On Judgment

Yesterday, commentator and comedian Steven Crowder published a rather brilliant article on why marriage is a good thing that is worth aspiring toward.  Due to his blunt and direct style, many took immediate offense. Their offense was compounded by this tweet.

Now, on the one hand, I can see why people would be uncomfortable with Crowder's style.  I can also see the argument that such bluntness does not help our cause.  It does not personally make me uncomfortable, as this article on messengers attests to.  I have no problem with these criticisms, however.  What I found truly maddening were the people whining about Crowder "judging them."

People, this next paragraph may be the hardest you may ever read.  Everyone judges you.  Your friends judge you.  Your family judges you.  Your dog judges you.  God judges you.  Only one of those in that list is guaranteed to be right.

Unfortunately for you whiners out there, Crowder was completely in the right.  How do I know?  Because he was judging you not by his own personal standard, but by God's.  He wasn't saying you (female or male, despite that tweet focusing on the former) is a concubine because he thinks it.  He said it because God thinks it.  The Lord did not make moral law just to mess with our heads.  He made it because He knows what is good for us, what will make us healthy and happy.

"But Jesus would never say it like that!" you might say.  "He would be kind and gentle and not try to drive people away!"  To which I ask (just like a certain Clinton), "What difference does it make?"  As I have pointed out, not everyone is swayed by gentle messaging.  In the end, how the message is delivered does not matter as much as whether or not the message is correct.  Even if Jesus himself wouldn't be as blunt as Crowder (and I have no idea nor do you, unless you walked with Him 2000 years ago), you can bet that He would still be telling you to repent and shape up.

Yes, He is judging you.  He has also given you a way out of sin and into God's love.

No, this does not mean you can keep sinning.

It is pretty obvious that many were riled up by Crowder precisely because what he said resonated in their hearts.  Though they might be loathe to admit it, they were convicted by the truth in his words, causing them to lash out.  Now, if you don't want to shape up according to God's standard, that's your choice.  Expecting no one to say anything about it is ridiculous.  Complaining when they do is pathetic.

We are commanded to make righteous (not frivolous) judgments based on God's moral law.  How else do you expect sinners to repent if they are not confronted by their sin?  Some people claim to convert to faith in Christ without changing a single thing in their lives, no matter sinful they are.  One cannot be saved without repentance and one cannot repent without knowing they are sinning.

Before you ask, no, I am not perfect nor do I claim to make these arguments from an angle of being so.  No one is perfect.  We all make mistakes and we all have our flaws.  I can assure you, I am convicted on a daily basis for my shortcomings and I try my hardest to correct them.  However, that does not make it wrong for me or anyone else to take God's morality and show another their own shortcomings according to said law.  Indeed, you should be glad someone is saying that what you are doing is wrong.

I get it.  It hurts to be confronted by truths that say we are doing or have done wrong in God's eyes.  Struggling against the truth, however, will not make our lives better or happier.  Indeed, the more we dig into our sinful ways, the farther we will fall when it all crashes down upon us.

One final thought: Before you condemn the next person to judge you by God's standards, consider why they are doing it.  Is it because they are self-righteous?  Is it because they think they are better than you?  Or is it for a greater purpose?  Perhaps they are worried about you.  They don't have to have met you.  Jesus most certainly did not personally meet everyone on the planet, but He died for all of them regardless.  He died for you too.  We are commanded to love others as Jesus loved the church.

Sometimes, love is a tough pill to swallow.

On Conservatism's Future

Of late, you have seen me talk about what I believe is the necessary internal battle we, as conservatives, will need to face and are facing.  I have also addressed my beliefs on what President Obama, the Democrats and the progressive movement in general will try to do in the coming years to discredit and destroy us.  This leaves only one real question.

Once our internal affairs are sufficiently sorted, what do we do to stop the progressive cause?

Honestly, there is really no easy answer to this question.  While we most certainly have short term goals, such as taking the Senate in 2014 and the Presidency in 2016, that will not nearly be enough.  They are important, but small goals.  They do not solve the bigger problems the movement faces.  Almost every true solution is long term.

