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Introduction:
Barack Obama began his climb to the presidency by serving for three years as a community organizer.
The school boards that have a heavy hand in steering and managing our young are made up primarily of unpaid people who were elected in little-noticed elections.
Everyday our nation is changing, rarely for the better, by mob and media reactions to singular events. For example, George Floyd, a habitual criminal and drug user, was murdered in cold blood by an out-of-control cop. Mr. Floyd was a victim who has been made into a martyr for causes where the claim that he was martyred is one of their more logical arguments.
If you have beliefs and convictions different from those that are taking hold in our nation today, then you must step up and get involved. Not just by voting, and certainly not just by posting on Facebook or other social media. The alternative is to allow the truly active people to control everyone’s future. Including yours.
That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode.
Continuing:
When states pass laws restricting abortion, pro-abortion activists, supported by much of the media, take to the streets and capture headlines with signs and slogans like, “My Body, My Choice,” and “Abortion Is Healthcare.” If you are against abortion, what are you doing about it?
Certain news outlets and politicians promote the belief that if groups of color are disproportionately negatively impacted by anything from bad grades to arrest and conviction records, that this is prima facie proof of racism. If you believe that some next level digging needs to be done here, e.g., are there any cultural or habitual explanations for these negative outcomes, what are you doing? Anything? If you believe that these groups and the people in them can benefit greatly from discovering–and correcting–these root causes, are you contributing to a real solution, are you contributing in any way to improving their lives by posting on social media?
For the moment, let’s go to just one more example. Some people believe that the way to end poverty is simply to give people money. Hey, if you give them enough money, they will no longer be poor, right? Our President, Joe Biden, actually said that the recent, and temporary, Child Care Tax Credit reduced poverty by 40%. Now the administration wants that temporary cash benefit to become permanent. Extending their, well, logic, you would just give even more money away to the same people to eliminate poverty entirely. And if you want to expand the middle class, well, just give more people more money, and voila: an expanded middle class. Easy, right?
If you believe that if the policy of giving away money to reduce poverty was made permanent that it would create more generational poverty not less, what are you doing about it? If you believe this money-for-nothing approach not only is wrong for the people receiving the money, but sets the broader expectation of cradle-to-grave entitlement care in America, how is your voice being heard?
You are hearing my voice now. Together we are at episode 371, with a year of written blogs prior to these podcasts. Last week I switched from two episodes per week to one, with YouTube and Vimeo videos planned for October–this month. The two a week podcasts required a full time effort, as will the one per week videos. Much is involved; thinking and praying about what I am meant to say, to communicate, writing, rewriting and rewriting. Practicing my delivery. More practicing. And then more. Constantly learning new technology. Implementing current technology. Work to expand my audience. Rinse and repeat.
When we disagree, as we very likely will from time-to-time, I am just as eager for your voice to be heard as when we agree. Here are a couple possible examples. If you disagree with having any mandates, e.g., healthcare workers and decisions made by private companies, how is your voice being heard here? How do you communicate when and why to accept and apply or reject and refuse the My Body, My Choice principle? Not just repeating cliches and slogans; real logic resting on legal-evidence like facts. You know, making rational arguments. Passion is very welcome. Passion without an argument rooted in facts and logic often leads to screaming matches. The most correct and logical argument without passion can be deadly boring and ineffective. Passion with logic; logic with passion. And passion means getting involved. And staying involved. And being effective.
What are some ways to get going, to get involved, to make a difference? First, look around and see what others are doing that is driving change. No, I do not mean that you have to block traffic to support your cause, or loot stores pretending that to be some sort of justified wealth redistribution. But you have to do something, and keep doing something. Let your voice be heard. Make your voice heard.
Write letters to the editor of your newspaper. Call into talk shows. Show up at city council and school board meetings. Sit down with your local and state representatives. Call the mayor’s office. Ring doorbells for your preferred candidates. Recruit others. Help them to encourage and recruit. And the more that you do, the more ideas you will have about how to be heard.
Today’s Key Point: If you want anything to change, in your life or in the life of our nation, you must get involved.
Personally, and often face-to-face. And stay involved. The alternative is to continue to allow those who are involved to run everything.
We all have the personal responsibility to be personally and effectively involved. And to stay involved, to continue being effective. Personally dedicated to what is good for America as a nation long term. Speaking of personal responsibility, this principle does not stand alone; the two main and interdependent principles at Revolution 2.0 are:
1. Personal Responsibility; take it, teach it and,
2. Be Your Brother’s Keeper. The answer to the biblical question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is a ringing, unequivocal “Yes.” There is no other answer.
Where do you stand? What are you going to do? Remember, it does not matter where you stand if you don’t do anything. You can start by subscribing to these episodes, and encouraging others to subscribe with you.
As always, whatever you do, do it in love. Without love, anything we do is empty. 1 Corinthians 16:1.
Contact
As we get ready to wrap up, please do respond in the episodes with comments or questions about this episode or anything that comes to mind, or connect with me on Twitter, @willluden, Facebook, facebook.com/will.luden, and LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/willluden/. And you can subscribe on your favorite device through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts.
This is Will Luden. We’ll talk again in a few days.
