Posted on 10/13/2007 9:53:21 AM PDT by wagglebee
There are many instances where pragmatism has its place. In its purest sense, pragmatism is simply engaging in conduct that emphasizes practicality. For example, if I decide to spend $60 for a pair of pants that will last me several years rather than spend $20 for a pair that may not make it past the first outing it could be said that my decision involved the exercise of pragmatism.
That may work for pants but it doesn’t work for principles. Pragmatism may work well in the fashion world but it has no place in the world of public policy. There are many well meaning, passionate, evangelical believers who have reached the conclusion that when it comes to the 2008 race for the White House it is better to vote for a candidate who can win than to vote for a candidate who can truly lead. It is this kind of misplaced pragmatism that has the potential to permanently remove the voice of evangelicals from the political arena. Our seat at the table of ideas should be more precious to us than the results of one election cycle.
Let me be clear…. I do not want to see Hillary Clinton become the President of the United States. I believe her brand of big government socialism combined with her moral sophistry would drastically change the face of American culture. From government sponsored health care to government censored Christian speech another Clinton presidency would lead us into a financial and spiritual bankruptcy that could require decades of recovery time.
If we select a genuine conservative as the Republican standard bearer and lose we will recover to fight for our principles another day. But if we run a pseudo conservative and lose we will find ourselves with no principles left to fight for. We will have sacrificed them on the altar of expediency. And if we run a pseudo conservative and win we will find ourselves with no principles left to live by for we will have sacrificed them on the altar of pragmatism.
For years the blue blood, country club Republicans have resented the fact that they have had to come to religious conservatives with political hat in hand in or order to get elected. The instant they believe they can win without us they will put their hats back on their heads and give us the back of their hand. Rudy Giuliani’s current lead in the national polls gives the blue blood their best hope to regain control of the party from what is in their minds, the “great unwashed religious right.” Even if Republicans lose the White House in 2008 if Giuliani is the party’s standard bearer the establishment Republicans will have won a great victory. They will have successfully relegated religious conservatives to nothing more than a vocal irritant to be tolerated but not taken seriously.
When you examine the biblical story of Jacob, Esau, and Isaac (Genesis 25-27) the parallels to the current political climate in the Republican Party are startling. First, Esau comes home from working in the field to find Jacob slaving over a hot pot of stew. Esau is desperate for a meal and begs Jacob for some of the stew but Jacob sees an opportunity in Esau’s desperation to take something precious from him. Jacob says, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” Esau reasons that his birthright, which was given to him by God, will not do him any good if he dies of hunger so he pragmatically agrees trading what was given to him by God for what was provided for him by man. Rather than stopping to think there might be another way to find a meal Esau, out of pure desperation, exchanges the eternal for the temporal. Perhaps he believed that as long as he would receive the blessing reserved for the first born he could afford to part with his birthright. But later, Jacob dressed up like Esau right down to gluing goat hair on his hands and the back of his neck so that Isaac (who by this time was blind) was deceived into giving away the primary blessing of God.
In the first part of the story Christians who settle for a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual rights candidate as the standard bearer for the Republican Party are like Esau, so desperate for the provision of the momentary relief of our grievance that we are willing to sacrifice the security of holding onto our principles for the future. In the second part of the story the Christian right resembles Isaac, who was blindly tricked into giving away God’s blessings by one who had the appearance of the real thing. And what was the end result for Esau? He lost both his birthright and his blessing; one because of the boldness of Jacob who took advantage of Esau’s desperation and the other because of the blindness of Isaac who had lost his ability to see past mere outward appearances.
May God protect us as believers from trading the birthright of America and the blessings of God for a bowl of political porridge and a bill of pseudo-conservative goods.
This is a perfect explanation about why we CANNOT allow Rooty Toot to be the nominee.
Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
Ping
Stop Rudy Ping
Brings a tear to my eye because I know this is true.
Great article.
Its hard to draw that line in the sand. That line in the sand is you, and what you can tolerate.
Once you cross it, you cannot go back.
Thanks for the ping.
Bears repeating, this prayer:
May God protect us as believers from trading the birthright of America and the blessings of God for a bowl of political porridge and a bill of pseudo-conservative goods.
Interesting how well that “logic” worked for the Democrats in 2000, when Nader ran:
“There are many well meaning, passionate, progressives who have reached the conclusion that when it comes to the 2000 race for the White House it is better to vote for a candidate who can win than to vote for a candidate who can truly lead. It is this kind of misplaced pragmatism that has the potential to permanently remove the voice of progressives from the political arena. Our seat at the table of ideas should be more precious to us than the results of one election cycle.
Let me be clear. I do not want to see any of the Republican candidates become the President of the United States. I believe their brand of economic fundamentalism with their moral sophistry would continue to drastically change the face of American culture. From privatized health care to the Patriot Act another Republican presidency would lead us into a financial and spiritual bankruptcy that could require decades of recovery time.
