Daily Zen - Thursday, August 31

If you want others to be happy,

practice compassion.

If you want to be happy,

practice compassion.

~ Dalai Lama

If you'd like to make a donation to help those affected by 

Hurricane Harvey, here's a link to the Red Cross.

Daily Zen - Wednesday, August 30

Never give up, for that is just the

place and time that the tide will turn.

~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

If you'd like to make a donation to help those affected by 

Hurricane Harvey, here's a link to the Red Cross.

Daily Zen - Tuesday, August 29

We make a living by what we get, 

but we make a life by what we give.

~ Winston Churchill

If you'd like to make a donation to help those affected by 

Hurricane Harvey, here's a link to the Red Cross.

Daily Zen - Monday, August 28

Always be a little kinder
than necessary.

~ James M. Barrie

If you'd like to make a donation to help those affected by 

Hurricane Harvey, here's a link to the Red Cross.

Hey Democrats - We Need All the Friends We Can Get

Republican Senator John McCain (AZ) released a statement yesterday criticizing President Trump's pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In his statement, McCain noted that the pardon of Arpaio, who was "found guilty of criminal contempt for continuing to illegally profile Latinos," undermined Trump's claim to respect the rule of law. This was maybe not the strongest condemnation of the pardon (McCain didn't call the President a racist as many others have), but the Senator's statement was criticism nonetheless. And, of course, this also wasn't McCain's first public opposition to some of the President's most disgraceful decisions. McCain was also among the first to speak out against Trump's Muslim ban, and when the President tweeted his intent to bar transgender Americans from serving in the military, McCain responded the same day opposing the ban and saying that transgender soldiers "should be treated as the patriots they are."

Trump and Arpaio (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)

Since the release of McCain's statement about Arpaio, I've had discussions with other liberals, both online and in real life, who argued that Senator McCain's repeated condemnations of Trump were essentially just "hot air." In these conversations, my fellow liberals argue that McCain, and others in the GOP who periodically speak out against the President, are all talk, and that when the rubber meets the road, when it comes down to Congressional votes, these anti-Trump GOP windbags simply fall in line the President.

Well, okay. There's truth to the accusation that GOP Trump critics frequently, if not almost always, vote in line with the President's policy positions. Check for yourself in this FiveThirtyEight.com Congressional vote tracker. The tracker shows the "Trump Score" (the percentage of time each member of Congress votes in line with the President), and various columns in the chart allow you to sort by political party, ascending or descending "Trump Score," etc.

If you drill down to the specifics in the tracker, you'll find that out of 52 Republican Senators, only Senator Susan Collins (ME) votes AGAINST Trump more than John McCain. By contrast, no Republican Senator votes more WITH Trump than Florida's Marco Rubio. Other GOP politicians who have been regularly outspoken against Trump, Senators like Ben Sasse (NE), Jeff Flake (AZ), Lindsey Graham (SC), and Bob Corker (TN), tend toward the bottom of the Republican "vote in line with Trump" list, but even among these more "independent-minded" Senators, the percentage of time they vote with Trump tends to be in the low to mid 90s. It's true, then — when voting on bills in Congress, these Trump critics tend to vote in favor of policies the President supports. So, what do we make of this? Maybe all this public Trump opposition is just GOP politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths? Maybe their criticism is nothing more than grandstanding for the cameras? Maybe they take principled positions on CNN, but not in the halls of Congress?

Or as one Twitter friend proposed, maybe most of the bills that have come up for votes in the Senate, excluding the healthcare bill which was defeated, have been on "standard line Republican legislation." More importantly, maybe the bills upon which the Senate has voted don't reflect the most heinous and reprehensible things the President has said or done. Let's face it, when the President has thrown the real red meat to his base (things like exiting the Paris Climate Agreement, attempting the Muslim ban and the transgender military ban, the Joe Arpaio pardon), he has done so unilaterally through executive power. He has not enlisted the support of Congress for such actions because he knows he wouldn't have it. In fact, when he's attempted to make good on the most despicable and hurtful elements of his campaign rhetoric, and when he needed Congressional approval to do so, he has failed. That's why Obamacare is still the law of the land, and there is little, if any, progress on a border wall, paid for by Mexico or anyone else.

I've dedicated a fair amount of this article to "defending" some Republicans in Congress, but that is not my ultimate intent. The bigger picture is this....

When the President supports traditional GOP positions, Republicans in Congress will, of course, vote in favor of those policies. When the President unilaterally takes executive actions that fly in the face of core American values like fairness and equality, some Republican leaders are vocal in their opposition to the President and we should not criticize those efforts.

When Republican opponents of the President speak out against his most egregious social, cultural, and political transgressions, those of us on the left must resist the urge to hurl "hot air" or hypocrisy accusations. When someone from the GOP steps forward to criticize the President for something appalling, outrageous, and un-American that he's done or said, we need to recognize and appreciate these rebukes for what they are, statements of disapproval and condemnation.

