Good Order and Discipline

In his resignation letter, former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer cited the well-worn phrase "good order and discipline" as being central to his decision to resign. What exactly is "good order and discipline," and why is it important to the military mission?

Good order and discipline suggests that there are well-established, understood rules and principles that govern conduct in the military organization. It goes beyond mere regulation, to a deeper commitment to honesty in carrying out and reporting on one's duties. It speaks to not only the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law as well, recognizing a deeper need to do the right thing for the right reasons. In the specific case of the Navy SEAL, the regulation that prohibits posing with an enemy corpse, as if it were a hunting trophy, codifies a deeper moral statement about the value of human life.

The military professional sees "good order and discipline" as essential to mission success. The armchair soldier, on the other hand, learns about the military from bad movies or bad books or politicians with bad ideology, The civilian "expert," often described by the epithet "chickenhawk," sees rules as impediments to the soldier doing his job, which is simplified as "killing people."

And what happens when the inexperienced commander-in-chief, with his distorted view of the military, decides to "have this sailor's back"? How does this undermine good order and discipline? Well, it's quite simple. Now the rogue military member's unlawful behavior is excused, because the commander-in-chief says the rules don't matter, treaties are meaningless, and the law of war is just some bleeding heart liberal construct.

The Corrupted Nature of our Republic

I am continuing to enjoy Bill Everett's gem of a book, God's Federal Republic: Reconstructing Our Governing Symbol. The overall premise of the book is that the Christian imagery of the Kingdom of God is anachronistic to the Constitutional democratic republic of 21st-century America.

But Everett points out in stark terms that representative democracy is not a panacea for what might be a primary goal of government, which he posits as protecting and advancing the common good, or at least mitigating the tragedy of the commons. In his view, representative democracy devolved very quickly from a group of honorable representatives seeking consensus on the common good (at least in the ideal) to a forum in which competing interests seek to advance their own goals. In this 21st-century republic, outcomes are driven by poll results, or more insidiously, by money. The "government of laws, not of men" described by John Adams in the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has become public policy by campaign contributions.

And so politics is not an appeal to the better angels of our nature to face with unity of purpose the challenges that confront us. Instead, politics is ruthlessly calculating in finding those particular special interests that drive wedges between families, neighbors, and friends. No means is too vile to advance the end of the special interest. Truth is blurred, morality transactional, and facts debatable. The law becomes a minor annoyance, to be countered by stacking the courts with judges friendly to one's interests.

Yet in our nation's history, we have had very few idyllic moments, where calls for the common good prevailed against the siege from the special interests. Lincoln's 2nd inaugural address, "with malice toward none, with charity for all," FDR's "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," and JFK's "we will send a man to the moon and return him to the earth" come to mind. In fact, NASA in the 1960's demonstrated the heights we can achieve when we harness the imagination and technical superiority of the American people, relying on science rather than myth.

Today cries out for another call to national unity, to setting big goals, to achieving big things, to continue to press for the more perfect Union. In the words of the Apostle Paul, we must throw off all the weights that hold us back, the weights of cynicism, of science denial, of false religion, of greed -- and press on to the goal of liberty and justice for all.

Secession Questions for Mike Clampitt

Mike Clampitt of Bryson City is running again for NC House District 119, a seat currently held by Democrat Joe Sam Queen of Waynesville. Mr. Clampitt occupied the seat after the 2016 election, but lost the seat last year.

During his time in the legislature (as a Member of the NC House, not as the House doorman) Mr. Clampitt was a primary sponsor of a bill that would remove the provision in the North Carolina Constitution preventing the state from seceding from the United States of America. So I have a few questions for Mr. Clampitt, so we citizens of House District 119 might better understand his view of an independent Republic of North Carolina, or whatever he might want to call this new sovereign nation.

1. How long would it take, and how much would it cost, to erect and man border checkpoints at every highway, road, rail crossing, and other point of entry into this new nation?

2. How long would it take, and how much would it cost, to issue passports to every citizen of the new nation? And in a related matter, exactly who would be citizens of the new nation?

3. How should the new nation deal with property of the United States of America that exists within this new nation? I imagine that the people of the United States would be intent on keeping Fort Bragg, Marine Corps installations along the coast, Seymour Johnson AFB, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and other such property.

