Miner Queries: Hostility — more important than solidarity?

 In case you haven’t picked up on it, my faith is a very important part of my life, including my work as director of a Methodist non-profit. So in my reading, I often choose books about theology.

I’m currently reading “Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?” by Brian D. McLaren. While reading it as I waited for my daughter at the dentist’s office last week, I came across this statement:  “Our root problem is the hostility we often employ to make and keep our identities strong – whether those identities are political, economic, philosophical, scientific, or religious.”

“Well,” I thought, “That would explain our current situation.” I was thinking of President Obama’s efforts to lead international negotiations with Iran on their nuclear power program.

Last week, a group of 47 Republican senators, including Iowa’s Senators Grassley and Ernst, signed a letter to Iran discouraging its leaders from signing any agreement now under negotiation. How is this responsible governance?

While our president (duly elected) and the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany are negotiating toward a peaceful solution, Republican senators deliberately acted to sabotage it. Is this anything more than a way to obstruct a Democratic president’s governing? Has Republican hostility become more important than American solidarity?

Or maybe it has more to do with money? As I was reading last week, I came across several news stories about the letter’s author, Arkansas freshman Senator Tom Cotton. As Travis Gettys of The Raw Story wrote, “Cotton is scheduled to appear at an ‘Off the Record and strictly Non-Attribution’ event with the National Defense Industrial Association, a lobbying group for defense contractors, less than 24 hours after the letter was sent, reported The Intercept.”

In further reading, I stumbled across this Think Progress article from March, 2014, outlining Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol’s support for Cotton’s senate candidacy as a pro-war candidate. If you remember, Kristol rallied for our Afghanistan and Iraq wars. 

Reporter Ben Armbruster writes: “It’s no secret that Kristol prefers the military option in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program. Perhaps that’s why he’s re-launching his war-isn’t-so-bad campaign: the U.S. and its international partners (the P5+1) are closer to resolving the nuclear stand-off with Iran diplomatically than they were a year ago and polling continues to show that Americans prefer diplomacy over war with Iran. . . . On Iran, Cotton is on Kristol’s page.” 

So maybe it’s about perpetual war not only for profit, but for power. 

I was relieved to see some of the letter’s signers waking up to the reality of the people’s view later in the week. As The Hill reported, Arizona Senator John McCain admitted to FOX host Greta Van Sustern that the letter was not the most effective response from those disagreeing with President Obama’s foreign policy.

So McCain’s admission brings me back to McLaren’s observation about hostility. If we’re all Americans, shouldn’t we stand in solidarity with our President as he seeks peaceful solutions for our security? 

Or is hostility to the opposition more important? 

Cherie Miner is a local parent, community volunteer, freelance writer and artist. In a former life, she was a corporate writer and public relations professional. Contact her at news@redoakexpress.com or on Facebook.