" to look for evidence on an ex-boyfriend) - LEO rammed her door in, her current boyfriend who has a gun permit fired shots because he didn't know who was invading the home, and officers returned fire which killed Breonna Taylor.  Only one cop was charged for wanton endangerment because some of his shots went into Taylor's NEIGHBOR'S apartment.  And then that same cop came back after the shooting while investigators were gathering evidence from the scene which is a procedural violation.  Turns out maybe Taylor's boyfriend didn't shoot the LEO; That LEO may have been hit with "friendly fire" from one of his partners.  You can read more about it here.  But no matter, I think it's a tragedy that Taylor was killed in her own apartment because the police were after her EX-boyfriend. This was reckless behavior on behalf of the police 6-7 months ago, and none were even tried for manslaughter.  This just reinforces my belief that there needs to be more reform on police practices - and thankfully the city of Louisville did come to a $12 Million wrongful death settlement with Taylor's family which includes a major police reform package "to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again," Mayor Fischer says.  #BLM

Last but not least, Trump has contracted Coronavirus and is being flown to Walter Reed Medical Center.  My initial reaction was: Not surprised, but at least he has the best medical care at his disposal and a large portion of the nation praying for him.  While I don't wish this virus on anybody, TBH I feel more empathy for the 205K who have died already (and of course their loved ones who are grieving)... the countless Essential Workers who make minimum wage and got sick and/or died because they couldn't afford to stay home... the Nurses and Doctors and Emergency responders who put themselves at risk to care for the sick... If anything, I hope and pray that this is a wake-up call for the people to take this virus seriously.  That people will "love their neighbor" and do all they can to contain this virus.  At the very least, wear a mask - it's not too much to ask.