Jack’s Winning Words 7/14/20 “The price of democracy is the ongoing pursuit of the common good by all of the people.”  (Saul Alinsky)  Is there such a thing as the common good?  Is there such a situation that can satisfy all people…or is it a goal than can’t be reached?...a goal such as, “to love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  Alinsky was called, “a radical” for trying to organize the have-nots to get their share of the common good.  Do you have an opinion as to what’s “fair for all?”  ;-)  Jack FROM BLAZING OAKS:  I believe it was JL Kraft (Kraft cheese) who said, "There is enough in the world for everyone's Need, but not enough for everyone's Greed." In this pandemic there are many stories of unselfish giving and sharing, but also disheartening ones of money allocated to needs of unemployed and poor, not reaching the neediest.. The common Good often does not include "the Least and Lowliest" in America. However in other countries, their plight is even more desperate, and unattended! Working for the "have-nots" is often discouraging, but there are always brave souls who do!! Saul Alinksy seems to have been one!!===JACK:  So much of "church' has been sharing with the less fortunate that being asked to do so at the present time does not seem out of the ordinary.  Many of the wealthy (in the past) seem to have had a church influence in their lives...Kraft, JC Penney, Kresge.  Do you know of any in the present? ===OAKS:  I think Bill Gates and his wife are making the world a better place with their Millions given to various education and health projects.  Pres. Jimmy Carter is also working and administering millions via his Health Center, to name a couple. I need to research that to find  others! :-)===JACK:  God keeps an accounting department which is not available to us...which is even more secret than Trump's tax records. FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  i hope you are not suggesting alinsky was admirable.  what constitutes a “have” vs a “have-not”? the path to happiness is a good job, a good education, respect for oneself and others... personal responsibility. seems an awful lot of emphasis is placed on “having,” not “doing” these days.   we are a constitutional republic, btw, not a democracy.===JACK:  Alinsky?  I try to find some good in everybody.  Alinsky had a real concern for people who he thought were being taken advantage of.  Haves/have-nots?  I know that I have an advantage over some who have to scrounge.  I feel the need to share.  Democracy or constitutional republic?  Semantics!===LIZ:  let me know if you find some good in hitler in your spare time. ===JACK:  Obviously, he is a GOOD example of what is bad.  He also was a good example of how to motivate a segment of people.  "There's so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us to speak ill of the worst of us" said someone. FROM AA IN WB:  I do, but Saul wasn't one of my favorite people.  My son said at an early age, around 8 years old, "who said life is fair"  Sometimes you have to take what you get, the good and the bad.  Some of the nicest people I have ever known died young while some of the biggest jerks live on.  Not fair.  We could spend hours and days with good and bad examples.  I don't worry, just glad to be alive with family, good enough.===JACK:  What's fair?  God's final judgment!  ...and as far as a long or short life is concerned...we don't know at this point what is best.  I'm enjoying life now, so I'm in favor of the days continuing.  In the future?  Who knows? FROM NORM'S BLOG:  Right now, it feels like the price of democracy is an endless squabble between polar opposites, each intent upon destroying the other. There are many issues that the politicians in Washington should be able to agree upon, like fixing our decaying infrastructure and providing equal opportunity for all to succeed; however, agreement almost always breaks down over the issue of how to pay for those things. One side wants to tax the well off to help those less fortunate and the other side says, “I got mine, you go get your own and leave mine alone.” There is an almost total lack of any sense of “the common good”. In fact, one side has labeled that sense of the common good as “Socialism” and attached a stigma to that labeL.===JACK:  In the early days of Christianity, people looked out for one another.  When there was a need, someone stepped up to meet that need.  They held thing in common.  Those who didn't like that way of doing things added an "ism" to that word to create the negative...communism!.===SA:  Yes, that's true. I wonder how much of a difference it makes for understanding love, truth, and the ends of life, not just the means to it. FROM LBP:  I wonder how many of us have advanced our idea of “fair” beyond the elementary school tally counting complaints of our childhood.===JACK:  Here in Minnesota there's a program...Fare For All.  It's a co-op food program where a semi-load of good food pulls up to a church parking lot.  People from the community can come up and get fresh food, frozen and canned at very reasonable prices.  I think that some churches even provide vouchers for the poor.  Fair? ===LBP:  Fair to who and how? Having access to healthful food should not be in question. But would it be fair if I were to shop there when I have the means to pay full price? Is it fair to say I cannot? What time of day is the truck there? Is it fair to people who are working at that time? What about the producers? Are they getting fair compensation for the goods being sold a low prices? Are there environmentally unfriendly practices being used to keep costs low, and is that fair to the global community? Fair is a tricky word. A while back you introduced me to “the good place” show. In season 3 they meet Doug Forcett, the guy who figured it all out.  But life is so complex that he ends up losing no matter what he does. Score keeping is maybe not the right approach to find fair. Perhaps the phrase in the WW “common good” is better. Is this food distribution serving a need that supports the well-being of the community? Is it meeting that need in a way that is equitable? Does it support good practices in production?  What about that?===JACK:  WOW!  You're on your soapbox today.  First of all, it's Fare for all, not Fair for all.  Secondly, Jesus says that the poor will always be with us.  That doesn't seem fair, so it's open for interpretation.  I believe that God has given us a brain so that we might reason and be able to choose...and not be robots.   "The Good Place" is s a show that enables us to see that our reasoning isn't always right.  There's a book that you might read in your spare time...The Will of God.===LBP:  Ha! Sorry. Didn’t mean to be sop boxy but I really was... I just feel like getting bombarded from all sides with how we are screwing up. Every choice has a consequence. Every view has two sides. How do we navigate “fair?”===JACK:  I think that "our leader" is stirring up the pot as to opinions about fairness. FROM WILLMAR REV:  Realizing we all live in a broken world that we were not asked to be born in, inherited situations we didn’t choose for ourselves and can now choose to make the best of it, “learning to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run?!”  For the Christian, the reward for “counting your blessings, naming them one by one” comes “when the dealing’s done!” 0;-)===JACK:  I'm not good at cards.  Some poor people aren't good at making choices.  In the Bible it says to be wise as serpent and harmless as doves."  Some "evil-serpents" are out there lurking around to take advantage of some "harmless doves."  I believe that God has called some to do that job. FROM SA IN WA:  "All people, irrespective of the accident of their birth, are entitled to enjoy aspiring to become fully complete and free." T.J.  After wrting these words (he is credited with writing them) Jefferson lamented, knowing a reckoning with slavery was unavoidable, if the country were to survive as a true democracy and free society.  The statement contains two key elements, as I see it. The first is humility. Whether we like it or not, our birth is an accident, and each person has to square with that notion. Second, and more in line with your WW, is the concepts of entitlement. We are entitled to enjoy aspiring, and the government is charged with ensuring this entitlement is available, as much as possible, to all citizens equally. The seatbelt law is an example of government acting in response to data, to reduce the likelihood that a car accident infringes on that entitlement, and did so act without unduly infringing on the rights of the individual.  Another, more significant, and crucial affirmation of Jefferson's statement, was the ruling by the, then conservative, Supreme Court, regarding Roe v. Wade. There is no debate that an abortion ends the life of a fetus, and there is also no debate that the burden of unwated pregnancy is placed soley upon the woman. Who comes first, the parent or the unborn child? The parent, always. The court did not take long to decide, for the common good. And 18 years later there was a precipitous drop in crime rates across the country. Politicians took credit, but the true credit goes to the Supreme Court.  It seems Jefferson's words are nearly as portentous today as they were in 1807. Let's hope the common good prevails. ===JACK:  Words are spoken for a specific time and do not necessarily translate to another time and situation.  Thanks for a good response to "the common good." FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  e’s not someone I would look to for advice.  There has always been and always be a “have and have not” situation until this world.  It’s Biblical.  Does that mean we shouldn’t help others?  No.  There are many more examples of people helping people but it’s not sensational news!===JACK:  Since "The Bible" says that there will ALWAYS be haves and have nots...what group are you in?  Did God create that discrepancy?  And, if so, why?  I'm glad that my study to be a pastor included philosophy as well as theology...and sociology as well as economics.===JUDY:  I’m am in the “have -have nots!”===JACK:  From what you've told me, you're leaning more to the "have" side of the page.  God is good!