The ancient Greek rhetorician, Isocrates, not to be confused with classical Greek philosopher, Socrates, taught his students the following: “Do not do to others that which angers you when they do it to you.” Confucius, the influential Chinese philosopher, is credited with having said, “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” Epictetus, from the School of Stoicism said, “Do unto others whatever you would like them to do to you.” There are similar precepts found in The Book of Certitude of the Baha’i faith, The Talmud, The Koran, and The Mahabharata. Scholars and theologians have labeled these words of virtue, the Golden Rule, or ethic of reciprocity. No matter which oracle or sage first uttered these words, this powerful moral directive is exactly what the next president and congress must embrace for the sake of this country. In fact, Ronald Reagan, our 40th president, said “We might come closer to balancing the budget if all of us (congress and the president) lived closer to The Commandments and the Golden Rule.” He was right. Promulgating and practicing the Golden Rule means that we are, with great intentionality, regulating our public conduct that we may not do or say anything that we wouldn’t want done or said against us.
In considering this magnificent ideal, I have concluded that I may not have control over the economy or interest rates or gasoline prices but I have absolute control over me. Therefore, I will regulate my congressional conduct, in compliance with the Golden Rule. I will not attend any meeting in any hotel or elsewhere to plot the failure of the President-elect. I will not join others in congress to purposely cause legislative gridlock because I would not want it done to a democrat in the White House. If the president succeeds, I succeed for I am a citizen of this country. I have children and grandchildren that matter deeply to me. Therefore, it would be an act of political self-mutilation to want any president to fail. If the President-elect fails, it will negatively impact my children and my children’s children.
In disagreement with some democratic activists, with whom I share much in common, I will not seek to delegitimize the next first lady by questioning her immigration status. There is nothing, absolutely nothing or no one that can compel me to rudely disrupt the President’s State of the Union address. As a person who has delivered several thousand sermons and speeches, I am always prepared for unmannerly and uncivil interruptions, but it would certainly have an unpleasant taste. The whole world is watching the United States so we should watch what we say and what we do. As the world’s most expansive democracy, we have a responsibility to kindle a bright light for would-be and fledgling self-rule governments to mirror.
No matter how tempting, I will not refer to the Republican Party as the Repub party. In addition to the fact that the Repub Party like the Democrat Party is grammatically incorrect, the founders of the Republican Party named itself such. Why would I call an individual political party or an organization anything different from what they prefer? If Ferdinand L. Alcindor prefers to be called Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, why would I call him Kar or any other name? Why would I use a political party’s name as an epithet other than for the purpose of being childishly negative or hostile? I would never want that done to me, therefore, I will not do it to others.
The most significant building block necessary to develop a federal government that actually inspires peace and tolerance across our bifurcated country is the practice of the Golden Rule. The wrong-headed D.C. belief that whomever holds the gold makes the rule has not proved workable and is dangerously divisive, even in the world’s greatest democracy. The main guidepost to our estranged political parties should be the Golden Rule. In fact, the Golden Rule is the Mount McKinley (highest point in the U.S.) of our remarkable republic.
13 comments:
Speak for yourself Congressman Cleaver. Some of us are going to be on Trump and the Congress like white on rice. There will not be a Bill introduced that is not contested and then lawsuits filed. Trump will be vilified and ridiculed without mercy. Backgrounds will be put under microscopes and there will be many more "open mike" incidents released. Every incident involving or even giving the appearance of being hate related will be magnified and broadcast to prove the country is out of control. In short, the Democrats are going to do to Trump exactly what the Republicans have done to Obama for the last eight years only magnified many times over since Trump has a much deeper swamp. By the way, you did know that Trump's wife is a security risk.
Trump's wife is a naturaluzed American citizen. She went through the process and did it legally.
She is a graduate of the Paris School of Architecture.
Speaks five languages fluently.
So, Mr. Anonymous ( too coward to sign your name), why would she be a security risk? She hasn't taken any email servers home.
Considering many of the items on Trump's agenda, I hope fervently for the good of the country and our collective future that he fails completely in achieving them, and I salute anyone who works against his efforts to succeed in implementing them.
Does anyone actually believe that the Mexican Drug Cartels are going to allow Trump to build a wall separating them from their customers in the United States?
You know Harvey, I have been called a lot of names in my life but coward was never one of them. I will match "chest candy" with you anytime Boy. By the way, get a haircut.
Melania Trump (born Melanija Knavs in Novo Mesto in the southeast of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, part of Yugoslavia,) did not graduate from architecture school. She was enrolled at University of Ljubljana for one year, leaving to pursue a career in modeling. She speaks six languages: Serbo-Croatian, English, French, Italian, German, and her native Slovene. (Wikipedia, 12/11/16)
When they try to stop it; there will be lots of cash yo confiscate, and pay for the construction
Why do you not identify yourself?
Ok, so it's one more language than I said. She did earn a design degree from that school, albeit not architecture.
And she was a multi millionaire prior to meeting Trump. All much more laudable than the one for the lady eight years.
How is any of this a security risk ?
Hillary did this by taking severs home, and using multiple unsecured devices even on trips in bad actor parts of the world
I wish Representative Cleaver had defined what he means by Trump succeeding. Does he mean the privatization of Medicare, the repeal of the ACA, the gutting of Social Security, huge tax cuts for the rich, the selling off of public lands, repeal of all legislation and executive orders to control climate change, the ending of protections for our LGBTQ friends and neighbors, continuing to make voting difficult for working and poor people, naming right-wing reactionaries to our judiciary, cuddling up to Russia, turning a blind-eye to the myriad examples of Trump's conflicts of interest, ending support for PUBLIC education, restricting the ability for working people to unionize, gutting OSHA requirements, not questioning Russia's involvement in the election, etc. etc. etc.?
This is how we Democrats lose.
I think Rep Cleaver said it very well!, and I am in a different party, and usually do not agree with the Rdvetend
Harvey, I do not identify myself because I do not want Republican Party Hacks, such as yourself, coming over and throwing rocks at my house.
I have more to do than throw rocks at your house,
I'm assuming you do as well, and won't throw them at my house
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