Historians and others have noticed the link between personality types and political tendencies.

Some people are natural followers.  Others are natural leaders.  Some are born rebels.  And others may simply enjoy “taking a walk” without anyone following them.  More than one of these descriptions may apply to the same person.

My personality includes a rebellious streak.  I will never join a religious cult or a cult of personality.  I have unlimited disdain for authoritarian figures, those with those tendencies, and those who enable them.  I enjoy poking my proverbial fingers into the equally proverbial eyes of authority figures.  Yet I also strive to keep a balance, for one must follow the chain of command sometimes.  Knowing when to obey and when to tell authority figures to fly a kite is a mark of wisdom.  When I follow my own interests, I find that I am frequently a natural contrarian.  If I am simply “doing my own thing” or “taking a walk” without anyone following me, so be it.  And I am a citizen of a nation-state born in a rebellion against the British Empire.  As such, I am a natural anti-imperialist.

I also oppose theocracy consistently.

All politicians and political parties at all times and places should be small-D democratic and stand firmly within objective reality.  Those who are not disqualify themselves morally.  I can engage politically and positively with those who disagree with me regarding policies and affirm representative government but not with those who oppose representative government.

I also understand that creating and maintaining the common good requires balancing individual and collective rights and responsibilities.  Mutuality defines the common good.  Mutuality teaches that we all belong to and depend upon each other.  I cannot be my best self if the system prevents you from being your best self, for example.  I cannot be as healthy as I should be within a sick community.  Mutuality recognizes that we are accountable to each other and have no right to exploit each other.  Rampant individualism works against the common good, just as mutuality forbids trampling individuals.  This is a Biblical vision consistent with the Law of Moses and the ethics of the New Testament.

Simply put, my rights stop at the edge of your nose, just as your rights stop at the edge of my nose.  I have no absolute right to do whatever I want to do, for my actions affect others.

I also understand that gray areas exist, that not everything is black or white.  For example, as much as I detest abortion in most circumstances, I also understand that anti-abortion laws frequently have negative effects upon women’s health care.  Anti-abortion ideologues may not want to acknowledge this fact, but journalists have documented these consequences.  I also recall that, in Georgia years ago, one anti-abortion law had the unintended consequence of interfering with doctors’ malpractice insurance.  The legislator who sponsored that bill doubled down instead of apologizing and working to correct that issue.  Governance without principles is nihilistic, but governance that disregards the reality on the ground is bad, too.

Left, right, or center (whatever those terms mean in any given circumstance), my political bias takes the reality on the ground into consideration.  A good idea taken too far becomes a bad idea.  And some ideas are always bad.  Tactics matter; how one seeks to make a good idea reality is crucial.  People may go about it in a productive or a counter-productive manner.  And laws may be necessary and proper sometimes and not others.

I stand in the middle, I suppose.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 3, 2024 COMMON ERA

I count myself among the “cautiously pro-choice.”  I understand that medical conditions can complicate the decision whether or not to have an abortion.  Life is not all black-and-white.  Many shades of gray exist, too.  Sometimes there are no good answers; somebody will die.  I affirm that, in these circumstances, the people closest to the situation are generally the individuals who should make the difficult decisions.  As much as I respect the inherent dignity of every human being, I also grasp that life is messy.  Therefore, I harbor certain sympathies in the pro-life direction, but settle on the pro-choice side.  I have a strong bias toward the pragmatic.

Sometimes, however, the decisions are easy–or should be.  During a pandemic, for example, governors who forbid mask mandates that can save lives act in a morally irresponsible manner.  Many or most of these governors boast of their pro-life credentials regarding abortion.  Yet they are pro-death regarding saving lives, especially the lives of those too young to get vaccinated against COVID-19, during a surge of the Delta Variant.

The hypocrisy galls me.  Concern for life should extend from womb to tomb.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 20, 2021 COMMON ERA

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Athens-Clarke County, Georgia

Image Source = Google Earth

Words and intentions interest me.  Indeed, words have power; the Epistle of James, for example, reminds us of that truth.  Intentions are relevant in many legal matters.  As much as words and intentions interest me, actions interest me more.  Therefore, I prefer to do something then say that I have done it, rather than proclaim my intention to do something, learn that I cannot do it, then announce that, sorry, I would have done it, except for circumstances beyond my control.

I live in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia.  Our local bypass is, informally, the Loop, for the obvious reason.

One evening, years ago, I was driving on the Loop.  Ahead of me was a vehicle that had its right turn signal on as it passed successive exits.  The right turn signal remained on between exits, too.  As I neared my exit, I activated my right turn signal then exited the Loop.  That other vehicle, with its right turn signal still on, remained on the Loop, without turning.  By the time I exited the Loop, I had ceased to believe the right turn signal.

As I drive, I pay attention to turn signals, of course.  However, I pay more attention to where vehicles go.  Some drivers turn without using turn signals, too.  I believe what people do.  I do not always believe what they say.

