Articles

Issue Five

Between Christianity and the Libertarian Left: How Wide the Gap?

by Marc B. Young

Although it might make a decent news story in some media outlets, an article about the ways in which Christians and secular radicals collaborate, on a variety of issues, probably doesn’t need to take up space in a publication read primarily by activists. After all, every leftist knows that anarchists, communists, greens, socialists and Christians (at least Catholics, Quakers and members of ‘main-stream’ Protestant denominations) regularly end up on the same side of rallies against, for example, war and in support of immigrants.

Obedience to Authority

by Tariq Khan

Most evil acts in the world are not committed by abnormally mean psychopaths. They are committed by quite ordinary people who are “just doing their jobs”. Most murder, torture, and destruction in and of the world is perfectly legal and is carried out by civilized, well-mannered, average individuals who are “just fulfilling their duties” to governments, businesses, and religions. They’re “just trying to make a living”.

Why Progressives Should Vote Nader

by Ashley Sanders

I am asking you to vote for Ralph Nader who, like a good radical, has stopped tinkering with a broken machine to ask, “Why this machine?” True, he does not junk the machine entirely—he believes in regulated capitalism, representative government, and the rule of law. But he refuses to base his political philosophy on principles that defy our personal sense of ethics; his political vision is expansive and transformative—it is not an exclusive plan for American dominance, but a persistent question as to why politics is based on exclusivity and dominance.

A Vietnam Vet’s Vision of Peace

by Terry Leichner

I spent 50 years, following my time as an infantryman with the United States Marine Corp, denying the existence of God or Christ. I was in I Corps of Vietnam with the 5th Marines from December '67 to Feb '69. I was wounded during the Tet Offensive outside Danang. A concussion grenade knocked me unconscious and ruptured my eardrums.

“Un-terrified Jeffersonian Democrats”: Part I

by Matthew Thomas

The independence and establishment of the United States of America was a source of great inspiration for the European Left — liberals, republicans, and socialists — because it proved that republican government was not only possible, but that it functioned well.

Letter from South Baghdad, May 2008

by Sgt. Jay Dawkins

Yesterday I was in a small village south of Baghdad talking to a sheik about Iraqi oil. The sheik was telling me that in November 2000, while we were figuring out whether Bush or Gore won the election, Saddam Hussein did something quite extraordinary. He switched the currency for Iraq’s oil sales from dollars to euros.

Observations from the 2008 Democratic National Convention

by Spencer Kingman

From August 25-29, I was in Denver to protest against the war while the Democratic National Convention nominated Barack Obama. This is not a political analysis of the elections, or of summit protesting. It is merely a collection of personal anecdotes from my trip.

The Beehive and the Steel Mill: Rethinking the Protestant Work Ethic

by Jason Brown

In Mormon culture the beehive is a symbol of industriousness that embodies the work ethic as not only a temporal duty, but as proof of divine sanction. In Mormon cosmology, the final dispensation ushered in by Joseph Smith unleashed a spirit upon the earth which has inspired all of the advances of the past two centuries including the industrial revolution. Interestingly, this narrative purports that advances in technology are a sign of blessedness that has facilitated the betterment of human kind and the extraordinary growth of the Mormon Church. Technology is therefore at worst neutral and any negative consequences can be easily ascribed to human selfishness and misused agency.

The DNC Convention in the Street/Jail/Garden/Home

by Tristan Call

Four years ago, I watched the Democratic and Republican conventions from a Brigham Young University sofa with the liberal daughter of a pharmaceutical executive. I was Mormon, Marxist, pacifist, freshman; we watched our nation's political spectacle with the optimism of 18-year-olds hoping for a religion of conscience, an economy where people share, and a nation built by and for peacemakers. We considered ourselves sophisticated and examined the platforms with narrowed eyes (a habit which would eventually steer my vote to Nader), but we still enjoyed the excitement of the partisan moment.

Jesus Asked Us to Love Our Enemies: Learning to be a Christian in Occupied Palestine

by Cliff Burton

Israeli soldiers cradling M-16’s stared stone-faced at the crowd. A soldier standing behind a cement block checked ID’s, asked questions, and searched each person. Those making it past the checkpoint would hurry to get a place in a taxi waiting on the other side.