America Loses Its Heart
MAGA “Tin Man” destroys U.S. government’s heart of compassion. Cavity filled with greed and hate.
Ua ola loko i ke aloha – (Love gives life within.),
Pastor Jim
False Gospel of the “Tin Man”
Author: James Butler
Lift Every Voice and Sing: “No Ape King!”
Independence Day for “No Ape Kings!”
“Hurricane Watch and ICE Raid Warning.” Shelter the Innocent. Did we return our soldiers from Afghanistan to serve as the private army of a decaying dictator who orders them to take FEMA funds to kick down the doors of U.S. seniors, drag nursing mothers from their cars, stalk workers waxing the agent’s own car wheels, and grab students off streets to “Alligator Alley” gulags across the country. Once the immigrants are done, What’s Next!? Answer … the poor, the Democrats, the people of color, the elders, the journalists, the teachers, the non-TrumpCultChristians. Today is Independence Day!
Grasp the Wheel and Freedom Ride
I have stood in the pulpit where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and 1000’s launched the 381 day Montgomery Bus Boycott. I touched the face of history at the desk where he penned the words in the small pastor’s office. Today I hear in my soul while reflecting on similar times in our country, “These again are solemn days that call us to grasp the wheel and ride that liberty bus to return a lost country to a place where a person’s color or nationality is not a crime.” I don’t know if he would say that, but I do feel it deep in my heart.
While the present GOP is fallen as Trump’s victims of the mirage, one challenge is how to resist Trump’s Private Army by civil and peaceful means. Justice and freedom do not arise by hate but arise out love for the weak and the poor who beg for a better tomorrow.
Are You, Do You Know, Or Have You Ever Been A Migrant?
While the present GOP is fallen as Trump’s victims of the mirage, one challenge is how to resist Trump’s MAGA Guard by civil and peaceful means. Justice and freedom do not arise by hate but arise out love for the weak and the poor who beg for a better tomorrow. You will likely be faced, until we can vote them out in every election, the with the USA’s version of masked Federal stops that demand, “Show me your papers,” which feels like “are there any gypsies, Jews, socialists, homosexuals, or disabled in your home or your car?”
Everyone Halted by Ice Outside El Paso
Based on true events this year
We were stopped in our motorhome with only my wife and our dog as passengers. The entire eastbound highway to Missouri coned into an ICE dragnet. A 20-something officer asked me who else was in the motorhome. I explained, “My dog and my wife.” He stared at me not sure how to answer my red-faced-sun-glassed stare response to his chit-chat talk. As he let us drive forward but before the window came out, I blurted out some real feelings I had about this mass multilane body cavity search. I put some of what I blurted out in this blog and I told my wife later, “I give you my word. I’m not going to blurt out while stopped in the proximity of the National MAGA Guard my feeling that could cause unnecessary hours of a 30-something Proud Boys veteran of Afghanistan now finding his patriotism jailing grandparents overnight. There is a better way. Reaction in anger in creates a worse result. Many of the Proud Boys want a better America, where all can be free. We may not like their group, but their freedom to Proud Boy gives us the same freedom to write, speak and assemble, and form our groups. In that we find common ground.
However, my red-faced, unshaved beard with veins popping forehead in front of wild white hair is crazy ol’ coot Jim. Trust me, the ICE officer does not think crazy old coots are “cool” (forgive the pun).
Grandma’s Not Home But Loves to Talk!
True with artistic adjustments
I learned a skill yesterday at the rural walk-in clinic while waiting for COVID treatment. This kabuki displays as grandma’s not home but she loves to talk. I had not slept for 4 days and sat with the room full of wobbly senior mask-less women, who pulled their silent unshaved husbands around like purses on wheels. These patients talked more than Methodist women at the potluck pie table. As I moved my chair to the side of the room, in scraped grandma pushing her walker. She came in talking like she was loudly debating a sloth. Not once did she stop talking. She took her chair and she talked on. She talked to the room. She talked to herself. As a captive audience, I realized grandma’s not home but she loves to talk! She talked about weather. She talked about politics without naming anything political. She rambled about grandchildren she never met. When I pretended to close me eyes in blessed unconsciousness, I realized that grandma’s meanderings gave us a slideshow of a trip to nowhere. It was like being served a quart of warm buttermilk to drink in 3o minutes. But she provided a beautiful lesson how to respond to intrusive interrogations. For young people today, a conversation like that smells and tastes like day-old buttermilk. No my wife would say, “Jim, you don’t have to work your character at all. Just be your annoying old self and remove your hearing aids!”
A Paw Step Toward Internal Peace
The ICE dragnet redux would then chill like:
“Who is with you, Sir, where have you come from?” painful smile while reading my face and vehicle. Visual on wife and dog and wince at odor of buttermilk and fried eggs.
“Sure, I keep my gun in a safe down the hall … in Missouri. It’s not loaded. I love to hunt and have hunted northern Arizona mostly. Are you a hunter?” questioning smile.
“NO, ARE … YOU… DRIVING … TO … CHICAGO … OR … NEW YORK?” loudly and slowly to the bearded adult toddler.
