My last posting on the forum (November 18, 2008) must have left some of you bewildered. I will attempt to explain myself. You have a right to know where I am coming from.
    First of all, I have been undergoing some stressful problems at home which have been very draining. There is no need to explain the particulars here.
    I never sought to be a leader of a movement. When the forum was established, and the Companionship soon followed, I knew I had to take that role for a while to get things off the ground. I did this trying to provide the necessary elements that a group needs for cohesiveness without compromising the foundation of Chivalry-Now, which is free thought. We don't want to create a "follower" mentality.
    When it came to politics, I tried to keep a neutral position, while gently pointing out a possible alternative that better reflected our ideals. This was not easy. I had to restrain some passionate opinions, which may have leaked out now and then. For that I apologize.
    When I look out on the world, especially the world of politics, I do so with dread. In the U.S., we tend to think of politics as a two-sided contest between "bleeding-heart liberals" and "throwback conservatives." We are presented with no other choice. That clear, unbiased thinking is the obvious alternative is rarely considered over the overbearing hype of political extremism.
    Conservative extremists view liberalism with terror, as if secular humanists are trying to destroy everything that they hold sacred. Liberal extremists feel much the same way, fearing that Christian mullahs are going to turn the U.S. into a theocratic version of the Taliban. Both sides have legitimate concerns, but fail to see the threat that they themselves pose. All they see is the "evil" of the other side, which hardens their own opinions to the point of being dangerous. This has given rise to rampant paranoia and a divided nation. Television propagandists add unlimited fuel to the fire, using mind-numbing rhetorical tricks to influence people. The problem is so bad that even when their claims are constantly debunked, no one seems to care. The sides are so entrenched, that their capacity for honesty and reason breaks down. This, I think, is one of the greatest threats we face today — and I am not saying this lightly. If the most powerful nation on the planet disregards reason, then none of our challenges will be reasonably met. Sure enough, that is exactly where we find ourselves today. Most of our major problems did not arise spontaneously in the last ten years. They are the result of long-term choices made in full light of the consequences. We knew the problems were coming, and chose instead the ignoble distraction of extremist propaganda.
    That political propagandists and consultants and politicians themselves buy into falsehood and lead large sections of the population astray, to my mind, makes them traitors not only to the nation, but to humanity as well.
    At least at some point in our lives, we have all sold portions of our souls because we wanted to belong to some group. We wanted to think as they think, have a common enemy, no matter how contrived, to vent our rage while our house divided burns all around us. In this respect, our guilt unites us. Let us hold onto that unity in our desire to find a cure as well.
    When I see bits and pieces of prefabricated political rhetoric bubble up now and then, among us, it hurts. I feel as if all our efforts, all our research, soul-searching and discussions, have been in vain. This is ridiculous, of course, reflecting my own insecurity more than anything else. Nevertheless, to see it within our circle leaves me perplexed. How does it coexist with our other ideals, which seem totally opposite? Here we find the overall problem in a nutshell. Our society constantly balances conflicting values as if they were all equally valid. We see self-righteous yet bloodthirsty ministers; politicians whose purpose is to serve the people, wallowing in corruption; assistance programs that sustain poverty instead of eliminating it; wars of liberation oppressing the every people they are supposed to liberate.
    Whenever we hear or speak a political tagline or cliché, a red flag of caution should pop into mind. Have we really considered the meaning of those words? Their implications? Do they carry a treasured lesson from the past? Or a malicious product of "group think," designed to lead us astray?
    For example, what does it mean to be part of a "loyal opposition?" What does it represent? Contention for the sake of contention? Who are you loyally opposing? To what high-minded end? Are you opposing one political party at the expense of the other? What about the concerns of the people, that transcend political bickering? What about our obligation to discern truth before opposing anyone?
    If we claim to care about the people, why express it in the arrogant repetition of partisan politics, which, when it comes to unvarnished truth, is more enemy than friend? Chivalry does not lend itself well to this purpose, and is brought down because of it. Why not tap into your soul instead and find the greater truth?
    Chivalry calls us to be a force for good that transcends today's political demeanor. If we do not, then we remain part of the problem rather than part of its solution. All our talk about chivalry and honor is for nothing. There have been many knights of the past who simply were not honorable men.
    Fellow Companions, shall I tell you what moves my innermost passion, and has from the beginning?
