Unity - Today’s Most Needed Trait
Posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008
In-fighting is part of politics. There are fierce battles for position and conflict over who gets the credit and who the blame.
Usually it’s kept from public view. But not always. The very public spat between Ron Paul supporters and the rest of the Right is a good example of a “not always” moment. So is Mike Huckabee’s lambasting of Libertarians. And Christians are being scape-goated for the GOP’s declining brand popularity due to strongly held views on social issues and Creationism.
Unchecked, the Right may succeed in disemboweling itself. Staunching the bleeding is hard as restricting faith to the heart prevents mental use of biblical warnings about divided houses. Worse, successful “kills” deplete the Right’s strength. We agree on more than we disagree. There are some very real differences and these will need to be worked out. But using exclusion as a tool in this working out is precisely the wrong approach.
Coexisting is not the same as embracing. Social Conservatives can work with Libertarians without embracing the legalization of all drugs and eradication of all borders. Libertarians can reciprocate without “walking an aisle” or surrendering any presumed intellectual superiority. This strengthens us all at little cost. Intentionally devouring one another, on the other hand, not only thins the ranks physically, it depletes stores of philosophical and principle based strength as well.
Consider the Christians. What is to be gained and what lost if we politically excommunicate them?
No more sheep bleating about abortion and the sanctity of marriage. No more accusations of ignorance over Creationism or Intelligent Design. If that is all that’s lost, perhaps it’s a good thing to give believers the “Left Foot of Fellowship” as they exit the building. But what else do we lose?
We lose the stature and strength Christianity has to speak truth to power. From Nathan to King David and John the Baptist to Herod to William Wilberforce to Slavers and today’s Pro-Lifers, Christianity has been the platform from which many a naked emperor’s exposure has been exposed.
We lose the foundation from which to fight the relativism of the Left. The culture we enjoy did not simply arise from nothing. Christianity provides instruction to those who value it. Imperfectly built structure? Absolutely. But a valuable structure, nonetheless. 16th Century Europe birthed two influences on developing Western Civilization. The Renaissance, steeped in “Man is the measure of all things”, gave us Humanism and the French Revolution with its horrors. The Reformation, steeped in “God is the measure of all things”, gave us the means to judge the behavior of all men, even Kings, and the American Revolution with its Freedoms and Rights.
Evangelicals who would force Libertarians from the ranks produce a similar drain. The works of Hayek, Rand and von Mises may not be theological masterpieces in the Christian sense. But their impact on Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness cannot be overestimated. We need people who champion their beliefs as we need those who champion Christian faith.
Those with their minds made up will accept no argument to the contrary. To them I offer a hearty Godspeed and Fair Winds. You are going where I cannot and dare not follow. But for those who agree, and more importantly to those who are unsure, I offer a welcome to the Don’t Go Movement. Based on the premise that which unites us is more important than that which divides us, DGM is a community dedicated to working together despite differences. The New Testament word for “unity” is “symphonia”. The unity of the disparate instruments in a modern symphony is not all sounding the same. Rather it is all sounding together, at the proper time and with their individual contributions.
At DGM you’ll find a broad range of philosophies and principles. While all are Right of Center, not all who are Right of Center hold them. It makes for spirited debate. It makes for a learning experience. And serving in unity makes us a near unstoppable force when we turn, as one, to focus on that which we both hold dear.
Join us won’t you? Woodwind or brass, percussion or string, we’ve got a chair with your name on it. Come lend your passion to the pieces we play. You won’t be sorry!
Written by: Blue Collar Muse
<>
Nothing to quibble with here, but there is an alternate way to categorize both the Renaissance and the Reformation. The motto of the Renaissance was “ad fontes” or back to the sources. “Man is the measure of all things” comes a bit late in the play via Pico della Mirandola, the great syncretist.
There is a very real sense in which the Renaissance was the necessary predecessor for the Reformation, and an equally real sense in which the Reformation was the application of Renaissance scholarship to the ills of the church. Ad fontes in the early 15th century meant recovering the literature of the Greek & Roman world.
Ad fontes in the early 16th century meant recovering the theology of the early church.
Ad fontes in the early 17th century meant recovering the political philosophy of the ancient world (Locke & Hobbes).
Ad fontes in the mid 18th century meant recovering and re-establishing the Roman Republic.
The American Revolution and the founding of the American Republic are not the first acts of the enlightenment, they are the last acts of the Renaissance.
Which is why the French Revolution (with its nihilistic, corrosive rejection of everything from the past) is so radically different from the American Revolution.
Conservatism, famously quoting Buckley, the task of Conservatism is to stand athwart history and shout ‘STOP.’
I don’t think WFB went far enough. The task of conservatism is to stand athwart history and shout ‘LOOK AT WHAT WE HAVE LOST - AND NEED TO RECOVER!’
