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To: Springfield Reformer
A vote of conscience is hardly symbolism. Its just the right thing to do. Sometimes life presents hard choices. Character is doing the right thing even when you know the immediate consequences will not be pleasant.

In WWII we teamed up with the Soviet Union--pretty close to the devil himself--to defeat an enemy that actually was the devil himself: Hitler and the NAZIs.

People of "conscience" did argue at the time that teaming up with the Soviet Union would only ensure that the Communist would be a major problem we'd have to deal with for decades.

Of course, the alternative would have been to allow Hitler and the NAZIs to dominate central Europe and be a problem we'd have to deal with for decades. But, would that really have been a choice of conscience?

Where are we today? The choice is between allow the RINOs back into power (meaning they will certainly be a problem for a long time) or allowing Obama and the radical left to remain in power, thus allowing them to seal their changes to American society for decades.

Which is the choice of conscience?

You've got to make make decisions based on how the world actually is right now--not on how you'd like it to be.

In WWII we had to make a distasteful choice (team up with the Soviets) to prevent an even worse outcome (a victory by the NAZIs).

What's our choice today? Team up with a RINO (distasteful, to put it mildly), or allow Obama to win reelection (a long term disaster for our country by any measure).

This is where we stand (right now, at this moment). We're down to two choices and we've got to choose between one or the other.

In elections past I might have agreed with you, but there is much more at stake in this election than any in decades. I don't think I'm overstating the importance of this election by comparing it to WWII. In my opinion, the results of this election will shape the future just as much as WWII did.

64 posted on 06/04/2012 10:40:06 AM PDT by Brookhaven (Don't mistake my vote for Romney as a vote FOR Romney, it's a vote against Obama.)
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To: Brookhaven

I respect the thought you put into your response. However, I do not think it helps your case to rely on the WWII Soviet-American Alliance as a model for what to do now.

First, on general principle, wars are not fought in the context of an overarching constitutional government. The Civil War would be an exception, and a horrific one at that. But as a rule, we make international alliances based on shared geopolitical interests. There is no particular obligation between members of an alliance other than the temporary agreement of purpose that binds them.

But here, under our Constitution, every citizen has a unique obligation both to uphold our form of government and to exercise their individual right to vote under a principle of freedom that supports that form of government. Some of us also have more than a general obligation as an ordinary citizen, and have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution.

Under such a scenario, every voter, and those in particular sworn to that oath, must weigh the cost of each vote carefully. If we voluntarily grant power to those we believe will not uphold our Constitution, we are in breach of our duty to our country. God helping me, I will not break my oath. Neither Mitt nor Obama can be trusted to defend either our Constitution or the freedoms it is designed to protect. I cannot vote for either.

Second, the example you gave of the Soviet-American Alliance actually provides good reasons why we should not compromise with a lesser evil on the smaller scale of domestic politics. Keep in mind that the “Grand Alliance,” as it was called, was FDR’s brainchild, and it was deeply rooted in a profound misconception of the seriousness of the communist threat. FDR actually believed that the cooperation would continue after the war and could be enforced through the UN. He believed he could “handle” Stalin. What hubris.

But as you know things disintegrated quickly after the war. The Soviets had betrayed the Poles and allowed many tens of thousands of Poland’s finest freedom fighters to die at the hands of the Germans, apparently believing that the advance of Communism would be aided by the demise of the most stubborn lovers of freedom. Truman and Marshall began to open their eyes and stiffen the American resolve. But the genie was out of the bottle. Joe Stalin’s communism had survived Hitler with our help.

And that is why God gave us morality. God knows everything. All possible consequences to all possible actions. Faith is agreeing with God that we can trust his sense of direction even when we lose our own.

He tells us as individuals to not lift even a finger in support false teachers, false deities, and other such aberrations, and so by faith we do that, and let Him worry about the ultimate consequences that flow from doing the right thing. We have no control over that. He does.

He tells us to keep our promises and our obligations under human law to the extent they do not conflict with divine law. We are obligated under our Constitution to not give power to those who would undermine our Republic. So by faith we stand pat and hold to our duty, and let God worry about who gets to the WH and what they do with it. We can vote, but we can’t control the ultimate outcome. No one can but God. He sets up kings, and he takes them down.

But we do answer to Him for how we live up to our individual obligations. So he gives us morality to guide us. He gives us conscience to light our path when the choices seem impossible. If we refuse the light we are given, if we give in to fear, and throw away faith for “practical outcomes,” we will be left to grope about aimlessly in the dark. If we receive the light we are given, we will be given more light, and we will always be able to find our way home, no matter how long the road.


98 posted on 06/04/2012 5:09:33 PM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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