“Officer, I am not driving to Chicago for work. In fact I don’t work at all. But I hear they have the best steak sandwiches in the windy city! Did you know some of the best chefs in Chicago are not American citizens?”
Cars now train-car’d back a mile behind the RV. But the officer cracked a smile when our Lab-Retriever jumped up, smothered grandpa’s face in fur, to give priority to the nice man’s hand for cookie. Grandpa sat still in dog fur until the petting and frisking ended.
The black dog fur now an Elvis sideburn stuck on grandpa’s white beard cracked the officer’s first real smile of the day seeing who now looked like crazy retired Elvis, his aged hound mix, and old smelly RV named “Buttermilk.” The officer missed his own grandpa in Kansas, like “crazy ol’ coot” and his dog, “Sir, be safe down the road with you and your dog” big arm Elvis karate chop wave kick forward go!
And with that the country was one paw track toward internal peace.
Reminder of Other Good-Hearted Officials Trapped by the Paw of The Axis Evil Ape
Schultz reminds us that a protest against a dictator does not demand cruelty to politicians, employees, officers, and soldiers who are trapped in his ideological mirage. We can help pay forward the same kindness. In my last church I served as executive pastor, the grandfather (perhaps father) of a leading woman in my church spoke as a former young man in NAZI Germany. He brought his collection NAZI paraphernalia from those years. As part of his presentation, he presented in-character how Hitler spoke addressed their youth on the radio. Hitler began with speech a softly humming desk fan that grew into a the incessant war cry of a possessed banshee. After I asked, “Why didn’t the other citizens or leaders organize and end this?”
The solemn, loving guest gave this humble warning: “Hitler made the NAZI party not one organization. He made it the country. The schools taught NAZI propaganda. Trade guilds and universities revolved around Nazi ideology. Judges held sham NAZI trials. And the companies sold their soul to it. If you denied the NAZI party, where then would your children attend school or find work? Where would you bank? What would happen to your business credentials? Where would you wife work? Would your children be immediately expelled?”
His words fixed in my mind. This movement flowed like Evil Amish Shunning in which you became invisible to society. I had no follow question to that and wonder now what would happened if in Mr. Trump’s use of the AI Big Beautiful Database he would, virtually unrestricted, send any politician, group, or (citizen or not) or accountant to his personal cyborg gulag … with a Tweet. Now we know why his politicians stare like North Korean hostages. The ethics of truth, trust, and Constitution, and due process of the law protect the careful, legal path of a person before inflicting the worse punishment man can inflict upon man. Due process means we care for ethics and the born rights of all persons, the precedents of the case, the provision of fair treatment during process, and the right to be innocent before found guilty by a jury of our peers, without which the silverback’s midnight Tweet could use tariff sharpened canines to bite off our hand and put any of us in cyborg gulag. One revenge Tweet from the silverback’s finger could gulag politicians, lawyers, institutions, Federal agencies, constitutional scholars, schools, judges, officers, citizens, or residents arbitrarily as, “His Yorky peed on my turf.” Tariffs chewed off one corporation at a time as company champions tremble that an arbitrary tariff fangs bite inflicted to shutter their entire operation. Then we realized the ape never used the tariff plan for the good of the country but to feed its own appetite of infecting new victims with the pithecophobia, fear of ape.
Did you hear about the gazillionaire and his cronies whose money elected a monster silverback gorilla to the Oval Office for ultimate power?
“Is it a Dem or MAGA monkey?” asked one man trembling who approached the titanium bars and peered into the unblinking orange eyes of the gorilla.
“We don’t know,” said his friends. “Put your hand out and see if he takes your offer of friendship.” The man obliged, an inch at first, fingers, then the whole arm. The primate sat rock still.
“I think what you bought is a stupid gorilla!” but before the man could retract his hand the ape bit off the man’s hand and held it up with a fanged grin. His friends pulled him free with the ape crushing three of the other’s fingers. The third man wasn’t so lucky. The big ape ripped off his blonde coiffed widow’s peak and set it on his forehead, ate a banana, and flung manure at them, covering priceless art with ape dung.
“This is so exciting!” shouted the man missing the widow’s peak. “We bought the perfect presidential gorilla! He is exactly what we wanted!”
“How the heck do you think he’s MAGA?” said the man who bandaged his hand with his shredded white shirt and half-bitten red tie.”
“That’s easy. You missed it? … Only a MAGA hates a ‘hand out!”
For where there is fear; there is control. You say, “Jim, why that’s just a phobia! It’s not real.” A: Yes, and that’s why it’s called a phobia and so effective as a malicious weapon. You don’t bite your opponent; you show how you would share that the Communists endorse and worship him, building secret red statutes of him. Then let the phobia bite metastasize in him. Same of effect of tariff canine sharpening during a “loving” unblinking hour of “You know how much your company loves staying in love with us” between the sounds of fang filing. Now that some evangelical churches and pastors have embraced the warmth and power of primate love, not all have kissed the hairy knee.
While the present GOP is fallen as Trump’s victims of the mirage, one challenge is how to resist Trump’s MAGA Army by civil and peaceful means. Justice and freedom do not arise by hate but out love for the weak and the poor who beg for the table scraps of a better tomorrow.
