My long awaited response

So there was some disagreement  about my post here regarding how we should react to the purges being wrought upon our bloated government bureaucracy.  I expressed concern that our approach to certain professions, institutions, and those therein has been counterproductive.  I also stated that I'm not a fan of mocking those who were just informed it's to the unemployment line for them.  

First, thanks for keeping it civil.  I never mind disagreements.  One of the best parts of the Internet if used correctly - finding out that your carefully constructed ideas might not always pass the first test when contacting other views.

With that said, I think I wasn't far from the mark, even if some might quibble with a few details.  There are two basic reasons for my concern about the reactions I'm seeing from those to the right of center.  One is based on consistent principles, one on practical observations.  Since the first post ended up looking at the more practical lesson of this approach not working, let's handle the principles part in this post. 

First, my point wasn't that we can't - and shouldn't - look at the hot mess dumpster fire that is the modern status quo and its disastrous lack of ability to move our society forward.  I have no problem cutting waste, undoing the abuses we saw, holding people accountable, putting an end to the mendacity of people arguing that free speech is dangerous because it might enable those fascists over there.  And people, including conservatives, were right to look aghast at the treatment given to people who were suffering over these last several years.   I think the outrage at that abuse was more than warranted, and the Left paid a big price for the haughty intolerance we witnessed for the last decade or so.  But here's the thing. Let's step back to some story time for a minute, and then perhaps you'll see where I'm coming from. 

I entered seminary in 1993.  Contrary to lame media stereotypes, all Evangelicals are not the same.  Nor are they all rightwing Republican conservatives.  In fact, theological and social and political liberalism were well represented at the seminary when I came through the doors in my first J-Term in July, 1993.  J-Terms being crash courses where an entire semester is crammed into three weeks in the respective 'J' months.  

I entered the J-Term before Dr. Al Mohler began as president of the seminary.  He brought in both a conservative, and a Calvinist, revival that sought to put an end to the influence that the more liberal elements of the denomination had enjoyed for the previous decade or two.   

When I first arrived there, many of the students, and those professors who were a bit more conservative, told a tale of woe about their experiences during the previous years.  They were marginalized, mocked, made fun of.  Conservative professors were often hounded out of the seminary and had difficulty getting hired in the first place.  Liberals held the power and used it unjustly, shutting down debate and hamstringing an open academic environment that allowed all views to be represented.  Fair enough.  Those were valid complaints, especially if the problems were coming from the top down. 

But guess what happened once Dr. Mohler came into his office.  That's right.  Those same conservatives immediately began culling the herds of the more liberal professors and even entire departments.  Professors were pressured to leave.  No new professors anywhere close to center left were hired. And within a couple years, most had been eliminated and the few straggling students who were close to the left were as ostracized as a communist at a McCarthy cookout.  So many professors were eliminated that when I went back to get my PhD in historical theology, there weren't enough qualified professors to fulfill the requirements for a tract in that subject.  

Now, I have never liked that sort of thing.  That 'you're stupid and evil for doing what is just fine when I do it' that has been mother's milk for the post-Western Left, but a cancerous rot on the rectitude of our society. It reminds me of this scene in the television series MASH.  An AWOL solider trying to get home to his unfaithful wife holds up in the camp's mess tent during the weekly services.  When the MPs arrive to take him back, he invokes the protection of sanctuary.  The problem is, that appeal doesn't work in a mess tent church.  Fr. Mulcahy, however, takes his side and demands every chance be given to him as they call up the chain of command for a second, third and even fifth opinion.  During this time, the MPs get angrier, and those trying to help more desperate.  Finally, the final word comes from the top - a mobile mess tent church does not warrant sanctuary in this case.  And this is what happens next:

That's something I think the Christian Faith should tell the world as we witness all those lofty ideals the World has used against the Faith over the last century now being tossed aside like so many old shoes. 

But the point is, don't claim a principle or idea when it is convenient, and then toss it aside when not.  If you've followed me for any time, you'll know I'm convinced that the lack of integrity that defines our modern age is one of our modern age's Achilles heals.  The idea that we can talk out of all three sides of our mouth, invoke 'words speak louder than actions', follow the 'do as I say, not as I do ' principle, or just call people sinful bastards because they call people sinful bastards, all chip away at the ability to ground the Church, society, our nation, even our families in a deeply rooted stone foundation that will stand against the storms and challenges of life and history. 

During the last four years, the Left became almost giddy over its willingness to tell people to screw themselves when they were suffering or in some ways harmed by the developments being driven by our progressive institutions.  At best, tens of millions of Americans were ignored who were suffering under the Biden administration, from Covid measures, from the border crisis, from rampant crime rates, from the disastrous skyrocketing inflation, all while watching the world blow itself halfway to hell and America stand by impotently unable to do anything about it.  

At worst you actually had those on the Left - including Christians and Catholics - openly mock and attack those trying to speak to the suffering.  I lost track of how many times I saw people informed that any concern on their part about floundering job prospects was merely the result of crying over losing their white, often male, privilege.  Charges of racism, sexism, phobic bigotry, and anything under the sun were leveled at people observing that Biden seemed a bit slow on the draw or that the immigration crisis is hurting people on both sides of the border.  Women concerned about being put upon by men in women's garb? Comes from being a transphobic fascist, don't it. Sucks to be you people I guess, get used to the street because that's where you belong having been part of the oppressing class for so many years. That approach to people hurting was something conservatives rightly condemned and, quite frankly, benefited from in November. 

Again, I have no problem asking workers to account for their daily work, or cutting excess waste in anything, or even burning the Department of Education to the ground because it's clearly failed and failed miserably in its mission. 

With that said, let's not forget these are people we're talking about.  Because that was a major lament and valid criticism from the Right over the last four years. These women objecting to being thrown up against men in athletic competitions, or shower rooms for that matter, are real people. People being hurt by the crime and general upheaval brought by the immigration crises are people.  Those who lost their jobs and livelihoods because of the lockdowns were people.  People who were often ignored by the Left/Press, and sometimes outright mocked and derided as they watched their prospects dwindle, were people nonetheless. 

So let's not turn right around do the same thing. Beyond admitting that not everyone being impacted is a leftwing commie, it's enough to acknowledge that many are no doubt just people.  People trying to get by and earn a living. The importance of working hard and providing for a family is itself praiseworthy. People who are doing what conservatives value - trying to work hard, provide for the family, and make a better life for themselves and their loved ones - should be celebrated in this day and age.  Even if it's in the government, schools, or heck, the media. Even, dare I say, if it's done on the other side of the aisle. 

Conservatives gained the upper moral hand by pointing out the suffering over the last several years, and rightly condemning the outright smugness and dismissiveness of the Left to that suffering, not to mention those on the Left telling the ones suffering that they were getting what they deserved.  Now don't do the same thing.  Not because of the obvious fact that this could backfire on us - once again - in a few more election cycles.  But because it's the right thing to do.  As conservatives made clear for the last several years.  

NOTE:  I removed the last paragraph, in which I mused on the broader implications of the Christian call by invoking the Good Samaritan.  One of the great teachings, it can be used to unpack an endless number of teachings and principles for the aspiring Christian.  But in so doing, it can also bring many different views and discussions to the table.  When the first comment  out of the box is about that, I don't want a postscript paragraph to become the focus.  Not that there is a problem with the comment.  It's certain a fair one and a valid point.  I've just learned that sometimes, on the Internet, you can write out War and Peace, and then add a Sunday comic as an afterthought, and the comic becomes the focus.  So in deference to the larger point of not doing what we so rightly condemned when done by the Left, I'll bring that last paragraph back some other time when we can look at that most famous of parables and have at it.