There is a lot of talk about love here in Asheville, and I have experienced the crystalline-heart-chakra energy this holy place carries. But why isn't this love being shared cross-culturally? If you are going to talk about love, you better talk about love for your sisters and brothers of different colors, otherwise nothing has been accomplished. Love is not a fashion or a buzzword, it is a practice! Remember, this current reality in which we live is all based on ideas and thoughts — not heartfelt compassion, otherwise there would be a lot more care in its dealings.
Let's strip things down to the bare bone; let's peel the skin back 'cause it's not "all good"! Let us not say that everything is hunky-dory here in Asheville. It may be a bit honky-dory, especially regarding race relations. There are some really good parts about this town, but the racist underbelly needs to be exposed, talked about and brought out into the open. Then, together we can dump the skeletons out of the closets.
Love and compassion are just wimpy words without the tooth and nail to protect them. I say P.C. really means "petty control." I talked to this guy about going to buy some cigarettes downtown one night, and he said, "There's no store around here." I said, "There's a little store right down the road." "The Hot Spot," he said. "Yeah!" I said. He said, "Oh, that place is real shady; I don't want that vibe in my aura." Spirituality is a holy, unifying thing; it is not for some fool to use as a whim to continue this deep-rooted segregation that permeates this town.
It's hard not to get upset when it seems that everyone in Asheville is more worried about recycling than the quality of life of their fellow human beings. The pay rate in this town is so low that people of all races might as well just be slaves; at least we might get fed better. Maybe it's time for a living wage; let's put some love where it really counts: into the lives of others less fortunate and of different cultural origins — red, black, white and yellow. As the Hopi see themselves as people of clay, from the substance of the Earth herself, and as the Earth has different colors without discrimination and intolerance, so should we as a people gaze at one another.
— James Raven
Asheville
No need to wait for the Sunday comics, kids.
Won’t happen, ever thats why you had people on this very Rag cracking jokes about the Hillcrest fire, this town is NOT as diverse as people try to church it up.
Its true more folks care more about recycling or how green the next person is before they care about anyone’s actual well being. Its because it doesnt match that silly boheimion lifestyle this town pushes down everyones throats on a daily basis.
No Asheville is not diverse and the letter writer is correct in all he writes about, but again Asheville won’t change, thats not a fashionable fad.
Careful traveliar, your hood is showing.
Mmmmm? Where can I get some of what this letter writer is smoking?
Its because it doesnt match that silly boheimion lifestyle this town pushes down everyones throats on a daily basis.
You live in the most liberal city in the Southeastern United States and you spend all of your time whining about liberals in the liberal weekly’s comment forum. That’s like going to an Italian restaurant and complaining that all they have is Italian food.
This a free country. Move. Jump on I26 and you will be in South Carolina in no time. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
No Asheville is not diverse and the letter writer is correct in all he writes about, but again Asheville won’t change, thats not a fashionable fad
That is quite accurate. A lot of the leftist-liberals will congregate at the top of Coxe Ave but none of them are to be found at the bottom of it.
No Im just pointing out a fact like the letter writer is. Truth hurts don’t it? Little too much for your expansive progressive mind to take isn’t it. This town is a sham when it comes to our fellow man but skip that just attack me, its ok what about other viewpoints oh I forgot only if it matches your own, how progressive.
And no Im not moving people tried that with my people once and Im here to stay, I never mention liberal once in my post but you have to bring politics into it, must suck to have such a limited mind to drop things into a Conservative liberal mindset, so much for being a progressive or in Asheville lock step.
Sorry to drop the reality bomb on you Asheville Dweller, but you are the one that endlessly rants about how horrible Asheville is because of the progressives. The fact that a right-wing extremist troll like you has to use the liberal weekly’s site to rant about how much you hate liberals is hilariously ironic. Think whatever you want to think, but don’t expect to get a pass on the ridiculous hypocrisy.
I brought politics into it?!? Your hypocrisy is truly astounding. Are you seriously so astonishingly clueless that you don’t know what the term “progressives” refers to? “Progressives” is a synonym for liberals!
“Progressivism is a political and social term for ideologies and movements favoring or advocating changes or reform, usually in an egalitarian direction for economic policies (public management) and liberal direction for social policies (personal choice). Progressivism is often viewed in opposition to conservative ideologies.”