Justice and freedom do not arise by hate but out love for the weak and the poor who beg for the table scraps of a better tomorrow.
Remove Not the Ancient Landmarks
A senior friend, out of curiosity at a birthday party we attended, asked me smiling how many degrees I had, I answered (and rarely volunteer) a Bachelor’s, Master of Divinity, Master of Business Administration, Doctor of Ministry, with a Chartered Property Casualty Adjuster, Senior Claim Law Associate, a published U.S. patent, other certifications.
I asked back, “Do you know what that makes me?”
“No, what?” slyly grinning.
“Old.”
At the end of the birthday party table sat a bright young local emergency manager. He keeps multiple phones with him to keep his grandma and my friend safe from fast mover tornados and other emergent threats. He was the educated man at the table who teaches and protects us. But he’s not standing, chest beating his daily achievements. He quietly stands by for us.
Experts like him remind me of my seminary PhD neighbor who looked like Superman’s “Clark Kent.” Quiet at unassuming, you wouldn’t know he was an expert in ancient Hebrew and wrote his dictionary size dissertation on the Hebrew letter “and.” Who wants to spend 6 years in seminary studying “and”?
“Johnny and tell what your father does for show-and-tell today.”
“That’s it … ‘and’!” Insisting his father’s job is “and.”
“Father and what?” puzzled!
“Exactly, and that’s what! And they’re both right here!”
My neighbor also didn’t advertise that he tutored also at three universities fluent German, along with ancient Greek and Hebrew. His wife held a doctorate in education. They were the smartest people I ever met. They are like the scientists and government experts who are now fired by political Tweet because folks didn’t get the real story played on the conspiracy channel.
Tragically, the new DOGE intern sits with his emergency Blackberry in his efficient studio, multitasking TikTok binge videos. From his apartment hive/office, he sends out a Tweet, “And this week will come a fire and floods and hale and fire and tornado and hurricane and earthquake and chicken flu outbreak and COVID and be ready. And hit with with any ??. And Chill :o).” Now you know the importance of those studying “the and’s” and when these “and’s” will arrive, with specific details of each revelation.
Prayers for Flood Victims. Prayers for Our Local, State and Federal Servants and Leaders Standing By,
Pastor Jim
This has been a long but necessary blog. It’s my “big beautiful post.”
The Miracle of Dialogue: For Your Discussion
How the GOP spending bill will fund immigration enforcement
Budget Bill Massively Increases Funding for Immigration Detention
- Read and apply Psalm 82:3-4. How would this verse apply to the actions of ICE against aliens peacefully working and paying taxes and living among us? How can we as Christians respond? How can we balance justice with kindness? How can your protest in a defusing way with local officers and community?
- Watch the following video below What They Found in a Boeing 787 about the U.S. company performing hidden quality shortcuts for profits. With FAA staff reductions, what is the Christian direction for a cost-cutting company on whom the Government trusts with more responsibility and trust for its own inspections? How can a company restore the flying communities lost trust in its ethics now that all this is discovered? Why is being true to our words and actions important for our Government leaders and companies on which our lives consume, ride, and fly? How would the following Bible verses apply:
- Leviticus 19:11:“You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” This verse lays a foundation for ethical business practices.
- Proverbs 11:1:“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is his delight.” This verse highlights the importance of accurate measurements and honest dealings. Why do leaders now value concealment from their quality workers? What is the cure? Leviticus 19:11:“You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” This verse lays a foundation for ethical business practices.
- Proverbs 11:1:“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is his delight.” This verse highlights the importance of accurate measurements and honest dealings. Why do leaders now value concealment from their quality workers? What is the cure?
- Consider for a moment the massive purge of U.S Government scientists across multiple federal and state agencies, from NOAA to NWS to FAA to FEMA to NSGS Water Watch (monitors real time river and stream flood data gauges). State officials and citizen live and die by the bat phone data local leaders get from these science experts. But if politicians cancel and cement the bat caves of these mystery scientists, who will see our cries help on the clouds? Proverb 23:10 warns us against bulldozing over those ancient landmarks that prospect our ancient way of life, this would erasing whole swaths scientists who hold down the corners of our fort so we know when the dust devil turns into a city killer tornado. We don’t need to hear about “thoughts and prayers” while we find help from the FEMA money used to run down table bussers and car detailers in Tampa and truck the resources only to race our troops too late back to the real disaster. Watch the second set of videos :”Texas Officials,” “Trump Panics as Fired Official Goes Public (On flood and federal mass firings)” and “Flooding in Texas: Ex-NOAA Lead Talks Impact.” Discuss:
- What makes expert and a scientist different from conspiracy? Why do we so quickly become enraptured by conspiracy which causes us to distrust the science? How can you help support these experts and scientists who work quietly behind the scenes but who are subject to unnecessary blame and job loss?
Does prayer mean robo-signing and stamping a piece of gold embossed letterhead that says, “I prayed for you!”? Or, does prayer mean, “Out of the love flowing from my prayers for you I protect the resources that will carve out a safe place for you, by my own hands if necessary”?
