A Concerned Response to the Conservative Response
by Emily Witt
It was an amazing place to be. For the rest of my life, I'll remember the night of November 4th, 2008. It was my first election as a new voter. It was the naming of our nation's first African-American President-elect. It was a relative land-slide election compared to recent years. But just as much as I will remember it for its historic value, I will also remember it for the personal ideological lessons it held for me.
After months of following the issues and deliberating at great length, I cast an absentee ballot for Illinois Senator Barack Obama. I felt he was the best choice presented to me as a President, and am curious to watch his term unfold. My analysis on his suitability for the Office is reserved for, perhaps, another post. If my shift in thinking during this election is worth nothing else, it is worth the insights I gained into the weaknesses of the Christian-conservative approach to politics; that is what this post is about.
As of late, conservative ideology and candidate temperament has been so reactionary that it has lost much of its worth. The conservative movement is no longer a force for morality and limited government; it has become the uncontrolled and immature push back at liberal trends. Nothing helped me understand this better than the flutter of activity on Facebook following President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech. Here I will outline some of the thinking I heard from my Christian-conservative friends and how different it sounded to me as a voter isolated from my typical Republican ballot.
- "He's not my President!" or "Don't Blame Me!"
I found this particularly interesting. It's something I remember a lot of the liberal base saying during the Bush term, and conservatives reacting with "You may not like it, but he's still your President." What kind of a double standard has the conservative voting base set for themselves? We seem all too eager to herald our "God-ordained" (according to some) form of government as flawless and a tool of God's hand until things go contrary to our conceptions of how God himself would vote. - "But I prayed..." or "America is going to perish now!"
If God were a Republican, it would be very surprising and a blatant affront to Christianity whenever a Democrat took office. Rather, Proverbs 21:1 tells us that the heart of rulers is in the hand of God. Limiting God's sovereignty and control to a GOP controlled government reinforces the double standard referred to in the previous point: Why can Christians only see God's sovereignty and goodness when their preferred candidate has the upper hand? God's provision is no less sweet because it was unexpected, but is all the more precious to us because of it's mysterious nature. - "Socialism will rule our economy..." or "Our Constitution is going to be voided by Marxist thought" or "Our economy is screwed!"
And? Does God sit in heaven with our Constitution in one hand and Adam Smith's epic novel in the other? Perhaps not. I do not intend to demean our system--it has served us well, though not infallibly. But it is not alone in success. And if our economy were to crash or our founding ideals were to diminish in importance, could it be so tragic as to sever us from the providence or love of God? Creation is full of seemingly-conflicting values and we, as stewards of our earth and political institutions, are given the challenge of reconciling them within our own means. It cannot be validly argued that our knowledge of capitalism's merits completely override any consideration of isolated (or even majority) socialist tendencies. It cannot be said that God has chosen to endorse a form of government over another. Romans 13 seems to contend that God ordains all governments. We cannot pretend to both believe in a sovereign, good God and at the same time see havoc packaged in every change to our status quo. - "51% of America is stupid!" or "Obama is a _____" or "Democrats are idiots"
No, really? Are we in 5th grade? How is it okay to demean people in the name of political statement? I tell you that Christian-conservatives can never regain their credibility in the political community until they offer real political analysis and not just a regurgitation of misrepresented Ralph Reed 90's rhetoric. Offer moderates a reason to empathize, or at least show them a reasonable approach to real-life events, and maybe the party base can grow. Until then, perhaps the conservative movement could work on growing up. - "We have forsaken America's founding ideals!"
According to whom? It is not possible to consolidate founding ideology and principles. There was a plurality among our founding fathers on many issues--issues of national financing, of legislated morality, of the balance of state and federal powers. There was dissention among our earliest legislatures and corruption among our earliest politicians. We have not lost what "made America so great", but rather have perpetuated a system of competing ideals, of arguing politicians and of corrected mistakes that has allowed America to become what it is.
When partisan politics is placed above people, above priority of scripture, above the humility and subjugation of God's people in the knowledge of human inferiority, then we must ask if our GOP has indeed taken the place of our true God. When we look to an election and a politician as the answer to our social, economic and moral depravity, it's not wonder we respond irrationally when our preferred breed of "messiah" is de-throned.
God save us from our own eagerness to replace him as the champion of our nation and salvation.