4. In the likelihood that the United States of America would use its military power to enforce its property rights, how should the new nation raise an army and other armed forces to deal with that?

5. Would foreigners from the United States of America entering the Republic of North Carolina require visas? Who would issue those visas? Would we have normal diplomatic relations with the United States of America?

6. Should the new nation enter into some kind of free trade agreement with the United States of America?

7. How much would a wall cost along the border with the United States, to keep illegal aliens out of the new nation?

I'm sure Mr. Clampitt and other proponents of secession have thought about these, and many other questions.

The Right of Representation in the Legislature

In the stifling summer humidity of Philadelphia a couple of centuries ago, a group of men put their John Hancock’s (one of them literally) on a document that many Americans claim to hold dear. Those brave and principled men pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor when they declared war against King George III.

The Declaration of Independence lists charges and specifications against the King’s government. In one of those counts of the indictment, the Declaration enumerates the right of the people to representation in the legislature. They described that right to be “inestimable to the people and formidable to tyrants only.” They charged the King specifically with denying that right to large groups of colonists by doing things like not notifying delegates of times and places for meetings and votes on important issues.

Fast forward to September 2019.  The North Carolina General Assembly, which should have come home in early July from their 2019 work, remained in session, as Republicans in the House and the Senate did not have the votes to override Governor Cooper’s veto of the state budget. The leadership (Phil Berger and Tim Moore) had rejected overtures from the governor to negotiate on Medicaid expansion, teacher and state employee pay raises, and other items important to the people of our state.

But House Speaker Moore had a clever plan. He told his Democrat counterparts in the House there would be no vote on the morning of September 11, allowing Members to attend 9/11 commemoration events. Then the House Republicans met anyway, called for the vote, and overrode the Governor’s veto.

What does that have to do with the Declaration of Independence? Well, Rep. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) was an eager participant in the shenanigans on September 11 that denied the citizens of the 119^th House district (Haywood, Jackson, and Swain) our right of representation in the legislature. And now Mr. Corbin is seeking to represent the 50^th Senate District, which includes all of House District 119.

Mr. Corbin, please explain why you want to be our Senator, after denying us our right to be represented in the NC House on September 11, 2019. I’m sure you’ll say that what you and Speaker Moore did on September 11 was perfectly legal within the rules of the House. But We the People see your house rules the same way those delegates in Philadelphia saw King George III’s house rules. And we know exactly what you think of the residents of House District 119.

Who do you say that I am?

Yesterday's sermon text on Matthew 16, when Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?," took on a new meaning for me as our pastor, Rev. Keith Turman, expounded on the Word. He brought the text down to two separate questions for the Church.

First, who do we say that Jesus is? For the Christian, and for the Church, is Jesus who He says He is, in word and deed? Is He good news to the poor, comfort to the afflicted, welcome to the stranger, reconciliation to the world? Is He turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give your coat and your shirt, love to the neighbor (as Jesus defines neighbor), prayer for our enemies?

And who does the world say that we (the Christian and the Church) are? Are we good news to the poor, or are we some perverted "prosperity gospel"? Are we comfort to the afflicted, or are we rubbing salt in the wounds? Are we welcome to the stranger, or do we reject "those people"? Are we part of God's reconciliation of all things, or are we the leading edge of the wedge of division?

If we are the hands and feet of Christ in the world, the answer to those questions should be crystal clear.

America, the Christian Nation

Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. – Psalm 62:8

We Americans love to make the claim that we are a Christian nation. Our politicians end their speeches with words like “God, bless the United States of America.” Yet so much of our politics, our policies, our public discourse, are based in things that run counter to the idea of a people that puts our trust in God as our refuge. We have been blessed with a land with abundant natural resources, and people with a pioneering spirit and can-do attitude. But we have also been cursed with what Rev. Jim Wallis calls America’s original sin, and we continue to wallow in the consequences of slavery. We have instituted and perpetuated an economic system that, unchecked, exploits the earth and oppresses the poor and vulnerable. And we have become so fearful that we have the largest military force on earth by far, the most people incarcerated, and the most firearms in private hands of any nation on earth.