For decades, everything from the media (both news and entertainment), education and the society in general have steadily slanted left, to the point where conservatism is shut out almost entirely today.  Immersed in curriculums that emphasize "self-esteem," our institutions of learning churn out leftists by the millions.  Our young adults have been told what to think, not how to think.  News corporations continually ignore stories that do not fit their agenda.  The media fills our minds with ideas that are not ideal from a young age in a constant bombardment of loose morals.  Our society has been desensitized to the deciet foisted upon it and the evils in its midst.

Yet, none of these problems can be solved in the short term.

It will require a slow creep by conservatism to counter progressivism in the culture.  As much as it pains me to recognize this, it will easily take years, maybe even a generation, to gain a respectable amount of parity in the media and education.  That's not to say there will not be advances on any front, or that some aspects of the culture will not see greater advances by us quicker and sooner than others.  However, to see all of those elements I mentioned (and those I forgot) present a unified conservative counter-balance to progressivism will take a long time.

It is truly a shame that any of these areas, let alone all of them, have been allowed to slip so far against us.  In many ways, it is a testament to the enduring nature of conservative principles that they have managed to endure under the pressure from progressivism.  Indeed, conservatism is the political equal of progressivism, despite being shut out and slandered for so long elsewhere.

Now the movement is at a tipping point.  With many institutions in the country unabashedly progressive and emboldened by the election to start actively pushing conservative thought out completely, we must begin reversing the course now.  We already have millions of people my age who believe all the wrong things.  It will require starting now to change that for the next generation, to a point where conservatives are more than a silent minority.

The long road is only just beginning.

Why is this here, you ask? Well, I couldn't think of a more appropriate picture.  I'm sure I'll be talking about the misfits before long.  They are part of that future...and I don't say that just because I contribute articles like this to them.

The First Black President

Author's note: I published the original version of this shortly before the election. I present it to you again, edited and lengthened for the inauguration and maybe with a funny parenthetical line here or there.

I am very, very disappointed in the administration of President Barack Obama.

"Yeah, no kidding," you're probably telling yourself right now.  It is not a secret I find the current administration contemptible. I could fill an entire book on why (something I will leave to those actually good at writing books).  By disappointment, however, I do not mean my usual angst against his policies or behavior.

I refer to nothing more than a deep, profound sadness.

Let me tell you a story. When I was a little boy in Irvington, New Jersey (not as long ago as I make it sound), I attended a school that was, as I recall, majority minority.  Thus we always had presentations regarding the heritages of various minority groups. “African-American heritage” was stressed in particular.  We even had a yearly assembly for Kwanzaa.

One thing that always seemed to stick in my mind, though, was the suggestion that we could, one day, have a black president.  We were told the usual childhood encouragement ("If you work hard, one day, you could even become president!").  I was taught about our nation's “racist heritage” and how we had yet to have a black man in the White House.  The racism never really stuck, though it was approached in a subtle, subversive way.  Historical racism stayed just that for me: historical. I automatically assumed that it was gone and dead.  However, for a long while, there was a little place in the back of my mind that always hoped to one day see a black man in the Oval Office.

At the beginning of 2008's primary season, long before Barack Obama became a viable contender for the presidency, I finally stamped out that little corner of my mind.  I had come to recognize that it did not matter what the person in the White House looked like.  Only their character mattered.  So I found myself immune to his charm and his teleprompter-based style when Senator Obama ascended as the candidate of the Democrat Party.  That immunity kept my eyes open as I saw all the warning signs of radicalism, despite the media's shameless attempts to hide it.

Yet, on election night 2008, when it became clear that Barack Obama had won the presidency, I saw my Facebook page explode with friends who were excited to have made history. Obviously, it is a silly way to think, as “making history” can be both good and bad.  Yet I will admit that, on the inside, I felt a small resurgence of pride in that a black man had just been elected president of the United States, just as I would have as a child.  Like most conservatives, I resolved to give him a chance, despite my apprehensions.  Perhaps it was the old dream that allowed me to soften my heart just a bit and hope for the best.

That dream has made the past four years all the more painful, disappointing and shameful.  Instead of being a beacon of hope and an example of America's greatness, the past four years have been dismal. Instead of bridging divides between Americans, the president has intensified them. He lies about and impugns the motives of his opposition, preferring to beat up strawmen than debate facts.  He has ignored the Constitutional limits on his power time and again and deceived the public on matters ranging from gun running to terrorist attacks.

