Until conservatives today recognize that truth, not tradition; morality and religion, not politics and persuasion, are the essential basis for restoring morality and virtue
No matter how many steps, however small, limited government advocates make toward pushing back the encroachments of the Obama Administration, radio talk shows hosts, columnists, and eternal critics all will contend "not enough!"
Pressing against the encroachment of the state in itself will never be enough. This is a fallen earth, and men are not angels. The watchmen of liberty must be ever vigilant. Did they think that the fight would have big victories under which people car loll and relax
As LA Times token columnist Jonah Goldberg once contended, resisting the growth of the federal government as a sole policy is like a priest running a # house. Resistance alone is not active, or effective enough. Defining the problems and preaching against them do not stop people from doing the bad.
Offering a woman a better life than # gets her out of the # house faster than telling her not to sell herself. Offering people good news and the skills and the pathway to a better life will get them off the teat of Big Government.
The "something better" is essential, or it will remain difficult (if not impossible) for conservative to make a case of limited government without a larger narrative to hang the truth of everything.
What is wrong with two men marrying? What is wrong with killing a child in the womb before the baby is born? Conservatives today are not answering this question. They certainly are not presenting them the better life of marriage between one man and one woman.
These are Biblical principles, which require that individuals have a warm respect for the Bible and the God revealed in the Bible. Even many Christians have a wrong understanding of God and His goodness.
That was not the case decades ago, when young men and women read the Bible, learned the redemptive accounts of Christ as Savior now and forever.
Without this foundation, there is not basis for defining the folly of liberal (in fact, quite illiberal) encroachment of the government into our lives.
Without the revelation of the Scriptures (affirmed by science), what is wrong with the political class taking from the business class to enrich or at least subsist the dependent classes in our communities?
A recognition of an eternal and loving God (most traditional denominations ignore that the love of God sent His Son to redeem us), the source of every absolute disappears, and the dictates the truth of life as the preeminent value dissipates, all other values with it.
Severe libertarians reject this argument, focusing on liberty as the primary value. Arguing from fear instead of facts, many of these libertarians ignore that liberty does not emerge out of nothing, no more than we did. Liberty as a political reality is a relatively new phenomenon. Liberty without the overwhelming care of God is not liberty, but short-lived license which descends into an amoral, then power-made conformity.
The frustrations of modern conservatism rest on the godless or the secular bases for its arguments. Without the proper respect for the domains of the Divine, which is all encompassing, no one can take seriously the arguments of "this is the way it has been" as the last word on maintaining vital institutions such as marriage, the family, the role of government as enforcement of law and protection of right.
Until conservatives today recognize that truth, not tradition; morality and religion, not politics and persuasion, are the essential basis for restoring morality and virtue, conservatives will spurn even the smallest of wins and encounter failure after failure in the face of the moral decay which will corrupt even the most ardent of fiscal conservatives.
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance.
