Glenn Melancon

Texans for a Brighter Tomorrow

Trust, Not Fear

Sunday, May 23, is the Western Christian holiday of Pentecost.  According to Christian scripture, the Holy Spirit emboldened the frightened followers of Jesus on Pentecost. 

The holiday derives its name from the Jewish feast of the first fruits. God commanded the Hebrews to offer their first fruits to Him fifty (penta) days after Passover.  This sacrifice was an act of faith.  They had to trust that more fruits would follow.

Many Christians mistakenly translate faith as belief.  The word actually comes from the Latin “fides” which means “to trust.”  A faithful person trusts God.

Trust is central to the Gospels of Jesus.  Jesus constantly taught his disciples that God would provide.  They simply needed to trust.  Often the disciples did not trust him and became frightened.

Humans are pretty bad at trusting.  We worry about our next meal.  We worry about our health.  We worry about the weather.  We fear our neighbor or our government.  We fear for our lives.

According to the Gospel of John, the Apostles feared for their lives after the crucifixion of Jesus.  They even locked themselves in a room.  There the risen Jesus appeared to them and said “Peace be with you.”

Immediately, this brought them comfort and hope, but when Jesus left, they remained locked inside a room.  They were afraid to venture out.  They didn’t want to risk their lives. 

All that changed on Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit came to them and provided them comfort and strength.  They were no longer afraid and went outside. 

Outside they found people from all around the Mediterranean, strangers.  Each had their own customs and language.  When they Apostles spoke, they were heard and understood by all.   They no longer sounded like they were “babbling.”

God had lifted the curse from the Tower of Babel.  Humans could now understand one another.  Humans could learn from one another.  Humans didn’t have to fear one another.  Humans could live in peace with one another.

Peace, however, requires trust.  When we trust others, we make ourselves vulnerable.  We risk our prosperity and our lives.  Jesus certainly trusted.

Jesus asked his followers to trust, not judge.  If someone is hungry, feed them.  If someone is sick, heal them.  If someone is a stranger, invite them in.  All these commandments put us at risk.

The Gospel of Jesus is a message of hope and peace.  Pentecost is a festival of strength and comfort.  If we trust the Gospel and love our neighbor, we have nothing to fear.  Peace be with you.

Opposite Day Shouldn’t Be Everyday

Every once in a while, when they were young, my boys would play “Opposite Day”  It was game about saying one thing, but meaning another.  For example, if you want to someone to “stay,” you would say “go.”  If you wanted the TV “on,” you would ask someone to turn it “off.”

The game is actually pretty hard.  Most of us are brought up to tell the truth.  It takes effort to create a whole new vocabulary based on “opposites.”

As a historian, I have watched conservatives play a similar game since the 1970s.  Their ideas are so unpopular; they have to create words and phrases that mean the opposite of their intended results. For example, conservatives like Ronald Reagan hated Social Security and Medicare. 

The federal government had set up these programs to reduce poverty and increase the health of American seniors.   Unlike capitalism which benefits the investors, Social Security and Medicare benefit the general public.  That is right.  Social Security and Medicare are socialism.  The public funds these services through taxes.  No investor gets a dime of profit.  

Wall Street hates this fact.  They believe they are entitled to profit from every financial transaction.  They want to privatize Social Security and Medicare in the same way the Defense Department has privatized arms production. 

Reagan knew he couldn’t attack these programs head on.  When Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican nominee for President, ran his election on privatizing Social Security and leaving Civil Rights to the states, Lyndon Johnson trounced him with 61% of the popular vote.

In 1980 Reagan found three magic phrases to destroy popular programs: failed government, tax cuts, and deficits.  These three phrases allowed conservatives attack popular programs from Social Security to public schools.

Conservatives famously find small, outrageous issues and pretend they are representative of all.  Anyone remember $600 pentagon hammers or $10,000 toilet seats?  These are supposed to represent failed government, but 50% of federal spending supports Social Security and Medicare.

These outrageous stories are enough, however, to trigger tax cuts for “investors.” Reagan argued investors would generate more tax revenue and lower deficits.  Have you noticed this never happens? 