Yes, apparently reality does hurt for people like you. Let’s look at the facts…. You constantly decry the fact that you live in the most liberal city in the Southeastern US and instead of just moving to some right-wing place more to your liking, you incessantly whine on the liberal weekly’s discussion forum about it.
Since you have made it clear on a daily basis that you think it is such a progressive hellhole and a “sham,” why not just get the hell out? Nobody is twisting your arm. Oh, yeah, then you wouldn’t have anything to whine about. Do you go into Chinese restaurants and complain that they have too much Chinese food on the menu too? There is no shortage of towns in the US that have very few of the Asheville progressive types that you incessantly whine about.
That is quite accurate. A lot of the leftist-liberals will congregate at the top of Coxe Ave but none of them are to be found at the bottom of it.
Yeah, because mc traveliar is hip to the hood, y’all. His bigoted rants about “black thugs” and “ragheads” is just part of his cover, as is his use of a picture of a guy who lobbied against the Civil Rights Act as his personal icon. His tirades about immigrants, Reverend Wright, and black nationalists, and multiculturalism are all party of the cover as well. Reverse psychology, ya know?
In reality, Asheville certainly does have a long way to go in encouraging cultural diversity. With right-wing extremist blowhards like Carl Mumpower, Chad Nesbitt, Judge Downs, and Mr Mallett/traveliar pushing for cultural hegemony and constantly fanning the flames of bigotry, it is indeed up to the progressives to take greater steps towards multiculturalism and healing the racial disparities of economics and justice in our area.
I was just chatting with James Raven, and in response to Enpticon and Travelah, he suggests you two need to get a room.
Ummm entopticon I never mentioned “Progressive” in this post until you narrow minded self sadly tried to call me out on it. Face it you can’t take criticism for your overrated little town, its ok one day you will grow up and learn to think for yourself.
The freedom of speech is a two way street and I suggest you get used to it, thats right not everything said about Asheville is going to be verbal masterbation that you spew putting up a false image of this town. So I will say what I want and when I want, and where I want, So might want to get overself, tough talking with people thats not in your circle, you might hear something that upsets you, good.
You comparison is sad, there are things in this town this rag and people like your narrow minded self that are in complete denial about. Just to stick you head in the ground is naive and ignorant just like your argument. And I don’t hate everything about this area, I say this area because there is more to this area then just downtown the sun does not rise nor set there.
He can’t speak for himself, slow local? Are you the friend of his that is afraid of going to the Hot Spot because of the shady vibe in your aura? He sure can pick ’em. Maybe all of that crystalline heart chakra energy of his that gets blocked by late night cigarette runs is to blame.
Is he talking about the orange and white color barriers? Because they usually take those down after Bele Chere.
Let’s be honest here. The Hot Spot on Coxe Ave probably is the shadiest convenience store in the downtown area. Regardless of what color it happens to be.
Let’s be honest here. The Hot Spot on Coxe Ave probably is the shadiest convenience store in the downtown area. Regardless of what color it happens to be.
Asheville Dweller you can criticize Asheville and call it overrated till you turn blue in the face for all I care. That won’t change the fact that that makes your choice to stay here imbecilic. This isn’t the USSR in the 1970’s; you can leave any time you want.
Masturbation is probably a word that you should learn how to spell before using it in accusatory fashion. You just made that crap about me spewing verbal masturbation about Asheville up. You can’t provide any proof for your asinine claim because it’s a fabrication. You incessantly dwell on your obsession over the progressives here, and you are projecting. Most recently, I was actually pointing out to Cullen that Avl’s murder rate is 1.5 times the national average, nd much higher than NYC’s, which doesn’t really gel with your confabulation. You claim that I am sticking my head in the sand, but you can’t back it up because you are just talking out your ass.
Say whatever you want. It’s not like you have an original thought in your head. Anyone can go to any right wing mumbo-jumbo site to read an endless stream of dittoheads spouting the very same nonsense that you do.
The question is, since you endlessly rant about how much you hate liberals, why do you live in the most liberal city in the Southeastern US, and why do you spend all of your time trolling on the liberal weekly’s website? Are you a parasite, or is your life really so hollow that you can’t find a real city that more closely reflects your values, or even a news source that actually reflects your values? It’s just kind of pathetic. I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon then troll around some right wing site bashing conservatives all day.
