The Ludlow Brief by Tony Ludlow, PhD

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. First, let's talk about the elephant--and the donkey--not in the room: political parties. I have never been a member of any political party. Nor have I ever identified as a Republican or a Democrat. But I have voted every two years since I was 18, which included years spent in the Marines and a decade living in Japan voting by absentee.
. My views about political parties mirror the wisdom of many of our Founding Fathers, most notably, and certainly not restricted to, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Paine, and James Madison. Even Thomas Jefferson was critical of them.
. George Washington's Farewell Address is noteworthy for its condemnation of political parties. He said, "The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism."
. Furthermore, the suggestion that the complexities and nuances of American governance, culture, law, and administration can be forced into one of two major political parties, two labels--conservative or liberal--is a contrived paradigm designed to serve the party and not the people. The parties don't succeed by compromise and cooperation. They serve themselves by fostering conflict, fear, division, and distrust.
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. Let’s flesh out the big items in southern politics:
God
guns
abortion
gay rights & gay marriage
immigration
crime and punishment/law enforcement
military
education
healthcare (I've included healthcare here, but it hardly ever makes it to the list of "southern causes.")
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. God

The separation of church and state is sacrosanct. Neither God, Jesus, nor the church are mentioned in the Constitution. And religion is only mentioned to say that the government won’t endorse one and it won’t prohibit the free exercise of it. Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. Seneca said, "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers [magistrates, politicians, potentates] as useful.”
. John Adams said, "... the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
. I have a graduate degree from a very conservative evangelical seminary. (A seminary M.Div. is a three-year degree that averages 90 semester hours [mine was 93] and is similar to the requirements of a law school degree with an average of 83 semester hours in the US.) I’m an ordained minister; I served in ministry for many years and spent ten years as a foreign missionary to Japan. My “conservative views” are about me following the demands of the Gospel in my own life. Those views and opinions have nothing to do with how others ought to live. I am more “conservative” than any politician I know; I sold everything I owned, packed up my little family of three children and their mom, and took us to Japan for a decade "for the sake of the Gospel."
. I've read the Bible more than 16 times in its entirety. In college and seminary, I took Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and have studied the Bible on a granular level in those languages, even diagraming most of the book of Romans in Greek. In Japan, I read the Bible from "cover to cover" in Japanese. That took over five years.
. All that to say this, I'm no one's model Christian--far from it. No one should follow my example or be bound by my interpretation of the Scriptures. Nor must anyone be bound by anyone else's interpretation of them. Hard stop. The Government of the United States must remain free of any religious creed or dogma, be it Muslim, Jew, Christian, et. al.
. Article VI of the Constitution says: "... no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
. Currently, there are two ordained US Senators and seven ordained members of the US House.
. James Madison said, "And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."
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. Guns

I’m a gun owner. I’ve owned a gun since I got a .22 rifle when I was ten. I grew up with guns and hunting. The Marine Corps trained me to be an expert with a rifle and a pistol.
. The Second Amendment may be the most misinterpreted 27 words in our national and political life. The NRA, the gun lobby, and the GOP have made the United States a global embarrassment, where thousands are murdered with guns every year. No American should be allowed to own any weapon designed for war. There are too many guns on the street, and they are too available. We need common-sense gun legislation.
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. Abortion

The GOP likes to posture itself as pro-life. As it pertains to pregnant women, the GOP is pro-birth. Once the baby is born, the GOP isn’t interested; the life they were so “pro” about is no longer their concern. “Right to life” sounds nobler, but it still misses the fundamental guarantee of personal liberty for the woman. My opinion about when life begins is simply that, an opinion. And my opinion on this matter should not and must not be imposed on others.
. Body autonomy is a fundamental right for all of us. I have no right to dictate to any other person what they can and can’t do with their own body. It is none of my business. Being pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion. It just means that a woman has the right to make her own healthcare decisions about her own body and her own life.
. If you believe abortion is wrong, then don’t have an abortion.
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. Gay Rights/Same-Sex Marriage

Among the many distractions our lawmakers enjoy is a preoccupation with other people’s s*x lives. The anti-gay crowd thinks being gay is a choice about s*x.
. In 1963, I met Scot Gardner. We were in 1st grade together. In those days, we called boys like Scot “sissies.” I knew Scot was different on the first day I met him. He was gay. But I didn’t know that terminology then. Nor did he. None of us did. As we grew up, we knew that Scot was indeed different. In 2010, I met a 10-year-old boy who would become my stepson in 2019. I knew the moment I met him that he was gay. A few years later, no one was surprised when he came out to us. It was never a choice. He and Scot and Martin were born that way.
. To my heteros*xual friends who believe "the gay lifestyle" is a choice, I would ask, "When did you make the choice to be heteros*xual? And tomorrow, could you choose to be gay?"
. In 1979, Scot met the love of his life, Martin.* In 2014, after living together as a loving couple for over 42 years, they were finally able to legally marry. Last year, Scot, died of cancer on December 11th. Since that day, Martin has poured his heart out on his page, describing his grief, his great love for Scot, and how broken his heart is every day without him. Love is love is love is love.
. I stand with Scot. And Martin. And all the Scots and Martins, and all the Sarahs and Madisons of the world.
. To those who want to condemn the members of the LGBTQ community using the Bible, the Bible says hundreds of things about pigs, pork, and bacon, and hardly anything about gay people. I’d be happy to engage in a theological/exegetical discussion on whether the Bible says anything about gay people at all.
. And on the subject of gay marriage, let those wedding bells ring!
. Here's the thing, if being gay was a choice--and it isn't, but let's say that it is--who am I to deny the person their right to choose? If you believe gay s*x is a sin, don’t have gay s*x. If you believe gay marriage is a sin, then don’t get gay married.
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. Immigration