The deficits then trigger a whole new debate about cutting spending.  To save money conservatives then raise the retirement age, cut teacher salaries and reduce reimbursements to doctors and hospitals.

We have now had nearly 40 years of conservative opposite language.  They have raised our taxes and broken our public services.  Why do voters reward them?

“your white soldiers will be lost to you”

January 8, 1865 Confederate Major-General Howell Cobb wrote to James A. Seddon, CSA Secretary of War.  Cobb objected to Robert E. Lee’s proposal to use slaves as Confederate soldiers.  The CSA simply lacked the free man power to continue its war of Southern Aggression. 

Cobb’s objection was simple: “The day you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the revolution. If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong but they won’t make soldiers.”

Cobb knew his fight was a Revolution in favor of White Supremacy.  His was not simply a power struggle between the state and federal authorities.  No, he was in a fight for the soul of nation. 

Would America become a multiracial society, or would it remain a county for Whites Only? Confederate soldiers knew why they were fighting. Why don’t you?

I think that the proposition to make soldiers of our slaves is the most pernicious idea that has been suggested since the war began. It is to me a source of deep mortification and regret to see the name of that good and great man and soldier, General R. E. Lee, given as authority for such a policy. My first hour of despondency will be the one in which that policy shall be adopted. You cannot make soldiers of slaves, nor slaves of soldiers. The moment you resort to negro soldiers your white soldiers will be lost to you; and one secret of the favor with which the proposition is received in portions of the Army is the hope that when negroes go into the Army they will be permitted to retire. It is simply a proposition to fight the balance of the war with negro troops. You can’t keep white and black troops together, and you can’t trust negroes by themselves. It is difficult to get negroes enough for the purpose indicated in the President‘s message, much less enough for an Army. Use all the negroes you can get, for all the purposes for which you need them, but don’t arm them. The day you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the revolution. If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong but they won’t make soldiers. As a class they are wanting in every qualification of a soldier. Better by far to yield to the demands of England and France and abolish slavery, and thereby purchase their aid, than to resort to this policy, which leads as certainly to ruin and subjugation as it is adopted; you want more soldiers, and hence the proposition to take negroes into the Army. Before resorting to it, at least try every reasonable mode of getting white soldiers. I do not entertain a doubt that you can by the volunteering policy get more men into the service than you can arm. I have more fears about arms than about men. For heavens sake try it before you fill with gloom and despondency the hearts of many of our truest and most devoted men by resorting to the suicidal policy of arming our slaves.

Broken Clock

Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.  She is also the House Republican Conference Chair, third highest-ranking House Republican in the House of Representatives.  Representative Cheney wants her fellow Republicans to stop lying about the 2020 Presidential election.

On Monday, May 3, 2021, she wrote “The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”

Cheney and the majority of Americans know this Big Lie incited the assault on the January 6^th United States Capitol.  Rioters wanted to stop a Constitutional process.  The Constitution requires Congress to count the votes submitted by the 50 state governments. 

Each state has the right under the constitution to conduct its election and count their own votes.  Every state did and reported their votes to Congress.  Congress was in the process of counting the votes when rioters attacked Capitol Police and broke down doors to get inside.

The rioters killed four and injured 138 police officers.  The lies about the 2020 election fueled this attack on our democracy.

On April 30, 2021 Newsmax admitted it spread false information about the election.  Facing a defamation lawsuit, Newsmax retracted and apologized for its false reporting.

“Newsmax would like to clarify its coverage of Dr. Coomer and note that while Newsmax initially covered claims by President Trump’s lawyers, supporters and others that Dr. Coomer played a role in manipulating Dominion voting machines, Dominion voting software, and the final vote counts in the 2020 presidential election, Newsmax subsequently found no evidence that such allegations were true. Many of the states whose results were contested by the Trump campaign after the November 2020 election have conducted extensive recounts and audits, and each of these states certified the results as legal and final.”

Statement About Dr. Eric Coomer, Director of Product Strategy and Security at Dominion Voting Systems, Friday, 30 April 2021 03:30 PM

These are the facts.  It is unconscionable for a political party to continue its attacks on our democracy.  Representative Cheney is trying to lead her party to the truth.  The truth is the first step to healing from the attack.

