jimrigby.org

We want to be a free democratic society but ALSO want to be led by a powerful charismatic figure. This is a contradiction in terms.
We believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all persons. We ALSO believe in free markets that make those aspirations impossible for many if not most.
We welcome all cultures and ethnicities, but ALSO believe in teaching history from a Euro-centric origins perspective which erases the history of everyone else.
We are for separation of church and state, but ALSO for putting “In God We Trust on all our coins and letting right wing Christians turn their religion into our laws.
We believe in the rule of law, but ALSO believe America is uniquely righteous and therefore should be the exception to international standards.
It seems to me there are many people in this land who have forgotten that:
The job of the president is to PRESIDE over a democratic process that honors the fulll constitutional rights of liberals as well as conservatives.
The context for property rights is human rights and environmental sanity.
The American dream is not that individuals should be able to hoard without limits, but that ALL persons should enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
And, might does not make right.

June 20, 2025

Over the years I have tried to make this Facebook SubStack pages places where people always find some kind of hope for the struggles facing us. If I have problems I don’t want to talk about them here unless there is a lesson to be learned from them.
I keep getting requests for an update on my health since my heart surgery. I haven’t been sure how to answer the questions. During that first month, I didn’t want to keep telling people that I didn’t feel that great. As I say, I want this site to be a gift for you not a drain.
So, anyway, this post in an update on my health situation. If that isn’t something you need or want to know you can stop reading here. It won’t hurt my feelings in the least.
I recently realized that the perfect response to health question is what Dan Rather says when asked about his health. Dan is one of the kindest and most hospitable people I have ever met. I love his response to health questions after he went through surgeries much more serious than mine. Instead, of giving people continual bad news about his situation, or discounting the concern other people have about his health, Dan typically responds:
“Well, I’m doing about as well as can be expected under the circumstance.”
I love that answer. Hopefully Dan won’t sue me for using it myself. There are times when we need to get things off our chest, but I prefer this page to be a positive experience for you. Life is hard enough right now just reading the news.
I do appreciate peoples’ compassion and concern, but no-one needs to worry about me. The first month is behind me now and I’m feeling better and better. Or. as Dan says, “I’m doing about as well as can be expected under the circumstance.”

The more we love humankind as a whole the more we feel the pain and injustice around us. It is important for kind people living in cruel times to protect their hearts.
The branches of a tree cannot grow larger or stronger than the roots will support. Even as our “branches” strive sunward toward justice, so must our “roots” be nurtured in the dark rich soil of peace and compassion. We need to resist the assaults on human rights, but it is not betrayal to the resistance to make time for rest and joy. It is not a denial of oppression to make time to celebrate the wonder of being alive.
Justice is simply love that has done the math of how happiness might be shared. Even in brutal times we must remember we are marching toward a future happiness not an endless conflict. Spending our lives planting seeds for a better future can be a path to peace and joy even if we do not see the results in our own lifetimes. Sometimes we must “borrow” joy from a future happiness that lives only in our hopes for others.
Hope is not a vacuous wish for a better future. Hope is making our lives a love letter to those yet to be. We cannot work for the common happiness if we ourselves are without joy. If justice is to be a lifelong passion then we must make it sustainable for the long run. We must poke breathing holes in the mason jar of our activism.
Perhaps that is part of what Rumi was implying when he said:
“Come, Come, Whoever You Are Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. �It doesn’t matter. �Ours is not a caravan of despair.� Come, even if you have broken your vows �a thousand times�. Come, yet again, come, come.”

1. In 1953, Iran was a peaceful democracy, but when the president of that nation tried to nationalize Iran’s oil for the Iranian people, the U.S. covertly undermined Iran’s democratically elected administration and imposed the Shah as dictator because dictators tend to be friendlier to U.S. financial interests. It was because of U.S. interference that many Iranians reluctantly chose chose Islamic militants as an alternative to foreign domination.
2. The U.S. blames Iran for supporting terrorism, but nothing has done as much to produce terrorism in some parts of the world as our own covert interference. We mustn’t forget that Osama bin Laden and company were armed and trained by the U.S. to murder Russians. ISIS was partly born from the shattered regime in Iraq which the U.S. subjected to ‘shock and awe” as revenge for 9-11 although that nation had nothing to do with the attack.
3. Remember that the news we read about Iran here in the U.S. is often sponsored by the same corporations that profit from oil and even from war. While there are private fortunes to be made by going to war with Iran, there is no equal financial incentive for trying to help Americans understand why Iranians might be desperate to find a deterrent to U.S. and Israeli interference.
4. We may forget, but Iranians remember that the U.S. backed Saddam Hussein even after he had used chemical weapons against the Iranian people. While most in the U.S. have forgotten that we shot down a civilian Iranian airliner the Iranian people have not. How is it objective news coverage to tell the story of the Iranian conflict leaving out details like the 1953 coup, the Iran Contra affair, and the shooting down of a civilian Iranian airliner, by the U.S.S. Vincennes killing all 290 on board?
5. What ethical principle can the U.S and Israel invoke for attacking another nation for trying to obtain the same weapons we have? If the weapons are immoral in Iranian hands, should we not question the integrity of having them ourselves?
6. Sadly, history has shown that nuclear technology is the best defense against U.S. invasion. After Libya and Iraq showed they lacked weapons of mass destruction they both suffered regime change at the hands of the U.S. The more we make nations feel insecure the more likely they will seek out more destructive weapons out of fear.
7. To be sure Iran has its own political criminals, but so do most nations. Some of the same people who have called us to attack Iran these last few decades also lied about the evidence for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction leading us into that undeclared and unwarranted war. How can any American justify the killing of Iranians on the word of a government that has so consistently lied to us about the nation and people of Iran?

