I am an American citizen;
I am a member of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church;
I am a patriot- that is, I love my country. It’s government, that’s another matter entirely. Too many people get those confused. Too often our government is the cause of the country’s most serious problems (as when those in the government put their own personal or political self-interest above the national interest… more on that later).
Let me just make it clear that I am not one of those afflicted with the so-called “Bush Derangement Syndrome”, whose unhinged loathing for our President leads to knee-jerk opposition to any and every policy or action his administration takes- regardless of any consideration for the welfare and security of the country.
Neither have I ever believed Bush is anywhere close to being a genuine conservative- neither he nor his father appear to have ever had any political philosophy aside from pragmatic, cynical self-interest. The self-contradictory monstrosity called “big-government Conservatism” has wreaked havoc on the country and on the public understanding of what genuine Conservatism really means. Again, more on that later.
This blog is not intended to be just a showcase for my own personal commentary. I have questions that I would welcome discussion about. Mostly they concern the intersection of faith, society and culture, the age-old question of how one lives as a faithful disciple of our crucified and risen Lord within the context of citizenship in a particular country, in a particular place and time ( a very finite, limited, short time, after all!). This has been a challenge from the earliest days of the Church- witness the Second Century Letter to Diognetus, where the author writes concerning Christians:
They dwell in their own fatherlands, but as if sojourners in them; they share all things as citizens, and suffer all things as strangers. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign country.
And certainly included within all things shared as citizens has been honorable service in the armed forces of one’s country.
I do have a full, busy and satisfying life already, so I am not “living to blog”… I don’t anticipate making daily entries, but I do expect that it would be at least once in a week. I look forward to hearing from you- thank you in advance for your participation!
Filed under: Personal