Unfortunately, too many Republicans have invested in the lie.  Both Republican politicians and voters have refused to accept the will of the people. 

Because of her defense of our democracy against lies, Republicans want to remove her from her leadership role.  Republicans have abandoned allegiance to the Republic for allegiance to a man.  Do we really have to wait for another Oklahoma City bombing for Republicans to defend America?

Limited Government and Accountability

The contrast between United States Constitutional Law and Biblical Law are striking.  The US Constitution places limits on government.  The Bible grants absolute power to kings and fathers.

Let’s look, for example, at one of the most famous stories in the Bible.  The Bible tells this story to illustrate the wisdom of Solomon. We, however, can also see the powers held by Biblical governments.

According to 1 Kings 3:16-28, two women got into an argument over a baby.  They lived in the same house and delivered sons days apart.  Then something went terribly wrong, and one mother accidentally killed one of the boys during the night. 

The death became a dispute when one women accused the other of swapping a dead baby for a live baby.  King Solomon had to decide which mother was telling the truth.  He ordered the live baby cut in half and distributed to each woman. 

The story ends dramatically when one mother pleads for the baby’s life and agrees to give up claim to her son. 

“The other woman shouted, ‘Go ahead and cut him in half. Then neither of us will have the baby.’ Solomon said, ‘Don’t kill the baby.’ Then he pointed to the first woman, ‘She is his real mother. Give the baby to her.’ Everyone in Israel was amazed when they heard how Solomon had made his decision. They realized that God had given him wisdom to judge fairly.”

While everyone may have recognized the wisdom of Solomon, no one questioned the power of Solomon.  He literally order a baby cut in half.  God gave Solomon absolute power.

Thankfully, the American system of justice is based on real evidence and not theatrics. The Bill of Rights lays out the protections for a person accused of a crime. 

Police officers must collect evidence in a reasonable manner.  They must petition a court for a search warrant based on probable cause.  They are not allowed to compel, or torture, the accused to extract evidence.  Prosecutors must present that evidence to a Grand Jury for permission to go to trial.

The trial itself must be open to the public.  The accused must be able to confront their accuser and cross examine evidence.  A jury of citizens, not a judge or police officer, decides the fate of the accused.  If the jury finds the person guilty, the punishment can neither be cruel nor unusual. 

All of these protections are called due process.  The Constitution requires government officials to follow due process.  A judge or police officer who takes the law into their own hands is breaking the law.  They are not Biblical kings. 

I am proud to live in the United States of America.  To keep our pledge to the Republic and the flag, rouge government employees must be punished.  It is the American way.

End the Politics of Spite

Have you ever heard the Medieval saying, “Don’t cut your nose off to spite your face”?  Spite is an uncommon word today.  It means to hurt or offend. 

Often spite is an act of revenge.  One person feels offended and responds spitefully.  Revenge makes us feel vindicated or justified.

Unfortunately, spiteful behavior is too often self-destructive.  If you cut off your nose, you will damage your face.

For the past 10 to 15 years, politicians have taken spiteful action to gain the upper hand.  The victim of these destructive behaviors is the American people.

Take for example President Joe Biden’s infrastructure proposal.  Infrastructure supports other economic activity.  Without infrastructure other activities slow or shut down.   

Think of infrastructure as the skeleton and circulatory systems in the body.  Weak bones, like weak bridges, can cause a body to fall and not get up.  I don’t need to remind you of the dangers power and water loss created just a few months ago.

President Biden wants to avoid that type of pain by investing in America’s infrastructure.  The Biden team has detailed projects in every state, including Texas. The American jobs plan includes:

• $115 billion repairing roads and bridges
• $111 billion investment to ensure clean, safe drinking water
• $50 billion to improve the resiliency of power supply
• $400 billion to help more people access care and improve the quality of caregiving jobs
• $100 billion to bring universal, reliable, high-speed, and affordable coverage to every family in America

Not only will these projects improve our communities, but they will create jobs here at home.  These jobs can’t be shipped overseas.  It is a win-win.

At least that is the way the majority of Americans see it.  Republicans have decided to make this a partisan issue.  Instead of rallying around America, Republicans have chosen the politics of spite.