I know I can leave and once Again I got to explain it to you, I can’t use smaller words but I love living in this area, my roots run deep in these mountains for hundred of yeasr,and I say area because the sun doesnt rise nor set in Asheville. My whole family is here in these mountains and the surrounding areas so get used to someone not agreeing with the status quo.
And you lustrious argument is laughable we are talking about Diversity and you bring up Murder rates, Talk about comparing apples and oranges, and you say I talk out of my ass, you should look in the mirror.
And As for progressive and Msst liberal city in the South East if this place is so liberal and progressive where is the DIVERSITY, I know it pains you to stay on topic wanting to talk about Murder rates and how much I complain at where I eat, but the letter is about Diversity. And again Asheville lacks it which you can’t refute but just whine about someone that lives in the real world.
Didn’t realize you were quite that slow AD, but I will break it down for you…. You claimed that I can’t take negative talk about Asheville and that I heap verbal masturbation on it. I pointed out that you are completely full of crap, and gave the example of the fact that I had recently pointed out that Avl has a very high murder rate as proof that your claim was bs. I have no problem criticizing Avl.
My point still stands that you spend all of your time whining about how much you hate it here, but nobody is twisting your arm to stay, and certainly nobody is forcing you to troll around on the liberal weekly’s website.
I have agreed all along that Asheville could do much more to promote multicultural diversity, so your bizarre assumption that I would want to refute it has no basis in reality. You are jousting at windmills, just like you always do.
Entopticon said it best.
AND…..I will gladly provide funds for the purchase of a bus ticket for both Mr. Raven and the ever whiny Mr. Asheville Dweller so they can go find that perfect Shangri La they think exists somewhere.
So, go find it boys!! chop chop!! Send me a postcard. I’ll be right here, in a great little town called Asheville.
Share the love, baby. Feel the unity. breathe in the magic crystal vortex dust. Enlightenment comes with a trust-fund. And stupid people come in all colors!
Except chartreuse. They’re perfect.
Ahhh I figured you would change your tuen once power returned but nope, not that it mattered. The subject was about Asheville Diversity and once again you fail at keeping to the point at hand other then, whining about me.
Please, NO MORE of this ‘living wages’ crap…
its socialist bullcrap and ANTI American! Stop your whining and sharpen your skills!
angry, if you are indeed serious in your sentiment, you may want to study a little bit of American history. You will find that poor people organizing against the wealthy for a better ‘living wage’ is a very “American” thing.
Is the minimum wage “socialist bullcrap”? Because I’d be fine with just raising it to a level that allows people to feed their children and themselves. And, if that’s too hard on small businesses they should propbably evaluate what their low-wage employees provide for the company.
Well, feeding and housing people is one thing but providing for their cars, televisions, stereos, computers, MP3 players, jewelry, toys, beer and wine, cafe coffee, pizza and entertainment is another thing. A living wage to eat and have a roof over one’s head is one thing but a living wage to glow is another.
If you cannot afford to live here, move on. Ultimately that will bring wages up. There are too many people here trying to glow and do the kumbaya for the economy to absorb.
Glow?
well, in pfstffpttt’s case, I’ll use fizzle instead.
Raven must be a new arrival from the Northeast, or perhaps Chicago. Ignorant of the actual South, he has come here brainwashed by northern cultural conditioning (aside: as if NY NJ MA and CT don’t have race problems lol. In fact, Chicago was recently dubbed “the most segregated large city in the nation” by Chicago Tribune newspaper). NO, Mr Raven, we do not have a race problem here in Asheville! Quite the contrary, in my Asheville, and I walk the streets downtown often, black and white folks get along pretty darned good. You see, the Southern culture is shared by all regardless your skin color. We are friendly and smile to strangers. We believe we are all God’s children regardless of how we look.
Got a clue for you Mr Raven. Shut off your prejudice towards our area, and just walk around. Meet people. Meet black folks, in particular. Notice that 90% of black folks smile back and say “good morning”. They may even add a “sir”, as is the Southern custom of ALL of us calling each other “sir” and “ma’am”. Public respect and politeness is important here abouts. I doubt you have the same where you came from. On my visits up north, I’ve found the opposite. The great majority of everyone (regardless of race) I’ve met in NYC, for instance, don’t return a smile and pleasant greeting. They either ignore you completely, or say something like “what’s your problem?” I’ll gladly take Asheville’s culture any day over that. Mr Raven, I implore you to adopt our cultural values and leave your northern ones behind.
okay. i kinda agree with your assessment, lil t. i’m just unfamiliar with the way you are using the word ‘glow’.
