Capitol Spill

First Day on the Job, Meet the President…

It is hard to start out an internship better than Emily Barlage of Asbury College (KY). On her first day at the Department of Education’s Office for Faith-based and Community Initiatives, she found herself at a special ceremony honoring her office at the White House. Welcome to D.C., Emily; may I introduce you to President Bush and his wife? Why students do not take their internship directors to these functions is beyond me…

We just ended the first month with our Fall 2008 class and internships are finally underway. The strength of this latest group is clearly evidenced by the quality of their internship placements. Here’s a brief update for those keeping score…

The executive branch is once again well-served by ASP, with students serving at the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice—Civil Division, the Department of Labor’s Office for Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, and the Department of the Navy (Pentagon).

A handful of students are working hard on Capitol Hill, serving prominent senators (Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina; Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana), congressmen (Rep. Hoekstra of Michigan, Rep. Radanovich of California, Rep. Royce of California), and congresswomen (Rep. Brown-Waite of Florida). At one of our weekly ASP family dinners, I recently learned Jess Honcoop of Trinity Western University (Canada) had a slow day at the office earlier in the week, leaving time for Senator Lugar to visit with his interns as a group for an hour or so. Enjoying the undivided attention of Senator Lugar for an hour…that’s a pretty good way to pass the time.

A few ASP student scholars have embedded themselves in prominent Washington think-tanks. Kasey Neil of Gordon College (MA) is at the Center for American Progress, working on a project in her area of expertise—Catholic Social Thought. Kelly Bass of California Baptist University (CA) is at the Institute for Global Engagement, which hosts another conference in late September as part of their Global Leadership Forum 2008 series; this latest installment is entitled “The ‘New’ Evangelical: Profile, Policy, Practice,” which examines the continued evolution of evangelical participation in the U.S. political system.

We have several students working in organizations advocating specific policy agendas. These internships are taking place at the American Legislative Exchange Council, the National Conference of State Legislators, and the National Right to Life Committee.

Another group of students have turned their attention to issues of international significance, working with such esteemed organizations as World Vision, the Washington Office for Latin America, Jubilee USA, and The ONE Campaign.

Our more business-minded students are gaining experience at places like American World Services. And I haven’t mentioned work being done at the National Endowment for the Humanities, So Others May Eat (SOME), or the media department of the Republican National Committee, but I think the picture is clear by this point. ASP is blessed. We have students working throughout the city in various capacities not only developing as young professionals in their respective fields of professional interest, but learning first hand the challenges of living a biblically coherent life in a broken world. We are doing it in community, studying and living intentionally in expectation of God’s ongoing revelation of our responsibility to Him in all areas of life. We will keep this blog updated with our stories as they unfold this semester.

Blessings,

Peter Baker

ASP Internship Director

The Holocaust Museum

I am not sure that anything, other than at the beginning of the civil war in Burundi, has ever shaken me to the point of not functioning. Reading “The Diary or Anne Frank” and watching the movies like Schindler’s List did not prepare me for this experience. I was simply not prepared for what I was about to see.  

I will never forget the images of Women and children.  For the last two days these images have played in my head over and over again. I have a vivid imagination, which keeps playing images of women being striped and shaved, and children being starved to death.  The pictures, the videos, and momentos, all of them grabbed my attention, heart and soul. I was also reminded that Jews were not the only victims of Nazi Germany as I I read and saw videos of Roma (gypsies) and political figures that also fell to this terrible regime. 

The first memory picture that grabbed my attention was of the children in schools all in line with the Nazi Salute and hailing Hitler.  I thought of how easy it would be to spread any kind of indoctrination in schools. It has been used before, in Israel and Palestine even during the Iranian revolution.  

The uniforms that were worn by the prisoners in the camp were not easy to handle. I looked at them with the recognition that these belonged to someone who either died in the camp or was rescued. It would be easy to say that History does not repeat itself, but with accounts of history, I know that it does. The mass killing at Babi Yar is very identical to a description in Elias Chacour’s Blood Brothers, where a group of villagers were taken from their homes to nearby hills where they were killed.    

While studying Nazi Germany, I had come across action T4, but did not fully understand it until I looked at the pictures and bed of patients who were killed. Hitler in his effort to cleanse decided to kill all the patients, especially those who were mentally and physically handicapped. How cruel do you have to be to do this? Their only crime was that they were not perfect. I could not hold the tears anymore. How could one kill children, innocent children?  I did not understand, and I still do not understand. Then I saw that Hitler really saw himself as God.  How could he decide that there were people that were not worthy to live?  At that moment, I do not think I have ever felt a strong hatred for anyone in my life than I did for Hitler at that moment and the realization that I could feel such a strong emotion scared me. What would I do as christian, realizing that had Hitler come to Christ, he would receive mercy, and I would probably see him in the streets of heaven.

Then there were the shoes, and pictures of hair. The shoes! How do you describe that?  If you have been there, you know what I am talking about. I kept imagining that these were shoes.  Real shoes, worn by real people. The smell was too real and it made me sick. I had held up really well, but this became my undoing.

Ironically, walking through the hall of remembrance, there was such serenity. Serenity after turmoil. I sat down to reflect on what I had seen, but I could not think. I could not feel, and all I wanted to do was sleep.  I simply did not want to exist at that moment knowing all that I knew.  If tears could heal, I would be healed, but maybe I don’t want to heal, because I might easily forget that it would not take much for another holocaust to take place. I was reminded by a friend that this was not the first holocaust. Slavery took place, and the world was quiet.  The holocaust took place and the world was quiet. Where were the Christians then? Where was the church?  We are guilty, with our own history implicating us. It is more than the crusades or the inquisition.   We might have failed to see that the struggle continues.  Yet many of us are still ignorant. The invisible children of Uganda, the Rwandan/Burundian Genocides, Darfur, Abortions, the Israel-Palestine conflict - don’t these events need our attention? Or should we wait until people are being put in gas chambers?  Are we waiting for the government to do the work that the Church should be doing?    

This passage was brought to my attention by a friend, and I've loved it ever since. Micah 6:8 pretty much tells us what is required of us, it says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."   So how do we act justly and love mercy at the same time?  Especially in Washington DC?  Is it possible? Or is the first step to start walking "humbly" with our God.

~ Divine Muragijimana (F'08)

A Look at Week One

                              

    Saturday: August 30

           Move-In Day!

Monday: September 1     

The semester's first classes take advantage of some beautiful weather.

Tuesday: September 2

Why not have a roof-top party?

Later in the week...

Back to the  books.

Walking tour of the monuments...

...a three hour tour...

...yes, a three-hour tour.

Even later in the week...

Tropical Storm Hanna decided the first week wouldn't be complete without her.

Holocaust Museum

...what do you believe?

...is it true?

...what difference does it make?

Lucas in the Limelight

From the 6/28/2006 edition of the National Journal...

A native of Indiana, Christina Lucas’s new gig will give her a chance to help her home state. She is the new deputy federal representative in the capital office of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. She previously was a public affairs specialist in the U.S. Trade Representative's Office.

Lucas, who hails from Brownsburg outside of Indianapolis, graduated from Taylor University. She did an internship at USTR during her last semester and took her first job as a trade analyst at a textile consulting firm called International Development Systems. She rejoined USTR soon after current chief Susan Schwab took over in 2006, working on NAFTA, intellectual property, and other issues.

Lucas started following politics through her father's work as a lawyer. "I knew all the judges that were running in the county and would go to court with him," she says. "I grew up putting the sign in our yard for the [candidate] we wre supporting." In high school, she also was involved in a leadership program run by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.

While she was studying in Hong Kong, Lucas got interested in trade and international business. The language of economics was fascinating, she says, but both the Mandarin and Cantonese dialects were impenetrable. "All I learned in Cantonese was how to direct a taxi and to order chicken," she jokes.

Lucas, 24, likes to run and to read biographies, most recently a book on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. --G.S.

Christina is an ASP alum from Spring 2005. While at ASP, Christina interned with the USTR office. She graduated from CCCU member school Taylor University in May 2005. To view the original article, visit www.NationalJournal.com.

Eastern Market Fire

Late Sunday night, our beloved Eastern Market was caught in a three alarm fire.  I can't quite figure out why the loss of a building has caused me so much heartache.  As I walked by the charred structure yesterday, I was struck by the numbers of people just standing and watching as workers continued to clean up.  It seems to me that the fire did more than just damage an historic building.  It took a major hit on the sense of community the market provides for so many people caught in the busy life of Washington, DC.    ~Lindsey

Here are a few links to what the Washington Post has to say:

Fire Damages Eastern Market (video)

Eastern Market, Corner Store and Cornerstone by Philip Kennicott

2 Fires Ravage Eastern Market, Georgetown Library in 12 Hours by Klein, Alexander, and Boorstein

I Have Felt Empowered...

Kevin Sonoff, business major (Spr 07)
George Fox University
US Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)

Having completed two-thirds of my semester in Washington D.C. and with two months of experience with the United States Senate I believe I have changed not only as a student but also as a person.  I have grown in ways I didn’t believe possible and have had the rare opportunity to gain a new political mentor.  To put a value on the time that I have spent working for Senator Richard Lugar would be impossible. 

Every day that I go to work at the Senator’s office I try not to leave without having learned something new.  This strategy has produced some extremely valuable results and has encouraged me to seek out new opportunities for growth.  I initially experienced nervousness when around other staff members in the office.  These feelings have completely subsided and cleared the way for great productivity and the development of a number of quality professional relationships.  Feelings of nervousness can cloud one’s mind and inhibit your ability to capitalize on valuable experiences.  I knew that in order to make the most of my internship I needed to focus and proactively learn as much as I could.  This has been an ongoing process and a primary goal for the semester.

One of the greatest aspects about working for Senator Lugar’s office is the freedom they give interns in the workplace.  I have been working on archiving different sets of files that are being taken out of the office and stored at the National Archives here in D.C.  This is an entirely new experience for everyone.  I was assigned to this project a few weeks ago and have dedicated a lot of time and effort into making sure it is done correctly.  I have had to learn the process and in turn teach some of the staff members what needs to be done.  The staff has let me complete this task on my own and hasn’t gotten in the way at all other than to give me support and tell me I am doing a great job.  This situation makes me think of the article we read by Robert Coles, “Finding a Direction.”  Coles writes about boy scouts on a hike whose leader becomes frustrated because a certain scout is lagging behind.  After much frustration the leader realizes the scouts wanted to be able to lead themselves.  If I had the Senator’s chief of staff pressuring me to complete this archiving project exactly how he wanted it done instead of letting me do it the way I thought best, it would have been far more difficult to the complete the task diligently.  By giving me the freedom to do my own work, I have felt empowered to make my own decisions and ultimately achieve success on the project.

Senator Lugar’s 26-year old scheduler has turned out to be a great role model for me this semester.  Justin has worked for the Senator almost five years and has provided me a unique perspective on the Senator’s life and career.  One of my best day’s this semester came from what I thought was going to be the worst.  Justin asked me to help him reorganize the office storage cages in the basement.  The cages are extremely dusty and filthy.  Justin and I spent the entire day sorting through boxes of daily schedules.  Every day Justin prepares a daily schedule briefing for the Senator that tells him where he needs to go and who he is going to meet.  These packets of information include background to remind the Senator what he is going to talk about with each person.  Seventy-seven boxes and nearly eight hours later, Justin and I had sorted through each individual daily schedule from the Senator’s thirty-two years in Congress.  Far more valuable than random busy work, this time together gave us the opportunity to get to know one another and gave me the chance to hear inside stories about what it is like day-to-day to be a Senator.  Justin and I now share a valuable working relationship and I feel I have a friend who I can turn to when I need help. 

Post taken from Internship Reflection #2 (26Mar07)

Dean's Empty Definition of Easter

By Nathan L. Gonzales

Two recent press releases from the Democratic National Committee reflect the party's continuous struggle to understand evangelicals in America.

A March 30 press release entitled "DNC Offers Passover Greetings" included a joint statement by Chairman Howard Dean and DNC Vice Chair Susan Turnbull. The release was appropriate and timely and included their definition of the event, though it ignored the religious aspect. "On Monday night, Jews around the world will begin celebrating Passover, a week-long holiday that commemorates the Israelites' freedom from persecution and slavery."

Then, a week later, the DNC celebrated Easter with another statement from Dean, including his definition of the holiday. "Easter Sunday is a joyful celebration. The holiday represents peace, redemption and renewal, a theme which brings hope to people of all faiths."

Dean's Easter statement seems to bend over backwards not to mention Jesus and demonstrates either a misunderstanding of the evangelical community or a fear of alienating other voting blocs with religious talk.

"This press release, absent any reference to Jesus, without whom the Easter resurrection story is meaningless, is apparently a sad reflection of a 'lowest common denominator' religious outreach of the Democratic party," said Richard Cizik, Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, "Wake up and smell the Easter lillies! This kind of outreach will not pass the smell test of any evangelical."

Frankly, Webster's New World Dictionary, which is not regarded as a particularly spiritual or political source, has a better definition of Easter: "an annual Christian festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus."

The DNC statement is striking, particularly since Democratic outreach to evangelicals is on-going (including Dean's speech at Eastern University just last week) and the importance Democratic strategists have put on using the right language to appeal to evangelicals. Democrats like to point to recent conservative evangelical leaders' attacks on Cizik as evidence that they are making progress, but based on Cizik's comments, evangelicals aren't moving en mass toward the Democratic Party anytime soon.

Dean and the DNC simply missed the target this Easter. The press release was astonishing because it's sole purpose was to acknowledge a religious holiday, yet it was painfully-worded to avoid being religious. If this press release was part of the Democratic Party's outreach to evangelicals, they probably would have been better off just skipping it altogether.

This item first appeared on Political Wire on April 10, 2007.

Passionate About What is Happening...

Alexandra “Alli” Smith (Spr 07)
Olivet Nazarene University
U.S. Representative Ortiz

My experience this semester is truly eye opening and challenging.  I am now passionate about topics I never gave much thought to before this semester.  The community life is challenging in every area – from living with bright students, to studying policy and philosophy, to working at an internship that allows me to see policy being made. 

Before coming to the American Studies Program I had never taken a political science class, and here I find myself immersed in it!  When we started the domestic policy unit words like H.R. 6 and energy security were nearly foreign to me.  Now, when I go to Starbucks and they put your drink in two cups I think about the energy we could save by just using one cup, or creating a thicker cup instead of having the need to use two.  I am now noticing the energy efficient bulbs in the American Studies building.  My awareness of my environment continues to develop.

When I read the news more headlines catch my attention now because I am growing to care and be passionate about what is happening in our world like the genocide in Darfur, how our policy toward Iraq is being shaped, and changes being made in immigration law.  Actions such as praying for my public officials and examining policy through scriptural principles (as discussed in the assigned readings from Standing Amidst the Ruin) are now real to me.  Doug Bandow in his article in Standing Amidst the Ruin speaks of the importance of Christians being involved in civil affairs.  In previous years I struggled to get myself to read the news, to be informed on current events.  But through the classes here and my internship on Capitol Hill I am now “addicted”.  I want to be informed and want to read and know more.

I want to take the principles and values I am adopting back to Olivet Nazarene University next semester.  In the election next year it would be great to get the student body involved – encourage the students to study the issues and the candidates and promote obtaining absentee ballots to actually get out there and vote. 

As the semester progresses I am receiving more in depth responsibilities at the office.  I am now developing a list of press correspondents for the Congressman’s staff for use by the House Armed Services Committee in which he is chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness.  This involves using the staff research room in the Madison building of the Library of Congress and utilizing the aides in the Congressional Research Service.  I have the task of drafting responses to constituent emails regarding immigration and healthcare issues.  I am using the guidance of the staff’s legislative correspondents in developing my writing style.

The professional staff in my office is very courteous and helpful in teaching me about the legislative process and how Capitol Hill functions.  The legislative assistants talk to me about the status and content of different bills.  The legislative director gives me the majority whip’s calendar each morning and is explaining his role in what happens on the House floor. 

But there are some afternoons that drag by when I am behind on mail or when I have one Capitol tour after another.  When I experience those kinds of days I reflect on the exciting experiences I have had so far, such as when I attended the congressional Azerbaijan Caucus meeting or the times I stopped in at Barack Obama’s breakfast on Thursday mornings.  When I am exhausted from tour guiding, I take time to make my guests excited about the parts of the Capitol that are my favorite, like the golden ceiling in Statuary Hall or the grand marble staircase that leads to the House Gallery. 

I even appreciate running errands for my office – delivering papers to the Members’ Cloakroom, or picking up flags to be flown over the Capitol – because the Capitol truly is a museum.  The artwork is fantastic and the people I pass in the halls are the “movers and shakers” of our country, or on some days Hollywood stars like Richard Gere!  It is an exciting semester to say the least, observing the hustle and bustle of arguably the most powerful city in the world.

Post taken from Internship Essay #2 (26 Mar 07)

Even an Organization Focused on Entertaining...

Sean Coon, business major (Spr 07)
Dordt College
Marketing Department, DC United

Through my internship experience with DC United, I am learning valuable insights about my life calling  and how my own personal story or narrative is being shaped.  I’m seeing how the teaching and framework of the Bible are actually applicable in every facet of life, including my intern work at DC United. 

As we discussed justice in many of the program’s discussion sessions, I was really searching for a way to put my life at work together with ideas about justice.  At first I had an extremely difficult time applying justice to my internship experience, but I finally realized how applicable it could be.  After diving into Scripture and reflecting over what justice personally means to me and how I could use it in different areas of my life, I began to see opportunities at work.

