To what extent should people be allowed to govern themselves in the manner they choose?  I think this is one of the most important questions of our time.  When you look at many of the conflicts around the world, you find that after WWII the allies drew borders for most of the world.  They didn’t take into account historical boundaries or the preferences of the people.

Many boundaries were established to keep a region politically weak or provide the allied countries with access to the natural resources of other sovereign nations.  When we look at Eastern Europe, we see that traditional boundaries were ignored after WWII when the real estate was carved into nations.  To complicate their issue further, the USSR did some significant gerrymandering.

Now we are faced with conflict around the globe and instead of looking back to say those people in the past made a mistake that should be corrected, our current leaders follow the same arrogant, self-serving path that the allies did at the end of WWII.

The world would do better to acknowledge past injustices and set protocols through the United Nations for addressing the issues of break-away nations.  Will they have enough resources to be self-supporting?  How did they reach their current position? Can the UN protect borders and provide the strong leadership needed to keep order until the issues of forming a responsible government are met?

The curious thing for me as someone who writes political fiction is what happens in reality when the unhappy nations attempt to correct the errors of the past.  Oh My! The press turns into a bunch of drama queens.  People scream and point fingers.  They would do better to read my M’TK Sewer Rat books where I describe the societal breakdown when a government fails and the challenges facing a nation struggling to rebuild.  Struggling nations need support, not finger-pointing.  Leaders of surrounding nations would do better to acknowledge the forces of reality and admit their own role in creating the inevitable tragedies.

My heroes were able to change their country’s form of government without civil war.  This is the way most governments do change.  However, to keep my story simple, Jake’s country is of no economic use to anybody.   They have few natural resources and little industry.  They did not face the manipulations of the Allies, much.  Sadly, not every would-be nation is blessed with obscurity so they suffer the consequences of meddling from neighbors who covet their resources.

The price we pay for failure to support governments supported by their people is tragically high as we’ve seen with the Malaysian airliner.  The tragedy was not surprising.  Whenever a government collapses or loses validity among the people or surrounding nations, certain predictable events occur.  Some citizens just need the threat of a strong central government hanging over them to make them behave in a civilized manner.  If you remove the central government as happened in Somalia, the Ukraine, Donetsk and to a certain extent with our own crippled congress, those individuals who cannot discipline themselves form into roving bands of outlaws.  It happened in my books.  It has happened in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and it has happened with the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.  It is common and inevitable.  Why leaders act surprised and point fingers is beyond me.  At this point, I should acknowledge that while common wisdom points fingers at the roving bands of outlaws on the Donetsk frontier, there is no hard evidence that they shot down the Malaysian airliner, and there is enough dysfunction in Ukraine to account for any lapse of judgment in official government policies.

Restoring order to a struggling nation is a challenge that isn’t met overnight.  It hasn’t happened with the Bundy Ranch and it hasn’t happened in Donetsk.  The respective governments need to be generally validated, a process that falls largely on the press, which brings me back to the question of do people have the right to govern themselves as they see fit? 

The press pretty much agrees that anybody they don’t like does not have the right to govern themselves.  Clive Bundy’s answer is no, the people of the US do not have the right to make laws that might effect him.  International corporations agree that people do not have the right to govern themselves.  Of course the World Bank insists that people do not have that right.  NATO is dedicated enforcing the boundaries created by the allies.  Even the United Nations is slow to acknowledge the legitimacy of a nation’s desire to govern itself. 

Still, there are a few small voices, like mine, that cry out with a resounding, “Yes!”  Yes, people do have the right to govern themselves as they see fit.  We should be able to form governments that protect us from roving bands of outlaws.  We should be able to make laws that promote prosperity for everybody.  We should be able to set standards that allow for the freedom of speech in whatever language you choose to speak.  We should be allowed to govern ourselves. 

May God bless those nations that are seeking political freedom.

Note:  During my research for this article I came across a pearl of great price—a real journalist, who researches his subject and reports what he sees.  Thanks to Mark Mackinnon for his report on the Donetsk People’s Republic. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/was-i-a-wanted-man-in-the-donetsk-peoples-republic/article19703103/ 

Aunt Charlotte Arrives

I didn’t see Aunt Charlotte when she first arrived because I was inside the window seat in my room where I’d cried myself to sleep.

On the day that Aunt Charlotte was due to arrive.  Dad found a ride to work and Mom kept the car.  She wasn’t home when I got home from school, but my friend Glenda told me that her father rode to work with a friend on the days her mom had to go to the baby doctor.  I assumed Mom needed to see the baby doctor so I didn’t worry when I came home to an empty house. 

Devon, Marissa, and Caroline came home and went straight to their rooms without bothering to ask me where our mother was.  I stayed downstairs and practiced reading.  When I heard Mom come into the yard I looked out the window in time to see her open the trunk of the car and take out a small box of groceries.

I shrieked, “Devon!  Come help Mom with the groceries.  Quick!”  I ran up the stairs.  “Devon! Devon! Help Mom with the groceries.”

By the time Devon confronted me at the top of the stairs I was slightly out of breath.

“What do you want?”

“Go help Mom with the groceries.”

“Did she tell you to get me?”

“No.  But she has a big box and she’s not supposed to lift more than ten pounds because she’s going to have a baby.”  I clapped my hand over my mouth the second I said this because I knew we weren’t supposed to talk about it.

“Liar.”

“I’m not a liar.”

“Rosie, you aren’t supposed to say such things.”  Marissa sounded scandalized.  And Caroline edged past me for the stairs as if I were untouchable.

Mom came to the bottom of the stairs.  “What are you arguing about?  Devon come help with the groceries.”

“Mom, Rosie is telling nasty lies.”  Devon whined.

“Rosie, you are old enough to know better.  Don’t tell lies.”  Mom sounded tired and cross.

“Liar.”  Devon hissed as he pushed me aside to go down the stairs.

“Really Rosie.”  Marissa stuck her nose in the air and followed Devon.

I stood at the top of the stairs in shock for a full minute.  Surely if our mother was having a baby Marissa would know or Caroline.  They were older than me.  I felt my lower lip protrude as I thought about not having the baby I’d been planning on.  I was so disappointed I slipped back into my room, took my teddy bear, pillow, and favorite blanket and crawled into the cubby under the window seat to cry.  I thought about the names I’d been practicing in penmanship.  I’d asked mom to write down all my grandparent’s names so I could practice my penmanship.  During class I’d practice writing names for the baby.  I’d planned on sharing my room with my new brother or sister when he was old enough.  In the small stuffy cubby, I fell asleep.

I woke up when Marissa came into my room calling, “Come out Rosie, I know you’re in here somewhere.”  I lifted the lid of the window seat and looked at my sister.  She turned and left calling, “She’s in her room hiding in the window seat.”

I let the lid flop shut again and stared into the darkness.  I never wanted to see any of my family ever again.  I hadn’t meant to be a liar.  I really believed Mom was going to have a baby, and now I felt terrible over telling a lie and worse over not getting a baby.

This is where Aunt Charlotte found me when she opened the lid to the window seat.  “Come out.”

I crawled out of the box with some difficulty because I’d been cramped up in there.

“Why didn’t you come to meet me?  Don’t you like me?”  Aunt Charlotte accused.

I shook my head.  “I don’t know you.  Devon called me a liar, but I didn’t mean to lie.”

Aunt Charlotte sat on my bed and patted the place beside her for me to sit.  “What do you mean you didn’t mean to lie?”

“I thought what I said was true, but Devon called me a liar and Marissa and Caroline just looked at me and…”

“Well you shouldn’t say things unless you know for sure they’re true.”

“I know, but I wanted so much for it to be true, and I thought it was.”

“What is it that you wanted?”

Since Aunt Charlotte was sitting in my room talking to me.  I thought I’d trust her.  “I thought you were coming to take care of us because Mom was going to have a baby, and I wanted a new brother or sister.”

“Is that what you told Devon?”

“I told him to help Mom with the groceries because she was going to have a baby and couldn’t pick up heavy things.”

“I’ll tell you a secret, just between you and me.  Don’t tell anybody else.  Devon is a fool.”

I giggled to hear my older brother described in something other than glowing terms.

“Rosemary, I take it your parents didn’t tell you why I’m here?”

I shook my head.

“Well it seems you figured it out on your own.  Yes, your mother is expecting and I knew she would need help.”

The sun came out and all my hopes and dreams were reborn.  “I’ve been thinking up names for the baby.”  I pulled my school papers out of the box under my bed and showed them to Aunt Charlotte. 

She looked at the pages of names.  “These are excellent names.  I think your grandparents would be pleased with your ideas.  Come, let’s go to dinner.”  Aunt Charlotte carried my list of names with her when she took my hand to walk down to dinner.

I thought we really did need Aunt Charlotte to help us.

With the general condemnation of all Christians because of the SCOTUS decision on birth control, I finally decided that somebody should speak up from the perspective of mainstream Christianity as it relates to public morality.  There are several major differences between the mainstream theological position on The Law and that of the more conservative sector. 

First, Jesus was extremely clear that we may pay taxes without fear of imperiling our immortal souls.  “Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s.”  This scripture should have been the end of the discussion on the health insurance/birth control issue for anybody claiming to follow Jesus.

Second, the whole point of God becoming flesh in Jesus and living among us was to change our relationship with God.  Jesus fulfilled all the law of Moses so that we are saved through faith and relate to God through faith.  All four gospels work hard to tell us that Jesus had the authority to abolish Jewish law.  That is, to forgive sins—often referred to simply as grace. 

