The world seems so full of conflicts, and not just the ones that beak out into wars between countries. Here we have conflict over the continuing rise in the cost of gas and food, home heating costs, renewable energy sources vs. fossil fuels, and the increasing disparity between the rich and the rest of us.
A recent Pew Center series on income disparity since 2000 raises serious concerns for our future as a society. The report divided Americans into three income groups: upper income, middle income, and lower income. The greatest disparities are on the East and West Coasts, with less in the middle, primarily because there is not much wealth there.
The report also indicated that most Americans think there is too much disparity, and although the fixes vary somewhat by political party, that gap is closer on the issue of tax policy, which favors the rich over the rest of us. What is distressing about these reports is that most Americans have little confidence that the economic and tax system can be rebuilt to decrease this disparity.
The loss of confidence in our political system to make things right is distressing because it results in a growing undercurrent of anger, which is not healthy in any political system. Resignation and quiet anger can turn into open rage and then our society will reap the whirlwind.
Prayer for the Day
Caught by competing interests; we come, O Lord,
For we know there are many who do not share our bounty;
Overwhelmed by the chaos of the lives we lead; O God,
We search for solace in the midst of uncertainty.
Make us servants of your truth, beacons of your mercy,
Living and sharing your justice with all.
In the name of the One who sustains and empowers us,,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, inventor, philosopher (1623-1662)
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H.L. Mencken, American journalist, essayist (1880-1956)
For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
And their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
All who see them shall acknowledge them,
That they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
Isaiah 61: 8-9