Vote for Joe

As I type this, the coronavirus is in 180 countries playing havoc with practically everything. One of those ‘things’ is the global food supply chain. Planting is being delayed. Food import/export markets are being disrupted. Things are breaking down. So… Do we wait for the crisis to end and then rush right back at it trying to get this all up and running again? Or, well, do we realign? (The international food trade sends gigatons of carbon dioxide into the air every year, creates farm worker sweatshop conditions, if you will, in our fields and fields worldwide, and has fueled the use of massive amounts of toxic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers to maximize profits in a global market.) So what would realignment look like in America, for instance? Our administration would work to establish local/regional markets for crops. We would ramp up, exponentially, home and community gardens, permacultures, and local Farmers Markets. We would go to “seasonal eating,” in tandem with, once again, learning the art of things like canning, and such. We would, in essence, become a lot more sustainable, food wise, in our particular regions. And speaking of sustainability, our administration would ramp up, just as exponentially, Peace Corps, and similar types of help into the Third World to help people in these countries become as sustainable as possible, food wise, as well. In addition, and as just one example, we would hold up the Common Ground Growing Project in Kimmel, Indiana, for farmers throughout the nation. Local farmers in Kimmel farm a common farm on the side with the crop going to a Food Resource Bank, which is a Christian initiative that then takes the profit and provides seeds, farm tools, irrigation equipment, animals… to 25 different Third World countries. Note: We have blindly bought into the evolution of a global food system that majorly pollutes the planet and has created a plethora of farm worker jobs (under current oppressive conditions) with little human dignity — all because we want apples (and so many other choices) year round in our well stocked First World grocery stores. Gluttony? Well, sure. Note: For a look at our outside-the-conventional-lines Agricultural platform in general, see…

I just read where Los Angeles is experiencing it’s third smog free week because of the whole “Shelter in Place” deal from the coronavirus. And that’s pretty much the same for the whole of the U.S. right now. With the exception of China, we’re the biggest ‘CO2 culprit’ on the planet. A corollary: You know how nuts we got when we learned Saddam Hussain was “gassing” the Kurds? During a talk at Notre Dame, I said that our First World energy gluttony, in a very real sense, is “gassing” the world. People dying of drought and famine in more arid countries now, increasing super-charged hurricanes/cyclones, climate refugees… First World moral theologians, given to heady rationalization (because they themselves are driving a lot, et. al), would say this was merely: “unintended consequences without moral culpability.” Common sense would say: “that’s crap.” Because, well, too many of us know now. Note: This coronavirus induced break in our habits, across-the-board, is giving us time to realign. Or not. If you’re looking to realign in this category, look no further than our position paper on energy, and our position paper on transportation.

The unemployment figures came out this morning, smashing the previous record in America by a lot. The previous record for a month: 700,000. This report: 3.3 million! An economics professor from New York University said this morning during an interview: “This is an unprecedented economic contraction… and we don’t want to kill the economy.” Uh, I would at least partially differ. Our campaign platform calls for simplifying and jacking down our economy considerably. For instance, we need to deemphasize (easy money) Wall Street financial speculation, complicated financial instruments, and extraneous “paper shuffling” jobs in general in America. In tandem, we would propose initial debt free stimulus to revive small town and big city neighborhood economies. In addition, using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, we would break up the Wal-Marts, Targets, Lowe’s… as monopolies, as we would break up big national banks, and big corporate farms. To the latter, as an example, we would provide incentives to sub-divide these farms and stimulate small scale organic farms that are much more labor intensive. This would provide, for instance, jobs that are lost when a lot of non-essential “paper shuffling” jobs disappear. This corona virus crisis, this economic contraction, is allowing for a lot of the dross to be cleared from what has become, in large part, a bloated, convoluted economic system. Again, spiritual commons sense dictates that we simplify the system and go back to a decentralized orientation (“local production for local consumption”) that, for one, strengthens bonds in community. This will also cut down tremendously on transport carbon dioxide emissions. And it will “flatten the curve” (Where have I heard that phrase before?) on income inequality in the country, as some of those relatively meaningless professional jobs — that nonetheless pay well — go away. Note: For a look at our Economic Position that, I contend, aligns way more with what God probably wants for society, see…

Euthanasia is creeping more and more into the countries of the world. Yet we’re not God. God is. God is the “author of life.” He determines the span between conception and natural death. We don’t. When we do (abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide…), we are putting our eternal souls at tremendous risk. The Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that, as an example, euthanasia is a “grave sin.” Yet people participate in it directly, or by voting for, say, politicians who back it (as part of what Pope John Paul II called “The Culture of Death” in America). Of course, some of the people who back the concept of euthanasia would never use it in regard to their loved ones. And then here comes this coronavirus pandemic putting the elderly, specifically, at risk all over the world. And wouldn’t you know, with hospitals being overwhelmed with elderly patients, doctors being forced to do “triage,” are now, day in and day out, having to make decisions about who they are going to allow to die — including, perhaps, the grandparents, mothers, fathers… of now tremendously anguished grandchildren, sons, daughters… who have, maybe over the years, backed euthanasia. Hopefully what’s going on now will inspire them to change their minds about this issue before it’s too late. Both for more elderly in the cross hairs of euthanasia, and before it’s too late for their own souls. For our campaign’s stance on euthanasia, and “Life Issues” in general, see…

One of the readings at the Masses this weekend was Hosea 6:2 where the prophet, in essence, tells the Israelites that God has, indeed, “smitten” them (read: “chastises” them), but in “two days” He will help them rebound. In the livestream Mass I was watching out of Franciscan University, the priest says that, of course, the coronavirus is a “chastisement from God.” And like the Israelites of old, we need to figure that out, repent, and collectively come back to God so He helps us spiritually heal. Part of what we need to ‘figure out,’ the priest said (among many things), is that almost every country on the planet now allows abortion. What’s more, country after country is moving toward accepting euthanasia as well. These two things, as the Catholic Church for example teaches, are totally antithetical to God’s Natural Order. Beyond these glaring spiritual wrongs, California’s Alex Gomez has ‘figured it out’ in a more generalized, yet right on the mark, way as well. He posts that we had lapsed into “worshipping”: athletes, musicians, actors, materialism… So what’s happened? Mr. Gomez notes that God has closed the sports arenas, concert halls, theaters, and is collapsing the stock market… Mr. Gomez ends with: “Maybe we don’t need a vaccine. Maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and undertake a personal revival where we focus on the only thing that really matters in this world. Jesus.” Note: I’d like to think our whole campaign platform, indeed, revolves around Jesus, the things He taught, and how that applies to our contemporary world. See…