The Revolution #2: Human Nature and Republicanism

Human nature has been an overlooked reality for the past generations as government has sought to legislate the nation into Darwinian perfection. Supposedly, human nature was to “evolve” with each new law. However, look where we are now: attempting to legislate hate (thought) crime. An intelligent person only has to read the book of Job, written 5 thousand years before Christ, to conclude that in both reasoning and the poetic arts man has not progressed much—regardless of his technologies.

There is much to learn from Job concerning human nature. Man will always testify to his innocence and friends are always capable of piling on when the chips are down, for even a good man. There it is folks, the Darwinian theory of human nature: we secretly love it when bad things happen to good people. This is the unvarnished truth about human nature; we are jealous, selfish, antagonistic, little hedonists who hypocritically deny it all.

Considering such a truth, it is amazing that we have created any sense of civil society at all. Given our sinful human nature we certainly deserve the rule of an autocratic despot, if not certain death. History records man’s ability to balance ever so precariously personal freedom with civil society. Western civilization, aided by Christianity has developed the best form of this balance. Tiananmen Square and The Branch Davidians should be a constant reminder that Gandhi’s method of peaceful protest only worked because of the British adherence to Christian principles. Slavery in Britain met its end because of Christianity. Christianity recognizes the truth of human nature with Christ’s crucifixion the ultimate and only reconciliation between man and God. In many ways, our government’s usurpation of Christianity has allowed generations to disallow the truth of human nature.

An example of this usurpation is revealed when citizens pray to government to supply their needs, rather than to God. Previous generations would be appalled. This is all aided by the Democratic Party’s relentless quest to eradicate any reference to God in government buildings and pursuing the path of eradication even in public places. However, a more insidious method of usurpation of Christian values comes through an attempt to deny 2nd amendment rights which is derived from that basest of human needs, the right of self-defense. The government in this instance enforces with law Christ’s teaching of turning the other cheek. Ask any student, at any government school, what happens when a bully attacks them and they dare defend themselves. You will learn they will each be punished equally under zero tolerance rules. Even worse, the victim is urged to try to understand the problems associated with his attacker.

This twisted deviation of Christ’s teaching is reflected in Democratic Party policies. In foreign policy we are told if this nation only treated our enemies “nicer” they would not be so mean to us. The implied message being that this nation is responsible for creating its own enemies. In domestic policy, we are forced to give tax money to the government as offerings for the poor, the children, or the victims of (insert cause here) because Christ taught the same. Democratic Party policy is a sort of Christian/Nihilism that while denying the existence of God and His Law, they then enforce with penalty various teachings of Christ. In both instances individual rights and human nature are ignored because the responsibilities of an individual before God are denied. The Democrats absolve the foreign evildoer without penance, while God does not respect their enforced piety upon others at home.

Human nature dictates that we all want something for nothing, would enforce on others what we would never accept for ourselves, and quite frankly would cut off our nose to spite our face. While the Democratic Party plays to the worst of human nature, republican thought addresses the qualities of human nature and the need to rise above it, which is why so many evangelicals are members of the Republican Party. However, republicanism resides in the heart of any individual who while believing in self-determination, is also able to rise above personal interests in regards to civil society.

Therefore, it is imperative that the Republican Party be a big tent for all those of like mind. And nothing is more indicative of this than the variety of Presidential candidates: pro-life, pro-choice, Mormon, nominal Christian, fervent evangelical, along with a myriad of immigration and security ideas. The Republican Party has been blessed by the number of men willing to accept the brutal gauntlet of the election process and the sobering responsibility of the presidency. As Republicans we vote in the primaries for the ascendancy of our candidate of choice. However, as republicans we are also called to vote for the party candidate for the better good of the republic even if not the man of our personal choice. It is our belief in self-determination coupled with that ability to rise above personal interest that unites us as Republicans and makes our ideas the best course for the country.

