0:00 [Music] who are you and where are you going what do you [Music] want hello and welcome to jigger's place I'm your host Kevin DL and we're here every other Thursday to have a cocktail and talk about all the things in life except for Business
0:38 and Professional and wealth building matters so today actually I didn't real did well it didn't come into my head until this morning that uh today or tonight actually uh the Jewish holiday of porum starts um this is my daughter's absolute favorite holiday because among other things as you get to dress up in costumes the day preceding the start of forum meaning now today is called the Feast of Esther I the fast of Esther I grew up all my young life thinking it
1:14 was the Feast of Esther but it was the fast of Vester and so from Sun up today until sun down today there's no eating or drinking and here I have a show that features having a cocktail so um as it turns out out uh the the cocktail that I designed uh with the help of chat GPT for for today's show uh is is what's called a dry mix cocktail meaning you mix all the ingredients together first then you put the ice in and Ice
1:49 down the cocktail so I'm going to do the first part since that's really the essence of making the cocktail um and I'm since I can't try the cocktail I'm not going to ice it down it will be a waste I I'm going to wait until after about 7:30 this evening West Coast time and then I'll be able to to uh you know have my cocktail um for those of you who are on the East Coast it's already uh after Sundown and so by all means you can mix up the cocktail and enjoy it um and for those of you on in h central time you're you know about you're about
2:25 most of the way there uh if if you follow you know Jewish tradition and of course if you're not Jewish you don't have to worry about this at all so the cocktail that I that I designed is called the Civic Revival and that's because today's show is about uh um uh renewing societal institutions so I'm not going to get into the details of it before I make the cail but I think you know as I've been mentioning promoting the show all week uh Trust in societal
3:02 institutions alltime lows um in most cases and this is I think not a good thing for our society and so what are we going to do about it so in honor of uh the CI of of this topic I uh like with as I said with the help of Chad G GPT I designed the Civic Revival cocktail you'll also notice that I'm dressed very institutional very preppy right is there anything more institutional than prepp now when I went to college uh starting in 1978 that was I went to USC University
3:39 of Southern California very preppy school and uh among other things we wore Oxford buttondown collar shirts um I did not have a rep tie or for that matter a rep V tie back then uh but Ivy leers you know reptiles are are the rage I have my um rowing Blazers uh wool slacks with the Herring bone pattern and I have I can't get my foot up high enough you well you can always do the bottom I have my bass Ed and penny loafers on so you know here we that's that's again you know we're going with the theme here uh
4:16 not unlike I think it was uh two weeks or four weeks ago when I talked about Peter mail and I had my you know scarf on like a good Frenchman so okay so today's cocktail is a gin based cocktail and I would argue that jyn is the you know most uh um uh institutional excuse me uh of of the spirits um partly because it's so classically British uh and and so uh this cocktail calls for a London dry gin
4:52 I'm going to use bootles which is a classic classic classic London dry gin um it's been around since 1845 so 180 years right and um it's just just it's just the you know great expression of a London dry Jin there's many many there's you know there's Bookers there's uh Tanger sapphires the regular Sapphire um and and and they're all wonderful the next ingredient is drambo so drambo has
5:27 been around for 280 years since 1745 it is a malt whiskey I.E Scotch whiskey based lure that has honey and other spices in it um the recipe is kept secret but not so secret that the uh London based in um isn't allowed to know about it and so can uh certify droi as being kosher and then the next ingredient is l lemon juice um you can certainly use fresh lemon juice I have
6:03 the this this great Italia Garden uh pre squeezed lemon juice and then last is bitters and I'm using Orchard Street bitters now Orchard Street is uh the a famous part of um the Lower East Side in Manhattan where a lot of immigrants from Europe including Jewish immigrants came uh it is um it's not institutional in the sense that JY and the I League are but it's institutional in the sense that
6:39 it's a place where um people new to this country went congregated and figured out what was life in the United States um all about and so um and and it it's got a um combines celery apples and vinegar all sort of um you know kind of old old world taste so I thought that would be a good little accent for this cocktail um but but you can certainly by the way you can use um Angora bitters just you know straight angura um you can also use unterberg these are the these are the
7:15 two most common bitters that you'll find of course there are lots more I have the entire bitterman's collection because among other things it it's certified kosher they have just all these great different ones and so they're a lot of fun to play with Okay so we're going to start out with two count them two ounces of of gen and let me find my let's see yep there it
7:51 is yeah good so okay so 2 O of gin and an oun of drambo so drambo is is kind of sweet because of the honey I'm having trouble reading this okay there it is and if you if you you can't see it because it's in a dark bottle and thing but but it has kind of a a pale yellow color um not unlike honey um it also has a very nice
8:27 Aroma yeah there's just you know it it it really is one of my favorite look as you can tell because you know this bottle is um mostly empty at this point okay and then 3/4 of an ounce of lemon juice okay
9:02 and then uh a couple of uh dashes of uh the bitterman's uh bitterman's Orchard Street uh bits okay and then we're going to cover this and we're going to shake it until it's until it Smooths out um does won't doesn't take a lot but you oops uh oh my shaker is it's it's leaking um okay so you
9:37 shake it until it's smoothed out now if you're going to drink the cocktail you want to next put ice into the Shaker shake it down for about 20 25 seconds 30 seconds to chill it down give a chance for some of the ice to melt as we talk about um and and and bring out the flavors and then um to drink it you'll strain it into a CP glass this is a CP glass it's got the kind of rounded shape okay and you can garnish it with a little piece of lemon peel you can twist
10:14 the lemon over it to get a little bit of the um lemon um oil that's in this that's in the peel over your cocktail and and then you can either just discard that lemon peel you can drop it in the drink I like dropping in the drink CU it just just adds a little bit to it and you'll be ready to go okay so now I'm going to I'm going to meet you over the cocktail but I am going to take 30 seconds to clean my hands first
11:24 so here we are it's heading toward the end of the week it's it's it's time to relax and and uh normally of course I'd be enjoying my cocktail have to wait a little bit longer to do that um it's you know this is the first week of daylight savings time so it's it's much lighter right now than it normally is when we meet um it's more like four o'clock in the afternoon than five um so it it seems it may seem a little little bit early for a cocktail but uh you know uh after the sun crosses over the yard arm
12:00 that's how it used to be in the Navy um and so you know you can certainly enjoy and of course everywhere else in the country it's it's it's later than here so you're you're closer to it being dark so our topic for today is renewing societal institutions and you know we there there are you know lots of societal institutions so we can talk about um uh government whether it's local state federal government there uh and there's aspects of it there are institutions like libraries um which you
12:39 you know you might say Well they're part of government okay schools which are a part of government but but kind of separate from it as well um and then there are institutions that are not uh necessarily that are not connected with government for example there are religious institutions there are are um what used to be known as social clubs or fraternal societies there are organizations like uh there are veterans organizations like the um Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion so
13:17 all of these institutions have um seen a decline in uh public uh esteem if you you will um over the last at least 20 years um and and in most cases longer than that now some of them were coming up from the clim peaked and have gone down again um so it it you know I'm I'm not going to track every single one um the two that I'm going to focus on are the two that I've had the most involvement with and
13:54 know the most about and that is the military and religious institutions so I was a Navy chaplain so um my involvement with with those two societal institutions are obvious now that's not to say that others are not as important uh or or not as crucial to society um they certainly are and and and maybe on a future show we'll we'll talk about those but the two I'm going to talk about again are uh the military and religious institutions so I was doing a little
14:30 doing a little bit of research and preparation for the show so um according to the data that I found in 1999 70% of Americans were in some way or another sociate associated with a religious institution as of uh 2020 so about 21 years later that had dropped to 47% so that's a drop of uh over 40% okay in in in about 20 years the
15:06 military in 2018 70% of Americans had a positive view of the military um by last year 2024 that had dropped to 50% so that's that's a drop of up 30% okay and and and you know when I was in the military um I started in 2006 uh it had largely recovered
15:44 from the the the huge uh negative um uh sort of uh view of the public uh moving through the latter part and end of the Vietnam War War so as you might imagine during World War II approval of public approval of military very high even through Korea it was very high at the beginning of the Vietnam War it was very high then as well but as the as the Vietnam War dragged on and Americans didn't see the point of the
16:20 war so faith in the military uh started to drop and and it wasn't until um around the time of the first Gulf War where you know the United States had such a a quick and complete Victory and then into the uh early days of the war on terrorism uh that uh we saw you know a return to pretty much I don't want to say literally Universal but very high public approval of the military and throughout my active duty career um from
16:58 the to the end of the of the 2000s um it was very high and it continued that way um until about you know five six years ago when it started to decline so I think it's worth looking first of all at what caused um some of the some of the declines and I think for one of the reasons why want to talk about both the military and uh religious
17:34 institutions is I think that there are similarities to the reasons why people lost faith in these institutions so I'm going to talk about I think three um thoughts I have on that score so I think the number number one is people people lost faith in what these institutions were doing because they um swerved away from their
18:14 core mission right so the core mission of the of of religious institutions is to provide guard rails for Behavior behavior in our society and to help people learn about and understand their values and especially their values in in ref as reflected against the values of
18:53 society so as religious institutions more and more took on the attitude of well if you think it's right then it's okay this idea of people seeing their values reflected against what were up until that time pretty well not pretty well well established and and age old and when I say age old we're talking centuries if not Millennia uh values religious
19:29 institutions became less meaningful in people's lives so if I'm My Own deiser of what's right or wrong so then what do I need a church or a synagogue for um that's not relevant I'm what's relevant so I think that that's religious institutions um as and by the way I think all of the things I'm going to talk about are somewhat connected but I think religious institutions started to lose their focus on what they're really
20:06 here to do in society uh the United States military as well I think because of um what what were essentially I I I I wouldn't call the Korean War a military loss uh but you know we basically fought we meaning uh the United States along with South Korea and the UN Alliance essentially fought North Korea and China um and to a lesser extent Russia to a standstill there
20:43 wasn't really a victory in the Korean War uh and then follow that into the Vietnam War where it was a loss there's no other way to categorize uh what happened in Vietnam the the United States ended up withdrawing um somewhat ignobly if you remember uh well I mean I was I was a I was a a child at the time 11 I believe uh when you know the images of of the fall
21:19 of Saigon and the and the overtaking of the US Embassy in Saigon and the the helicoptering off of the last few people and I mean it was it was horrendous to watch um so the sense that America was no longer a Victorious military power I think created in a lot of Americans this idea of well the military has lost its way and it it can't do it can't fulfill its primary function and as a
21:54 result people stopped supporting it okay now there was a lot of talk about you know the the baby killers and all that kind of stuff um while almost all of that turned out to be uh false or and or very um you know relegated to very small um groups of people that certainly had um some impact but I don't think for most Americans the um the m the
22:29 so-called Mei Massacre and these kind of things I I don't think those particularly um uh attributed to the larger loss of public uh respect for the military I think it was a broader malaise that people perceived in a military and remember that most you know most people who were adults and even uh teenagers at the time that um of the Vietnam War uh you know they were maybe CH well they
23:05 were probably teenagers and young adults coming out of World War II World War II which you know may count among as the greatest military victory of of all time certainly of modern times there's there's nothing on on the scale of World War II in terms of Victory uh not not even World War I really comes close and so the idea that that that the United States that had been so massively victorious in World War II basically fought you know China and W which was which was one of the Allies in World War
23:41 II by the way and and North Korea could only fight them to a standstill didn't have uh you know the guts to do what needed to be done uh was disappointing and then add on to that that that the United States basically got for all intents and purposes thrown out of Vietnam really disheartened a lot of Americans and uh so you know those things um really you know they people felt that the military had lost its way so I think
24:16 that's one factor the second factor is I think there was a loss of un of of a ability is the wrong term the the loss of leadership in both these institutions to really articulate what is the mission of these institutions and how am I as a leader in this instit in the one of these institutions going to bring that mission
24:51 about so as the mission of these organiz of these institutions became cloudy leadership sort of bought into the cloudiness and they they sort of brought their own uh opinions to it rather than leading based on the mission of these institutions so religious leaders became involved in a lot of things that did not contribute to what well either did not contribute to
25:27 what religion had historically been about or they got involved in things that historically had caused people to turn their nose up at religion so I don't want to say that um that there's never been times in in human history when when people had a negative view of religion there were times so at one point for example um the papacy located itself in ESS the south of France and was there was just
26:03 debauchery going on now the average person didn't know about that because we didn't have the kind of mass communication at that time that we have today uh but certainly people in powerful positions the aristocracy throughout Europe me much of it knew what was going on and there were many who turned away from uh I don't want to say turned away from the church per se but they they you
26:38 know it caused crisis is too strong a word it caused a revulsion for the way religious leaders were lead were leading the church in this case I mean the Roman Catholic church and I I don't mean to pick on the Roman Catholic church every Rel religion has had these kind of problems I just use that as as a a striking example so leadership really lost its way um and and and that was true um in you know in the 70s and on
27:16 into the 80s um uh military leadership lost its way uh you know we had you know General West Morland apologizing for what happened in Vietnam now you could say well that's that's an amazingly humble thing to do yes but the fact that he had to apologize instead of having done his job in Vietnam shows you that leadership had lost its way um and the same thing happened in religious institutions we started within churches and synagogues um the abuse of children
27:53 abuse of women um and and instead of dealing with these these problems forthrightly there were attempts to cover them up um all of this meant that leadership had lost its way and was no longer pursuing the mission of these organizations uh and and and thereby further eroding public confidence and then finally the third aspect is both institutions got involved in politics uh partisan politics to be
28:29 specific in ways that I I I think caused in in the case of religious institutions schisms or people to just abandon them all together and in the military also caused uh people uh who for example traditionally wanted to be involved in the military they didn't want to be involved in the military anymore because of of how much political stuff was going on and and and and again cause people to lose Faith fa faith in the military so I
29:04 can I'm going to talk about the military first in this case uh I I joined the military in 2006 um in my early days as a Chaplain in the military uh when someone as especially an officer uh wanted to say something political uh what they would do is they would ask me to come in their office and Clos the door and they would talk to me one onone about their consternation over a political situation uh I remember one one situation in particular I was
29:41 visiting a dental clinic when I was stationed in Okawa the um the uh director of that dental clinic was a young uh female officer I think she was a lieutenant commander if memory serves um she was a very good Clinic director director and uh I was passing by her office during this one particular visit and she saw me she said Chaplin I'd like to speak to you for a minute so I walked back to her door I saides ma'am what can I do for you she said would you come in and close the door which to me always meant uh oh I'm in trouble nope not at
30:17 all so I clo went in closed the door she said please have a seat so I sat down and and she just let loose about what was going on politically in the United States and I'm not going to talk about what she said it's not relevant uh to to the show uh contrast that with uh about 10 years later and at the time I was the command chaplain for uh Seal Team 17 and in a staff meeting with about 30
30:54 or 40 people there the Comm Manning officer for Seal Team 17 just cut loose on some very political remarks very surprised now the fact of the matter is I suspect 80% or more of people in that room agreed with him but 10 years before I don't think he would have done it in that way done it it wasn't public in the sense that this was a meeting but I don't think a
31:30 commanding officer would have made those remarks in front of a whole group of service members it just wouldn't have happened so the climate of how politics was dealt with in the military had changed considerably changed considerably over the the 10 and and and what came to be uh 16 years I I spent in the military the same thing is true uh in in in churches and synagogues so again I'll I'll talk about my personal experience although I I know I know many
32:07 people who have had the same experience so um I grew up um in the reformed Jewish movement um the reformed Jewish movement was always more concerned with politics than um the other movements um but you know whatever um but but by the time I was in my um early 30s um politics was actively being preached from the pulpit from What's called the beima in a synagogue um and
32:43 very partisan politics and the undertone was if you don't believe these positions you are not and cannot be a good Jew now it was never that way when I was a child and a young man rabbis just never would have said such things they understood their congregants held various political views and the idea that there was only one set of of political perspectives that could make you a good Jew they they they were not
33:20 they they would never say something like that because it's not true okay um and and and this continued on um and and I know I eventually left the reform movement because of that I I um became what's called a balua I went back I went to traditional Judaism but even within traditional Judaism uh as much as the synagogue I attended for many years um attempted to not get involved in partisan politics it
33:55 did and and I can tell you as a congre in those cases I went to the rabbi and I said this is not acceptable and by the way I would say in all two out of the three cases I agreed with what he was saying but in all three cases I said this is not what we're here for we are not here to do partisan politics and the idea that you as the rabbi of this congregation should be opining on how people should Vote or what they should be believe politically uh about policies the United States is not
34:31 satisfactory right uh and and I know many people in that synagogue were offended uh and and and and yet you know it would happen again and I and I think this is a this is a big mistake a a religious congregation is a place where we can come together and understand our core values now would that our politics absolutely be an expression of our core values then perhaps it wouldn't
35:08 be a problem but the fact of the matter is political positions aren't necessarily tied to our core values and I think part of the problem is today that a lot of us don't understand our core values because we're not involved with an institution that helps us get clear on them so we adopt societal the we adopt the values that are popular in society or the society or the community in which we live and or diametrically reject those
35:46 values rather than exploring values internally and and coming to conclusions about what our core values are are and that is the purpose as I said in the beginning of religious institutions now when I say religious institutions I don't mean just churches and synagogues and mosques for that matter but also for example in the Jewish Community there here in La we have a huge number of Jewish communal services and I and as I and and as far
36:21 as I understand it so do many Christian and Islamic denominations so I include those institutions because I can I can say categorically here in Los Angeles the communal institutions too got very bogged down in politics in a very negative way and many people who didn't share those politics abandoned those institutions as a result and so the Los angelist Jewish Federation for example which prided itself on being the
36:56 central address for all Jews in Los Angeles I well I think it still claims that it is it is not a correct claim it's the central address now for Jewish organizations that want uh monetary funding and a lot of them will sort of hold their nose if they don't agree with the politics being espoused by the Federation uh but they don't the Jewish Federation can no longer claim that that it is uh a place where
37:36 any Jew can come and feel comfortable and that's largely due to partisan politics infecting these organizations now I I I want to be clear about one thing I do not believe that religious people should not be involved in politics I I absolutely religious people should be involved in politics but that involvement should take place outside of religious institutions okay so within those religious
38:11 institutions politics should have no part outside of those institutions by all means religious people should need to be involved in how our country is governed uh and so that's the distinction that I would make so now getting to you know sort of the core topic for today's show how do we then renew these societal institutions right I I I don't think it's coincidental that young people today
38:49 suffer in much higher percentages from depression anxiety a sense of not having a place in society all of these things I think stem impart from an alienation from number one religious institutions and number two societal institutions in general uh and the military always being one that had a very strong influence on on Americans
39:25 and on a sense of patriotism and love for the United States and by the way I don't mean to say that Americans love War I don't think we do love War I don't think we love combat what we love is a sense that if we have to fight we will fight to win and we will do so in a way that uh reflects well on our country that's and that's how Americans have I think historically perceived the American
40:01 Military even when there have been lapses in that and there there have been lapses there were there have been lapses in in all wars but it but it wasn't it wasn't institutional to the military or thought to be institutional to the military until perhaps the the Korean War and then into the Vietnam War era so I think number one these institutions need to recommit themselves to their core missions okay and there's two primary
40:39 ways that that will be brought well there's three primary ways that that will be brought about one is we as people who are involved in these institutions or who have been alienated from them but recognize the importance of being involved in these institutions need to demand quietly but firmly that these institutions rededicate themselves to their core missions in the case of the military it
41:14 is being the force that defends America and and works with her allies throughout the world to support American interests no politics no nothing this is what the military does so we need to demand that of the military and of religious institutions we need to demand that they go back to their job of be of bringing moral Clarity to society okay now I I want to I want to
41:50 digress on this subject for just a moment it is not unusual for younger people to reject the values of their parents that is part of it seems the maturation process here in the United States and so I think it's a mistake for religious institutions to water down their values in an attempt to hold on to more young people and that's
42:28 because if those young people leave and they they tend to leave anyway because that's the rebellious thing to do when they get older and start to better understand the importance of values in our lives there's nothing to go back to because now these institutions have been watered down as well what young people children and young people have to do in order to rebel against an institution that doesn't hold to its Traditional Values becomes so
43:04 perverse it leads to the kind of despondency depression anxiety that we see so much more frequently in society today okay so it's not a bad thing per se that young people test the values of their parents they're going to do that we as adults and parents need to stand firm and have confidence that our values actually serve Society well and in the long
43:41 term and as people as children grow up and mature they will most will figure that out the problem is is when we water down values there is nothing compelling children young people to go through that maturation process and they remain adolescence for life and we see that in our society now where we see 60y olds who are still adolescence right so as a society and and in particular as religious institutions we need to have the courage
44:17 of our convictions and when people stray from our values we need to lovingly I would argue continue to approach them welcome them but not coddle them and not give up our values in a vain attempt to coax them back because we're not going to be judgmental the way to be the way to be non-judgmental is to excuse me just not
44:52 judge people but that doesn't mean that we give up our values so if I say uh you know I don't believe in property destruction as a form of protest now you say well that's a political value but that that stems from a core value to destroy in the name of getting my way is immature okay and so I I do not I do not support
45:28 destruction as a way to get my way okay that's a that's a a you know I I I believe that people need to act in a mature manner okay so that doesn't mean that I have to go around and condemn individuals who violate that value I can just Express what my value is and if if people differ from that well then they do but they know where I stand okay now if they claim that I'm judging them by making a statement that I
46:04 believe it's wrong to destroy property in in in in in order to get my way just like I believe it's wrong to water down values in order to keep people affiliated with a religious institution they can say well you're being judgmental no I'm not I'm stating my belief if my belief differs from yours well okay um by that standard you're being judgmental of me as well but you you know you can State your value I can State mine neither one of those are
46:40 judgmental it only crosses over into being judgmental when I say to you and you are bad for holding a different belief okay now it is implied that I believe that holding a different belief than mine is wrong that is implied but implication is not judgmental implication is implication okay so we as people who uh are either alienated and or want to re-engage with these institutions we need to quietly
47:17 but firmly insist they go back to their core functions that's number one number two leadership needs to lead in accordance with those those core functions okay they they should not equivocate they should not get involved in tangential matters they need to focus on meeting the mission so flag officers and general officers in the military should concentrate on one thing
47:52 and one thing only creating as lethal a mil military force as possible that is available to civilian authority to support America's defense objectives period end of story that's what the military that's what leadership of the military should be concerned with okay leadership of religious institutions should be concerned with one thing and one thing only and that is representing by how they behave
48:27 how they speak the core tenants of faith of the religion that they represent period without equivocation and without distraction now again that doesn't mean being judgmental okay but it does mean saying this is what we stand for as a congregation as a religious denomination as a community now religious leaders can go on and say and we are human
49:02 beings and at times maybe frequently we're going to fall short of these values and so the task is for us to support each other in rededicating to holding to these values ever more closely that is the only thing religious leaders should be doing they need to live it they need to speak it and finally partisan politics should be rendered no place at all in these
49:42 institutions if a congregant or a volunteer in a religious institution wants to be wants to bring partisan politics into the institution they should be told Pol lightly but firmly that is not a part of what we do here all it does is create divisions among us as a community and so while I I encourage you to be involved in politics you need to do it outside of our church synagogue mosque U you know communal
50:17 organization and in the military commissioned officers need to go back to a policy of strict disin volvement in anything political both publicly and in military circles now that is actually what's required by the the UCMJ the uniform code of military justice so for example uh uh I um was at an event early in my
50:53 Navy career and it was in it was attended by I believe he was a city council member for a city in Florida and the this was an event put on by my chaplain endorser it was a mil military event essentially and he showed up he was a reservist he showed up in his uniform and I and we were talking I said so what do you do he says oh I'm a I'm a council member for the city of whatever it was and he said but we're not here to talk about what I do because uh I I'm I'm here in uniform and
51:31 as an officer in I think he was in the US Army I may be wrong um it is not appropriate for me to engage in anything that even remotely looks like politics now that meeting by the way took place in 2008 right so you know 10 years later I I'm not saying he would have changed but the attitude had changed officers would openly take political positions and that is wrong if an officer of the of the United
52:07 States military wants to openly take a political position he needs to resign his commission okay and and and my I I feel strongly about this if he's collecting a military pension he should renounce his pension and then go do all the politicking you want but otherwise keep your mouth closed now in the privacy of your home private events with a few friends of course there's no problem with officers talking about politics
52:44 exchanging views but in any situation that's of a military setting or a public setting no no politics and in decisionmaking and in the and in the setting and and enacting a policy no politics at all politics are for civilians uniform people are there to execute now it's a little bit different for enlisted people because they have they're not uh treated as strictly about political matters as
53:19 commissioned officers are but I think it would be a wise policy for the military to restrict and list Ed people as much as officers are restricted in terms of how politics plays into the United States military because the the reality is uh one of the reasons why recruiting in the military has been so tough the last several years is because people who have people who would traditionally join the military felt that the military was
53:56 espoused housing uh values antithetical to political uh political ideas antithetical to their own now this did start by the way while I was in the military so when I was in the military the lifting of the don't ask don't tell policy for for gays was uh that happened um and and the military made a very strange decision about how they were going to enact that policy so they said chaplain who disagree with
54:31 that policy could resign but no other officers could now in my opinion that's wrong if some if you're going to insert what was a political issue into the military because the prior policy was don't ask don't tell it was just you're in the military we don't care what you're doing in your private life fine okay the policy was changed and and that was a political policy that was changed people should have been given the ability to leave the
55:08 military if they disagreed with it that would be the proper thing to do but that and that was where a lot of the distaste for politics and the military started to enter into things okay um and then it and then it it kind of grew after that so number one we as people who need these institutions we need to insist that they go back to their core missions anything out outside of those core missions needs to go number two leaders in these
55:43 institutions they need to rededicate themselves to to uh uh pursuing the core missions of these organizations number three politics should be rendered for bullettin as the Germans would say partisan politics within the institutions leave them outside so that's my uh those are my ideas on renewing societal institutions and you know obviously
56:20 these these ideas will not work for government because government is inherently political so um and and you know there's we would restoring trust in government I think it would have to be uh you know broadly in government I think there you know there would have to be other ideas um and uh uh and and so that's a topic for another day as I mentioned the beginning so I I I I encourage you to think about these things if if you're like me um uh I'm I'm a military veteran um I
56:59 really uh am sad over the direction I saw the military take during my career that has gotten exacerbated since then um I used to be very involved in uh religious communal life and synagogue life I'm completely estranged from it now frankly um it's not a good thing for me um I you know I hope this doesn't sound egotistical I don't think it's a good thing for these institutions either because I think I brought a lot to them um and and um my estrangement comes from
57:38 the kinds of issues that that I've just been voicing and uh part of my impetus part of my reason for um doing this show is is for me to figure out how can I re-engage with these institutions in a positive way um and and this is you know the beginning of me trying to figure that out so I welcome your thoughts on these subjects um all the links to um our social media will be in the show notes after this episode uh posts and I
58:15 I I I hope that if like me you feel alienated from societal institutions especially religious institutions and the military that this show will be an impetus for you to think a second time and and and and and join with me in figuring out how can we in good conscience uh re-engage with these institutions in for our own benefit but also for the benefit of American society at large so I thank you very very much
58:51 for joining me um on on on this show I I if you were able to make a cocktail I hope you enjoyed it and uh wish you a wonderful evening uh for those of for those my fellow Jews who are watching uh a happy porum and a wonderful uh rest of the week and weekend and we'll we'll re-engage on business matters uh starting on Monday at 10: a.m next week signing off as I always do and and such an always were an inspiration to me and
59:29 and uh I think about you every day uh Marie my dear friend up in up in heaven now uh you are my bell you really are especially on a journey like this courage at all times my friends