Obviously you took a great deal of care to write all that, and I never said the GOP should move left. Therein lies the conundrum.
As to our founding fathers, I don't idolize them nor look at the constitution the same as I would the Word of God (and since I'm not all-knowing and possess all wisdom, I take that with a lot of grains of salt and don't understand a lot or it nor presume to). The constitution was progressive for its time and has served us fairly well. I don't know when or how, but it will become either more ignored or revamped.
I can only speak for myself, but I don't want to make a grab for power and force my views on those who don't want to do it my way.
Right now, all I see is further marginalization and irrelevance in the coming years. It's inevitable. We will become outcasts or on the peripheral of the mainstream, leading to intolerance. The Amish and Mennonites (all I know of early religious bodies that have survived the utopianin movement) have done fairly well; I don't know what the future holds for them.
I won't compromise on certain basic issues, or if I do, I have sold out my soul.
I see intolerance on my own side, but the intolerance on the left anywhere they are in the majority is far worse and chilling.
I disagree that we are headed towards irrelevance. We are part of a movement towards freedom, a movement that liberates individuals and gives everyone an opportunity.
We will not fail because our message is that men should be free, moral, happy, and successful. The message of liberals (although watered down) is the message of Marx - that men should hate, envy, oppress, and steal.
When I compare these messages, I cannot fathom a world in which most people would knowingly choose their message over ours. However, we live in a world where our messenger (who was a messenger of our message in title only) was defeated by charlatan who lied about and hid his message. As Reagan said to CPAC (and I am paraphrasing) Barack won because he didn’t run as a liberal. If Barack had honestly portrayed his ideas, he would have lost with much larger margins than McCain did.
Having said that, we lack a spokesperson for our message. We don’t necessarily need a Reagan, but we need someone who believes our message and isn’t afraid to spread it. Additionally, we lack people who can turn our message into solutions for our country’s problems (but I think this is related to lacking a spokesperson). While we can’t all be Reagen, we can be spokespersons in our own worlds. We have neighbors, friends, and family members who we can help see what we offer and the differences between our message and that of liberals.
Anyways, all I really wanted to say is don’t lose hope or sacrifice beliefs. Our message appeals to everything that is good in people and can/will remain viable.
Also, I agree completely that the Consitution is not the same as the Word of God, but it is and was inspired by God. In the accounts of the founders of our nation their is frequent mention that the inspiration and guidance of our Father was sought and received. We defeated a mighty superpower and internal enemies through God’s hand, and it fails reason to believe that he would, after so richly blessing our country, withhold his guidance during the drafting of the Constitution.
Having said that, the Constitution isn’t perfect, but it includes means through which it can be adabted to our needs. Although it will be amended, I don’t believe that it will be ignored - there are too many people, like you and I, who believe in the message proclaimed by the document.
Anyways, like Elisha said, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” 2 Kings 6:16.