Tomorrow, on the President’s birthday, there will be a military parade more in the style of Kim Jong Un than that of any earlier U.S. president at peacetime. To show how far the presidency has fallen from its constitutional origins, it might be helpful to remember the story of George Washington’s spectacles.
After the Revolutionary War ended, many soldiers had not been paid. There was a movement among the soldiers of the Continental Army to reject the governance of Congress and to choose George Washington as king.
When George Washington heard about the possibility of an insurrection, he sadly and wearily showed up at the meeting of his beloved troops. Washington had been a charismatic and powerful leader through the war, but the job of a president in times of peace is to PRESIDE over the democratic process. As frustrating as the checks and balances of a democratic republic can be, they are our only safeguard against the tyranny of one person.
I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but when Washington stood before his troops, he chose to put on his spectacles. “Gentlemen,” Washington said, “you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.”
Washington no longer looked like a military icon, but an elderly man. Washington was strong enough to know that vulnerability is sometimes a better expression of leadership than bluster. Washington implored his troops “…to express your utmost horror and detestation of the (Person) who wishes, under any specious pretenses, to overturn the liberties of our Country, and who wickedly attempts to open the flood Gates of Civil discord, and deluge our rising Empire in Blood.”
Nothing could be further from the saber rattling of our current president than the time when Washington used his spectacles to lead with humility instead of bravado. After Washington’s amazing act of humanity, the army voted unanimously to submit to Congress.
Thomas Jefferson expressed marvel at Washington’s humility, saying, “The moderation and virtue of a single character probably prevented this Revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish.”

If we take the Bible literally in English, we must renounce scholarly studies in Hebrew and Greek that show the ambiguity inherent in any language (not to mention any translation).
No wonder so many Christian believers who slam their minds shut to avoid critical thinking about scripture find it easy to ignore science as well. It is easy for a non-critical thinker to believe ridiculous conspiracy theories about their neighbors. Bad religion has taught them how to fear but not how to love.
If we believe history has been a struggle between good and evil people instead of a clash of needs and interests between the members of our one human family, our circle of compassion will get smaller and smaller.
No wonder so many sectarian Christians pray for our troops but never get around to loving and praying for our enemies. No wonder so many sectarian Christians believe the lies told about immigrants and about other religious worldviews. Jesus is not some tribal chieftain to be lifted above every other. Jesus is one culture’s symbol of the tie that binds every sentient being into one common life.
Love is the golden key for translating any text from its original ancient setting and into our current day. Love teaches if scripture seems to call us to repeat some ancient cruelty or superstition, we are reading the text wrong for our day.
Religion should be a mustard seed that grows into a tree capable of giving shelter to all. If your Christianity has not led you to universal love, the seed of your religion died in infancy before yielding its fruit.

When I was in grade school, we often read a little magazine called the “Weekly Reader.”
The Weekly Reader said that America was better than Russia and East Germany because THOSE nations didn’t take care of their own people but, instead, emptied their public coffers on military parades and other celebrations of national might.
We were told that America was better than Russian and East Germany because THOSE nations were governed by an individual strong man whereas OUR nation was governed by a democratic process with checks and balances against tyranny.
We were told that America was better than Russia and East Germany because THEY focused on flags and propaganda, whereas OUR patriotism consisted in loyalty to the Constitution and to an ever-increasing understanding that human rights apply to EVERYONE.
We were told that THOSE countries required obedience to the dear leader, but that WE could protest peacefully without fear of retribution.
We were told that THOSE countries required conformity, whereas OUR nation believed that it is diversity that makes us strong (E Pluribus Unum).
My, how times change.

Magical religion centers on your own life.

Mysticism is dissolving into a sense of the interconnectedness with all of life.

Magical religion uses spirituality to get something physical.

Mysticism recognizes reverent awareness as the priceless priceless diamond that it is.

Magical religion is the love of power.Mysticism is content with the power of love.

I wonder how many Christians realize that when Jesus told the parable of the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine sheep to find one sheep that was lost, he was saying we must sometimes leave the church to comfort those whom Christians have rejected?
The word “church” in Greek means “called out.” We are not defined by closed boundaries but by inclusive horizons. The church is not a gated community of insiders, it is a temple consisting of stones the builders have rejected. A church of purists and insiders is a contradiction in terms.
If a church shuns a parent for loving their transgender child, it is not the movement Jesus was talking about. Jesus said our love should be like the sun, which gives its light without judging who is worthy. He said love is like the rain that falls upon the just and unjust. If the church rejects someone for the supposed crime of honest doubt, it is not the movement Jesus was talking about.
If there were even one soul in hell, a true follower of Jesus would refuse to enter the gates of heaven until that one last missing member of the human family was found and included.
Jesus called his followers not to sectarian religion, but to universal love. Nothing less will do.

White supremacy doesn’t mean you necessarily dislike People of Color, it just means that you see white experience as normative. Once we see ourselves as the measure of humanity we cannot help but judge other races and cultures as inferior even if we would never consciously say that in a thousand years- even to ourselves. You may even welcome People of Color into America so long as they defer to white history, white culture and white structures of power. You do not have to hate People of Color to be a white supremacist, you just have to believe they are guests in an America already defined by its white people.