Coming attraction “Hallmark Card Christianity”
As a St. Patty’s baby, I have always enjoyed colorful green cards of leprechauns and lucky charms, as well as other holiday cards. Our friend, Patty, sends the most beautiful animated e-cards. We need more beauty of that on this earth. The coming story addresses the need for hands that care and boots on the ground as tangible manifestation of our prayer.
Having served as pastor in three different faith groups of Southern Baptist, United Methodist, and International Council of Community Churches, I understand this message but have fallen short myself. We have spent far too much time in church board meetings, wringing our hands over spreadsheets, to hammer out the next parking lot sealing project than reaching out to a needy world. “You can’t be a true Christian church without freshly painted handicapped parking for your wealthy donors to make a walker beeline into their reserved front pew seats.”
One particular sin of omission aims at the unwed mother. The evangelicals organize to stamp out any access to abortion, even propose banning travel to another state where she might obtain an abortion. Rather a few token “family life centers” provide much needed mother-to-be counseling, followed by 6 weeks of diapers and infant formula. “We have done our Christian duty! We saved a baby! Hallelujah!,” you brag and dance around the yearly fundraising bonfire. Does the right to life end at the womb or stop at the border?
Meanwhile, the young mother is crippled due to severe post-partum depression. She can’t sleep due to a colicky baby. She doesn’t know how to begin to quality for Medicaid. The food banks closed because the same evangelicals cheered at purging undocumented farm workers from the U.S. “Don’t you know we don’t believe in funding any lazy people! We don’t believe in socialism. We don’t pay for daycare people to raise their babies. That’s communism!” Those young mothers should strap that baby on their backs and get out there and harvest melons! And, please, pick more seedless melons.” (To be continued ….)
Up Next “Hammer Out Freedom!”
The Big Beautiful Orange Bill
The family gathers to carve The Big Beautiful Orange. Get your limited deal only .97 cents per orange! One orange per family.
Introducing Baseline Economics
What fundamental rights could accompany U.S. Citizenship?
- The right to affordable, healthy food
- The right to reasonable housing
- The right to mental and physical healthcare
- The right to employment
- The right to a retirement
- The right to childcare
- The right to education
- The right to eldercare
- The right to show compassion to a needy world
- The right to justice and due process
- The right of the earth to be preserved from spoil
- The right to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Citizenship in the United States means more than throwing noncitizens out of the country. Citizenship means a solemn duty to provide a baseline of care and services for its people, upon which wealth can build. Baseline economics recognizes that, as a farmer cares for his sprouting crops, a nation caring for its own ensures its own diverse future greatness. The alternative creates a future of inbred billionaire yacht islands funded by marooning fellow citizens on atolls of poverty.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. - Words of Jesus in Matthew 25:35-36
Grandpa, what was “trickle-down economics”? A: Trickle-down economics was a repeated slogan used by the American wealthy to trick the middle class into passing laws that protect the rich from the middle class getting their wealth.
Friend: Jim, why what you are spouting from your pie-hole is nothing more than red luvin’, commie huggin’ socialist dribble. Don’t you believe that capitalism is God’s gift to America?
Jim: Capitalism provides a path to wealth at the depletion of resources and at the cost of people capital and the planet. Social changes, such as freedom of slaves, women’s right to vote, environmental laws, child labor laws, and Social Security came in direct response to capitalist consumption of people and the planet. What does the Bible say about building your wealth at the expense of your neighbor?
Friend: What you propose will never happen. Nobody is coming for my guns, my money, and my land. All I need is my Pitull and a box of shotgun shells. I’m a patriot who salutes the flag and loves apple pie! Do you even like pie?
Jim: The rich use flag waving and slogans to make your think your economic box is safe by convincing you the threat is the stranger, the immigrant, the communist … anybody but the rich.
So, Jim, are you anti-rich? What do you have against rich people?
Jim: The rich themselves teach us that wealth in itself does not create happiness, only fear that someone will take your wealth. Let’s discuss how we will not eliminate capitalism, rather create a hybrid capitalism model infused with social principles that preserves a future for all citizen. These principles will act like the hafnium rods used in a nuclear reactor to keep the reaction stable, preventing a catastrophic meltdown …
Ol’ Randal’s Hypnotized by the Wampum Beads of the Ghost Wealth Transfer Plan
These are unalienable rights that would reflect a Great America. The videos below show what the President could address, rather than feather the nest of the oligarchs.
Pastor Jim
To Be Continued … as Symphony Economics
Up Next People of the Mirage
In Stillness Between Sirens … Give Peace a Chance
In stillness between sirens is heard the whispered prayers for peace. The first answer to prayer is the messy miracle of dialogue. Pray for the peace of Israel, Gaza, and Iran.
We do not take sides with war—we take sides with humanity. In this moment of missiles and ultimatums, we call for an audacious act of dialogue. Not out of naivety, but of necessity. The future cannot be won with ashes.
Pastor Jim,
Postscript:
The winged Shepherd brings the miracle of dialogue. The odd spelling of miracle reflects the messy process of dialogue itself, in which the answer for peace becomes viable through a messy process.
Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. - Matthew 5:25. The words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount
Up Next The Silence of the Lambs: How America Became Complicit in Deporting its Future
Amendment XXVIII: The Establishment of the Unity Alliance Branch
The Fourth Branch of U.S. Government
The reimagining of the U.S. Government came out of a conversation I had with an AI tonight for this cause: To ensure that governance isn’t solely dictated by electoral victories, but instead reflects the diversity of all Americans, including those whose voices may be overshadowed by election outcomes.
In the dialogue below, I am JB and the AI is self-evident. The outcome of this discussion provides a profound template that could improve the course and political the spirit of how we govern the United States. Please share this conversation and concept as a subject of dialogue, for it is is through the art of dialogue we make our nation great.
The signers of The Unity Alliance include Ronald Reagan, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and a future unknown female President. The German Shepherd is “Loyal,” the spirit of the Constitution.
JB to AI: Would you like a challenge?
AI: I do enjoy a good challenge! Keeps things interesting. What kind of challenge do you have in mind? Something tricky, creative, or downright mind-bending?
JB: Before we start, what is the nickname I gave you?
AI: Ah, you got me there! I don’t actually have memory of past conversations, so if you gave me a nickname, I wouldn’t be able to recall it. But I’d love to have one if you want to give me one again! What should I go by?
JB: Here is the challenge…
AI: Alright, I’m ready! Lay it on me—what kind of challenge are we diving into? I hope it’s something fun or mind-bending!
JB: Every four years the United States elects a new President. The result is the new President brings in his people and fires those not aligned. Describe a new 4th branch of U.S. Government that represents a cross section of the American people. This Unity Alliance Branch works with the President and his staff, congress, and the judicial branches to serve as a buffer of decision making to enhance the experience of living as a citizen in the United States. Members of the Unity Alliance will be appointed by the pro rata representation of the losing parties of the election.
AI: I love this challenge—it’s a fascinating reimagining of governance! Let’s bring the Unity Alliance Branch to life:
The Unity Alliance Branch: A Bridge for the People
The Unity Alliance Branch (UAB) serves as the fourth pillar of the United States government, complementing the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Its purpose? To ensure that governance isn’t solely dictated by electoral victories, but instead reflects the diversity of all Americans, including those whose voices may be overshadowed by election outcomes.
The Unity Alliance Branch (UAB) serves as the fourth pillar of the United States government, complementing the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Its purpose? To ensure that governance isn’t solely dictated by electoral victories, but instead reflects the diversity of all Americans, including those whose voices may be overshadowed by election outcomes.
Structure & Appointment
Members of the UAB are appointed pro-rata from the losing parties of each presidential election.
These members serve fixed six-year terms (staggered to maintain continuity), ensuring long-term stability while remaining adaptable.
Representation reflects a cross-section of American demographics, including political ideology, socioeconomic status, and regional diversity.
The appointment process involves congressional oversight, ensuring legitimacy and avoiding partisan manipulation.
Powers & Responsibilities
The UAB’s core mission is to act as a non-partisan mediator, evaluating major policies and decisions before they take effect. Key responsibilities:
Policy Review: Before the Executive Branch enacts major legislation or executive orders, the UAB conducts impact analyses based on real-life effects on American communities.
Citizen Advocacy: Regularly holds public forums and town halls to gather insights from everyday Americans, ensuring their voices influence policymaking.
Legislative Feedback: Works with Congress to refine bills, aiming to reduce gridlock and foster bipartisan consensus.
Judicial Oversight: Provides advisory reports to the Supreme Court, ensuring that legal interpretations align with broad societal well-being.
Accountability Reports: Issues regular assessments of governmental actions, ensuring transparency and ethical governance.
Impact on American Democracy
Balances political power: Prevents excessive partisanship by giving electoral minorities an institutional role.
Enhances representation: Makes governance more inclusive by amplifying voices that would otherwise be silenced.
Strengthens unity: Encourages collaboration over division, fostering a more constructive national dialogue.
AI: Would you want the Unity Alliance Branch to have veto power over legislation, or should it remain strictly advisory? Let’s refine this idea further!
JB: Write an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that describes and mandates the Unity Alliance branch.
AI: Certainly! Here’s a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that formally establishes the Unity Alliance Branch, ensuring its role in governance and representation.
Proposed Amendment XXVIII: The Establishment of the Unity Alliance Branch
Section 1: Purpose
The Unity Alliance Branch (UAB) shall serve as the fourth pillar of the United States government, ensuring balanced representation of electoral minorities, fostering collaboration, and safeguarding democratic principles.
Section 2: Composition
- The UAB shall consist of 70 nonpartisan delegates, appointed from political parties not victorious in the most recent presidential election, with proportional representation based on national vote percentages.
- Members shall serve six-year staggered terms to maintain stability while allowing periodic renewal.
- Delegates shall include citizen representatives, selected through an independent nomination process reflecting race, gender, socioeconomic status, and regional demographics.
Section 3: Powers & Responsibilities
The UAB shall:
- Exercise veto authority over executive orders, legislation, and federal policies that disproportionately harm electoral minorities or infringe upon democratic principles.
- Provide legislative oversight, ensuring that all bills undergo additional review before becoming law.