Even with an organization that is merely focused on entertaining people with the sport of soccer, I found you could still seek justice.  DC United has a program called “Kicks for Kids” that helps underprivileged kids come to matches for free.  It gives the kids an opportunity to leave behind some of the oppression in their lives and come out to a game, meet the players and take in various events on game day. 

Ron Sider, in the article we read from Toward an Evangelical Public Policy, really showed me that we are all created in God’s image, meaning that every individual has worth in the community.  Sider goes on to explain how God requires us actively to promote justice and righteousness by loving one another, working toward restoring the community and caring for the oppressed and poor.  As I work with “Kicks for Kids” and other programs, I feel as if a little bit of justice is actually happening through my DC United internship.

My main goal for this semester’s internship is to get a better feel for how sports organizations are run.  Every day I feel I am coming to a more complete understanding of everything it takes actually to run a business.  For example, I have been to many lunch meetings, association meetings, a soccer conference and open interactions with DC United patrons.  Through all of these experiences I am learning the real day-to-day activities of a business in the sports industry.  I am looking forward to continuing to experience more business activities and to diving even deeper into my internship experience. 

I sometimes struggle, like most interns do, to find meaning in my internship work.  While reading my supplemental internship text, The Unbearable Lightness of Meaning by Milan Kundera, I came to see the “lightness” that many people carry with them throughout their lives.  After the initial excitement of my internship wore off, it began to be hard for me to attribute meaning to my intern work.  I realized I was very similar to the character Tomas who really wasn’t living his life with much meaning.  Living a life with no meaning can be dangerous.  As I continue with my internship I want to remember that there is always meaning in every facet of life.  Even making copies can have some meaning.  After all, someone has to make the copies that will eventually be sent to corporate members who buy $1,000 worth of season tickets. 

For class we read Mark Hatfield’s introduction to William Wilberforce’s Real Christianity.  I learned some real lessons from Wilberforce’s life.  In recounting Wilberforce’s story, Senator Hatfield showed how Wilberforce grasped the humanity of society, fallen and sinful yet capable of love and justice.  Wilberforce’s life really showed me that even though as an intern I don’t always feel I am making a difference, I could, in fact, make a difference.  From here on in, I am going to work to see the bigger purpose of everything that I do in my internship.

Post taken from Internship Reflection #2 (26Mar07)

The Right Entitlement Culture & Easter

I was walking through the skyways of Minneapolis and came across an Aveda sign outside of Avant that read: "Make Clean Water a Human Right." I realize this is likely an innocent marketing strategy and probably a well intended act of stewardship to help preserve a valuable natural resource, which is perfectly good. But, what's funny is that majority of the people who come in contact with this sign probably wholeheartedly believe that humans indeed have a "right" to clean water. I'm not trying to ridicule a good cause. In fact, I think it is a wonderful display of an effort to return something to how it ought to be. Whether knowingly or not, it resembles an effort to bring more of the Kingdom of God to earth.

So, do we really have a "right" to clean water? To think we have a "right" to clean water is quite comical when the story of mankind is considered through a Judeo-Christian lens, the real story. Try this one on for size... we have a right not to die. Funny thought, isn't it? Perhaps you noticed the separation between idealism and realism. The reality is that the "rules of life" are already set, and they have been since creation. Despite a rightly ordered human desire to return things to how they ought to be (e.g., clean water, no death), due to the sins of our fathers we live in a wrongly ordered or fallen world in need of redemption. A redemption no collective human effort can satisfy.

However, that doesn't justify acquiescence. Through a Judeo-Christian lens, I suggest rewording the sign to read: "Make Clean Water a Human Responsibility." When applying God's standard and human history, God ordained rights become God ordained responsibilities. Responsibilities have meaning because God ordained rights require responsible human action, which is why rights cannot be actualized without acts of responsibility. Although we have a rightly ordered desire for clean water, we don't have a "right" to clean water. Instead, we have a responsibility to make water clean and a right to eagerly anticipate and believe in God's eventual redemption of water.

Like so many commonplace things, the Aveda sign bears the witness that even water is in a wrongly ordered or fallen state and is sorely in need of redemption. If anything else, I found the sign a refreshing reminder of the significance of Jesus Christ. The Atonement of Jesus Christ has made a way for all of God's Creation to again someday be restored to how they ought to be, including water. Happy Easter!

~Terrence Barthel (Spring 2002)