Compassion Requires Truth and Love

My husband did a Google search on me the other night and came across two comments I made to this man's post last November. He asked me to post these comments here at The Jackalope's Voice, so here goes:

Nate,

I found your link from “ROT Unmasked” post. First, I am very sympathetic to your problem with chronic pain as I too am a sufferer. My prayers go out to you that you may find mercy with those that treat you. It is a very difficult road and I cannot even begin to explain to you how my spiritual life has developed in light of this sorrow. I would encourage you to seek not only solace for your soul, but the wisdom and understanding that is found in The Bible. I thought I knew what Christianity and religion was all about having been raised in a “Christian” home. But, it wasn’t until I read the entire book for myself that I learned of the Big Picture, the magnificent puzzle that is God’s revelation to man. It opened my eyes to understanding the political world and the nature of man. It is that view that explains why I think going to Iraq was the right thing. My husband and I are conversational English partners with many people, especially from South Korea. My father served in the army in Korea and was presented with the Bronze Star for meritorius valor. A real act of bravery that would make John Kerry’s Silver Star tarnished in comparison, but I digress.

I never really understood what Korea or any subsequent war was all about, until I saw a French woman weeping and paying homage to the D-Day Paratrooper that stood in the doorway of the cellar where she and her family were hiding during the 50th year celebration. You see, they knew that if that man in the doorway was a German soldier, they would be dead. We can only appreciate the relief the family felt when it was revealed that the uniformed man in the doorway was some farmboy from the Midwest - an American, when we understand the horror of human nature. Fifty years later, this woman was overwhelmed with gratitude that a farmboy from the Midwest had thought it important to protect her freedom and liberty. I watched this happen on t.v. and I was moved to tears. I now understood. And likewise, these people that I meet from South Korea, they all tell of the gratitude that they have of men like my father because they know it was only through men like him and the grace of God that prevented them from living in the terror that is North Korea. Evil must be confronted at all times, from the school yard bully, to the government that threatens to wipe another free people off the face of the earth.

This is not politic, this is the fact of living in a fallen world, as we religious zealots would say. If we see evil and do not confront it, then we are not men. Iraq is the place were that is happening. If we leave without victory, then we will each be responsible for the genocide that will take place as every Iraqi with a purple-stained finger will be eradicated so that the new totalitarian regime can establish their “utopia”. All people yearn to be free, but human nature rears up its ugly head and wants to control and be in power over others. That is the nature of this fallen world.

Again, I am so sorry that you suffer such pain. I am home from church today because I just have to stay off my feet because of my pain. It is constant and then more than I can bear. I’m grieved to know that someone young is having to suffer so. I will pray for you.

I would like to participate in ROT’s Vincent, you and the others mentioned in the post to get a new perspective on Texas and U.S. politics.

Sincerely,
Nancy Coppock

Here is his response:

Thank you for commenting Nancy. I can see you have your view and it is rooted in your spirituality. I have to admire that… but I also have to disagree with it. For every South Korean or French family that rejoices remembering an American soldier in their doorway, there is a Vietnamese family that remembers the sight of an American with horror. I wish I could believe that everytime we send out soldiers somewhere, we do it because we are right and we are fighting evil. But I can’t anymore. When I was a child, I saw the world in black and white, good vs. evil. When I grew up, I discovered there was only grey. The world hasn’t fallen; it is as it always was.

Probably my view is also reflective of my spirituality. I have long wanted to believe in a God, a supreme being who keeps the universe just and fair. But faith, by its very definition, is a kind of ignorance. It is unquestioning belief in the absence of evidence. I could never be happy with myself or with the universe if it is reliant on self-imposed ignorance. I need proof, I need evidence, I need to see and to know.

That’s why when I see what we’re doing in Iraq, I can’t just sit back and have faith that we’re right and that we’ll be victorious. The evidence I see seems to suggest that our presence there is only making things worse.

My reply:

I love that! Who says that there is a Vietnamese family that remembers an American soldier with horror? Several years ago I had a discussion with the college student son of the owners of the Vietnamese restaurant my family patronized. I apologized to him that for all he and his family had been through that when they finally get to America, we turn around and elected our own version of his oppressors, Bill Clinton. I was just talking out of the blue to this young man. We had never spoken before. He readily agreed with me, adding that the Democratic Party was like the communists his family had fled, in that they always made big promises that would never be kept. He said people would vote for the Democrats because they wanted something, but it would never work out like they thought.