Republicans believe their best path to win elections is to hurt America.  They want to cut America’s nose off and give it an ugly face.  They will then turn around and blame President Biden.

Who is getting hurt by these political dirty tricks? We are—the American people. 

These investments will make us stronger and more secure.  American will be better.  Texas will be better. Let’s end the politics of spite.

Remodeling Our Home

Not many things are more exciting, or frightening, than buying a new home.  With it comes both freedom and responsibility.  The owner has the freedom to change it at will but also must pay for the maintenance and repair.

We’ve owned this particular house in Sherman for about twenty years.  When we moved into it, we painted all the rooms and swapped out a few appliances.

Periodically, I’ve made minor repairs to toilets, light fixtures and locks.  Twice, I’ve taken on big projects remodeling a spare bathroom and bedroom.

For bigger projects I hire professionals.  This year we had a couple of major projects.  The AC compressor failed, the washing machine bearings wore out, and the glass stove top shattered.

In each case Jackie and I built back better.  The AC is better.  The washing machine is better.  The stove top is better.

If we ran our house the way conservatives run government, we wouldn’t have built back at all.  We would just let it gradually fail.

For the past forty years, America and Texas has struggled with basic maintenance and repair.  Conservatives prefer cheap fixes to better solutions.  We pay a steeper price, however, when our electricity and water systems fail.

Now, we have an opportunity to maintain and repair our home—the United States of America.  President Biden has proposed a bold infrastructure plan to upgrade road, bridges, electrical bridges, water systems and schools.

President Biden also wants us to expand new technologies.  Over the past year, many of us have needed faster internet or broadband to connect to work or school.  Some local business lost money because customers couldn’t connect to their store or service.

To pay for these projects, President Biden wants corporations and individuals earning more than 400,000 to pay more taxes.  Both received multiple tax cuts over the last 40 years of conservative rule.  Now is the time for them to pay their fair share.

We have seen our taxes increase year after year while the quality of our services suffers.  America needs maintenance and repair.  It has been neglected for far too long time.

The question you need to ask yourself is whether or not you want to watch America slowly fall apart.  More electrical failures.  More  water failures.  Less opportunity for small business to compete.  Personally, I have the experience with my home to know it is wiser to build back better.

Happy Easter

Reading the Gospel of John on Easter provides a great insight into “Christian Leadership” and “Christian Citizenship.”  John expresses in clear, unequivocal language the call to service and self-sacrifice.

The mystery of Easter starts in John 13.  Jesus is sitting down with his disciples for his “Last Supper.”  He surprises them by getting down on his knees to wash their feet.  Peter objects, “Never shall You wash my feet!” (John 13: 8) Jesus, however, continues undeterred and explains what it  means to be a leader and a citizen.

He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.  Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John  13: 12-17)

Can you imagine a more beautiful message?  Being a Christian leader is not about throwing stones or lording over others.  Being a Christian leader is taking on the dirty jobs.

Jesus then explains the meaning of Christian citizenship.  As a Jew, Jesus knew the law.  God told them, “You shall not bear hatred in your heart.  Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him.  Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19: 17-18)

Jesus, however, took this a step farther and gave his followers a new commandment.  “Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have loved one another.”  (John 13: 34-35)  Here Jesus ups the ante by laying down a clear example for his followers.  Christian citizenship requires putting the interest of those around us ahead of our own.

Christian leadership and citizenship rests on the twin pillars of serving others and self-sacrifice.  If we take these literally, won’t we be worse off?  Jesus didn’t think so.  When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Simon Peter acted as any “normal” person would.  He drew his sword and struck the high priest’s slave.  Jesus rebuked him.  “Put your sword into your scabbard.  Shall I not drink the cup that Father gave to me?”  (John 18: 11) 

The Easter message ends with the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.  By human standards there could be no greater humiliation.  There was no greater failure and sign of powerlessness than death on a cross.  By God’s standards, however, Jesus follows the law literally.  He loves his neighbors so greatly that he willingly sacrifices himself for the good of others.  Because of his voluntary sacrifice Jesus was glorified.

In the midst of all the candy and pretty cloths, let’s not forget this beautiful message. Service and self-sacrifice will renew the face of the earth. Have a happy Easter.

