Conservatism: A Tale of Two Cities

CT

Cross posted at Conservative Badlands

As Conservatives we are at a juncture, many of our own brood are calling for the Evangelical Right to be the fattened calves of this election loss and offered up to the altar for sacrificial repentance. The question that I have, when in the course of this election did they (i.e. Evangelical Conservatives) become the boogey men, it was not really an issue with anyone. Except, when the election was obviously lost, those on our side who are practitioners of the modernist philosophy and Ayn Rand objectivist viewpoints started searching for a scapegoat.


The Left did not make much of a fuss over the Evangelicals, minus ridiculous slurs against Governor Palin. This was possibly due to President-elect Obama’s profession of his own Christian faith which he claims to use as his own personal “moral compass.” The real problem came from those within our own halls.

Modernists see the world in terms of individualist and rationalist culture. Modernity accompanied the growth of science, the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of capitalism and constitutional democracy.
All true, if not for the rational nature of the human mind we would not enjoy all of the cultural freedoms and technological advantages of the modern world.

As important as the Age of Enlightenment and modernism has been, it has also created a sterile climb to the height of stagnation and an elimination of the more poetic and imaginative side of the human spirit. The belief in God to those of the more “educated” in the world stands as the pillar of proof of the ignorance of the faithful. How could there be belief in something that is not seen, heard, or touched, but only felt? Only a dullard could believe in a magic fairy man in the sky who grants your every wish. Of course this is only a caricature painted to demoralize and anger those who profess a belief in the Almighty.

The argument that Conservatives should only be concerned with issues such as national defense, free market, freedom of speech, etc. is as foolish as those Evangelicals saying we were not Conservative enough. While I admonish those factions on the Right which are prostelizing for the removal of the Evangelicals from the Conservative thought process. I also hold the Evangelicals to certain degree of responsibility for this electoral misfortune.

There is a lofty hypocrisy that infects the “saved.” This has given way to the judgment of their brothers and sisters rather than charity. Their faith has turned into a weapon to be used against those they deem not worthy for the Divine. It is not for us to judge, it is only for us to assist and offer a hand to those who are downtrodden, so they may live in and hopefully help create a better world.

Both sides have lost their way in this war while the compromise is so simple. It is pragmatic balance. All one has to do is understand the true meaning of Conservatism as a state of being. An almost Zen like condition of existence that uses the wisdom of the past and the rationality of the present to build on the faith in the future.

By removing that faith from the Conservative ideologue you will take away that which we believe inspires the liberty of humankind, the fountain of our independence. The very poetry and art of our freedom. However, if you delve to deeply outside one’s personal belief in Christianity, you enter a world of combative forces which will mire you down in your own hypocrisy. It is that quiet and humble conviction in the Divine that will bring us through. Not political punditry or loud acclimations from the pulpit. Stay vigilant in your beliefs, but like your Conservatism understand the wellspring of your independence and liberty, the Divine. It is in those origins that our movement is rooted and should always be thought of in every move you make, but never used as a gateway to the moral high ground.