Are people who have a 8-10 and hour job doing petty jobs really ‘glowing’ when they spend most their earnings on rent and basic bills? Although i agree with your assesment of consumer culture, i think you are unaware of what a low-wage worker actually makes, or what they can buy with their earnings. and also i have no idea what you mean by ‘glow’.
It is the wierd experience, the juice that a lot of people seem to have flocked to Asheville for. I might call it the psuedo-bus ride. The town cannot carry their free ride.
The people here for the “experience” of Asheville (whatever in ha’el that actually is)cannot make it on the collection of petty jobs they try to scrape out of an exhausted economy hence we have a move for the “living wage”. Now, keep in mind that most people are making a living wage, are purchasing homes and are part of that middle path that is found all across this land. They did not come to Asheville for the wierd experience.
As for experience with low incomes, my wife and I struggled trying to raise a family for the first ten years of our marriage. We didn’t have chit. It wasn’t until I went back to school to complete my degrees that I culd better our financial circumstances. That is certainly not a surprise. The only way out of the pit is education and once acuiring it, a lot of folks have to move to the job instead of waiting for the “living wage” to come to them.
So … educate or stagnate. That is up to the individual and not the community. The idea of a “living wage” serves the objectives of the latter rather than the former.
Happy Holidays!
Isn’t racist to assume that an entire clump of people in a town are racist? Isn’t it narrow to assume that an entire bulge of people you couldn’t possibly have talked to first hand are narrow? The word racist gets thrown around too liberally if you ask me. I can’t speak for all of Asheville but I’m sick of people trying to accuse me of being racist who have never even talked to me. If you want to make a difference in Asheville then start with your self. Don’t be racist.
There are too many people here trying to glow and do the kumbaya for the economy to absorb.
Why is it that traveliar, the supposed Christian, makes the most consistently anti-Christian posts on the Mountain Xpress? You really think Christ would be against providing people with a living wage? He commanded that you give to EVERYONE who begs from you, whether you think they deserve it or not.
NO ONE gets rich off a living wage. Ooooh, heaven forbid someone who has worked some crap job all week would want to be able to go out for a piece of pizza or a nice cup of coffee. It is kind of amusing though, that traveliar keeps ranting about pizza and coffee because that is what he associates with Asheville liberals.
The living wage concept was actually a Christian (Catholic) notion that has since been adopted by secular groups as well, to provide people a reasonable standard of living for a full work week. Anyone railing against a living wage has absolutely no business pretending to be a Christian.
It’s interesting that this conversation has turned into about living wages and what the real nature of Christianity is. To those of you puzzled about why 99.9 % of Christians behave in anti-christian manner like Mr. Entopticon is asking here is simple. Jesus provides the answer himself when refering to a rich young ruler, “how difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, indeed it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than it is for the rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven”. If you want to see Christians behaving like Christians, go to a less privileged country in African or South America, or even China and India. Even the working wage people of this country are rich compared that of the majority of the rest of the world. We are too comfortable in our riches, and we are too self-righteously religious by and large. What we really worship is comfort. We are the religious types that murdered Christ in this country, not the ones that embraced his teachings. Not to be a pessimist but I’m pretty sure we’d have to see a complete crash of the economy before Jesus gets taken seriously in this country by it’s own ‘believers.’
Jacob,
I do not believe you have painted an accurate picture. A great many of the Christian missionaries you extol for their work in 3rd world and developing countries are the same Christians you excoriate for being comfortable when they return. Poverty exists because of human greed, unredeemed Christ hating greed. We have been a prosperous and great land because of the moral compass instilled by a remnant of it’s citizens. Unbelievers will not for a moment believe it but that really doesn’t matter.
As for Mr. Entopticon’s comments, they emanate from a bigotry and intolerance that has no place at any table but one of repentance.
Blah, blah, blah traveliar. You go on anti-Christian tirades on a daily basis, so you have absolutely no business calling yourself a Christian. Like it or not, Christ was the most famous bleeding heart liberal of all time, so it is indeed you that is the Christ hater.
