I am fed up with the hypocrisy!

 

 

It is well past time for members of the Christian faith to disavow Christian Nationalism and the impact it hopes to have on the politics of North America. 

The church is supposed to be salt and light, not judge and jury! Stay out of the bedrooms of those who do not share your faith...or rather your interpretation of same. Your hypocrisy is overwhelming and detrimental. 

Remember the adage of removing the log in your eyes before looking for specks in others? Why do you act as though sin has a hierarchy that you can pick and choose to support or ignore? Where is your outrage at the abundance of sexual sin in your leadership? Where is your anger at the treatment of women in your pews? Where is your sorrow that there are more divorces than abortions? How do you claim to love Jesus while ignoring His command to love others, even your enemies?  

I write as a Christian who is appalled at the lack of leadership in the broader Christian community. This is not a call to faith. It is a call to tolerance and abiding by truth. 

I am speaking out and speaking up because I do not want to see both our politics and our faith hijacked by a vocal minority whose selective group of intolerant and judgmental ‘believers’ seek to tip the balance while others sit asleep at the switch. 

This is my call to action. Shut the hell up and let the rest of us make our choices as we see fit. 

See: 

 How the Southern Baptist Convention covered up its widespread sexual abuse scandal : NPR 

 

Ravi Zacharias Hid Hundreds of Pictures of Women, Abuse Du...... | News & Reporting | Christianity Today  

 

Southern Baptists uphold expulsion of churches with women pastors – but the debate’s not just about gender (religionnews.com) 

Participation Medals

 

 

In this era when everyone’s ‘participation’ needs to be acknowledged, let us never forget those whose efforts granted us the rights and freedoms we enjoy. 

Here is a picture of true Participation Medals. Earned for service in WWII by my father, Cecil T. Brown. His childhood friend, Barclay Newsome, died on October 7, 1944, during a flight over occupied Holland. These two, and the millions of others who served deserve our unqualified admiration and recognition. They enlisted with no anticipation of a medal, or even of a return. On November 11th, pause long enough to say ‘thanks’, not because you must, but because you can! 

Can you say '...out of touch...'

 

 

In a recent interview, Mary Barra, CEO at GM, justified her almost $30 million in compensation for 2022 by claiming that almost 92% was a bonus based on company performance, aka, doing her job. By implication, her $2.4 million salary should be considered a retention bonus to stick around and make some real money! Her income was 362 times the median income for all GM employees. And she doesn’t understand why the UAW workers will not consider the ‘generous offer’ the company has made. Can you say ‘...out of touch...’ 

And it’s not as though Barra is out there alone. The CEO’s at Ford and Stellantis earned $21 million and $25 million respectively, 281 times and 365 times their median employee incomes. 

This is a uniquely North American situation. By comparison, look at the CEO compensation of their competitors. 

Toyota - $6.7 million 

Honda - $2.3 million 

Nissan - $4.5 million 

BMW - $5.6 million 

Porche - $7.9 million 

Mercedes - $7.5 million 

The corporate feeding trough in North America is stunningly out of touch with reality. Since the late 1970’s average CEO compensation has risen 1322%! This is unparalleled greed. 

It's not like all CEOs are geniuses. Both GM and Stellantis were effectively bankrupt in 2008 requiring massive government intervention to stay afloat.  

Most of these ‘leaders’ are anything but unicorns. Ask this question ‘...what would happen to Company X if the CEO was hit by a bus...’ If the answer is that the company would fail, then the CEO has failed to do one of their primary tasks in ensuring a chain of continuity. If the answer is that the company would carry on and replace the individual, then my point is proven. 

Executive compensation has become outrageous and inconsistent with the actual contributions made by the individual. When average employees ask for fairness in wage negotiations, we cannot take those demands out of context. Does Mary Barra really contribute as much as 362 employees? Expressed in another more tangible way ‘...is it right that Mary Barra makes more before lunch on the first workday of the year than the average employee makes in a year...’

 

There is more than enough blame to share for this inequity. Compliant compensation committees on Boards of Directors; executive search firms whose own fees are a function of the executive compensation; HR leaders who neglect to represent ALL employees. And finally place blame on the major investors who turn a blind eye to the whole mess if stock returns meet or exceed their expectations. 

Employment equity includes compensation equity. The disparities demonstrated in the executive ranks have reached absurd levels because there are far too many so-called leaders who are similarly out of touch.

 

We need a large dose of reality. I am pretty sure that Barra, and others like her, could learn to get by on $5-6 million a year...  

 

I acknowledge a recent BBC article for the salary information contained herein.