Are there enough Republicans, Congressional or otherwise, stepping forward to oppose the daily attacks and abuses we suffer from Donald J. Trump? Hell no. And that's exactly why we can't afford to alienate those who do. We need to help more Americans recognize Trump's assault on democratic institutions (voting rights, the free press, the judiciary, need I go on?), and we must act in ways that encourage Trump opponents of all political stripes to speak out.

There will, no doubt, be countless future attempts by this Administration to enact into law things that those on the left (and many on the right) find unequivocally wrongheaded, unfair, and even disturbing. There is also an increasing likelihood that ongoing investigations of potential Trump campaign violations of federal law will escalate and possibly lead to criminal prosecutions, and even Presidential impeachment. In all cases, it will be helpful to have voices from across the political spectrum who are not afraid to speak truth to power. When it comes down to it, our most fierce and robust opposition to Trump exists not because he represents traditional Republican values, but because he tramples on fundamental American values like equality, decency, and democracy. In our fight to salvage these principles, we need all the friends we can get.

Weekend Zen, August 26-27

When I run after what I think I want,

my days are a furnace of stress and anxiety;

if I sit in my own place of patience,

what I need flows to me, and without pain.

~ Rumi

Daily Zen - Friday, August 25

We are caught in the trance of fear

when the emotion of fear becomes

the core of our identity and constricts

our capacity to live fully.

~ Tara Brach

Daily Zen - Thursday, August 24

People are rivers, always ready to 

move from one state of being to another.

Everyone is always becoming and unbecoming.

~ Kathleen Winter

Daily Zen - Wednesday, August 23

Muddy water is best cleared

by leaving it alone.

~ Alan Watts

Daily Zen - Tuesday, August 22

The greatest gift you can give another 

is the purity of your attention.

~ Richard Moss

Daily Zen - Monday, August 21

Kindness and compassion give rise 

to self-confidence, which in turn empowers us 

to be honest, truthful, and transparent.

~ Dalai Lama

Weekend Zen, August 19-20

Death is not the biggest fear we have;

our biggest fear is taking the risk 

to be alive—the risk to be alive 

and express what we really are.

~ Don Miguel Ruiz

Daily Zen - Friday, August 18

Great acts are made up 

of small deeds.

~ Lao Tzu

Daily Zen - Thursday, August 17

Consider the sunlight. You may say that it is near,

yet if you pursue it from world to world you will never

catch it. You may say that it is far, yet it is right before

your eyes. Chase it and it always eludes you; run from 

it and it is always there. From this example you can

understand how it is with the true nature of all things.

~ Huang-Po

If Charlottesville Can't Unite Us

I’m tired. Not sleepy or overworked or aching from physical strain, but tired. I’m tired on the inside — overwhelmed, drained, worn down. And it’s not “life.” Certainly life has its challenges lately, changes and doubts and setbacks, but things are mostly good. No, it’s not life that’s tearing me down, it’s a dark and abiding fear about the near future of our country. It’s a daily onslaught of troublesome news and a nonstop assault on kindness and civility. It’s worry—no, grave concern—that millions of otherwise good people in America have been hoodwinked, and that they may not realize it before it’s too late and blood is shed.

For months, I’ve worked to convince myself that my political fears are overblown. I’ve rationalized my dread, attributed my paranoia to my own partisan point-of-view, and challenged myself to accept that, in the end, this is all just a matter of policy differences. Like everyone else, I’m bubble-wrapped in a safe social setting with people who mostly feel like I feel and who believe what I believe. So, I’ve bitched and commiserated and donated. I’ve read hot take after hot take and re-tweeted my way to some semblance of sanity. But I’m not sure that’s enough any more.

Photo Credit: Edu Bayer, New York Times

After what happened last weekend, after the events that history will collectively know as “Charlottesville,” I feel different. 

After hearing with my own ears and seeing with my own eyes, the President of the United States attempt to rationalize a murder committed in the name of hatred, I feel different. After the President of the United States placed blame for that abhorrent and cowardly crime on “many sides,” I feel different. 

Still, isn’t it all politics? The usual game of bloviating one-upmanship, social media rants, and battling news networks? Isn’t this just an excruciatingly painful way of turning Washington on its head and saying we’ve had enough of the status quo? Don’t we all just want to focus on jobs and taxes (and lest we forget, healthcare)? At the core, isn’t this still all about policy? No. It’s not. 

Exiting the Paris Climate Agreement is a policy decision—a foolish and shortsighted choice, but still, a policy decision. But when the President of the United States, after observing hundreds of armed and violent white supremacists and neo-Nazis, groups of angry men whose unifying principle is the extermination of those they deem as “other,” when the President of the United States says that among these hateful individuals there are indeed some “very fine people,” well, I feel different.