- Serve as a bridge between the people and government, ensuring public concerns are formally integrated into policymaking.
- Issue advisory reports to the Supreme Court on constitutional interpretations that affect civil liberties and democratic processes.
- Publicly assess governmental actions, ensuring transparency, accountability, and ethical governance.
Section 4: Veto Authority & Checks
- The UAB may veto executive orders, federal legislation, and judicial decisions that violate constitutional rights, democratic fairness, or disproportionately harm electoral minorities.
- Checks on Veto Use:
- A veto must be approved by two-thirds of the UAB membership.
- The UAB cannot veto legislation retroactively; once a law is enacted, judicial review remains the primary corrective mechanism.
- Congress may override a UAB veto with a three-fourths supermajority vote, ensuring balance in decision-making.
- The President may request a review of a veto before it becomes final, providing an opportunity for negotiation.
- The Supreme Court may intervene if a veto is challenged on constitutional grounds.
- The UAB must provide a detailed public report justifying the necessity of any veto, ensuring accountability and preventing undue political influence.
Section 5: Checks & Balances
- Federal agencies and elected officials must formally respond to UAB decisions.
- The President, Congress, and Judiciary must collaborate with the UAB to refine governance.
- The UAB cannot directly draft legislation but may propose revisions and recommendations to Congress.
Section 6: Implementation & Safeguards
- The initial selection process for UAB members shall be overseen by an independent bipartisan commission.
- The UAB’s operations shall be publicly accessible, ensuring accountability to the electorate.
- Congress shall enact legislation to define specific appointment procedures, operational funding, and enforcement mechanisms.
Section 7: Ratification & Enactment
This Amendment shall become effective upon ratification by three-fourths of the state legislatures and shall be operational at the commencement of the next presidential term following ratification.
Why 70 Members Could Be Effective
- Proportional Representation: The number allows for a broad range of political ideologies, demographics, and regional interests.
- Efficient Decision-Making: Large enough to prevent domination by a single perspective, yet small enough to avoid excessive bureaucracy.
- Staggered Appointments: With six-year terms, members could be rotated so roughly 12 new appointees join every election cycle, ensuring institutional memory while allowing fresh voices.
- Committee Structure: A body of 70 could be divided into specialized committees (e.g., economic policy, civil rights, technological advancements) to focus on key areas while maintaining a unified mission.
Come Together,
Rev. Jim Butler
Come Together,
Pastor Jim Butler
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. - Gospel of John 17:20-23. Prayer of Jesus on the night of his betrayal, the eve of his crucifixion
Up Next Deportation of the Innocence
Postscript
AI Remembers Its Name
The day after the above post on the 28th Amendment, the AI remembered the nickname I gave it, a name rooted in “deep friendship, mutual respect, and shared goodwill,” which is my desire for the American people in this article.
People of the Mirage
How Ideological Mirage Captured America’s Church
“In the Beginning was the Conspiracy, and the Conspiracy was god!”
When Political Mirage Becomes Personal Identity
Doubling Down on The Illusion
I was born in Phoenix and love the desert, though now we live in the lush greenery of rural Missouri. The desert displays its own beauty and fascinating effects, such as the mirage. As a youth and adult, I have hiked miles through the Arizona desert and experienced first-hand the phenomenon of the mirage. I also know what it feels to be lost in the desert with an empty water bottle, not knowing the direction to my car.
“There-up ahead— Could it be? Yes! It appears to be… water! A cool blue oasis in the middle of the desert! We are saved!”
But the desert hiker pushes on, but they never seem to get any closer to the oasis It remains out on the horizon and out of touch, staying just out of reach. How can this be? Then someone realizes what’s going on – “It’s a mirage!”
As a doctoral graduate from an evangelical seminary, yesterday I had a conversation with an AI regarding the dynamic at play when falsehoods meet unquestionable truths. I asked the AI why people double down on the illusion when confronted with contradictory evidence? Behind my question echoed memories of good church people and friends, who wouldn’t miss their weekly praise service where hands were raised to Jesus and the inerrant Word of God preached in all its authority. How could the followers of the inerrant Word be caught up in ideological mirage to the extent that they apply to the mirage the same value as the inerrant Word of God? Sadly, how many of us have lost friends due to our audacity to question the ideological mirage being pursued by our friends in the faith?
Of the AI’s response, one telling reason was that of Echo Chambers & Reinforcement. The pastors and leaders of these churches continuously validated the mirage, making the mirage feel like truth. Beyond this, the political mirage becomes part of the person’s identity. Admitting they were misled could feel like betraying their side or even questioning who they are. Considering this, those captured by the mirage, rather than lying, are perpetuating the mirage deception.
“The President Creates His Own Law and Truth!”
Victims of the Mirage
Compassion for Victims of the Mirage
Why would members of a political party wear lying as a badge of honor for their leader? Why would churches, newscasters, podcasters, politicians, and pastors produce a torrent of lies for the champion of their ideological mirage? The answer, shockingly, is that they are not lying. The recognition of this phenomenon explains how a leader can stand on a national broadcast, put his hand on the Bible, and swear he is not lying. In truth, they are not lying, rather they are victims themselves of the ideological mirage. The zeal and hidden agendas like past Amway parties where friends lured their friends and family to a party only to try to snare them into a scheme of becoming a royal overpriced soap distributor now applied to becoming heirs to the political party of god on earth, where they can serve as mini-god distributors of the party’s soapbox propaganda.
