Posted on 11/10/2006 7:27:00 PM PST by outofstyle
Election Day is over, the votes have been counted, and it's clear that conservatives took a beating. I have always maintained that Christian leaders should not make partisan endorsements — and I never have. But I am unashamed to say that I am a conservative.
In one sense, I think, all Bible-believers are conservative, because we believe in governing our lives by revealed truth rather than by man-made, utopian ideologies. Modern liberalism wants to remove all restraints on people's behavior. Conservatives believe in the moral law. So Bible - believers might be liberal on a lot of issues, at least in the common sense of that word, like helping the poor, but they would be fundamentally conservative in their disposition toward life.
House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejoices with House and Senate leaders as the Democratic Party takes control of the House of Represetatives at an election-night rally at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006. Pelosi is regarded as first in line to become the next speaker of the house. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) So, what happened in Tuesday's election? The economy is strong. And it's true we're in an unpopular war, but people vote their pocketbooks most often. Yet the conservative movement, which had been gaining ground, has blown it. It has been defeated. Why?
The answer is one that may startle you. Conservatives lost because they deserved to. They failed to live up to the high standards of personal behavior they preach about. And that's what brought them down.
Is there a double standard here? Why should the case of Mark Foley have helped bring down the Republicans? After all, twenty years ago a Democratic congressman, Gerry Studds, had an affair with a male page, disclosed that he was a homosexual, got his wrist slapped by the House, and then got re - elected! Why has Foley's indiscretion turned into Foley-gate?
The answer is because it's just the tip of the iceberg. Look at how the conservatives for years railed against the Democratic liberal establishment and all of its money, the lobbying establishment, the junkets, the payoffs. The conservatives campaigned against it in 1994, only to take over Washington and do exactly the same thing. This is what is known as rank hypocrisy.
Is it unfair that when conservatives do things liberals do, that they, the conservatives, are labeled as hypocrites? No.
According to that great conservative thinker Russell Kirk, the first tenet of conservatism is the preservation of the moral order. True conservatives don't look at government as a plaything by which they can impose their latest ideas on the country; they look at political power as a guardianship, what Chesterton called the democracy of the dead. In other words, we have a debt to those who have gone before us, and the primary debt is to preserve the moral and constitutional order that our forebears fought to defend.
So when a conservative has a much - publicized affair or is outed for improper sexual behavior with pages, or digs into the congressional budget pot to hand out earmarks to his own district, he is a hypocrite to be scorned.
My hope and prayer is that conservatives in America will do some serious, sober soul - searching. We need to get our own act together before we can preach to others, or before we deserve to hold power. And if we break trust, we are breaking trust with the very essence of who we are. Our own character is at stake.
You can talk all you want about the unpopularity of President Bush, or the Iraq war, or immigration. But what this campaign really boiled down to was, well, when it comes to conservatives, it's character, stupid. If conservatives don’t learn that lesson, they will spend a long time in exile — and deservedly so.
bump
I don't accept the premise of the title of this piece. Conservatives as a whole did not lose here. Republicans did. Conservatives have suffered a setback, but nothing that can't be overcome.
Unfortunately, character only applies to conservatives. Liberals can be completely bereft of character, and their sycophants will always rally to their defense.
I agree.
Sheesh! Fools like Colson are going to get us all killed.
oooh this rather hurts, but I definitely agree.
I don't think that Mark Foley caused this election result.
I don't feel that I lost. We ousted an RINO and replaced him with a conservative. 3 of 4 ballot proposals went my way (Including the important affirmative action ban) I'm still stuck with the same democrat Governor and senator but I feel that I've gained in some ways.
You're right.
I don't think he is suggesting that we stand down. He is suggesting that we stand up.
Conservatives didn't "lose". Conservatives have suffered a painful but necessary amputation of putrid flesh. We will have to wait and see if we need to cut out more.
Have got to agree with you. Had Republicans been conservative all along, they would have had no problem. This all started from the top of the Administration. It turned off a lot of voters, who just didn't bother to show up. The Democrats won nothing. They even ran as conservatives. Republicans have not been listening to their base for sometime. It cost them!
What will be interesting now is how the Democrats are going to govern. Will they expose who they really are?
You don't have to apologize for being a conservative, Chuck. Cunningham and Ney are thieves and Foley is a pedophile. Greed and lust know no party. I agree now is a brief time for soul-searching. In my case, never again will I assume a Republican leader shares my values or concerns. I will vote for some of them, but I will never trust them. That's what conservatism is all about: creating institutions that can minimize human weakness rather than allowing it to flourish. That's why our system divides and shares powers.
Very true, however, there are more of us than there are sycophants on the left, and a good portion of our office holders left the Conservative farm. To me, losing the House and Senate is bad, but losing Santorum and Allen specifically hurts more. Not from a "nominee" standpoint, but because they are Conservative through and through. With any luck we can get more Tom Coburns and Mike Pences in office, going forward. They will stay Conservative.
That was my take as well. By definition, the reason that we lost is that we were not conservatives.
Yes. The 'Rats have already started to take off their masks.
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