If we select a genuine progressive as the Democratic standard bearer and lose we will recover to fight for our principles another day. But if we run a pseudo progressive and lose we will find ourselves with no principles left to fight for. We will have sacrificed them on the altar of expediency. And if we run a pseudo progressive and win we will find ourselves with no principles left to live by for we will have sacrificed them on the altar of pragmatism.
For years progressive Democrats have resented the fact that they have had to come to DLC “Centrists” with political hat in hand in or order to get elected. The instant they believe they can win without us they will put their hats back on their heads and give us the back of their hand. Sen. Clinton’s current lead in the national polls gives the DLC Democrats their best hope to limit the influence of “Delusional Left.” Even if Democrats lose the White House in 2000 if Clinton is the party’s standard bearer the establishment Democrats will have won a great victory. They will have successfully relegated progressives to nothing more than a vocal irritant to be tolerated but not taken seriously.
When you examine the biblical story of Jacob, Esau, and Isaac (Genesis 25-27) the parallels to the current political climate in the Democratic Party are startling. First, Esau comes home from working in the field to find Jacob slaving over a hot pot of stew. Esau is desperate for a meal and begs Jacob for some of the stew but Jacob sees an opportunity in Esau’s desperation to take something precious from him. Jacob says, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” Esau reasons that his birthright, which was given to him by God, will not do him any good if he dies of hunger so he pragmatically agrees trading what was given to him by God for what was provided for him by man. Rather than stopping to think there might be another way to find a meal Esau, out of pure desperation, exchanges the eternal for the temporal. Perhaps he believed that as long as he would receive the blessing reserved for the first born he could afford to part with his birthright. But later, Jacob dressed up like Esau right down to gluing goat hair on his hands and the back of his neck so that Isaac (who by this time was blind) was deceived into giving away the primary blessing of God.
In the first part of the story Progressives who settle for a DELCO candidate as the standard bearer for the Democratic Party are like Esau, so desperate for the provision of the momentary relief of our grievance that we are willing to sacrifice the security of holding onto our principles for the future. In the second part of the story the Progressive right resembles Isaac, who was blindly tricked into giving away God’s blessings by one who had the appearance of the real thing. And what was the end result for Esau? He lost both his birthright and his blessing; one because of the boldness of Jacob who took advantage of Esau’s desperation and the other because of the blindness of Isaac who had lost his ability to see past mere outward appearances.
May God protect us as believers from trading the birthright of America and the blessings of God for a bowl of political porridge and a bill of pseudo-progressive goods.”
Voting for the lesser of two evils is still evil.
So, you believe that the GOP should just go ahead and “hedge our bets” by being pragmatic and nominating a liberal?
OK, I’ll risk looking stupid.
What is your point?
Maybe someone better give Christian Conservatives a simply lesson in Civics.
JUDGES, not the President, will overturn Roe v Wade. It was Judges that imposed it, it will be Judges who overturn it.
IF Christian Conservatives actually cares about life, they would realize that the LAST thing he wants is 3 Hillary clones being appointed to the SC in the next 3 years. That would guarantee Roe V Wade NEVER being over turned in his life time.
Christian Conservatives acting like a hysteric petulant whiny child threatening to take his ball and go home because he cannot impose his dogma on everyone around him. They should grow up.
The solution is not to demand they get to impose their dogma on everyone around them or they will run and hide under their beds. The solution is to get mobilized and throw their support behind one of the candidates. This continual "whaaa, none of them are perfect" crying is stupid and counter productive.
Coming from you, that's almost funny.
That is not how our Constitutional Republic works. They should be smart enough to realize that 70% of something is WAY better then 100% of what they CLAIM to oppose being imposed on them.
Elections are won by coalitions of interests, not the most dogmatically pure. Reagan era Republicans understood this. The Talk Radio Republicans continually whine about that fundamental political reality.
You're right and that's all the more reason for the GOP to nominate a CONSERVATIVE because nominating Rooty Toot WILL GUARANTEE more "Hillary clones" on the court.
You have to admit though, this is pretty funny:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1910430/posts
Uh working to make sure that a liberal is not nominated by the GOP is FIGHTING for what we believe.
They should be smart enough to realize that 70% of something is WAY better then 100% of what they CLAIM to oppose being imposed on them.
If Rooty Toot was 70% acceptable we wouldn't be having this conversation. There is no real difference between Rooty and Hitler on ANY issue.
IF they are so powerful, they should be able to mobile and pick the candidate. They are not willing to do that. They want to tell the party WHO they can pick.
That is not how a Constitutional Republic works.
This is also why we need to keep up the mantra that we are in a primary season and start counting votes.
Candidates like Huckabee, Brownback, Trancredo, and Paul need to retire from the race honorably or simply be forced out.
The early primaries have been rigged as much as possible to buy Guiliani time against disclosure of his left wing status.
We need to count primary votes. Does ANYONE have a primary vote breakdown?
Fair enough.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.