With his first term having drawn to a close, his only major accomplishments will prove far more destructive to the country than those of his predecessor. With each day that passes, the country becomes a little more in debt, a little poorer. We, the people of this great nation, become a little less free with each dollar that binds us to creditors and foreign nations. For a man that promised change and promised that our best days are ahead of us, he has failed to deliver on both.

Despite his policies yielding negligible or bad results, Barack Obama refuses to take responsibility.  He blames his predecessor incessantly, even after being in office for four years.   He spends more time golfing and hobnobbing with celebrities than he does in intelligence briefings.  His office is empty more often than not as he speaks at rallies filled with screaming fan boys and girls, rallies that are easier than even fielding questions from a (very friendly) press corps.

I feel that Barack Obama has been robbed of his sense of personal responsibility.  A man with no real accomplishments, he has been handed nearly every position he has held in life.  Some will say he excelled in college, but he has never released his transcripts.  Judging by how peculiar that is and a lack of real accomplishment in his professional life, that leads me to believe he did not do well at all.  Penning no papers on the Harvard Law Review, considered intellectually lazy as an adjunct professor and voting present more often than not in elected office, he is little more than a self-entitled shell.

I often hear older black people say they were taught by their own parents and grandparents to be a "credit to their race."  They had to endure racism and thus had to work harder to achieve and succeed.  Yet now, the president seems to be nothing but the antithesis of a "credit to his race."  In the end, the first black president has been everything he should not have been.

And it is a shame.

On Messengers

I was watching The O'Reilly Factor the other night when something caught my ear.  For those who don't watch him regularly, he reads viewer mail at the end of his program.  In this particular mail segment, he criticized a viewer for calling President Obama a socialist.  That email was a counterbalance to someone on the left who probably couldn't recognize debt if his car was repossessed.

This sort of criticism irks me as any honest analysis of the president's past, beliefs and actions in office indicate that he believes that socialism is positive for society.  Now, whether or not he believes that the United States should be transformed into something beyond a quasi-socialist European state is debatable, but he clearly believes in radically transforming and moving the nation in that direction.

As I mulled over O'Reilly's criticism, however, something occured to me.

John Hagee

Something I have come to realize in my Christian walk is that there are many different kinds of preachers out there.  To cite two well-known examples, I specifically have Pastors John Hagee and Joel Osteen in mind.  Both are great men of God who have brought many to faith in Christ.  However, I seriously doubt you could find two men whose styles are so different.

Pastor Osteen is very soft-spoken and gentle.  His message revolves around telling his congregation and the millions he reaches on television about God's love and His plan for their lives.  Pastor Hagee is much more a classic "fire and brimstone" preacher.  He talks just as much about the risk of Hell as God's plan for life.  His barking voice commands attention and "scares the hell out of them," as it were.

These are two very different, but very necessary, men.

Joel Osteen

As different as the two may be in style, they are preaching the same message.  The key is that the difference in style attracts different kinds of people.  Not everyone will be stirred by Hagee's powerful, direct style and indeed may be turned off by its percieved harshness.  Osteen's style lacks the punch needed to convince those who live in (and possibly even revel in) their sin to turn from their path.  Personal preference for one style does not make another irrelevant.

The same goes for political messaging.  Lately, I have heard some criticizing the aggressive styles of radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin.  I do not see the point in that.  They're good conservatives.  Belligerence alone is not a reason to call them bad messengers; they merely appeal to a certain audeience.  Even if that audience is the choir, remember that sometimes the choir can go astray.

Just like sinners needing a savior, some people will be more receptive to conservatism when they are boldly confronted by their hypocrisies and evils.  If you think Rush has spent decades on the air and not convinced people of the moral justification for conservative values, then I don't understand how you think he has been successful.

Now, do we need more Joel Osteen-esque messengers?  I believe so.  Does that require declaring something wrong with the John Hagee's we already have?  Not at all.

Improving our messaging does not require criticizing perfectly capable messengers.  Doing so would only drive more wedges in a wounded movement.

The Fight Conservatism Faces, Part II

Last week, I wrote about the internal battle the conservative movement faces.  Suffice to say, I do not believe the coming year will be pleasant.  If we are to convince people that were are a worthy and effective ideological force, we cannot do so while fighting amongst ourselves.

This week, I want to write about why the coming year will not be pleasant due to much bigger threats beyond the movement.  Namely, President Obama and the progressives.  The reelection of the president bodes ill for the nation.

