I won’t fall on my sword today, thank you

Mowed the lawn tonight. I’d hoped to wait until the branches were cleaned up from my fallen tree, but my branch removing guy still hasn’t shown up yet, and the weekend’s supposed to be rainy, and I’m going away on Tuesday (burglars, don’t take that as a hint. My renter will still be here, and he’s a former Navy Seal who’s always armed).

My current cause for night sweats is the thought of another unusually strong wind before the tree gets removed, so that it falls on my house. And the insurance company will refuse to pay because I knew the tree was dangerous and hadn’t had it removed yet.

Carol Platt Liebau is hosting Hugh Hewitt’s show tonight, and she’s been talking about the declaration of Dr. James Dobson and some other pro-life leaders that they’ll vote for a third party candidate if a spotless pro-lifer isn’t nominated by the Republicans.

I suppose there’ll be some disagreement about this among our readers. But I’ll share my opinion, which I hold strongly. As always, the ideas and opinions in this post do not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of Brandywine Books, its owners or management, or of real persons, living or dead.

I’ve admired and supported Dr. Dobson for many years. I’m grateful for his tireless work for good causes in this country.

But I got a renewal notice for Citizen Magazine today, and I decided to toss it. I don’t want Dr. Dobson to be able to claim me as a supporter at this point in history.

I remember hearing him say, on his radio program years back, that he’d decided that he would never again vote for any candidate who wasn’t solidly pro-life. I admired his passion, but I remember thinking I wasn’t sure that would always be the best policy.

I don’t think I’ll sleep better in an America where Hillary Clinton is president, and the Democrats control both houses of congress, and four brand spanking new loose constructionists sit on the Supreme Court, just because I can tell myself I voted for a righteous candidate.

Compromise isn’t just part of politics. Compromise is politics. If you can’t compromise, if you can’t accept a half a loaf today in the hope of getting more another day, then you shouldn’t become a political player.

This seems to me a doomsday tactic. It’s saying (and one of Carol’s callers said essentially this), “If I can’t have everything the way I want it, I’m happy to see the whole country devastated and the earth sown with salt, in the hope that something better will spring from the holocaust.”

That’s not conservative American principle. That’s what the hippies used to say in the 60s.

6 thoughts on “I won’t fall on my sword today, thank you”

  1. I agree, and even thought of blogging about it this weekend. There are many things we need our national and state leaders to do. Defending the unborn is only one of them and a contentious one unfortunately.

  2. Returning . . . We need our leaders to defend life at every stage, defend liberty in every way, and guard our ability to pursue happiness. To allude to the Bible’s guidelines, our leaders must defend justice and promote mercy and morality. The way I see it, these principles are applied properly by

    1. defending the unborn and the elderly
    2. defending the victims of violent crime
    3. enforcing proper housing and work regulations so that men and families are not abused by employers or shoddy laborers
    4. taking the First Amendment seriously by allowing free men to talk, assemble, and worship without infringing regulations
    5. promoting personal resonsibility
    6. defending the country at large against international enemies

    and many other policies and ideas.

    What we get from liberals, who are usually Democrats but who can be Republicans, is the message that the state will become our surrogate parents b/c we are victims of fill-in-the-blank oppression. Pick a name, they say. He’s the reason you are a loser. We must fight that idea everywhere it crops up, even if we can’t have a White House man to advocate the life of the unborn. It’s a very important issue, but no issue is make or break.

  3. “It’s a poverty to decide that a child must die so you may live as you wish.” Mother Teresa

    Saw this quote on a soccer mom’s bumper sticker at Sam’s Club gas station and followed the driver up Lee Highway through two traffic lights just to copy it down. So good.

  4. I agree completely. Dr. Dobson was banished from our house years ago. His activism is not only not politically expedient, it obscures the Gospel horribly.

  5. I think I’m on the same side of most issues as Dobson, although I think I see a bigger picture. I just think his tactical moves are so damaging that I can’t call myself an ally.

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