It’s iron that Ayn Rand and her libertarian followers at very least had the intellectual honesty to acknowledge that their laissez faire economic social darwinism is completely incompatible with Christianity, yet people like traveliar continue to spout that radically anti-Christian survival of the fittest blather anyway.
traveliar is convinced that he is one of the saved ones, even though he constantly rails against Christ’s core teachings, because his cult of Arminianism teaches its deluded followers that God is an insecure, jealous, vain, and wrathful monster in the shape of a human being floating around in the clouds who is so shallow that he cares about being worshipped, not being good.
According to traveliar’s cult, someone like him, who regularly rails against Christ’s core teachings with rhetoric about tax cuts for the rich and not offering a living wage for the needy, is saved, but if a 10 year old girl from a non-Christian culture was the kindest person on the planet, his impish and vain god would sentence her to an eternity in a lake of fire for not worshipping him. traveliar actually believes that crap.
Ironically, the bible says the very opposite in notable places. A loving God doesn’t give a flying flip about being worshipped.
As many of the founding fathers and enlightened people throughout history came to realize, traveliar’s shallow, vengeful, and insecure god is a three-headed monster, and no true God at all, because God’s love does not depend on whether or not you are a member of traveliar’s obscure and anachronistic cult, or any other cult for that matter. God’s love is universal, and it is certainly not dependent on profession to some belief in the combination of fables that any given faith uses to talk about spiritual issues.
Travalah,
As the son of a missionary, having spent 13 years of my childhood growing up in Asia, in a country that is less than 1% Christian (which is not too far from the US in my opinion), I can tell you first hand that missionaries are not wealthy; at least not when it comes to money. There have been many times my parents and I had to rely on God to give us out next meal, and indeed he provided, quite miraculously at times. I feel I am qualified to talk about how love of wealth and comfort can poison the soul. All due respect Travelah, I do not feel like you are honoring Christ by defending America as a nation when you by faith imply that is somehow because of it’s Deistic founders. By that logic our Jewish friends must have a firmer grasp of scripture according to your world view being that they pass on a much higher standard of living to their children than their less savvy Christian counterparts. I don’t believe Christ cared much about money. Just look at the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. I am curious how you would reconcile Jesus’ teachings there with you health and wealth world view.
Jacob, first I am not part of the “health and wealth” segment of Christian theology. I find the widow’s small contribution far more valuable than that of the wealthy man.
As you know the life of a missionary can be and is often most difficult. However my point was that the bulk of western missionaries come from moderate middle class American homes and churches. They most often return to those homes and churches continuing in their middle class lives while funding further missionary reaches.
Now, with regard to the remnant I commented on, I was not referring to Deist founding fathers or any particular group of influential persons. I was instead referring to that faithful remnant of believers in a land whose prayers and faith return prosperity and strength to the land that everyone benefits from. This is why I stated that unbelievers are not going to believe this or really, even grasp what I am stating. Your parents relied on their faith to carry them through hard times and I suspect you already know what value their work and circumstances were to the kingdom of God (whether you are a believer today or not).
As for the 1% of the US being true believers, I know it is considerably higher than that but I would agree that the remnant of believers in this country is not nearly a majority. There is a remarkable distinction between Christendom and Christianity. Knowing that and the direction the country is going in with regard to actual Christian believers, I cannot marvel at the state of our land today.
Forgive me Travalah, but when you talk about the US being “prosperous and great” because of a “more compass instilled.. because of a faithful remnant”, you make it sound to me as though you are talking about money when you talk about prosperity. Maybe I am further mistaken, but it also appears to sound like you think that if anyone is not part of the Christian “faithful remnant” then they must have no “moral compass.” I personally am a Christian but I know many who do not share my faith in Christ as the son of God who are far more moral than a lot of us believers. I thought that the premise of being a Christian meant that you concede that you are sinful, in need of deliverance. Why condemn Entopticon if does not share you conviction about Christ; it sounds as though you think that it is because he is less moral than you and I and therefore is somehow inferior. You also sound as though you think you deserve salvation, as if it were not by nothing other than sheer grace. If you are saved by anything other than sheer grace then the God you believe in is not that great after all. If you really do believe in a God who is just and will right all wrongs in the end, why take up for ‘God’ as though he were too weak to take up for himself? I sincerely hope you see what I am saying, because faith in a wimpy god is no faith at all. I pray that God reaches through all my flawed humanity to love you in what I say, because I know he can.
I am not referring to prosperity in the sense that the wealth preachers use the term. Prosperity refers to meeting needs and going without want for those things in life that matter most. These are the blessings of God upon a nation that has in it’s midst a remnant of believers who live prayerful lives. The moral compass I refer to is not a set of laws and works performance that legalists in Christendom might refer to as some sort of penance and redeeming qualities. Salvation is by grace through faith and has nothing to do with meritorious works. That salvation and moral compass I speak of is found only among those in Christ. Anything else is as the scriptures tell both of us, nothing but dirty rags. There is no legitimate moral basis among those at enmity with Christ. It is a facade that when stripped away reveals men at their basest. What you see in the unredeemed is the work of grace upon unbelievers to bring them to a point where they might hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ should men called of God to preach it.
I am not a hard determinist with the mindset of let things be and God will work his “sovereign plan” as He sees fit. Rather than follow a “wimpy” God, I know the LORD can and does save the very sort of Christ hating souls who rail against Him and His followers on a constant basis. The Apostle Paul, chief of sinners as he described himself, railed in murder against Christians, slaughtering them and delivering them to heinous deaths. Rather than condemn entopticon, I and others pray for him regularly. The enmity welled up in him is not confined to just Christians. It is heaped upon everybody and anybody who disagrees with him and for that condition there is only one who can deliver him and that is not you or I.
As for God taking up for Himself, I urge you to reconsider what it is you believe. There is a passage that speaks to this and I’ve taught it on occasion. Perhaps it is fitting here.
“The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.” (Eze 22:29-31 AV)
There is much more appropriate to this matter from Ezekiel but that is sufficient for these thoughts.
Rather than follow a “wimpy” God, I know the LORD can and does save the very sort of Christ hating souls who rail against Him and His followers on a constant basis.
You sure better hope so traveliar. That should be your Christmas wish. I have seen no one here so at constantly at odds with Christ’s core teachings as you. You are so blinded by the unbridled hatred and bigotry of your convictions that you fail to recognize that you can’t serve the most famous bleeding heart liberal in history, Jesus Christ, by constantly railing against his core beliefs.
That salvation and moral compass I speak of is found only among those in Christ. Anything else is as the scriptures tell both of us, nothing but dirty rags.
My God, you are twisted.
There is no legitimate moral basis among those at enmity with Christ.
What a completely ridiculous thing to say. Cultures that have seen huge numbers of their innocent men, women, and children sacrificed in Christ’s name certainly have a moral basis for their enmity.
It is heaped upon everybody and anybody who disagrees with him and for that condition there is only one who can deliver him and that is not you or I.
Bwaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!! You are such a ludicrous hypocrite. You, a right wing extremist, spend all day trolling on the liberal weekly’s website, railing about liberals!!!!! YOU ARE PROJECTING. You are a contrarian of the worst kind, and your posts are overwhelming evidence of that.
“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.”
Talk about a moral basis for enmity against Christianity. The god you worship traveliar, is a petty, despicable, vain, and wrathful creature, as evidenced above. You are a devil worshipper, and the sad thing is that you don’t even know it. God doesn’t consume anybody in the fire of wrath. That’s evil.
Travalah
I hear what you are saying regarding the need for prophets, and I do not disagree with your argument about the fact that we need people to speak out against injustice, We sure do. I just feel that the verse you refer to has less to do with the United States as it does the Church. I doubt you would argue with this however it sounds as though you are saying that the democratic republic of United States, (that is not even Christian by and large) is under the same covenant the body of Christ is. The oppressors you reference in Eze 22 were the temple priests and theocratic rulers. These were the same people who Jesus attacked in the Temple for similar reasons. If there should be any one who we should speak out against it should those profiteers within the Church that hawk books, accept large sums from impressionable peoples, and minsters who exploit non-profit tax exemptions to fund their private jet trips to luxury hotels. That is what that verse addresses. If the church spoke out against these injustices more often it wouldn’t be such a stumbling block to our friends like entopticon who love Jesus but can’t seem to get past the horrific injustices of the church.