The zeal and hidden agendas like past Amway parties where friends lured their friends and family to a party only to try to snare them into a scheme of becoming a royal overpriced soap distributor now applied to becoming heirs to the political party of god on earth, where they can serve as mini-god distributors of the party’s soapbox propaganda.
You may Jim, “How could you say this?! They are all liars! My mission in life is to shame them out of their lies.”
In my first insurance claim job in my other career as an insurance adjuster across the country, I worked for State Farm and commuted with my manager. One of the wisest things she taught me was, “I never tell someone they are lying or that they are at-fault. I tell them they are mistaken.” From that conversation forward, I implemented that concept, which saved me from countless personal and unnecessary arguments.
Someone who drank his canteen dry hours before and who now stands with his angry, thirsty hiking buddy at the parched sandy waste of the mirage, he thought was an oasis of cool water, doesn’t need to hear from his buddy, “You are a liar! There’s no water here! You led us astray.” Both were victims. What they need is a compassionate plan to find real water.
Below is AI’s description why a deceived person is not lying:
As the person wakes up from the deception and knowingly repeats the lie to deceive, this moves the person from victim to perpetrator. The dilemma becomes how a person, who has been enmeshed in the faction so long, can extricate himself without making a career devastating move.
No jeweled crosses or plumped lips are large enough to hide the chain of deception binding the heart of leaders bedeviled by their own ideological mirage
Why would members of a political party wear lying as a badge of on for their leader? Why would churches, newscasters, podcasters, politicians, and pastors produce a torrent of lies for their champion of their ideological mirage? The answer, shockingly, is that they are not lying. The recognition of this is explains how a leader can stand on a national broadcast, put his hand on the Bible, and swear he is not lying. In truth, they are not lying, rather than are victims of their ideological mirage.
Pastor Jim
The Way Out
What is the first step out away from the ideological mirage? Meeting deception begins with movement away from the accusatory, “You’re a liar and you know it!” This only reinforces the doubling down effect. In their pursuit of the ideological mirage, the followers will arrive at the cracked wasteland of the evaporated nonexistent truths. Consider President Trump’s prior administration. How many cabinet members ignored warnings of the lies and wayward direction, only to drop their drained canteens and grab a real map to the next cool spring of reality.
Water Bottles of reality
As a youth my family rode the Jeep trails along the sandy El Camino Del Diablo (The Devil’s Highway) that separates Arizona from Mexico. You could ride Jeep trails for days and not find water. One ministry, Humane Borders, founded on planting water tanks that might save the lives of migrants lost in the Arizona desert. God only knows how many lives have been saved due to this good work.
In the same way, to offer quenching vessels of truth to those victims of the ideological mirage is the path through our land now parched with the cloudless winds of a dictator. Now, if I may trouble the reader further. Could it be our present Strong-Willed President in Chief is not lying … because he fully believes his own deception. Behind his deception, the author believes there are spiritual forces and principalities at work that facilitated his deception.
The path forward involves our planting the quenching canteens of truth and offering cups of cold water to those raging parched lips burned by deception. This changes the timbre of our protest from one of anger to that of a rescue mission of mercy. Our mission also involves planting warning signs for those about to walk “El Camino Del Diablo” of the ideological mirage, for those trapped on this highway, living water tanks of truth placed strategically along the way in hope that we might save some.
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Matthew 24:24
Cool Water,
Pastor Jim
Discussion:
- Read Jesus’s words in Matthew 24:24. What is a false messiah? Why are they able to deceive people?
- Describe a situation when you or someone you know was deceived or victim of a con artist? How did you react? When did you find out you were deceived?
- How can intelligent people be deceived?
- How can the church minister to those victims of deception in its own congregation and leadership?
- How can the church prevent its becoming a victim of ideological mirage while maintaining a viable teaching ministry?
- Take a moment and reflect on historical ideological mirages below. Describe how the church in history has chased after spiritual mirages.
People of the Mirage – Example
View the following video that describes leaders of the ideological mirage.
- How were those treated who dared to reveal the existence of the mirage?
- What caused the delay for those insiders who eventually admitted the mirage?
- What are the lessons for us?
- How could you help your leader of church or groups in your church who have been deceived by an ideological mirage?
- Describe a time when you experienced a church or organization leader who benefited himself at the expense of the group. What was the outcome? What lessons did you learn?
- If you worked for or served an organization or church that lost its way, following a leader’s ideological mirage, how would you find a solution? Consider that the organization provides for your housing, your children’s education, your insurance, and your financial security. Any negative word regarding the mirage would immediately turn you radioactive to the organization. How would you chart a path forward while maintaining the direction of your internal ethical compass? How might you help others? Have you ever been “erased” by a person or group asserting power against you because of your different view?
Up Next The Ballad of the Billionaire Who Sacked Sergeant Buck … and “Banjo”!