I am flummoxed by the notion that ‘conservative’ Christians can support the pro abortion, pro homosexual left because of the other issues the left stands for, but non Christian ‘conservatives’ can’t support the right because of its opposition to abortion and the pro homosexual agenda.
There’s some narrowness of thinking there that I just don’t get.
@Mike Thayer -
You’re flummoxed because you have misunderstood what I said. I am not recommending that Conservatives support the Left. I am recommending that Conservatives support other Conservatives - SOME of which are going to have positions that you disagree with.
For instance, If you have a person who is Pro-Free Market, Pro-Small Government, Pro-Low Taxes, Pro-Individual Liberty, Pro-Family, Pro-Life but who also happens to support - for whatever reason - Gay Marriage - why would you throw that person under the bus?
You probably agree on over 90% of the things that you would discuss.
Further, if you have a Pro-Gay Marriage, Pro-Big Government, Pro-Central Planning, Pro-Curtailed Liberties, Pro-High Taxes person who is - for whatever reason - also Pro-Life, why would you refuse to work with him in the area of Pro-Life issues?
If we as Christians believe that all truth is God’s truth, then why not affirm it wherever we find it? Why insist that our personal and political relationships be determined by massive agreement? I’m not suggesting that the second person above is going to be your closest ally. But perhaps, in the Pro-Life discussion, he is!
It’s a matter of determining what it is that you are FOR! If you are FOR Life, then all who agree should be welcome beneath that banner for that skirmish. In addition, by pushing that person away, we lose the opportunity to engage him on the other issues as a trusted and valuable source. Even in politics, it is true that you catch more flies with honey …
Just some food for thought …
“Consider the Christians. What is to be gained and what lost if we politically excommunicate them?”
Go ahead, make my day.
I have a better idea, why don’t us Christians “excommunicate” the knuckle heads like you?
Party unity at the expense of my religious beliefs?
Get stuffed!
Without us you die politically, now go on and re-join the Democratic party, maybe they will take you back.
In the meantime, I’ll be working to drive people like you out and as far away from MY party as I can.
@Jimmy,
If you think BCM was actually suggesting that Christians be excommunicated from the GOP, you totally missed the point.
It’s called a rhetorical devise.
Read the whole column.
Dan, you must amaze yourself often with your cognitive skills, like when you tie your shoes.
I read the whole column and hence no need for me to read it again, and I realized she is talking about the GOP, as am I.
How could you miss that?
Knucklehead
[...] Fridays post “Unity – Today’s most needed trait” by Blue Collar Muse I was delighted by the positive and progressive tone (the good progressive). [...]
Hmmm, why drive someone out whom you agree with 75% of the time, in order to prevent the election of someone I disagree with 100% of the time I would think. Having said that I think the reason the last election was lost was because the “country club” Republicans, some would say RINO’s pulled the party off message for the last several years, the problem is they have had plenty of help from conservatives in doing this, unless Im mistaken I think that was the purpose of the unity speech. I haven’t made up my mind about this group yet, I will reserve judgement till I have some more facts. I certainly will not give up my strongly held views for unity for the sake of unity, but I aint throwin the baby out with the bath water either.
BCM - In case you feel disheartened by some of the responses to this post, don’t let it get you down. A lot of people are angry just now. It was a long, difficult, election season, and many are still trying to understand what really happened.
I was always in the ideological minority in the city I grew up in, and still live in, and I was can’t remember a single political argument when I was in middle or high school that wasn’t me against everyone else, usually including teachers. Sometimes those “lively classroom discussions” left me feeling hurt and abandoned, sometimes furious, but, as time passed, more and more often I just began to feel disgusted, and I became less inclined to waste my breath.
My husband (who went to the same school I did - where was he then?) is a conservative, but his ex-wife is a liberal. Scratch that, a Liberal… or even a LIBERAL. The kind that will love her children unconditionally, and will support them no matter what choices they make for their own happiness, whether they’re straight or gay, a lawyer or a starving artist, saint or sinner, she will never condemn them as long as they are true to themselves and dance to the beat of their own drum… unless that drum starts thumping out a conservative beat. Anyone want to guess the next part of my story?
My 17 year old stepdaughter only rarely acknowledges the existence of politics. Usually she inserts a liberal factoid, a verbatim reciting from her mother’s repertoire, then waits for me to comment. It’s a cue I’m familiar with now, so I oblige her by giving the most even handed and factual response that I’m able to give, and stressing that she should never make up her mind about anything without checking it out for herself, including what I tell her. It’s kind of like winning a war without firing a shot, because the other side is blasting shotguns loaded with rock salt - never making a kill, but causing maximum pain to combatants and innocent bystanders alike.
