Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 72
Senator Lindsey Graham died yesterday of a sudden Cardiac episode. While many will continue to make this a conspiracy, it is a medical condition that happens suddenly-period, end of story. Mitch McConnell finally showed he is alive, denying heart problems, saying he fell-who knows. Both are part of the ‘older lions’ in the Senate and both have had storied careers. McConnell will best be remembered for dismantling the Supreme Court from a Court that seeks justice using wisdom to a Court that is partisan, wants to kiss the ring of Trump, and is dismantling the Constitution of the United States, ie, McConnell will be best remembered for continuing the decline of democracy begun by Gingrich, shepherding it through its middle stages by fighting Obama no matter how the legislation might serve We the People and bringing democracy to the brink of the abyss through sucking Trump’s _______(you know what)
Graham, on the other hand will have a different legacy, a more confusing one, a more troubling one. As a friend of Joe Lieberman, John McCain, a staunch believer in foreign aid and a foe of Russia, Lindsey brought a powerful coalition together to help Ukraine when Russia attacked, McConnell helped and wilted under pressure from Trump. Graham never veered from his support for Ukraine, dying right after returning from a trip to Ukraine, and doing his best to get Trump to stop kissing Putin’s ass and stand with our allies fighting Putin, not realizing that Trump adored, admired Putin, Hitler, Mussolini, the Ayatollah, Xi in China, Un in North Korea. Graham will be known for his turning away from his morals, turning on his dear friend John McCain, turning towards Trump and becoming a MAGA nut. Sad.
What this has to do with the theme of this blog is these two men, imbued with the Spirit of God, claiming to be “fine christian (nationalist) good white men, ghosted God in their actions of dismantling democracy, turning away from by not defending their friends, doing immoral things or at least standing idly by the bloods of their neighbors. It is a tragic and a very old story: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts completely. McConnell had absolute power in the Senate and he allowed to go to his head, to corrupt him completely and Graham went along with it. In his last act as a Senator, John McCain voted down the bill that would have killed the Affordable Care Act while his ‘good friend’ Lindsey Graham voted to kill it, to impoverish so many people, many of them his own constituents! Graham ghosted God and himself when, after going on so many overseas trips with Hillary Clinton, knowing the patriot she is, he attacked her because that’s what the party/the boss told him to do, it is as if Lindsey Graham lost his conscience, lost his moral compass in order to serve ‘der fuhrer’, Donald Trump. This is the saddest piece of his story, to me.
What does this say for the rest of us? In Amos 6:8, “I loathe the pride of Jacob and hate his palaces”, reminds us of what we need to end right now-the hubris, the pride we feel in being so “right”, so “justified” to hate another(s), so proud of the Gold with which we are adorning the White House and everything else Trump touches. Now all of these ‘fine christian nationalist white men’ and these ‘ultra observant, uber jews’ like Kushner, Wytkoff, Lutnick know these verses, know of Amos, know of his deep horror at seeing what Israel was doing, at Israel not being able to return to God, yet, they all persist in doing the same things that God loathes and wonder why people are shunning them, even Putin is!! In reality, of course, all they care about is making money and having power, which both are being given to them by we the people!
What Graham’s death, McConnells secret illness, have brought up for me is this extreme pride both of these men had and have in their destructive ways, the palaces they have built for themselves and for Trump, the billionaires boys club, etc. What I am realizing is that the pride I take in my wisdom, my work is in proper measure because I did and am doing my best to cause “Good Trouble” like John Lewis taught. I know that I don’t need to be the most loved, adored Rabbi nor do I need a pulpit to get my message out and I know that my message will not necessarily be received by the masses because I am “rough around the edges” and not willing to compromise my morality in order to get along-knowing I did this in my work life, not too much and I did. I know that my pride in my work has to be right-sized, I know that I don’t need the biggest and best house on the block, I know that I don’t need to be the richest in world, I just NEED TO BE ME! This is the task for all of us!
Action Step:
List the ways you are YOU in your affairs, not compromising your morals and when you are NOT YOU.
GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark