Achuckallen

Instigating Better

politics

GUTS

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I feel like the kind of people that display guts get destroyed in our 21st-century world. I’m not sure that I possess guts anymore. I stop and wonder if what I am saying will hurt my career, wound the church, scare the donors, or cause a firestorm of controversy on social media.

How pathetic is that? I’ll bet you wonder about that at times, as well. But dang it, that’s enough! We can be gracious and gutsy at the same time. We don’t have to be reckless to be courageous. We do not have to whimper into a truthful statement or sneak into a bold, brave decision.

This great land that we live in was founded and grounded on the backs of gutsy men and women of every color, faith, and background. We know this melting pot of humanity is in no way ready for wimpy, gutless leadership. These United States are in desperate need of women and men to step into courageous leadership, now! Gutsy leadership costs you something, though. It might cost you some “friends.” It will definitely cost you some “followers.” And fame, well kiss it good-bye. Courageous leadership in our world will be met by a great host of anger, opposition, and heaps of criticism.

But, should we remain afraid of everyone and everything, let’s roll over and call it a great 244 years. I get it. If Mr. Potato Head has been canceled, surely you can be as well. If the social media clowns that troll for someone to bash behind their keyboards can destroy some of the most powerful people on the planet, what hope do you have? That all depends on what kind of guts you want to display.

It’s been said that “leadership equals influence.” I know that is a correct term, but it is also an incomplete statement. Based on that definition, Adolf Hitler was a great leader. But we know that he was a madman, with murder and wickedness awash in his cold, dead heart.

We need the kind of gutsy leaders that will step away from the typical model of power, platform, and prestige. We are crying out for someone to speak with a voice of truth, reason, and wisdom. The world isn’t clamoring for leadership. They are dying for godly leadership! The kind of leadership that has heaven-sent wisdom and God-honoring decisions. We require leaders that know that their past isn’t perfect but that they are fueled by the power of God’s Spirit and directed by His Word – DAILY.

I’m not suggesting that we could somehow find a perfect leader, but could we find a leader that has been forgiven so that they can forgive? How about a leader that is imperfect and admits their need for wise counsel? Try this one on – How about a leader with enough humility to know how to work with people to get something done? I know. Now I’m getting crazy with it.

But folks, we cannot allow the established foolishness that seems so rampant in our society to rule the day! Somehow, in elected offices across our municipalities, counties, states, and federal offices, women and men must discover the courage to get in the arena of leading this nation…at every level.

Dan Gable once said, “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” America must stop the endless pursuit of gold long enough to get her guts back. We need to recruit leaders to run for office that will serve either party but serve with conviction, not protection. We must run on principle, not a party. We must run and run some more. It’s time to stop criticizing those that are running and get in the race!

I am not sure that I’ve got that kind of guts today, but I’m trying to find them. I know they are there, somewhere.
I need to discover them, sharpen them, challenge them, and trust the God of all creation to strengthen them. But at some point, we ALL have to get in the game of leading this land into the greatness she can experience. You can no longer wait for someone else; you’ve got to make a choice. It’s fourth-down and goal. It’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs, and the bases loaded. It’s the last of ninety minutes on the pitch. It’s past time for women and men, filled with a passion for God and Country, to RUN!

How about you? Are you tired of watching the news and thinking, “why doesn’t somebody do something?” I am. Let’s get in the arena and lead. But let’s lead with a God-given grace, fueled by Guts! I think Bear Bryant was right when he said, “There is a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success.” This American Dream is more than a house and an income.

We live in an age with more knowledge than ever before. And yet, we make ridiculous decisions. Why sit back and critique, whine and complain? It takes knowledge to know something. It takes guts to do what you know! Let’s find our guts and get it done.

More to come…

–Chuck

That’s Ridiculous!

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Let’s get this out of the way early: I love America. I know America isn’t perfect. I know we have a flawed past. I know we have significant issues, but I’m pretty sick of hearing about how terrible we are.

If you are a poor white kid, America is a pretty good place to grow up. If your an affluent Latino kid, America is a pretty great place to grow up. If you are a middle-class black kid, America is a pretty good place to grow up. If you are an Asian kid, America is a fantastic place to grow up.

I am in no way trying to make a case that every person has the same opportunity to succeed. Naturally, we can do more. Yes, we can do better. But we are doing better. We are and have come so far from where we once were. Let us not throw our unique sense of American grit and determination out with the fight to get even better.

WAIT! STOP! Before you throw my white privilege back at me, give me a chance. I know first-hand that we aren’t perfect. I get that we still have challenges with racism. I understand that the wealth gap is significant and can be disturbing. I know we have crime in our streets and corruption in our capital buildings. But we are still the most incredible opportunity to bring hope, freedom, and prosperity to this messed up world.

Like most of you, I wasn’t raised in wealth. I have no silver-spooned heritage. I went to work at thirteen and haven’t stopped since then. Working for what you get and what you can give away is a powerful accomplishment. It will cause your skin to thicken and your heart to soften at every turn. And that, my friend, is as American as it can get.

It’s ridiculous to stay in the binary thought of this age. An example of binary thinking is choosing a fiscally conservative platform and giving away a socially compassionate heart. Or be required to select an overly progressive platform and surrender fiscal wisdom to attain it. That’s ridiculous. Why not have a voice of reason that can stand firm on budgetary conservatism and have the heart to serve people in need? I am convinced that the majority of Americans would choose that lane. But someone has to stay calm enough, strong enough, and sound enough to make that case. Now is the time to stop the foolishness of binary, party-first platforms and put wisdom and reason at the forefront.

It’s ridiculous to cancel what we can learn from. No matter how badly we would like to change history, it can not be done. You cannot change the good, and you cannot change the bad. You can, however, learn from both. A reasoned response is let’s do better. Let’s learn from our mistakes, and let’s rise above them. Let us be an American people that do not stay in the sorrow of our past. We did not stay in taxation to England. We did not stay in the poverty of the Great Depression. We did not stay in the legalization and sin of slavery. And given reasoned, gathered wisdom, we will not remain divided. Our future is being determined as we learn from our past and our past year. Once again…we are far from perfect, but where would this world be without all of the good that the United States of America has done? Where on earth will we be if we do not stay the course, learn from our past, and better our kid’s future? One thing is crystal clear to me. To continue electing men and women that cannot see forward but languish in the spats of party politics, well, is just ridiculous!

And finally, as I finish this rant, it is ridiculous to not passionately strive to move forward and rebuild out of this pandemic. I have felt the fear of COVID-19. I have seen its deadly wake. I’ve counseled too many families that have suffered and lost most if not all of the business that they sacrificed to build. I’ve seen families struggle with aging parents and struggling children. But friends, to lay low and not aggressively push to allow some sane sense of normalcy to return is criminally ridiculous. Get your vaccinations. Take every precaution you need to take. But get moving forward! We have endured far worse plaques in our storied history, and we will survive this one!

Friends, there is much ridiculousness in our world, but dog-gone-it, this is America. It’s not perfect; it’s not always easy. It’s certainly not always equal. But where else, on this globe, can freedom, hope, and peace rain down from sea to shining sea? Where else can the world strive to emulate freedom? Where else can parents dream of raising their children with greater opportunity? Where else can hard work, kindness, and risk be rewarded, like the USofA? That’s right…nowhere else on the planet.

I will not stop striving to make our country better any more than you will. But let’s stop apologizing for being American, and start learning our lessons, together. We are far better together. We are more robust, kinder, sacrificial, and wiser together. Together, let’s serve each other, love each other, pull for each other, and celebrate the better days that are ahead of us together. By God’s grace, we are America. Let’s live like it and leave all this ridiculousness behind us. All of our diversity is what makes us better. Celebrate that, not what is simply ridiculous.

Peace, Chuck

America Must Change These 3 Things

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“God Bless America, Land that I Love”

Today’s article is not a political musing! This article is about the three essential changes that America MUST correct if we remain the most prosperous and blessed nation on the planet. There are hundreds of other issues to address, but if I could somehow influence our leaders, I would start with these three.

I would consider myself a patriot. I unashamedly love America. I tear up at the National Anthem. I marvel at our beginnings. Throughout this great land, we have had some pretty bad seasons and some pretty remarkable, heroic recoveries.

We need one of those recoveries right now. We can’t wait much longer. With the new transition of President-Elect Biden, we cannot afford to spend our next four years bickering and feuding over silly, partisan crap! Lord knows that’s what we’ve spent the past three decades doing. Bush fought with Dems. Clinton fought with Elephants. Bush fought with the left, Obama fought with the right. Trump fought with everybody, and now I fear Biden will go to war with the Republicans and hopefully combat the far-left socialist wing of his party. But we have to stop fighting among ourselves and discover some wholesome goodness to attack together.

These three things are non-negotiable as we attempt to recover from a long year of COVID-19, racial unrest, civil unrest, riots, looting, and economic hardships for families across almost every sector of American life. By the way, if you disagree with these three, that’s more than okay. The question I would ask you is, what are three of your ideas to make America all she can be?

1. We Must Find Common Ground to Build On

I don’t say this lightly, but I cannot say it loud enough. We must come together for the greater good. Our broken political, educational, spiritual, and financial systems are dying from a lack of common purpose and the greater good. There was a day when we rallied around a familiar opponent and joined together to conquer that obstacle. Today, that obstacle is ourselves. We are the house divided, and the walls are crumbling. Not because of presidents, members of Congress, or senators, but because of our lack of common purpose and open, shared accountability.


“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions
of its members.”
—Coretta Scott King

The common good is and should be
focused on three areas.

Education. Put our kids first, and get our educational systems in the top three in the world in science, math, reading, and technology. If a traditional education path isn’t for a kid, then have skill-based education that can raise a generation of steelworkers, welders, artisans, artists, and builders. Education must become a central theme of rediscovering the wonder of this great land!

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Education is the first step for people to gain the knowledge, critical thinking, empowerment and skills they need
to make this world a better place.”
– Nelson Mandela.

2. We Must Solve Our Desperate Debt Load

Never before have we faced a reckoning like the one we face as we look at a continually escalating debt. As of this writing, the national debt of the United States is more than $27,265,000,000,000. That is more than $218,000 per taxpayer and almost $90,000 per US citizen.

Payday is coming, but we MUST reel in our spending. I’m not a nationalist in the sense that we should button down everything except what we spend in the States, but we cannot continue to fund the world. Pet projects are at the heart of this crisis. The reason pet projects exist is the ongoing political system in Washington. If your future and sustainability are dependent upon reelection, you will – by human tendency – please who you need to for reelection. Term limits and complete transparency on pork-laden bills of legislation much stop!

“We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we
haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt
because we spend too much.”
― Ronald Reagan

3. We Must Recover our Patriotism and Honor

When we were fighting the Nazis and were drawn into World War II, we knew our enemy. We rallied around an American pride that leads to Americans fighting for Americans and fighting a common enemy. In the war on Communism, we knew who we were attempting to defeat. In the war on terrorism, we knew we were in a common fight. The days following 9/11 brought us to common ground.

But what if we need common patriotism as opposed to “common complainism?” I know that’s not a word, but you got the picture. We are at war! We are at war with a world that does not see the freedoms and American ideals as essential. We are in a battle for our republic and the democracy that it upholds.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”

Somehow, someway, we must engage a different bank of leaders. America is in desperate need of leaders without political aspiration, but aspirations of selfless service. We need to return to a people with a vision for freedom and equality, but not at the sake of losing the soul of our country.

Loving your country shouldn’t be a label by which you are considered old fashioned, out of touch, or simple-minded. Loving your country should call out the best of us and mold us into leaders that influence what is good, healthy, and wise.

Why not return to the days of American exceptionalism? Why not return a sense of pride in our great country? The answer? PRIDE & SELFISHNESS. We seem to all want our rights, the credit, and our due. The truth is that we need to return the “In God We Trust” to our hearts and actions, not just our currency. Jesus had a good word for our leaders and ourselves. “Whoever wants to be great among you, let him become a servant to all.”

“In the beginning of a change, the patriot
is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him,
for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.”
—Mark Twain

I know there are so many things to work on, but this country is worth it. She is worthy of laying down our logos and our egos to serve our children and their future well. She is worthy of course-correcting our out-of-control waste and spending. And she is most undoubtedly worth serving others in the name of righteousness and goodness.

When I think of race relations, economic challenges, political upheaval, civil unrest, riots, looting, and a pandemic, I realize how urgency has taken center stage with these issues. But friends, we must start attacking these issues shortly or we will crumble as a society. Our kids and grandkids need us to fix our mess.

-AChuck

So Much for Super-Spreader Events

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So Much for Super-Spreader Events by Chuck Allen

Not that we need any further opinions on the pandemic, but both sides seem to be tossing verbal grenades at one another regarding gathering in large crowds. With masks, or without masks, we all need to take a breath.

The problem with lobbing hand grenades at whoever those other folks are, is you have to be willing for it to come back to you. Verbal sparring isn’t a new phenomenon, but it seems to be brand new in each political cycle.

The Blue side was stunned that the Red side would meet in those arenas and stadiums to get fired up in their rally. Each media site that leaned blue just had to use the term “super-spreader.” But then the Blue team won, and the Red team threw a hardy “well look at them.” I couldn’t hear super-spreader after hearing “Na-na-na-na-na.”

Our political systems reak of the rot left in the wake of our foul-mouthed hatred and venom.

Here’s a thought. How about we determine that we all have sinned in our past, and we ALL have a history. That we also (hopefully) grow and develop the ability to speak the truth and know the truth, and live in reality. No, seriously. Okay, one can hope.

Let’s get back to the point. When it comes to calling out the other side like a pair of toddler twins, be careful what you scream about. It always comes around to bite you in the butt.

Jesus had a word for the most self-righteous folks that were ready to stone a young lady that had made some deplorable choices with her life. He said, “If you have no sins, yourself, throw the first stone.” OUCH! That had to have left a mark! It should leave a mark on us as well.

Can’t we clean up our junk, bitterness, anger, and insecurities – Before we go into attack mode? I hate it when I violate this rule. I always pay the price, someday, someway. Jesus has this way of reminding us that we love to point out the dust in somebody else’s house while we have mold on the dirty dishes in our sink.

Here are two good rules to follow when we want to toss our “gotchas.”

  1. STOP! Give yourself three seconds to determine if what you are about to say will help the situation at all? If not, hang onto it and drop it in the mental trash can.
  2. Remember that you might need to take a quick peek into your past or even your future. Is it possible that these words are coming back like an Australian boomerang and will potentially decapitate you?

Have a great day! Remember your dishes and count the cost of your words. You’ll be so glad that you did.

Peace, AChuck

Ps. See you tomorrow on the 4forFRIDAY!