OpEdNews - Page 4 of Article: PROGRESSIVE EVANGELICAL KANSAN CRITIQUES THOMAS' WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS ?--WITH HELP FROM OTHER AUTHORS

One of the main protagonist in Blanchard and Cathy's novelette explains the secret to the generosity factor.

"Time. Talent. Treasure. Touch. Nothing more than these four. The beauty of it is, there are so many ways to give them. The tragedy is that so few people discover ways to give even one-let alone four!" [p.42] Nonetheless, using all four is considered important for the reader of the book to implement in his or her life. In other words, he or she will probably not feel significant in his/her life if he or she doesn't use each of these four ways to show generosity with regularity.

In short, if a progressive movement is to be reignited in the heartland of America, it will need to be a movement that calls not only upon wealth, famous people, or status. It needs people touching and working face-to-face in a struggle. It does need money but it also needs peoples times and talents

Any significant movement will have to be a movement that asks people to give in all four ways: in terms of time, money, talent and person-to-person contacts. Without such giving, no movement can be sustained. Just as Kansas' right wingers have learned from the civil rights movement to give ever-more of themselves in order to achievement some long term goals, Kansas progressives and other Americans need to make changes in all four directions of giving-of-themselves simultaneously if a significant movement is ever going to get America back where it should be.

Finally, there is one more concept from the writers of the GENEROSITY FACTOR which should be put in any progressive campaign. That is, Blanchard and Cathy tell the reader very clearly that the generosity factor only works when one comes to be able to distinguish between values that are held by them and values that are operationalizing.

These authors' goal for the readers are to empower the reader to live a life whereby the values that the reader holds are in line with how they live out their lives. This is a very important self-cleansing activity that enables a movement to be sustained by idealistic individual participants who are committed to work together over the long-haul. (Again, this is something that the right wing radicals with their focus on either single issues or fantasy liberal demagogic monsters have done far better than the moderates or the liberals have done over the last half century in Kansas and across America.)

NO MORE VICTIMS

In both WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? and THE GENEROSITY FACTOR, the authors discuss the issues related to victimhood.

In Thomas Frank's work, he portrays the radical right as playing the victim card-which they copied from the left and from participants in the civil rights movements in years gone by. For example, the Radical Right creates myths that Christians are widely persecuted in the liberal media and all around the United States. In this way, everyone who is Christian becomes a victim. Likewise, if Michael Moore or others right about "angry white men", then all people who perceive themselves as angry or disgruntled white men become a repressed minority-ad nauseam.

It behooves Frank and his readers to note that Blanchard and Cathy, writing for a mostly Christian elitist or managerial level audience, have also indicated in their concept of living a "significant life" that in their movement there are places for victims. That is because people who see themselves as victims don't really feel they have time or will to be generous. In other words, Blanchard and Cathy expect good Christian leaders not to fall-back on feeling persecuted because being generous is an extension of love-love and giving leave one with no time to wallow in one's own sense of victimhood.

One the main protagonist explains this concept succinctly to his protégé: "A thankful heart tends to be a generous heart. A selfish person always asks, 'Why did this happen to me?' That leads to a victim mindset, and victims are never generous. They don't want to give. They just want to get even somehow."

In general, the class of readers that THE GENEROSITY FACTOR focuses on include both large and small business owners as well as managers. However, it would be a shame not to recruit these generous individuals in a progressive movement to get America back on its feet.

Moreover, by doing the opposite of what victim-politics does, such a movement will be able to gain many new voters who go out their canvassing for the things that can better the commonwealth of all Americans. Such a movement does not focus primarily only on what can divide the population and create a greater sense of victomhood-as do the radical extreme movements-but focuses on giving it all to better all.

WHICH IS THE BETTER (OR MORE IMPORTANT) BOOK?

To tell the truth, the similarities of these two books may not be very evident at first read; partially this has to do with their target audiences being different. Moreover, Thomas Frank's bestseller WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? has a lot more meat on it and demonstrates much more intellectual rigor. In contrast, THE GENEROSITY FACTOR focuses on a person's relationship to God and how love empowers one to give time, money, talents, and in face-to-face relationships.

Further, whereas Ken Blanchard and S. Truett Cathy's target the THE GENEROSITY FACTOR towards individuals who are elite, i.e. they run their own businesses, Frank is more interested in a general but less-elitist audience.

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