Immigration needs to be addressed with the highest degree of compassion and empathy. I have always admired what President George H. Bush said. The President believed that America could simultaneously be a lawful, economically dynamic, and welcoming society. “We must address the problem of illegal immigration and deliver a system that is secure, productive, orderly, and fair,” he said. The President called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would secure our borders, enhance interior and worksite enforcement, create a temporary worker program, resolve – without animosity and without amnesty – the status of illegal immigrants already here, and promote assimilation into our society.”
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. Crime, Punishment, and Rehabilitation

During my first year living in Japan, a country with half the population of the United States squeezed into the land area of California, there were over 26,000 murders in America. That same year in Japan, there were 12. Twelve murders for the entire year for a country with half the population of the United States. All things being equal, shouldn't that have been 13,000 murders in Japan, a country with fewer than 2% claiming to be any variety of Christian at all?
. In the ten years I lived there, I was never a victim of any crime.
. We must learn from others who've solved the problems we share in common. Japan is on to something!
. The answer isn't to build more prisons and hire more law enforcement. That sounds "tough on crime" in political advertisements: saber rattling, muscle flexing, and macho posturing. It looks strong, the pundits say. But it's more like Michael Dukakis riding in a tank. When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
. Politicians don't run ads extolling the virtues of rehabilitation and the value of education for those in prison to curb crime. Who's going to spend $1 million dollars on such an ad, an ad that doesn't excite their base? An ad that doesn't make the politician look tough? The shallow masses want punishment, not rehabilitation. The GOP believes the solution to crime is more police, more "for-profit prisons," longer sentences, and military-grade equipment and tactics. But those aren't solutions. They're bandaids on top of a cancer.
. The solutions to crime--as the causes of crime--are multifaceted and require multi-pronged approaches. But sharing those solutions and strategies with the masses, who want more cops in black tactical gear and hope they will understand, is problematic. Bertrand Russell said, “A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand."
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. Military

As a Marine from a family of military folks stretching back to World War I, I'm pro-military. My two sons are on active duty in the Marine Corps and the Air Force. I know what it's like to serve, and I know what it's like to put your child on an airplane that takes them to war.
. I believe in a strong military. But "strong military" requires definition, especially since we outspend every country in the world on defense. But politicians are vague about what a "strong military" means.
. As a historian, this is a fitting place to quote German general Hermann Göring, the convicted war criminal who took his life in 1946 at 53. He said, “Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America nor, for that matter, in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship… Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
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. Education

There has been a confusing denigration of education from members of the GOP. It's confusing because so many of these members earned law degrees and are intellectually equipped to know the immense value of a liberal arts education. What is in it for them to attack education? The GOP has lost its way. They want public education mixed with conservative and narrow-minded interpretations of Christianity and nationalism. None of it is about education. It's about control.
. As a former teacher, I know firsthand the challenges of education. They're solved at the local level with a commitment to the education of students, retention of good teachers, and a curriculum that is second to none in scholarship with no religious oversight. I oppose vouchers. Every student should not be given educational equity.
. The value of education in a democracy cannot be overstated. And even though I earned my Ph.D. at 65 years old in August 2022, I audit classes at the University of Memphis because there is no end to learning. There is no cure for intellectual curiosity, something our schools must promote. We must insist that our schools teach critical thinking skills, analytical analysis of data, and the rigorous examination of all things presented as truth. I would rather students have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.
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. Healthcare

In the decade I lived in Japan, I was covered by the Japanese healthcare program as a foreigner. That included my three children and my wife. I had surgery once and my youngest son was attacked by a dog and was hospitalized. In every instance, every treatment, every office visit, and every prescription I never paid more than $20 for each one.
. No one in Japan goes bankrupt because of medical care.
. Obama-care is an improvement over what we had, but it is hardly better than putting a bucket under a leaking roof. Candidate Donald Trump ran in 2016 promising a radical improvement over the Affordable Care Act. He promised it weekly for the four years he occupied the White House and left office with nothing proposed or passed. His first two years in office, the GOP controlled the House and the Senate. There should have been no reason for obstruction to his "amazing plan."
. Our current system is broken and needs overhauling, not repair. The questions are: "Who stands to gain by keeping the present system in place? Who funds the election campaigns of politicians who ignore the healthcare crisis? Who ensures nothing gets solved?"
. Without term limits in the House and the Senate and complete campaign finance reform, it is doubtful that anything will change in the American healthcare debacle. But I'll work for that change!
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. THUMBNAIL SKETCH

When I taught US History to 11th graders in high school, I always asked them to think of a metaphor for America. "America is like ..."
. What is America like? Is it like a football team? Is America like a competitive 10K race with every man and every woman for themselves? Is America a place of opportunity to live out "the American dream" of prosperity and the accumulation of wealth, where everyone can pull themselves up by their own "bootstraps"?
. Jesus compared the church to a physical body with eyes, ears, and different functions. As one man said, "The body metaphor describes the church as one body, with many members, not having the same function, but interlinked as members of each other."
. For me, America is like a ship at sea; every shipmate has worth, value, and importance. Plato was the first to use the analogy of "ship of state" in reference to the government. In this "ship," we all share in the health and welfare of the ship together. All hands are needed to keep it underway. All hands are needed to be healthy and sound. We all need one another. And we all need the ship to be sound and seaworthy. I may live and work below decks, but my work is essential to those who live and work on the bridge.
. As I think about the duties, work, obligations, and opportunities of an elected office from someone on the outside looking in and wanting in, I realize I don't know what I don't know. I don't know what a US Senator can and cannot do, but that's learnable. I have a specific set of historic and moral principles to guide me, an education that informs me, and a lifetime of unique experiences that more than qualifies me for the office.

* Martin Tuller has enthusiastically permitted me to share this. Thank you, Martin.