Whether you agree or not with my assessment thus far, I’d ask you to watch this behind-the-scenes video compiled by Vice News. The video features the leaders of last weekend's "Unite the Right" protest, and it allows them to espouse their goals and beliefs. Listen to the words of those who planned and promoted the event, and take a look at the hundreds of marching participants, armed to the hilt and sporting Nazi regalia. Listen to their unified chants of “Jews will not replace us” and “Fuck you, faggots.” Watch and listen to those who led and those who participated in the Charlottesville rally, and let me know when you find some “very fine people.” 

Despite our gut reactions to dig in and defend our positions, we must not let the events in Charlottesville further divide us. God knows, we can’t afford that. Instead, we must work to ensure that the nauseating hatred all of us witnessed becomes our unifier. Surely, regardless of party affiliation, we can all agree that a man willfully driving a car into a crowd of people, killing one and injuring dozens, is evil under any circumstance. And just as surely, we can agree that a movement that inspires and feeds this hate must be unequivocally denounced. There are not “many sides,” there are two — those who are driven to act on their hatred and bigotry, and those who oppose them. If enough of us can’t agree that what we saw in Charlottesville is not the future we want for America, then we’ve all lost already. 

The President of the United States has divided us. So be it. The President of the United States is reckless. So be it. The President of the United States has attempted to justify, rationalize, or otherwise excuse the events that led to a horrific incidence of violence and an act of domestic terror. Not acceptable.

There are those on the left who will say, “We told you so.” To them, I say, climb off your high horse. This is not about being right, it’s about doing right. If you care about America, if you want a country that truly serves us all, if liberty and justice matter to you, cut out the righteous bullshit and let’s find a way forward, together.

There are those on the right who will say, “He’s condemned them all.” To them, I say, he did not. If he had truly denounced the neo-Nazis and white supremacists, David Duke and company would not be thanking him. If you care about America, if you want a country that truly serves us all, if liberty and justice matter to you, set your bruised egos aside and let’s find a way forward, together.

The President has shown us the true darkness in his heart, what he is willing to say and whom he is willing to court in order to stay in power. His unwillingness to condemn, without reservation, the evil we witnessed in Charlottesville encourages more of the same, and no amount of disgust with the Washington status quo or economic anxiety justifies that outcome. Our refusal to see and accept that essential truth is harmful to our nation and potentially deadly for our friends, families, and neighbors. 

For all of us, even those who must do so reluctantly, it’s time—time to recognize the very real and undeniably dangerous consequences of a continuing Trump presidency. Unstable and nuclear-capable foreign adversaries are frightening, but the most ominous challenge to our democracy, and the greatest threat to our individual safety and collective security, is the slow stinking rot of divisiveness and fear our President has chosen to cultivate from within. We must tell our elected officials, both Republican and Democrat, that we’ve had enough, and we must show the rest of the world that we still believe in fundamental goodness and decency, that we oppose hatred and bigotry in all its forms, and that the true promise of America lives on.

Daily Zen - Wednesday, August 16

A loving heart is 

the truest wisdom.

~ Charles Dickens

Daily Zen - Tuesday, August 15

We often think that insecurity comes from a weak ego,

but in my experience it is the result of an inflexible ego

that has mistaken itself as the center of the universe.

~ Shozan Jack Haubner

Daily Zen - Monday, August 14

Every day is filled with exploration and 

the chance to discover something wonderful.

~ Robin Pickens

Weekend Zen, August 12-13

It is in the thousands of days of trying,

failing, sitting, thinking, resisting, dreaming,

raveling, unraveling that we are at our

most engaged, alert, and alive.

~ Dani Shapiro

Daily Zen - Friday, August 11

I never change, I simply become more myself.

~ Joyce Carol Oates

Daily Zen - Thursday, August 10

Sometimes the best way to hold onto

something is to let it go.

~ Author Unknown

Daily Zen - Wednesday, August 9

They say, find a purpose in your life and live it.

But, sometimes, it is only after you have lived

that you recognize your life had a purpose, 

and likely one you never had in mind.

~ Khaled Hosseini 

Daily Zen - Tuesday, August 8

Only when we know little things

do we know anything;

doubt grows with knowledge.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Daily Zen - Monday, August 7

Be practical as well as generous 

in your ideals.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Weekend Zen, August 5-6

Happiness is not a state to arrive at,

but a manner of traveling.

~ Margaret Lee Runbeck

Daily Zen - Friday, August 4

Simply allow your thoughts and experiences

to come and go, without ever grasping at them. 

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Daily Zen - Thursday, August 3

All things in this world are impermanent.

They have the nature to rise and pass away.

To be in harmony with this truth brings true happiness.

~ Buddhist Chant

Daily Zen - Wednesday, August 2

Travel light, live light, 

spread the light, be the light.

~ Yogi Bhajan 

Daily Zen - Tuesday, August 1

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap

but by the seeds that you plant.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson