Dateline: Home Study

So goes the title of Vernon Broyles III latest tirade in Presbyterians Today. At least he quotes scripture here but that does nothing to open his eyes or his mind. This man is so arrogant that if he were trying to convince me that the sky is blue I would probably disagree with him.

Vern, like so many these days, is convinced that the Republicans are taking over the world and “abusing power”. Vernon seems to have lost sight of what a democracy, or at least a Republic, is all about. The “Reds” as he calls them, are in power because the American people put them there. The American PEOPLE put the President in the White House, put a majority of Republicans in the Congress, and even put Republicans in the governor’s mansions across the nation. That is obviously a sin according to the great Vernon Broyles who, like the majority of the power elite in the Presbyterian National Office, know so much better than we about what we need.

Vern is not even original in his arguments which is what really frustrates me. If he had some new arguments at least it would be fun to read him but he merely repeats that which comes from the DNC—Republicans are rich, Republicans hate the poor, Republicans hate charity… He is, plain and simple, a bigot. Not a bigot in the racial sense but a bigot in the political sense. He obviously thinks he has some special status that allows him to stereotype people and then complain about the group he has defined—-erroneously defined.

This month, just like in previous months, the sky is falling. This month it is democracy itself that is in danger of collapse. “[W]hat was once a model for democratic process for the world has been turned into a war zone between the ‘Reds’ and the ‘Blues’” Vern, I think the United States is still a very good example of democracy for the world. You are not getting your way and your are entitled to whine all you want (although I’m tired of it), but democracy is perfectly safe. Perhaps, Vern, you’ve not noticed, but our government is functioning. The “Reds” and the “Blues” may be at odds over some issues but they are arguing about those issues in Congress and fighting with words. They are not arguing in the streets and fighting with guns. Sir that is what I call Democracy at work. Perhaps you should step down from your ivory tower and review some American Government. All is well, we are not Iraq, or Iran, or Cuba, or China, or (fill in the blank with your choice of third-world country or dictatorship).

Actually what is happening in Congress is rather novel to the PC(USA) leadership. What we are having in Congress now is debate, something sadly lacking in the PC(USA). The best the PC(USA) can do is say well we kind of sorta got some guidance at the last General Assembly but really we just know best and don’t need to bother you with anything.

Vern is also a little confused about who has the power and how it is being used. He certainly has not been watching or reading the same news I have. According the all-knowing Vernon Broyles,

The near absolute power now in the hands of the “Reds” has caused even leaders who once claimed to be “unifiers” and “healers of the divisions” to forget those commitments in the euphoria of their advantage; an advantage which has, in fact, strengthened the proud in the imagination of their hearts, secured the powerful on their thrones, lifted up the elite, filled the rich with even more good things and sent the hungry away empty.

I can just hear his smirks in his use of quotation marks. But let’s look at the facts, something Vernon seldom does. If the “Reds” are so powerful, why have more judges not been confirmed? Heck, why haven’t they even at least voted on them? The “Blues” remain quite powerful themselves is why and they are denying the American people the exercise of the democracy we fight for. And what’s with this rich stuff again? I’ll believe it a little more as soon as John Kerry, Teddy Kennedy, and the other rich liberals in Congress give up some of their money. This is more of Vernon’s bigotry easing in his argument as he leads one to believe that it is the “Reds” who are rich and elite.

I do agree with the last part of Vernon’s diatribe however. He says “we who claim to be Christian citizens, must say ‘No more!’” I’m with you brother! No more Democratic stall tactics that prevent Congress from doing what they were elected to do! No more interference from the Presbyterian elites in Louisville and Washington pretending to speak for the church against the war and against the Israelis!

Of course there is also another explanation for what is happening, an explanation given by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Adams: “Men of energy of character must have enemies; because there are two sides to every question, and taking one with decision, and acting on it with effect, those who take the other will of course be hostile in proportion as they feel that effect.”

And now I await next month’s issue of Presbyterians Today to see what nonsense Vernon Broyles is able to contrive.