    A spirit moves inside me that longs for a better world, a new humanity. It is a yearning that defies all the shackles that greedy people would confine us in. It is a vision of something greater, something within our grasp that joyfully validates our existence. It calls to us, yet always slips through our fingers. It is reflected in such words as "all men are created equal," which tells me that there is no need for us to sacrifice the depth of our being because of the happenstance of our birth. We can rise above political taglines, clichés, and social expectations. We can reclaim our birthright, which is the joy of authenticity, and the responsibility that comes with it.
    While others see the American Dream as economic opportunity, I see something far deeper and more important, something rooted in Western culture going back to the Age of Chivalry and even earlier.
    The founders of the United States were visionaries whose vision too often escapes us. In the founding of this nation, they were expressing universal principles that were meant to inspire all people, those who lived beyond our borders as well.
    These Enlightenment Age principles were given birth in England and France, where they challenged superstition, and helped spread tolerance and human reason throughout the West.
    In the New World, however, where nature was more pressing and feelings of liberty already stirred, the ideas led to a new form of government. The words of John Locke about the social contract were more than an intellectual challenge. They provided a threshold to something new, a springboard toward freedom that went beyond law. Building a new government at just the right time, the founders embraced Enlightenment principles.
    To many, our Revolutionary War centered on having taxes imposed on us without Parliamentary representation. After over a century of benign neglect, England seemed more like a foreign sovereignty than a homeland. Its distant, sophisticated government, with its aristocratic hierarchy, was something that American intellectuals, wilderness pioneers and ordinary people no longer respected. For people who came to view their individual colonies as separate nations in themselves, taking orders from an unseen potentate thousands of miles away became unbearable. Something new had risen on these shores, already reflecting Enlightenment tendencies. England was too far away to recognize this.
    At the root of this movement was the desire to maximize human potential through reason — building a better world, not through happenstance, but through design. We wanted a social contract that provided not only protection and law, but an environment where people could realize their full potential ("the pursuit of happiness"). Virtue provided the base of this, but utilization of intellect, skills and talents were paramount as well. In some of our founding fathers, like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, we find Renaissance personalities whose interests spanned science, mathematics, architecture, botany, anthropology and politics. These were not people who just accepted life as it came along, obsessed by their material needs. These were evolutionary giants who believed that freedom had a subtle purpose that superseded the vagrancies of license. That purpose was the fulfillment of human nature.
    We see the founders as giants from where we are today, but they probably were not. Here we find the central point I want to make. Our founders were probably ordinary men responding to extraordinary times — when a convergence of ideas and opportunities fruitfully combined. This is an example of the Kairos. When we respond to the needs of our times, rather than just the needs of our egoes, we too can accomplish great deeds, no matter how small they are.
    Our founders held no illusion that everything they envisioned would happen all at once. Freedom does not work that way. It cannot be rushed or coerced, only carefully nurtured through inspiration. They devised checks and balances that would shape our government to allow great things to happen, and then hoped they would.
    When I hear politicians from either extreme shape the issues into things they are not, or see how their consultants easily throw integrity out the window, while pundits squeeze out every possibility of innocence and good intent onto the floor for others to stamp on, it seriously enrages me. The vision of our founders has been cheapened to the point of obsolescence. There are several causes, but first among them is partisanship. Our original principles, rooted in the hopes of Enlightenment thinking, rooted further in the integrity of chivalric ideals, have been replaced by the crudest form of power brokerage.
    Almost everything I see and hear from our political leaders fails the test. Their "patriotic" rants, manipulative and patronizing, ring hollow and malicious. Once in a while we hear the right words, but they are generally out of context, disconnected, leading us in circles that spiral in the wrong direction. Liberals advocate expensive programs that heal none of our cultural ills, while conservatives scarcely recognize the ills at all. Either way, the problems flourish, fostering anger and division.
    Reason lay at the heart of Enlightenment philosophy. Today's America doesn't recognize the value of urging people to think for themselves. We have pandering instead. We have, and even expect, "spin" and outright lies, as regional biases are used to push more important issues aside. We look for leaders who are mediocre in reasoning and intelligence, but well practiced at disseminating hype.

It is time we recall the last line of that shining Age of Enlightenment document known as the Declaration of Independence:

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."