For 250 years, our ancestors bound people from Africa in chains, shackled in the holds of ships, and brought them here to provide the labor necessary to perpetuate their idea of a civil society. When our Framers, whom we revere as demigods, wrote our Constitution, much of the real debate was over the institution of slavery, resulting in things like the Electoral College, the power of states with less population, and exactly how human some humans were. For the first 80 years of the United States of America, slavery continued as the dominant force in politics, culminating in a deadly and devastating Civil War. And while the slaves became free because of that war, our politics continue to be centered on “us versus them,” because many of us still fear “those people.” We trust in concepts like “school choice” and the war on drugs and welfare reform instead of trusting in God to give us grace to see every human as part of God’s very good Creation, made in God’s very image.

Isaiah preached doom to those who enact laws and issue decrees that oppress the poor and vulnerable (Isaiah 10:1-4). Christ opened his own public ministry with his own mission statement, quoting the same prophet, preaching good news to the poor, healing for the sick, food for the hungry, and relief for the oppressed. Yet we have become so afraid of the poor that we blame our nation’s ills on them. Instead of waging war on poverty through protecting the rights of workers, providing an economic safety net for those caught up in layoffs and transitions in the marketplace of labor, we wage war on those people, calling them lazy or otherwise unworthy. We attack what we call income redistribution, ignoring the fact that wages for working class Americans have been stagnant through nearly three decades of “supply-side economics.” We are guilty of the very things Isaiah warned of, and ignore the very mission of Christ.

And for all our talk of America’s strength and exceptionalism, we are exceptional in our fear. We are awash in guns, placing our trust not in the God of refuge and strength, but in the NRA and the misguided notion of the “good guy with a gun.” We build walls and issue decrees because of our fear of those fleeing violence and destruction, just as a young couple with a baby boy born in Bethlehem fled the homicidal rampage of Herod. We reject strangers, forgetting the words in Hebrews 13 that we should welcome the stranger, because we might just be unaware that we are entertaining angels. And we are so eager to send others of us off to war, then abandoning those who return from battle with debilitating injuries to body and psyche, relegating them to charity.

Honestly, there’s not much to commend us as a Christian nation. As the saying goes, if America were to be put on trial for being Christian, the judge would dismiss the charge for lack of evidence. We are so afraid, afraid of those people, afraid of losing the treasures we have stored in barns, afraid of being seen as weak. We are afraid of justice, because we just might get what we deserve. And we’re afraid to put our trust in the God of refuge and strength, because we just might be held accountable for our greed, our hatred, and our disdain for God’s creation.

Overcoming entropy in our world

The Second Law of Thermodynamics is based on the concept of entropy, a characteristic of thermodynamic systems. Increasing entropy is a tendency toward "randomness" or "chaos" in a system. It is why heat energy always flows from high temperature to low temperature, and why no heat engine can ever be 100% efficient. To counter increasing entropy, one must add heat or do work on the system.

Others have expanded the concept of entropy beyond its roots in thermodynamics to other systems or more philosophical endeavors. In big data, entropy is the enemy of analytics. In the garden, entropy is the enemy of the meticulous green thumb.

Given today's news, it seems that entropy is well at work in our world. In Syria, especially in the area around Aleppo, violence is rampant in a tragic civil war, where the only losers so far are millions of innocent Syrian civilians. Tens of thousands are dead, and some 6 million have fled the war-ravaged territory, facing xenophobic resistance to their resettlement from Western nations, including the United States. Entropy seems to be unrestrained.

And it seems we have our own growing war in the United States, with battle lines drawn over violence. A friend remarked earlier this week that worlds are colliding with the proliferation of firearms on our streets and increasingly violent confrontations between law enforcement and citizenry. In Charlotte, violence has erupted over the shooting of a black man by police, and each party has retreated to their familiar scripts. Social media reports suggest that Wednesday night's protests were peaceful until police showed up in riot gear, apparently escalating the situation.

What force can we exert, what energy can we bring to bear to halt the increase in entropy in our world? The issues are complex, the ideologies are entrenched, reversing course seems impossible. But perhaps there is a way. Maybe we could start with a simple concept that every child of every race, nationality, and religion knows in one form or another: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Those of us who claim the name of Christ might acknowledge, not with our lips, but with our own actions, that every human being is the image of the Creator.

Overcoming entropy is hard. It requires expending energy, what is called "work" in thermodynamics. Applying the most basic concept of the Divine worth of every human being is hard work. But that is the only way forward.

Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.