What do Jack Johnson and General-in-chief of the Thai army Prayuth Chan-ocha have in common?  They both want to know:  “where’d all the good people go?”  Why they want to know is the subject of this entry.

It took me a long time to appreciate the music of Jack Johnson.  Part of the reason was because Jack Johnson’s music is very laid back, and I am not.   The irony of his early songs, like ‘Flake,’ was not readily apparent to me because the song sounds so lazy and self-satisfied.  It goes without saying that I am not the most generous of judges.  Even those songs, like ‘The Horizon Has Been Defeated,’ that should have clued me into his depth, came off as undistinguished and samey.  The fact that I associated his music with the sort of people I do not get along with and who seemed to be the biggest fans of his music did not help matters any.

So, it was only after the song “Good People” was released, which asks the same question I have about the absence of “good people” from our political and cultural scene, when I was able to appreciate that his laid back style did not mean a lack  of substance.  It merely required the listener to listen closely without dramatics.  Until I was able to find that depth myself, I could not understand why my Pandora station (set to Keane and Edwin McCain and the Corrs) kept on playing Jack Johnson music.  (I still can’t tell why it plays Matt Nathanson, but  that is another question for another time, perhaps.)

So, what does all of this have to do with the Mr. Chan-ocha?  Plenty.  As it happens, the General-in-chief of Thailand’s army spoke on two army-owned television networks in Bangkok last night telling the people of Thailand to vote in next month’s national election for “good people” who “know right from wrong [1].”  The fact that the current government is not faring very well in polls probably has something to do with the bluntness of the message in translation.

Now, I’m not the most diplomatically savvy of people, but I can read between the lines and ask some relevant questions.  For one, I’m not used to the military owning television networks.  Nor am I used to military leaders attempting to blatantly influence an election.  Voting is the job of the voters, who can make up their own minds, thank you very much.  I happen to think that wherever people make meaningful decisions about who will represent them in office that they try to pick good people who know right from wrong.  The only problem is that people have wildly different definitions of good and evil, and where the balance lies between two or more flawed human candidates for office.

And that is the problem.  There ought to be the same standard of “good people” no matter where and when one looks in the course of human history, no matter which culture one examines, and no matter their social class, ethnic origin, political party, or the color of their shirt.  One God and Father of all means one constant and impartial moral standard for what a good person is.  A good person from one place and time should be able to recognize another good person from another place and time by how they behave.  If we are all part of the same body with all believers over the whole span of human history, we must all share the same moral infrastructure, the same nerves and joints and blood and lymph vessels working through the whole body.

And if this is true of all good people at all places and times through the entire span of human existence (who are good as God defines good), then it certainly ought to be true of people in the same place and time.  To the extent that we do not have the same standard of right and wrong with someone else, we are not the same people and nation.  For how can two walk together unless they be agreed?  And what does one do when one is not the same “nation” when one shares a citizenship or seats in a church building or the blood and marriage relationships of family?  Can one maintain peace on any level above silence and cold war?

[1] http://asiancorrespondent.com/57494/army-chief-urges-thais-to-vote-for-good-people/