…We were warned…a couple of thousand years ago!
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather then lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power….”
Most people attribute the above quote to the apostle Paul as it is found in the New Testament at the Second book of Timothy, chapter 3. But this text could have been written by George Orwell, the author of “1984”. George Orwell saw the day coming when “war” would be called “peace” and “ignorance” would be praised as “brilliance”. Today we have seen the biggest war-mongering president ever win the Nobel Prize for Peace. Before that, we had a so-called “conservative” president give us our first trillion-dollar budget deficit.
Two centuries ago the leader of the liberal movement was Thomas Jefferson. Back then, a “liberal” was someone who departed from the established order and instead promoted the sovereignty of the individual, the natural rights of man, and government by the consent of the governed. These were radical ideas, yet they were popular. Men gave their lives for these ideas in our American War of Independence, officially declared in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.
Today most of the people we know to be Chuckleberries readers would not want to be labeled with the word “liberal” because that word, which represented the ideals of most Americans one and two centuries ago, has been stolen by unscrupulous imposters who are really socialists and, ultimately, communists. The “liberals” of 200 years ago would have proudly called themselves “constitutionalists”. In contrast, the liberals of today use the label “liberal” only because it was once popular with the masses. They stole the word as a way of promoting themselves and their private agenda. They are the “lovers of self” that the Apostle Paul referred to.
Today we are seeing the same thing happen with the word “conservative”. Today any good conservative would call them self a “constitutionalist”. In Republican Idaho, almost everyone is claiming they are a “conservative”. If you were to analyze the political spectrum from left to right, probably three-quarters of everyone is claiming they are a “conservative”. Many Democrats claim they are “conservative”, even the Democrats in the Republican Party! Just as the word “liberal” was stolen from the classic liberals 200 years ago, so is the word “conservative” being stolen from the true conservatives of today.
So what is a true conservative? First and foremost, it is a person of principle. It is a person who fights political battles with widespread goals that benefit everyone. A real conservative wants freedom even for the socialists, and will work toward that end. A real conservative doesn’t have time for “special interest” issues since there are too many battles of widespread importance that need his attention.
A real conservative will exhibit “Christ-like” character as they work for the benefit of everyone. Just as Christ died for other peoples’ sins, so a real conservative will sacrifice his own time, treasure and reputation for the benefit of others. (Many of today’s political prostitutes sacrifice all principle to make a buck – as evidenced by the “consultants” that commanded so many of the local candidates!)
A real conservative will not only oppose raising taxes, but he will also oppose any encroachment of the power and reach of government. And when we say “any” encroachment, we mean “any” encroachment. A fake conservative who holds elective office will justify a little encroachment here, and a little encroachment there. The fake conservative will justify these incremental encroachments as a “good idea”. When the fake conservative facilitates these encroachments, he is actually taking the easy route on the issue. He gives the lobbyists and big government establishment what they want, and then lies to the people he represents who are not paying attention. Such behavior is self-promoting at the expense of those he represents.
Such a fake conservative gets, and welcomes kudos from both sides, and we all get bigger government. Whereas a real conservative would fight against such encroachments even if it cost him is time, his treasure and his reputation. The real conservative does so because he places his own circumstance after his principles, which are always of primary importance.
The Idaho Panhandle is teeming with fake conservatives! A number of these fake conservatives were formerly known as the “Reagan Republicans”. These “lovers of self” and “haters of good” do not care about right and wrong; they only care about what personal traction they can get out of political spin. They were actually pretty good at “political spin” which was obviously their focus. They were not at all interested in doing things right, which is why they have all the IRS, Idaho Secretary of State, and Federal Elections Commission problems they do.
Some joined the Reagan Republican organization seeking mainly to promote themselves. To a degree, this was temporally effective. In hindsight, we can now see that these people were only the “lovers of self” type.
For principled conservatives, the use of the good name of Ronald Reagan by these moderates and big government apologists was painful to observe. In their actions they denied the principles of Ronald Reagan, while using his good name to promote themselves. This is a version of what the Apostle Paul referred to when he wrote of “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power”. Even those of good will, seem to have fallen prey to the Pied Piper’s of the Reagan Republican Cabal.
Paul tells us to “avoid such men as these”. Consequently, we at Chuckleberries think we should avoid the ringleaders of the former Reagan Republicans who exhibit the symptoms of “lovers of self” and think nothing of trashing the good name of Ronald Reagan. While at the same time, we should extend grace to those who may have innocently joined the group not realizing it was primarily a political spin machine or cash cow for the organizers. It is going to be interesting to see which of these spin doctors and former board members will take responsibility for the myriad violations of the law that have recently been exposed on the part of the former Reagan Republicans.
Stay tuned…the end remains to be written!
Amen!