Robber-Barons!

Dear Congressional GOP:

After you voted to pass the tax bill that no one had read this morning, I think we can safely conclude you are indeed–21st Century Robber Barons–along with your wealthy donors and lobbyists.

Robber-Baron–an American capitalist of the latter part of the 19th century who became wealthy through exploitation (as of natural resources, governmental influence, or low wage scales) (Merriam-Webster definition).

You have decided that appeasing your donors was more important that representing your constituents (60% of whom were against this bill) which means among other things, you cannot claim to represent your constituents and we can claim “taxation without representation” since you ignored the calls and letters submitted by Americans. That means, a tax revolt–the foundation on which this country was founded–revolting against evil.

Before you attempt to take the high road, let me remind all of the hypocrites who claim to be Christians, yet know not Christ. How do I know you don’t know Christ? Because Christ would not promote or support–ever–abandoning the poor and needy. In fact, we are told in The Word of God to defend the rights of the poor and needy. “Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:9) But I guess the only time you open your bible is to just read, not understand or to lift a scripture out to quote to those gullible enough to believe you belong to Christ. If you cannot do Christianity, don’t wear the label–it makes you a hypocrite.

Would Christ concern Himself with providing tax relief for those who own private airplanes or golf courses?

Would Christ tax scholarships for students trying to further their education so they can be more productive in society?

Would Christ eliminate funding sources that inhibit access to affordable healthcare for the poor and leave those without health insurance to die from inability to continue treatment for terminal illnesses?

Would Christ ignore the very basic principle or tenet of Christianity–loving all–unconditionally?

Would Christ eat in abundance and live lavishly while others went hungry?

Would Christ build a wall to hinder those seeking shelter and safety from doing so?

I suggest, strongly, dear Republican Hypocrites that you have never read what Jesus said in Matthew 25:33-45 in any version of a bible. Therefore, let me remind you by publishing it in this letter and perhaps you and your staffers (hope they make more than $75K a year or you may see a revolt) can meditate upon the meaning and then read from a version of your choosing.

He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Matthew 25:33-45 NIV

When you stand before God on Judgment Day, what will you hear Him say? “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:23 or ““His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!'” Matthew 25:23

I live my life as a Christian–doing the label and not just wearing it–and I know when I stand before Him I shall hear, “Well done!”

You have time to change your course, but since you are arrogant and believe you’re right, you won’t. I would say, I would pray for you, but then, that would dishonor God’s Word when He told Jeremiah–“So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.” Jeremiah 7:16 NIV You might want to read the first 15 verses for context and understanding. Fits all of you!

So, believe this: I will do everything in my power to persuade, cajole, encourage, convince voters across the country to stop believing the Republican lies and to turn the country Blue in 2018 elections and 2020 elections! You see because in the Word of God, the Democrats are the righteous since we do what The Word says do and you are on the goats on the left–defying His Word to support your greed and corruption.  You are indeed–the epitome of a Robber Baron operating in the 21st Century as an appendage of your lobbyists.  Never again!

Sincerely,

Mary Hall-Rayford

#Resisting and Deterring the evil of the Republican Tribalism

Advertisement

Our Turn Is Coming!

Do not rejoice, Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor. Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them. They will not remain in the Lord’s land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria. They will not pour out wine offerings to the Lord, nor will their sacrifices please him. Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat them will be unclean. This food will be for themselves; it will not come into the temple of the Lord. Hosea 9:1-4 NIV

Taking a little literary license this morning, I’m substituting words to bring to light the disastrous policymaking we have in Washington.

Substitute GOP Congress for Israel, lobbyists for prostitute, GOP policy for threshing floors, Tea Party for Ephraim, the 1% for Egypt, the wealthy for Assyrians.

The Republicans in Congress appear to be jubilant in their efforts to keep millions of Americans from having access to affordable healthcare. Remember this is the party who claims to be the “moral majority” the Conservative Christian rights–the only ones who matter when it comes to Christianity–“they say.”

So if we go by what they say, God warned us in His Word about them. They have fallen short and will return to a place where they will eat “unclean food” (toxic from all the roll-back of regulations implemented to safeguard consumers). Their decisions won’t provide food or clean water for the poor and certainly not healthcare. The savings in tax cuts will only benefit the very wealthy, not the poor and the needy who Jesus commanded us to care for.

The Republican Congress has allowed their greed fed by lobbyists to drive their ambitions and policymaking which does not benefit all Americans. They are driven by a minority of voters (not the majority since the majority didn’t vote), many of whom have said, they wanted to keep their existing healthcare–now that they know it is the ACA, and not Obamacare. But then we have to look at how bigoted Republicans perpetuated hatred of “Obamacare” by refusing to call it by its right name–Affordable Care Act. They knew exactly how to erode trust in a product by appealing to racism and bigotry in their rhetoric–across the land.

