JESUS RODE A DONKEY:. Linda Seger
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Unless otherwise noted, the Bible used as a source is the New Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Company, 1973.
Dedicated to my uncle, Dr. Norman Graebner, who taught American history and American diplomacy for more than sixty years. His dedication to democracy, and his dignity and grace, have been a model to me all my life.
To my researcher, Sue Terry, who knows where to find everything—fast. I thank her for her generosity, care, and spirituality. Without her, I could not have written this book.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my uncle, Dr. Norman Graebner, for adding quotes, giving me books, and checking facts for me. Thanks always to Sue Terry, my researcher, for her brilliance, generosity, insight, and support, and for always being there when I need her.
A Big Thank You to my assistant, Katie Davis Gardner, for her constant dedication to making sure this book made deadlines, for discussing and clarifying concepts and words, for working long hours when necessary, for never letting me down, and always being a very helping and kind presence in my office.
Thank you to Mara Purl, my friend and great supporter of the book; Larry Carpenter and my publisher, Clovercroft; my text designer and copyeditor, Jean Laidig; my book designer, Reya Patton; and my cover designer, Nick Zelinger.
Thank you to my colleague and friend, John Winston Rainey, for his invaluable feedback and help. What a great gift! His contribution was invaluable.
Thank you to my readers for the Second Edition: Devorah Cutler-Rubenstein, Cathleen Loeser, Jonathan McPhee, Lynn Brown Rosenberg, and Pamela Jaye Smith.
For the First Edition, thank you to my fellow Christian Democrat readers, who gave me copious notes and wonderful insights: Pamela Jaye Smith, Kim Peterson, Cathleen Loeser, Bobbie Sue Nave, and Jim Nave. For the First Edition, thank you to my Christian Republican reader, Debra Weitala, who tells me she is now a registered Democrat! And thanks to my Republican neighbor Steve Berendt for our ten-hour day filled with stimulating discussions of ideas and with his brilliant suggestions for honing the language of the book.
For the First Edition, thank you to Dr. Cheri Junk for help with Chapters 1 and 2, to Kristin Howard for her help with Chapter 1, to Tirtza and Abe Weschler for help on Chapter 3, to Ann Grant Martin and Pam Jones for their comments on Chapter 6, and to Devorah Cutler-Rubenstein for help with Chapters 7 and 8.
For the First Edition, thanks to my agent, Janet Benrey, and to Sarah Callbeck, Martha Callbeck, and Laurie Wagner Byers.
To my Quaker friend, Dr. Bill Durland, Ph.D. in politics and religion, who has guided me through several chapters; to my neighbor Tom Radcliffe, who has worked in the White House under several administrations and helped with the chapter titled “Secrets, Lies, and Deceptions”; and to William Flavin from the U.S. Army War College, who provided me with many papers and fact checks in the “War and Peace” chapter—thanks.
And thanks always to my husband, Peter Hazen Le Var, for reading chapters and for continuing to love me despite knowing what life is like when I’m writing a book!
Note: In order to be inclusive, most of my biblical quotes come from the New Jerusalem Bible, which is used by Catholics and Protestants alike. Very occasionally, another translation is used.
Introduction
By the time we are born, we have already been impacted by the political decisions that our parents and their parents and the founding fathers have made. These choices determine the opportunities we have, the visions and dreams we follow, the philosophies we will accept, and our understanding of what needs to be changed. It doesn’t take long for us to become little political beings with opinions about how we’re supposed to vote and what party we’re supposed to belong to.
I grew up as a Republican. I remember being a grade school student in the 1950s when everybody liked Ike. It was presumed that everybody would vote for Eisenhower because of what he had done for our country in the past, and because he was a nice, likable man. When we had our grade school mock elections, there were only two people in my grade school class who voted for Adlai Stevenson. After staring at them for a few moments, I reached some conclusions that these two people were not like us. Many years later I discovered that my uncle, who was an author and a renowned university professor in history, felt Stevenson was one of our truly great Americans. He had been an avid supporter of Stevenson, and was a Democrat. But I knew nothing of that at an early age.
By the time I could think further about politics, Nixon and John F. Kennedy were running against each other. It seemed to me absolutely essential for Nixon to win. I was told that if Kennedy won, the Pope would move into the White House and govern our country, because a Roman Catholic had to obey the Pope above our Constitution, above our Congress, and above any other democratic institution that might not be quite in line with the Pope’s point of view.
But Kennedy won me over. His vision of putting a man on the moon, his creation of the Peace Corps, and his strength and charisma made me excited about political leadership. In my developing adolescence, I almost became a Democrat in my mind, even though I was not able to vote. Lyndon B. Johnson turned me back to the Republicans because of his coarse and sometimes bullying personality. It was many years later that I realized how much good he had done for our country. I moved back and forth and finally, with the corruption of the Nixon Watergate scandal, I registered first as an Independent and then as a Democrat.
When I went to seminary in the 1970s, I came into contact with some new ways of thinking that developed my consciousness. By that time, my mother had already moved over to the Democratic Party because of the influence of a minister, and because of her developing anti-war feelings. My sister and my father remained staunch Republicans.
When I was in seminary, even though I worked three jobs, studied all the rest of the time, and had some scholarship help, I was so poor I couldn’t afford to park at a parking meter because I didn’t have an extra dime. I went on the food stamps program, and food stamps saved me. They made it possible for me to stay in graduate school and to eventually get my Th.D. Experiencing what it was like to be poor changed how I thought about government assistance. No matter how hard I worked, I still needed help. I believed it was to the benefit of me and my country for me to complete graduate school. At one point, one of my jobs gave me a raise of $20.00, which disqualified me for food stamps. Within two weeks, my employer illegally fired me. It took me six weeks to get back on the food stamp program. The day before the food stamps arrived, I looked through my cupboard. All I had left was dry cereal, which I ate that day with water.
During this time, I was also grateful for free women’s clinics, which gave me the opportunity to see a doctor when ill and to receive medications, if necessary. Now that I’m over 65, I am grateful for Medicare and for the Social Security check I have just started to collect.
My developing view of the government’s role in helping its citizens was reaffirmed in 2004 when my sister became ill with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). She was eligible for Medicaid because ALS is one of those few diseases where one can get Medicaid before 65, but the social service agencies were not responding quickly. I was told to call Holly’s representative from Long Island, New York, who was Steve Israel, a Democrat. His response changed my sister’s life. He and his office staff helped her get a Medicaid card within a week. They were compassionate, efficient, caring, and on top of the problem. Although she died several years later, the political policy that allowed her to get the help she needed made it possible for her to die with grace and dignity. This assistance from Steve Israel made such a powerful impact that her daughter, who had never voted for anyone except a Republican, voted for him, and said, “I voted for him because he helped my mom.”
Many times we make changes in the way we think about political policy because of personal influences including the people we meet, the jobs we have, the books we read, and those who help us form our theology and our understanding of the Bible.
I work in the film industry, and I live in the context of an