My 13 year old stepson doesn’t have his sister’s guile. He’s seen what each side had to offer and has planted himself firmly on mine, knowing that it will (and already has) cost him his mother’s affection, and also knowing that I wouldn’t have withheld anything if he’d gone the other way.
Anyone who’s feeling a bit beaten up by this election should keep in mind what my boy has been through. The rejection from his mother would have been bad enough, but the emotional beating he took from his “friends” at school made his misery almost inescapable, and for damn sure inexcusable. My own experiences were downright pleasant in comparison to what he went through, every day, in every class, and even on the bus ride to and from school. These psycho kids even took “polls”, one of them suddenly standing up and shouting for everyone that supported Obama to raise their hands, then calling for the McCain supports to out themselves. Of course, the first time this happened, my son didn’t know what would happen, and was shocked when the other kids taunted and mocked him, called him names, and kept it up far longer than their usual attention span would have allowed. The next time he had a choice; he could change his response and avoid the abuse, at the cost of letting the kids know that they’d backed him down from his previous position, or he could stand his ground and start the nastiness all over again. God love him. My kid never once backed down.
My heart ached for him. He had just been through a very difficult few years, having suddenly developed behavioral and academic problems in the fifth grade that were only explained and treated after countless visits to doctors and therapists, even taking him out of school for a while, and he nearly gave up on himself many times. We finally sent him for a sleep study, having to push his therapist to refer him, because of a nagging sense, that I couldn’t dispel, that his problems had too much in common with some of mine. Sure enough, he was diagnosed with sleep apnea, which was so severe that he often went a full two minutes between breaths and his body had retrained itself to, not only move during REM sleep, but thrash. The surprise that, deep down, I expected, was that he was also diagnosed with narcolepsy - which I hadn’t had diagnosed until my late 30s.
Life is hard enough in middle school, hard enough for a kid that had been singled out as lazy and weird because of a sleep disorder. Many times I’d wanted to tell him to give himself a break and play Obama convert, and I did tell him, repeatedly, that there was no shame in refusing to argue and keeping his head down. He did stop participating in most of the mind games, but he wouldn’t retract his position. He endured a lot of cruelty and was hurt by old friends that took delight in ganging up on him, and they still get regular digs in, but less often now.
Anyone that’s still too hurt, angry, or resentful, about their grievances from the last year, to try to find common ground with the opposite end of our party, I invite you to put yourselves in the shoes of a very courageous and convicted 13 year old boy, who never blamed his conservative ideals for putting him through misery, because he knew where the blame really belonged.
He’s my hero. He doesn’t really believe me when I say it, but I hope that, someday, he’ll know that it’s true.
@Jimmy -
I thought perhaps when Dan gently chided you it would be enough to get you to drop the anger and participate.
Dan is right and you are, fortunately, wrong.
In the first place, I am a “he” not a “she”.
In the second place, the entire post you dismiss in such an un-Christ-like fashion, is an argument AGAINST the GOP dismissing Christians and their valuable thinking and morality. As a Christian, I am deeply concerned with the trend in some GOP circles to blame the Religious Right for the election losses in 2008.
My point, had you read the post, is that driving the Christians out of the GOP will, indeed, produce some “positives”. It will also produce some “negatives”. The negatives far outstrip the positives and so the best course of action is to continue to welcome believers in the Party.
I’m not quite clear how you missed that but you did. Now that it’s cleared up, perhaps we can move on to substantive debate as opposed to name calling and vituperation.
@ Dave the Marine -
I’m not suggesting that you get rid of your strongly held beliefs for the purpose of Unity or any other purpose. That is called Compromise. I mean that in the worst possible connotation for that word.
That having been said, surrendering your beliefs is not the same as working to enact those beliefs with people who may not share ALL your strongly held beliefs. If you are completely Conservative in all points, fiscal and social, you can work with a Pro-Life Democrat, for example, on the issue of limiting or eradicating Abortion without having to head to the Dark Side on Taxes, the size of Government and so on.
That’s the point of the post. How many married couples do you know that agree on 100% of issues and actions? I’ve been happily married for 22 years and The Much Younger Trophy Wife disagree on any number of things. I manage to work alongside unbelievers and Democrats on the job without destroying or abandoning my principles and faith. We are pooling our efforts to achieve a commonly identified goal.
This is no different. At stake are Conservative principles and positions. I choose to work with people who agree with them where we agree and pleasantly refuse to compromise where we disagree. It is amazing to me this is such an issue for Conservatives.
Doing so has a huge upside and virtually no downside at all. But in the spirit of the post itself - you are completely free to disagree with me. If you choose to hang around and work in an area and an issue that you support and feel strongly about, if I share your view - I’ll happily work side-by-side with you. If you disagree and separate yourself from us, I’ll mourn the loss of what could have been and allow you to follow your own convictions. In the end, it’s what we generally all do.