An Honest Self Assessment From Journalism

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/commentary-the-unbearable-smugness-of-the-press-presidential-election-2016/

This one isn't long and it is well worth the time taken. Is there anyone in their 30's or later than has not at some point stared into the mirror and said "I'm the problem"! ?  A sample ... but just read it!

It’s a profound failure of empathy in the service of endless posturing. There’s been some sympathy from the press, sure: the dispatches from “heroin country” that read like reports from colonial administrators checking in on the natives. But much of that starts from the assumption that Trump voters are backward, and that it’s our duty to catalogue and ultimately reverse that backwardness. What can we do to get these people to stop worshiping their false god and accept our gospel?

For most Christians, HOPEFULLY, such is very close to an act of DAILY contrition. If not daily, then at least every couple of weeks as we contemplate taking the body and blood of our Lord at the altar in communion with our fellow penitent sinners.

YES, I DO understand that many have abandoned religion, and I also understand too well and PERSONALLY that it is far too easy to take even the miracle of the body and blood as mindless ritual.

I believe that the anguish of the linked column is real. It is real, and if it could be remembered and integrated into a real desire to CHANGE, to realize that even our "enemies" are worthy of our care, concern, and even LOVE, we might return to being an "America" that sought COLLABORATION, not mere "compromise". To truly value actual diversity of THOUGHT, the essence of what is human.

In this, **I** stand as the chief of sinners ...

Almighty God,
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
maker of all things, judge of all men:
We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness,
which we from time to time most grievously have committed,
by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine Majesty,
provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us.
We do earnestly repent,
and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings;
the remembrance of them is grievous unto us,
the burden of them is intolerable.
Have mercy upon us,
have mercy upon us, most merciful Father;
for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake,
forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may ever hereafter
serve and please thee in newness of life,
to the honor and glory of thy Name;through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I personally know of no way forward but FAITH, but if the attitude of humility and love can be found in other ways, then I applaud them as well. If 2008 and 2012 were not enough to show everyone that America was broken, then surely 2016 has at least brought more to realize the fact of our abject failure as a people?

It is impossible to imagine more imperfect vessels than Obama or Trump to show us the loss of the exceptional spirit that was America. Must we sink to actual violence before we repent and make a new start?

A song that has always brought this thought to my mind ...