Original Intent to Suppress the Vote

People who scream about the “original intent” of the Constitution too often don’t know the “original intent”.  Or if they do understand the “original intent”, they want to use it to restrict their neighbors’ hard won freedoms.

Voting rights clearly fall into the second category.  The Constitution originally intended voting restrictions.  States had the right to limit voting anyway they chose.

The most common restrictions were property qualifications.  Only individuals who owned property could vote.  This qualification kept most Americans from the voting booth.  The Founding Fathers didn’t want poor people voting. 

A property qualification had an added “benefit.”  It excluded women.  Most states had strict laws preventing women from owning property.  No penis.  No property.  No vote. 

In the 1820s, working class white males began demanding the right to vote. The argued their labor entitled them to participate in government. 

New states in the Eastern Mississippi and Ohio River valleys took advantage of these demands.  They offered suffrage (the right to vote) to all adult white males.   Eastern states had to follow suit or face violent protests from their white working class.

This remained the status quo until after the Civil War. Congress originally intended only to abolish race based slavery and say nothing about voting.  Voting restrictions would remain a States’ Right. 

The consequences were swift and predictable.  The former confederate states passed legislation retracting the Freedman’s right to vote.  Congress responded by passing the 15^th Amendment, gaining the Constitutional power to protect the right to vote.

While this amendment was a big break with the “original intent,” it contained some major loopholes.  For example, the authors carefully, and intentionally, avoided expanding suffrage to women. 

Women felt betrayed.  Susan B. Anthony had been ardent abolitionist.  When she heard Frederick Douglas cut a deal to include black men but exclude women, she exploded.  Her vile and racists comments do her memory no good.

Eventually, however, feminists like Anthony won the right to vote.  At the same time, states became creative in their push back racial equality and voting.    Not until the 1960s Civil Rights movement did Congress finally fulfil the promise of the 15^th Amendment.

Today the “original intent” mob has its sights on voting rights again.  Texas conservatives want local officials to block disabled voters from the polls.  They want the voter to get a note from their doctor before exercising their rights and protections under the law. Are you going to let it happen again?

Act of Terrorism in Grayson County

Studying history shouldn’t take a profile in courage.  Too many people want history to be a safe space for ancestor worship.

History is part of the humanities.  We study humans.  Humans can be beautiful.  They can be ugly.  We should try to replicate the beauty and avoid the ugly.

We can’t do either if we sweep things under the rug.  For too long Grayson County has swept an ugly part of its history under the rug.

In May of 1930 a white woman accused a black man of rape.  The man was George Hughes.  Sheriff Arthur Vaughan arrested Hughes and held him for trial.

In America, the government must prove an accusation in court.  Every American has a constitutional right to a jury of his peers.  This is an essential part of Due Process.

Rumors had began circulating about the rape, and a mob gathered outside the Court House.  They demanded blood.  Like many white mobs at the time, they didn’t want to wait for Due Process. Due Process was too slow. (See also White Supremacist Massacres)

The Sheriff, the Texas Rangers and the National Guard tried to maintained order for the trial.  The white mob persisted.  They broke into the Court House, ignoring both warning shots and tear gas.

With the Judge, Jury and members of the public in the Court Room, someone in the mob set fire to the Court House.  To make matters worse the mob attacked the fire fighters who unsuccessfully battled the blaze.

The accused, George Hughes, was trapped inside the Court House vault where he died. 

Not satisfied, the white mob dragged the body of George Hughes behind a car to the African American side of town.  The mob then hung Hughes and set his body ablaze.

The mob then turned their attention to their African American neighbors, burning black owned businesses and residences.  This act of terrorism sent a message to every resident of Grayson County.

Melissa Thiel, a current resident of Grayson, has asked the County Commissioners to place a historical marker outside the new Court House.  Thiel has spent the last year gathering records of the lynching. 

The record is clear.  A mob of over 5,000 terrorized the African American residents of Grayson Country.  The mob violated the law and ignored the Constitution of the United States of America.

Will County Judge Bill Magers and County commissioners Bart Lawrence, David Whitlock, Phillis James and Jeff Whitmire be brave enough to learn real history?  Or will they cower in fear of terrorism?