Post by Wayne Hall on Oct 6, 2023 2:32:44 GMT -5
The introduction to this podcast appealed to me: "I first met Suspended Dr William Bay at Tamborine Mountain when he claimed, live, that the jabs were dangerous. We have been connected ever since, and what he has taught me is the value of Loyalty, especially in trying times." (Michael Gray Griffith)
It is true that these are trying times and I endorse the idea that Loyalty has become a very important quality. But loyal to what? For me loyalty to God means loyalty to oneself and one's own conscience. I can't believe anything further than that. But what shapes conscience?
There is a political party in New Zealand that sees the importance of the idea of loyalty and has made it into a key organizing concept. Not the only concept, because their leader Liz Gunn has enunciated some other principles on the party's website.
But anyway, loyalty. I would like to see the idea spreading. The first place it might spread to could be Australia, I suppose, but then beyond that. Here in Greece the loyalty will go elsewhere: the Orthodox Church has ambitious claims but is also compromised in a way that it is difficult for people who are still alive not to be. The strongest claim in Greece in my opinion is that of Ioannis Capodistrias, modern Greece's assassinated first governor. He is one of a number of prominent political figures to have met his end in this way in recent centuries (and not only): John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln (plus numerous other American presidents with comparable loyalties), Olaf Palme, Muammar Gaddafi . The list goes on and on.
The assassination (and even the death, more generally) of an important leader naturally triggers a search for a worthy successor, taking us to a disputed principle, that of inherited status. It is the principle underlying dynasties and is not confined to royalty. De facto it competes for recognition with the principle of status personally won. Is there any point to the polity trying to oppose this competition, or taking sides?
Returning to the subject of the NZ Loyal party, another of its strong characteristics is its proposal for a 1% financial transaction tax. Liz Gunn presents the case for it: but it has a place in the hearts of a generation of activists also who remember that in the 1990s it was a key demand of the French, and later international, citizens' movement ATTAC.
W. Hall
It is true that these are trying times and I endorse the idea that Loyalty has become a very important quality. But loyal to what? For me loyalty to God means loyalty to oneself and one's own conscience. I can't believe anything further than that. But what shapes conscience?
There is a political party in New Zealand that sees the importance of the idea of loyalty and has made it into a key organizing concept. Not the only concept, because their leader Liz Gunn has enunciated some other principles on the party's website.
But anyway, loyalty. I would like to see the idea spreading. The first place it might spread to could be Australia, I suppose, but then beyond that. Here in Greece the loyalty will go elsewhere: the Orthodox Church has ambitious claims but is also compromised in a way that it is difficult for people who are still alive not to be. The strongest claim in Greece in my opinion is that of Ioannis Capodistrias, modern Greece's assassinated first governor. He is one of a number of prominent political figures to have met his end in this way in recent centuries (and not only): John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln (plus numerous other American presidents with comparable loyalties), Olaf Palme, Muammar Gaddafi . The list goes on and on.
The assassination (and even the death, more generally) of an important leader naturally triggers a search for a worthy successor, taking us to a disputed principle, that of inherited status. It is the principle underlying dynasties and is not confined to royalty. De facto it competes for recognition with the principle of status personally won. Is there any point to the polity trying to oppose this competition, or taking sides?
Returning to the subject of the NZ Loyal party, another of its strong characteristics is its proposal for a 1% financial transaction tax. Liz Gunn presents the case for it: but it has a place in the hearts of a generation of activists also who remember that in the 1990s it was a key demand of the French, and later international, citizens' movement ATTAC.
W. Hall