Now that people are becoming wise to the fact–Obamacare is the ACA–many are protesting losing their only access to healthcare and to make matters worse, trump and the GOP have sabotaged the system by withholding payments creating a wariness within the insurance providers’ community. This was done intentionally to make it look like–Obamacare was failing.

For those who haven’t read the 142 page draft for healthcare, I suggest you do to see who really benefits from the billions cut from Medicaid–and you’ll discover–if you’re not part of the 1% of the wealthiest population, it does not benefit you.

Just remember this–even if the repugnant republicans pass this bill and trump signs it–we will simply have to wait until 2020–to create a new bill–one with compassion and teeth that actually benefits all Americans and is truly representative of who Jesus Christ is. Apparently, the GOP have forgotten that being a Christian means that we follow Jesus Christ and do what He did and does–not a political party agenda.

I am a blood-bought Believer in Jesus Christ, living according to His command to love–unconditionally. I know when He was crucified, His blood was shed for me and I refuse to make a mockery of who He is, by supporting policies that dehumanize any human being. Because of my love for people–especially those who are not able to speak up and out for themselves, I will announce my official candidacy in 2019 in my bid for president in 2020. Watch for it. With the Lord leading me in all things, we will rejoice across the land and every other country will know–America is the greatest nation on earth!

Ravaging Politicism (excerpt 2)

Getting back to Arne Duncan’s statement, it seems obvious that no one respects his views—especially legislators who are in bondage to oxymoronic thinking (or perhaps the more apropos term would be—moronic). Otherwise, if their brain cells were actually functioning on “an average level” they would increase budget allocations for education rather than cut them. Giving some states more money has proven that the lack of money is not the problem. The real problems that need addressing are standardized testing that in no way improve test scores. If we want to see an improvement in test scores we need to develop the means to motivate students to want to learn and provide teachers the opportunity to teach, not test. Teachers in classroom across the nation are bombarded with testing which yields no relatable results as to their efforts in the classroom.

Specifically, in Michigan the Detroit Public School system spends money for testing on a monthly and quarterly basis in addition to the State testing. Michigan has the lowest level of literacy across the nation with most only able to read at a fourth-grade level when the student is in high school. However, Michigan’s Tea Party Governor boasts improvement in graduation rates, but does the increase of students graduating mean much when they no reading comprehension skills? We have students who graduated from high school in college settings who do not know how to do simple division—add, subtract, multiply and divide. We cannot even consider their inability to do algebra or higher mathematics. For the record, the federal government and other foundations have poured good money after bad in their attempt to gain a measurable foothold in academics and have failed miserably.

First of all, anyone who wants to teach should know how to teach his or her subject content.  Aspiring teachers should be qualified—through coursework and experiences—that demonstrate their ability to get the job done. In Michigan, twenty years ago—teachers were not tested to see what they knew or understand. They only had to complete the coursework to receive a teaching certificate. This is not to say it is the teachers’ fault! I hate people blaming the downward spiral of academic proficiency on the teachers. Educating a student—any student—should be a partnership between parents, teachers, and the community. At this point in our state (and this is probably true for others), there is no partnership because most parents will not engage in the process! Since I do not wish to be redundant in a diatribe against the Michigan School system, I suggest reading my findings in, “If Parents Cared Enough, Johnny and Juaneshia Could Read” available wherever books are sold.

Another foil to keeping academics competitive was the course of action taken by a Superintendent in Detroit who arbitrarily decided that teachers did not need to teach grammar in an English class. What he really meant was that the “black students” did not need to know grammar or they might be able to compete with their counterparts from the suburbs for quality jobs. For the record, I am not a racist; I just call things the way I see them since there was no justification for this course of action. Even with the foolish, not every black person is incapable of using the language appropriately. After all, I am black and have up to this point, demonstrated competency in using Standard American English.  Now, twenty years later, the students in Detroit School Systems and in surrounding suburbs do not know how to use Standard American English because some idiot(s) decided it should not be taught. This is why, our students cannot write proficiently. They are reading with an inadequate proficiency level because all the testing does not allow time for them to read anything of substance as part of the “standardized” curriculum.

What education really needs is to get back to basics and leave all the pseudo-reforms in the pit they have dug, along with those who proposed them. How does all this factor into resulting in ravaging politicism? The legislative changes that take place that attempt to be politically correct are digging trenches we may not be able to survive.

How does this factor into the equation? Textbook publishing companies connect with legislators and they climb into the proverbial bed of allegiance with kickbacks to those creating legislation and money for all to enjoy. This is the real reason for the educational gap in measured achievements.  What we have as our guiding influence in many areas is a pseudo-façade of anyone caring about the students, but all wanting their share of the till.

Upcoming sections–legislative morality, religious deficits, parenthood, looking forward