George Lakoff writes: "Today's right-wing conservative values are just plain un-American in this context. This is a country where people pull together in the face of disaster. They don't just tell one another to sink or swim. Sink-or-swim conservatism is not in the American tradition, or the American heart. Empathy, mutual responsibility, fairness, and community -- all progressive values -- are part of this heritage. As Katrina showed, Americans hold a deep sense of shared fate and want an effective government that represents these values, does its job, and serves the people valiantly. Americans want to act responsibly and contribute. Katrina proved it. Those are the central progressive values. Americans have them."
Lakoff argues that the Democrats are once again taking potshots at the Bush administration rather than engaging in "framing the values" around the Hurricane Katrina disaster. He outlines an approach to understanding the catastrophe and making sense of the wrong headed policies that he argues are based in conservative moral values.
Religious liberals need to wrestle with Lakoff's analyis of metaphor and values, it might help us move away from the destructive controversy within Unitarian Universalism that pits a narcissistic search for self which we call "spirituality" against a blatantly partisan politics which we call social action. We are a religious community and we are about values, and meaning, and there is an organized movement in our country that opposes our values. Our response must be about articulating the values that flow our religious perspective, rather than looking for a messiah among the current crop of Democrats who would be king.
"the destructive controversy within Unitarian Universalism that pits a narcissistic search for self which we call "spirituality" against a blatantly partisan politics which we call social action."
Thank you. You just articulated exactly what I find disturbing about UU-ism. I suspect I'll be using this at some point (possibly in my sermon about UU Republicans in November).
Laura M.
Unitarian Fellowship of Storrs, CT
I like your blog a lot and, living in Oklahoma, find much of what you say about culture and religion making a great deal of sense. And I think that we UU's are often overly self-congratulatory and self-deluded.
However, while I keep hearing about the problem of blatant partisan politics, I can't see it expressed in the only two congregations with which I am familiar. Maybe I am just blind to it.
Could you, without naming names, give an example of what you're criticizing in UU congregations today?