Throughout the New Testament, we are reminded that Jesus fulfilled the law.  We are to live in relationship to God in the same manner Abraham’s family did before the laws of Moses.  (Book of Hebrews) The apostle Paul calls the law a “dead thing.” Really, Paul covers the topic over and over in his letters to new congregations. 

So here we are two thousand years later with a group of people who say they believe Jesus was the Christ.  They call themselves Christians, but they completely ignore that whole business about abolishing The Law.  Christianity is about living in love and faith. By contrast, Judaism and Islam are about living by the law.  The faith, love, and grace things are what set us apart, and what Christians are supposed to be about.  Many don’t get this right, but we love them anyway.

The third main difference between mainstream theology and the conservative sector is over who can make a law that imperils your immortal soul.  Men, churches, corporations and governments do not have the power to institute laws that will imperil an immortal soul. A corollary of this idea is that a believer’s soul is not imperiled if someone they know breaks one of the laws made up by men.  Only God can make a law that imperils souls and God already abolished all such laws.  Really, to believe that any human can create such a law is to place that human above God. 

Curiously, the mainstream position is that even people who place themselves above God are forgiven.  They fall under the general atonement when the law was abolished.

Fourth, the idea that we are to coerce others into following some standard of morality is totally alien to the teachings of Jesus.  First, he was a bit inclined to tell his beloved disciples to mind their own business when they asked about this person or that.  The idea that God gives us free will is a major point of theology.  Those who want to make up laws that take away free will are really attempting to deny others the gifts God gave them.  This is just not acceptable. 

At this point some people may be sputtering about standards and anarchy.  The standard for those who follow Jesus is to love one another as He loved us.  That is it. 

As for a state regulating how its citizens relate to each other, those laws cannot imperil anyone’s immortal soul.  A state’s laws may be wise or foolish, just or unjust, but they are not God’s laws.

So the state may make laws to regulate commerce and prevent anarchy.  We are all bound to follow those laws or pay the penalty.  We won’t go to hell for breaking or keeping those laws.  It seems that people are getting terribly confused between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of other humans.  They confuse the power of the state with the power of God.  Stop it! 

In the end, we are all free to go forth and love one another with courage, love one another without judgment, and to love one another with grace.

I live on Vashon Island, which is located in the middle of the Puget Sound.  We don’t have any bridges to our island so we take a ferry when we visit the mainland. 

The Sound is part of the Pacific Ocean and we often get four-foot seas.  The big rollers present a problem for smaller boats and most boaters have sense enough to stay off of the water in blustery weather.  The condition of the water gets really foul when the tide is flowing against the wind and the rollers turn into a nasty chop.  It is on one of these rough days that my story takes place. 

I needed to travel into Tacoma off the south end of Vashon.  The channel here is not dangerous, but further inland, off Pt. Defiance, it turns treacherous with rogue waves that have swallowed twenty-one foot Bayliners.

On this blustery day, I got on the ferry, Hiyu, and went upstairs to the passenger cabin to watch the storm about us.  Before I got seated, I saw a flare go up off of Pt. Defiance.  I thought I could see a small boat off of the point so I told the first mate about the flare and the small boat.  As soon as we left the dock, our intrepid ferry turned southwest toward the point.  The passengers and crew gathered on the passenger deck to stare silently at the small fleck of a boat. 

When we reached mid-channel, the waves and the wind determined to show us what they could do.  The chop turned into a nasty churning slop with four-foot waves breaking in every direction.  Our ferry bucked the waves and fought against the gale toward the tiny boat in the distance.  A deck hand relayed the message to us that our captain had called the Coast Guard and they were on their way.  I felt like the cavalry was coming to the rescue.

The Hiyu ran full out against the current while the wind tried to push us sideways.  Why is it when you want to hurry, the world conspires to slow you down?  Under challenging conditions we made slow progress toward the imperiled skiff. 

Finally, we came close enough to see the man in the back of the small boat as he frantically bailed water.  He’d bail four buckets then turn and make a vain attempt to start his outboard then he’d bail again.  As we pulled closer we could see that the small boat was taking on water from the sloppy, breaking waves faster than the man was able to bail.  There was no hope that his outboard was dry enough to start, but he’d frantically pull on its rope every few minutes as he took a break from his bailing.  We watched helplessly as the man bailed, then pulled on the engine rope, then bailed some more. 

The second man in the boat sat with his back to the drama in the stern as he remained determinedly in the bow--fishing.  He finally gave his rescuers a look as filthy as the sea as he slowly reeled in his line to keep us from fouling it when our captain maneuvered the Hiyu close to the small skiff.

The story has a happy ending when the Coast Guard arrived and we could go on to our destination.