Consequences are about as practical as anything can be.  I recall that, years ago, there was a certain state representative from Athens who sponsored anti-abortion legislation.  (I dislike abortion as much as the next person who tries to respect the image of God in each human being.  I also recognize that certain strategies are more effective than others, while others are ineffective.)  I also recall that this legislation triggered another law–the law of unintended consequences.  I remember that this state law interfered with the malpractice insurance of certain health care professionals.    I also recall that the state representative refused to apologize for this unintended consequence.

May all of us live according to mutuality, compassion, respect, and love.  May we say what we mean, mean what we say, and try to avoid the law of unintended consequences.  May our words and actions not belie each other.  And, when we do trigger the law of unintended consequences, may we be remorseful.  Then may we act accordingly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 23, 2021 COMMON ERA

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Human depravity is not an article of faith for me.  No, it is a matter of proven fact.  I do not need faith with regard to any matter I can prove or disprove, objectively.

I come from a particular theological context.  I am a Christian–a Western Christian, not an Eastern Orthodox Christian.  (Original sin is not a doctrine in Eastern Orthodoxy.)  I am, to be precise, a left-of-center Episcopalian.  I am an Anglican in the inclusive, collegial sense of that word, not the recent, Donatistic, homophobic sense of “Anglican.”  I am a fan of the Enlightenment, without being uncritical of its excesses.  I am Neo-Orthodox.   I stand at the conjunction of Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Lutheranism.  I am too Roman Catholic to consider myself a Protestant and too Protestant to “cross the Tiber.”  I hold that sacred music in Western Christianity achieved its pinnacle in Roman Catholicism during the Counter-Reformation.  I take the Roman Catholic doctrine of the “seamless cloth” to its logical, most inclusive conclusion; hence I support equal protection under the law for anyone with a pulse.  I do not know how best to enact that principle, and suspect that the effectiveness of certain government actions with regard to abortion is extremely limited.  I am, without apology, an intellectual who accepts science.  I consider Evangelicalism and all varieties of fundamentalism too narrow, and universalism too broad.  I describe myself as a liberal, despite the Right Wing’s demonization of that word.  Politically, I stand generally to the left, but sometimes lean to the right.  The Left Wing is, in most respects, consistent with my Judeo-Christian values.  Elements of both the Left and the Right alarm and appall me.  In 2021, in the United States of America, the Right Wing terrifies me, especially with its increasing embrace of authoritarianism and unfounded conspiracy theories.

The on-going COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the dark side of human nature.  I belong to that throng which looks on in horror and disbelief as widespread denial of objective reality continues to manifest in people.  Enlightenment ideas about human rationality and nobility meet their match in this context.  More than a quarter of the Republican Party accepts aspects of the QAnon movement, according to a recent poll. I do not know how anyone could have continued to deny the reality of the pandemic well into the pandemic last year, or to do so today.  Yet many people have, and do.  Many people and certain governments have shunned–and continue to shun–basic human consideration in public health policy, somehow politicized.

Why do innocent and good people suffer?  Usually, they do so because of their malicious and/or oblivious neighbors and governments.

Evidence for human depravity abounds.  I do not need to have faith to accept the reality of human depravity.  No, I need merely to pay attention.  What else am I supposed to think when members of the United States Congress refer to insurrectionists from January 6, 2021, as tourists and block a bipartisan commission?  What else am I supposed to think when certain state governments, embracing lies, restrict voting rights and, in Orwellian terms, speak of enhancing the security of elections?

May God save us from ourselves and each other.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 2, 2021 COMMON ERA

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ESPECIALLY THE GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA, WHO IN WORDS OF THE MAYOR OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, TODAY, DOES NOT “GIVE A DAMN ABOUT US”

Some politicians who claim the label “pro-life” with regard to abortion are pro-death with regard to COVID-19.

I will get a side point out of the way.  I am cautiously pro-choice.  On principle, I oppose abortion except in extreme cases.  Medical emergencies do exist.  Sometimes somebody will die, regardless of the decision one makes.  Life does not always spare people those dilemmas.  I hold that the people who should make those decisions are usually the ones closest to the individuals affected.  In certain circumstances, however, they may not be.  This can be a complicated issue.

Now, back to the main point….

Recently, the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, mandated that we who live here wear masks in public places.  This was a socially responsible order consistent with science.  This morning, while watching the news briefly (for the few minutes I could bear to do so), I heard that the Dishonorable, Excrable (to use an old word) Brian Kemp, the Governor of Georgia, overrode that ordinance and its counterparts elsewhere in Georgia.  He decreed that no local government may issue a COVID-19-related order stricter than state policy.

Kemp, elected in 2018, ran as a pro-life, pro-gun liability.  He captured what political analysts call the Bubba Vote.  I voted for Stacey Abrams, his main opponent, who came close to winning.

If Kemp were as pro-life as he claims to be, he would issue stricter statewide policies and support the mandating of wearing masks in public.  He is only one politician I condemn for hypocrisy related to being pro-life regarding abortion but not regarding COVID-19.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 16, 2020 COMMON ERA

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++