November's debacle made two things clear: It maintained the status quo with regards to our elected officials and ensured that the progressive left will try harder than ever to push their ideology in the coming years.  Despite the slim popular vote margin by which Barack Obama won, many on the left seem to believe his re-election is a mandate for him to push farther to the left and force through even more unpopular, destructive legislation. 

"You know, I really admire Vladimir's political skill..."

As you may recall, President Obama once told former Russian president Medvedev that November would be his "last election" and he would be "more flexible" after.  That unguarded moment says much about his plans for this term.  Since it was his last election, it means that he will not have future elections to hold him accountable for his actions.  For someone like the president, who wishes to "fundamentally transform" the country, not having to worry about popularity is a boon.  It frees him to be the radical his writings and history tells us he is.

Already, the left is hard at work attempting to curb the 2nd Ammendment.  Shamelessly using the Newtown, Connecticut mass murder, they are attempting to curb our rights.  Support of gun ownership is likely too high for them to succeed, however, their anti-gun crusade is evidence of how they will approach debates in the coming years.  They assuming that winning immunizes them from being opposed.

They assume that winning allows them to ignore the Constitution.

I believe we can expect two major trends in the coming years.  The first is that, assuming the Republicans in congress actually grow a spine and begin to block major legislation from the the president without capitulating, there will be a dramatic increase in executive orders.  As the gun control debate has shown us, many of the president's supporters have no qualms with the use of executive orders to circumvent congress.  They effectively have no problem with the president behaving like a dictator or a king to ensure that the progressive agenda is implemented.  It is truly frightening how their desire for power and their agenda overides any sense of the rule of law and leaves them with no care to follow it.

We should also be prepared for even fiercer attempts to marginalize conservatives and libertarians in the coming years.  Remember, many on the left views those of us on the right side of the ideological spectrum as not just wrong, but evil.  We are not worth listening to and indeed, do not deserve a place in the discussion to begin with.  We can expect every effort taken to make us seem small and insignificant before 2014's midterm elections.

It will be a tough road ahead.  We must be prepared to weather it.

The Fight Conservatism Faces

So, unless you have been living under a rock, been hit by a rock, or have been about to be hit by a rock for the past two months, you are probably fully aware of November's election debacle.  I have discussed that in more than a few blog posts.  It was a painful moment and every moment since has felt equally painful.

So the next question is, "what is the future of conservatism?"  After such a morale-crushing defeat and the recent fiscal cliff "deal" to take the morale nadir and lower it, it is clear that conservatives are in for a rough time in the coming years. So, what are the steps to come back from this?

Disclaimer: I am neither a political strategist nor a professional political pundit.  I don't care, either.  Most of those on the right these days seem to be hilariously incompetent at their jobs.  So I am just going to approach this from the little perch I call "common sense."  At least as far as I see it; feel free to disagree.

I believe that the movement needs to take the next year working out its internal conflicts and differences.  Because the conservative movement is intellectually and (sometimes surprisingly) ideologically diverse, we tend to have internal factions that will disagree on issues and approaches.  We have libertarians, social conservatives, tea party conservatives, general Republicans, the sometimes-nebulous "establishment" Republicans and so on (it may seem redundant to separate some of those categories, but I have my reasons).

Now, I have no idea what the outcome of this internal battle will be.  There are many issues and many opinions on how to handle them.  However, right now, debates on approach seem to be the primary battle happening right now among conservatives.  Do we stubbornly hold the line at all costs or try to be conciliatory for the sake of image?  Do we focus on economics at the expense of social issues?  I'm sure the answer is more complex than my personal opinion on either matter or many others.

These internal battles must be fought, however.  Currently, we are too severely fractured and lash out at each other too frequently for such a status quo to continue.  Differences that must be worked out if were are to counter the moves of progressivism effectively.  Yes, it will be painful.  However, we are the people who believe that pain is required to succeed in life.  I can understand reluctance to face the pain, but it is inevitable.

One thing I do hope for, as these battles rage, is that we can be more respectful to each other.  I have seen far too much mockery and mean-spiritedness between conservatives of late.  That is troubling, not only because it reduces the quality of the debate to do so, but because we're on the same side.  We want the same ends.  We merely disagree on methods.  Turning off our intellectual brothers and sisters will not help us.

I have more to write about, but for the time being this will have to suffice.