Editorial: FRIENDS, RONINS, CITIZENS.....

 REICHENBERG 7 January 2021 (ORCNS)

The second of two articles written in response to the events following the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election from an American-oriented perspective

By

H.G.D.H. Daniel Coberly, Prince v. Reichenberg
Prefect-General of the Anglican Patriarchate (See of St. Stephen)

Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of our country. 

Not by violent anarchy, but through high character and personal example. By support of all that is good in humanity. 

If we want a better country we must expect a better Congress and better citizens. We must change the way we look at things so the things we look at will change. And that includes ourselves and the self-anointed Ronins among us. 

Now is the time to reward and uphold the behaviors we want to see to support that endeavor; the basis of any admirable culture: personal integrity, honesty, unselfish service, moral courage...neighbors helping neighbors. Clearly, the tail is wagging the dog in that regard. 

Now is the time to turn that dog around by supporting the people 

people who make this country great--our teachers, our parents, our elderly, our farmers, our small business owners, our ministers, our first responders, our military, and yes, our police. That's right, now is the time to put on notice the movie stars, pop stars, and sports stars who too often become supernovas that do nothing to advance our culture. 

In a world where everyone can be a "reporter" now is the time to relook the rules of that game in ways that not only protect concepts of free speech, but in ways that also makes those who spread falsehoods about any person, place, or thing, fully accountable. 

In a country where we generously grant tax-exempt status to many corporations and nonprofits, now is the time to expect them to return that investment by tangible evidence of support to their communities and to our nation. 

In a world where many still do not have electricity or adequate food, we can afford to help other nations. But we cannot afford to neglect our own people to the extent our known budgets show. 

There should never be hunger or homeless in America. Period. 

Yes, NOW is the time for Congress to come to the aid of our Country--and for us to come to the aid of our Congress. Not in petty political ways, but by insisting that they agree to disagree and move on to comprise of the common ground. It is their job to get the job of governing done, after all. 

And when they do, we need to support the comprises they make if we are to get our country back on track. 

Yes, Now is the time to part the dark clouds that hang over us to find the silver lining. We can do it if we choose. Unless we do that soon, we have met the enemy and he is us; and he welcomes others like him to pillage and plunder what is left of America. 

The silver lining is indeed there for all who are willing to look to see it: the immediate chance to reboot our nation, by rebooting our politics and to confront our own personal bias. 

Now is the time for all of us, no matter what our race, creed, or color, to to agree upon the greater good and what "right looks like" now and for the future. 

Now, in this new year, at this moment, is the right time and right opportunity to declare and to agree that the politics of the past is the ghost of politics past, and nevermore. 

Now is the time to come to the aid of our country!

Editorial: Democracy or DemocraZy?

REICHENBERG 7 January 2021 (ORCNS)

The second of two articles written in response to the events following the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election from an American-oriented perspective

By

H.G.D.H. Daniel Coberly, Prince v. Reichenberg
Prefect-General of the Anglican Patriarchate (See of St. Stephen)

Events of 6 January 2020 have pundits pleading that Democracy is at risk, and indeed it is. Our unique form of a Republic is always at risk, every day. Because the greatest threats to any Republic are not just external; they are internal. Those who wish us ill require eternal vigilance by intelligent people, lest we succumb to the likes of criminal vigilantes thugs who exposed themselves today. They are thugs who merely open the door to America's enemies at a time when they think we are most vulnerable. 

Today's events were certainly not about honest dissent, for there will always be dissenters among us who learn to work in honest ways to affect honest change. 

Today's events were not about justice, for there will always be those whom are unjust among us; they are the ones who want to pull others down rather than to pull us up. 

Today's events, like many others in our recent history, were not about peaceful freedom of expression or a peaceful right to protest, because the peace was deliberately broken. 

Yes, Frustration leads to Confrontation, Confrontation leads to Escalation, and those factors continue to repeat that pattern reaching a crescendo until the basis of Frustration is relieved--whether that Frustration is real or perceived. 

But someone else's perception isn't my reality--even when they try to make it so. Fact is, Democracy is ugly. But DemocraZY is far uglier. Democracy isn't a free-for-all, nor is it a place that is free to all. Freedom has a price and it is time again to pay it. Not by acts of anarchists to assault an elected body. But by the actions of good and decent people to stand up and defend the right to peaceful protest, but to make it clear that violence and criminal trespass are not acceptable. And that they too, come with a price. 

I'm not as ashamed of my country or my congress as I am ashamed

that we "Americans" have still not learned the lessons of history. Lessons about petty despots, and those who would become one, and those who would support them. 

It's true that true Freedom isn't free. It's true that every generation must sacrifice and pay a price to earn their liberty. Like it or not, we all bear responsibility for how that liberty is achieved, for how it is maintained, and for how it might be reinvented. And we all share a responsibility for the conditions that bring it all about in the end. state. 

No, it's not enough to merely condemn criminals who would force their opinions on you, or to condemn weak politicians who prod them on to promote their own self-interests. 

Clearly, it's not enough to merely vote, or to believe the that our votes will not be counted. We must all become activists to some degree--but not anarchists in any degree. We must find the common ground so that we can establish the greater good. 

Congress is supposed to know that. Politicians are supposed to be statesmen and women capable of reaching compromise. Citizens must also reach compromise. That cannot happen until we all accept the notion that "our rights" stop where the "rights" of others begin. 

For if we cannot compromise, if we cannot capitalize on our similarities, if we continue to focus on our differences, we deserve the status of a Banana Republic chock-full of petty despots who will strip us of every right, of every freedom, and of any notion of Democracy. 

Tribes must put aside their differences to band together to form a nation. Together, we must evolve lest our tribes become extinct. 

Now is the time to reboot America and find the better path forward. 

It's time to end the two-party system. 

It's time to demand--to expect--personal accountability from EVERYONE at every level, not just from people we don't like, or who do not look like us, or think like us, or speak the same languages or believe as we do. 

Please do your part of rise above the fray, to be the voice of calm and reason and stability. Focus on a better future. For your sake, for the sake of your children. For the sake of our Country.