Monday, November 29, 2010

Govenor Jerry Brown, "Initially A Jesuit Seminarian, Then A Buddhist,"

Linda Ronstadt and Gov. Jerry Brown
As a two-term governor from 1975 to 1983, Brown became a national figure and used this platform to run for the presidency three times, most recently in 1992 when his campaign netted an impressive 596 committed delegates on the first ballot, second only to Bill Clinton. Jerry Brown came up short nationally, in part because of a lingering reputation for flakiness. His long-time girlfriend, pop queen Linda Ronstadt had affectionately likened him to a moonbeam and the name, Governor Moonbeam, stuck. But the fact is that Brown was always a very different professional politician from anyone else.I first met him in 1983 at what was to be a quick breakfast to discuss Pierre Trudeau's invitation for the governor to join an advisory council on nuclear disarmament. The L.A. restaurant threw us out hours later when they needed the table for lunch. Initially a Jesuit seminarian, then a Buddhist, he was and is a deep thinker, ahead of the curve. What's more, in opposition to his sunny dad, he has been a dark teller of "the way it is."
Link (here) to the full article by Jeremy Kinsman


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

California is headed for economic and social disaster now that Governor Moonbeam will be back in the Governor's chair with a Democrat-controlled state legislature. Faithful Catholics beware: California is about to become an even more inhospitable place to live for people who value truth and morality. The Jesuits will probably be quite fine with what happens, though.

Maria said...

"After leaving office in 1983, Brown studied Buddhism for several years in Japan and then joined Mother Teresa for a time in Calcutta, emerging as a potent new political hybrid, a hard-headed fiscally conservative humanitarian".

Hmm. Well, he neither emerged Catholic nor heterosexual...

TonyD said...

I remember listening to Jerry Brown on the radio when he was mayor of Oakland. He defended “gentrification” as the cost of improving Oakland. To me, this reflects a typical political problem – politicians come to see themselves as representing a particular cross-section of society.

Serving the very wealthy, and their values, has become the norm of both Democrats and Republicans in the entire US, not just California. We all share the same problems that plague California.

Interestingly, a perspective that takes others values more seriously is the solution to this particular problem (And it would move our entire society to a more moral position, even if the values being adopted were not Catholic.)

Anonymous said...

TonyD, how about if we adopt Nazi values or take Nazi values more seriously? LOL

TonyD said...

>> …how about if we adopt Nazi values or take Nazi values more seriously?

If Nazi values reflect the genuine values of our community, then we are expected to respect them. God handles the lessons here. That does not mean that we should adopt those values as our own values. We are fortunate to have good guides about values in the Gospels.

If we lived with a Government that adopted Nazi values in spite of community values, then that Government is not morally legitimate. That same argument applies to a government that has stopped being Democratic and now represents the influence of wealthy investors, bankers, and CEOs.

So your comment turns out to be very relevant.