By Erik Wallbank - April 14, 2025
Considering what to do with the proceeds from a car I sold (because I don't want any more dollars), I got myself a birthday present. Not exactly, I turned that car into pre-1965 silver dimes, with only a buck and a half premium. If I were to sell the dimes right now I wouldn't get my dollars back but given the broken world we live in it's a no brainer.
Many things Trump promised in the run-up to the election are gone. Republicans expecting a platform to address their needs and financial hopes are not being assisted or rewarded. Instead, the Trump Administration is a cult of personality without an observable plan, except the biggest Pentagon budget (in support of Hegseth's lethality) in history. And Trump who, like the democrats, ran from the left but governs from the right.
ICE views its roll under Trump (along with keeping-out illegals) as stopping illegal ideas at the border. Last I checked this is the United States where (without Israeli Zionist supremacy control) ideas are not illegal. ICE - Israeli Censorship Enforcement? At the same time Homeland Security announced they would be surveying legal entrants to the USA in a search for “anti-Semites”. That's easy . . . bar Israeli Zionists – the true anti-Semites.
When Bolton proposed a “Libya solution” for Gaza Trump referred to him as one of the stupidest people. Bibi, in the Oval Office, proposed the same thing and Trump let it pass. Trump went on to say, derisively, 75 nations are calling him "Sir" and kissing his ass. This is the guy my MAGA friends extol as the best president and support that with Bible verses? There are two things you can't talk about, politics and religion, but MAGA friends quote the Bible to no end. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the Bible, especially the New Testament. When my Irish friend asks me where the founder's inspiration for the Constitution and Bill of Rights came from I know where, New Testament parables on justice, love, etc. Where did our nation, and my direction, come from? That self-same N.T. ethos.
Before touching on religion, there are dangers lurking on the world stage with the potential to send all of us into the ether realms, for which there may be no apparent solutions. In 2017, Trump got rid of the JCPOA (i.e. the Iran nuclear deal). I've toyed in articles for the reasons - if the other side signs a treaty there must something wrong with it, and JCPOA being a creation of Obama, Trump couldn't abide it. But seriously, Obama did not want to ratify the JCPOA and Trump couldn't abide it allowing Iran the peaceful enrichment of uranium.
Trump demands Iran have no nuclear arms program and he insists on an end to enrichment. Bibi and Trump threatening Iran to give up its nuclear deterrent is a clear indication why Iran NEEDS a deterrent. Imagine being helpless in dealing with that duo? This is about enrichment (and more) and it's unlikely Iran would/will give up its legal rights. Since 2002 Iran has desisted from a nuclear arms program. Each year US Intelligence has affirmed that fact. So either Trump wants Iran to be done to as Libya and Syria were done to . . . or at least he wants Iran put under his strict control. Meanwhile, Israel has no such controls and possesses nuclear arms illegally, which they just might use.
When Trump describes Gaza he clearly has no moral compass, no ethics. He tells us he relies on instinct. Is this the kind of man whose instincts we want to see play out? He may prove me wrong, finding peace with Iran, Ukraine and China, but I would be surprised.
Okay let's consider biblical renderings. While taken to task about my views on Trump some readers support their views using religion, in our case Christianity. I'm told/asked if the Ten Commandments are not superior to the Constitution/Bill of Rights? As a secular person, assuming God and imbued with Judeo/Christian ethos, I don't think so. The United States is no longer a Christian nation. I'm not thinking about less Americans identifying as Christians, but a lack of Christian virtues. Congress has no anti-war element. Even Bernie Saunders describes negotiations for peace with Russia as “a sad day”. New Testament virtues, such as love, justice and prudence, are seldom heard in the hallowed halls. It's not about justice. New Testament justice is now vengeance .
As with most things, including the dollar, Christianity has been weaponized in the West and was probably better suited to where it began. If someone unaware of Christianity were to come upon the way it functions in the US they might think the Old Testament is what matters because biblical prophesy is used to justify western genocide. It's unfortunate, because rather than see the Bible as strictly the word of God, it's more interesting to view it as an historical account, one that only matters because of Christ. Why are Christian values at a low ebb in the deliberative process? For that we need to compare Christianity with major religions looking for similarities or differences.
My undergraduate philosophy degree came from UCSC, followed by graduate studies at Cal State/UC Irvine in comparative religion. I was awarded a PHD scholarship to Edinburgh (I should have taken it) but I just couldn't bring myself to leave 1960s SoCal.
How do other religions differ from Christianity? Hinduism is the most varied. Viewed as a mountain with many paths to the summit - attained by various yogas: devotion, reason and work. But, I could never get past its sacred text, the Bhagavad Gita, with its message of duty to what amounts to a caste system. Overseen, as usual, by the top dogs. Buddhism, if practiced with strong lifelong meditation, directs us away from ego, resulting in emancipation(?). Some I knew had enlightenment experiences, freeing them from petty concern. But for me, I was too much into life - I had to take this life head on.
As a reader of history I saw the Constitution and Bill of Rights in new light. What I saw as clumsy institutions were an attempt to mandate, or keep, control in the hands of the people. Each impediment, such as Electoral College, was there to forestall elite control. This begs a question: To whom does Christianity give up control? Compare the 1st Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me", with the 1st Amendment. Unlike the 1st Amendment where power is with the people, the 1st Commandment is authority - power resting at the top. I'm not going after Christianity here, this was a far better nation when the values of the New Testament were seen across the land. Just a fair question for those of you who proselytize me - where do you want power to reside?
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