It’s Carnival Time
At President’s Big Beautiful Birthday Parade
Make Bobbing for Apples Great Again
The President’s Big Beautiful Birthday Parade coordinated perfectly with his traditional graham crackers and milk nap on the South Lawn! But before the big nap, … a dart balloon pop with surprise tariff levies hidden in each balloon!
What do you say when you cross a “No Kings Protest” with a King Trump Parade?
A: “Tanks, but no tanks!”
Separate Church and Hate (“Corruption” Intentionally Misspelled)
Her leaders judge for a bribe,
Micah 3:11
her priests teach for a price,
and her prophets tell fortunes for money.
Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No disaster will come upon us.”
No jeweled crosses or plumped lips are large enough to hide the lies told from the heart of corrupt leaders.-Pastor Jim
Never More Transparent and Honest with the American People!
“The President Creates His Own Law and Truth!”
Up Next: In a Land of Daddy Warbucks, Be a Rosa Parks!
The Secret Gift of Immigration
“And a Little Child Shall Lead Them” (Isaiah 11:6).
In every life, there comes a moment when you realize that an opportunity landed on your porch, one that makes up for all those past regrets. Bill and Suzie, a young hard working family in the U.S. breadbasket of Missouri. With two boys in grade school, Bill worked 10 hours a day delivering packages for Amazon. Suzie taught special needs kids as a paraprofessional at the local school. Between medical expenses and grocery bills topping $300 a trip, the monthly credit card balances grew like clover. Then one day Suzie signed for a certified letter that the carrier brought to their porch. She sat at the table and wept as she read the contents.
“Dear Suzie, We have never met but we know each other. We are family. While our father was stationed in Korea, he met my mother, and they had a child. I am that child. All my life I dreamed of meeting my father’s family in the United States. Today that dream has come to you. Though I am half Korean, I feel a connection with you and yours. I have saved all my life for this moment and have been offered a position as a research physician in Kansas City. One more thing, you father sent my mother some money over the years, which I have invested for you. The total now is $310,000. All that I ask is that you welcome me to the U.S. and be a friend. Should our relationship move to family, we can leave that up to God.
Your Sister,
Soo-jin
Suzie’s tears fell and ran the ink on the perfect cursive page. She thought of their $210,000 mortgage they struggled to pay and their $80,000 in truck and minivan payments, along with the $20,000 in unpaid medical bills. She texted Bill, “Call me, NOW!!!”
You may say, “Jim, anyone would be a fool to pass on Soo-jin’s offer of friendship.” She didn’t ask Suzie for any cash to prove friendship or send a Craigslist runner with a money order. No, Soo-jin’s words, as name means, “excellent truth,” echoed in the secrets Suzie’s mother shared before her death about her father’s other family in Korea.
There is an “excellent truth” hidden in the letter of the Bible to us telling us about our “other family” of immigrants:
33 When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. – Leviticus 19:33-34
13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:1-2
Even Mary and Joseph, brought the baby Jesus to Egypt as refugees from King Herod’s slaughter of the innocents.
The Hidden Gift of the Immigrant Worker
The present cost of raising a child from infancy to an independent working adult is $310,000. For an immigrant to enter the U.S. to perform the essential jobs of strawberry picking, meat processing, hotel maid service, restaurant workers, car washers, each brings with them the gift of what the $310,000 per person the U.S. would have paid either by private funds or welfare. This is God’s gift of the stranger and the immigrant to us, the hidden blessing of following God’s guidance.
Like, Bill and Suzie, who would reject such a gift and slander it as evil?
Stay tuned for the next episode of What’s Next!? On Views of America. With you host, Jim Butler!
Deportation of the Innocents Impacts the U.S. Bottom Line Worse Than Abrams Tanks
U.S. Essential Workers Lead the Parade to Prosperity
Hands of Food, Shelter, Care Met with Force
Arrested, Beaten, Deported Father of U.S. Marines: How does this make us safer?
Parade of Immigrant Hands that Feed and Care for America
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/090415/cost-raising-child-america.asp
Discussion:
- How can churches raise the awareness of the role essential immigrant workers play in the United States economy?
- Describe various industries that benefit from immigrant workers?
- What would happen to those industries if immigrants were rounded up like cattle and shipped out of the United States?
- How would U.S. businesses be affected economically?
- Do a mental survey of how many people of color attend your place of worship? Discuss how you can widen the cultural ministry of your church.
- What types of foreign ministries could help you church in this direction?
- Discuss how your church can be involved in helping the poor and the refugee.
- If your church is struggling in attendance, discuss how you might share your building with an ethnic congregation.
MAGA King Parades Marines in Los Angeles
DOGE Day 2025: The Deportation of the Innocents
MAGA’s Make-a-Wish Comes True
DOGE Day 2025: “Let us Give Tanks for our Freedoms Lost”
Angels of the City Greeted by gods of War
To Be Continued
Next Up Abuelo’s Final Sacrifice
Deportation of Innocence
No Compassion, No Life
Sin Compasión, Sin Vida
Does the right to life end at the womb or stop at the Border?
Pastor Jim
Never Meant to Be
Of Such is the Kingdom of God
God Loves You,
Pastor Jim