Now, I realize that this is anecdotal, but I would propose that the idea of the fear of American soldiers is a myth and that the truth is what the people actually say. Of course there are the incidents of criminal behavior but I would chalk that up to human nature of the individual rather than to cast aspersions on the entire group. For instance, if a member of your high school commited a crime, does that mean the entire alumni are all criminals? In the larger picture, America is good. Indeed, my Korean friend only yesterday was commenting that compared to the rest of the world, America was the least corrupt nation that he had ever known. So, it would seem even our dirtiest slime, is cleaner than any other nation’s slime. I laughed, of course, because I decry any slime, at any time. So, maybe you are looking through the eyeglasses in reverse. Maybe, it’s time to change your perspective. You are still young.

In our spiritual discussion, I would remind you that we do live in a fallen world. Because we yearn for something different is truly evidence that this is not our home. Why would we desire something that doesn’t seem to exist if it truly does not exist? Man is imperfect, of that I am sure! And this world is certainly not just….or the ugly people would have all the money, to quote a line from Laurie Anderson. ha! But seriously, that does not mean a perfect God does not exist. Or that because of the vulgar nastiness of human nature, we should not strive to live beyond those baser instincts. If you think THIS world is bad, just consider what it could be like should the few cease striving after the sublime! We would become the horror of Commander Kurtz in “Apocolypse Now” which was not really a movie about the truth of the war, but actually a commentary on the darkness of the human heart as written by Joseph Conrad.

Faith is actually a gift from God [link added 4-21-07]. It’s not really anything we are capable of creating. Faith is a gift and gifts must be accepted and opened to be enjoyed. For this reason, so many people lack faith because it does come from God and we willingly refuse the gift. Faith is not a magic act or trick that we fool our minds with. That truly is the definition of ignorance and therefore deplorable in the eyes of God. Faith is not ceasing in our questioning, indeed true faith is an ever expanding gift. Sort of like a Russian matroska doll in reverse.

In the war on terror, we can not have faith we will be victorious, because faith without works is dead. However, we must be resolved to accept nothing short of victory because to lose is to exchange our way of life for slavery to an alien ideology. To be defeated will end our way of life. This is an enemy that will not just sit in the land that they would then dominate. This is an enemy that will track our way of life down to the ends of the earth. I can not willingly flinch into a future like the movie Brazil with bombs going off in the mall and life trying to ignore it or an ideology tracking even my thoughts into the recesses of my mind. And people think Christian Republicans are the enemy? Hello? You and I are just enjoying a sparing of wits and ideas, there is no burka to throw over you or a sword in my hand. We need to pray to the Almighty that we are victorious in this fight, not only for liberty and freedom for others, but for our own precious way of life. There’s nothing more like the spirit of anti-christ when a people would kill anyone in the name of God!

Your blog title says that you are a cripple. What is your condition and the cause of your pain? I truly care for your position and I share in your sorrows. Truly, this world is not our home. I would again encourage you to pick up the Bible to discover more about the great mystery of God’s revelation of Himself to us. Abraham searched for the city whose foundations were laid by God and this was counted as righteousness to him. Knock and the door will be opened unto you. Seek Him and you shall find Him. I know this is true, that once I was blind, but now I see and no one can debunk that which I am totally aware of what happened.

With sincerity,
the jackalope’s voice

A Philosophical Treatise: Why Chet Edwards Should Not Be Re-elected

It just hit me like a two-by-four in the face that God, who is omnipotent, could have made us puppets, but he gave us free will in our religious beliefs, and government shouldn't limit that free will.
Chet Edwards (D)

Contrary to Mr. Edward’s statement and his beliefs – he can believe whatever he wishes – both of these points: a) God gave us free will in our religious beliefs and b) government should not limit our free will, are false.

The entire Old Testament is the history of God revealing Himself to man and instruction in what constitutes correct belief in Him. Many beliefs are designated as offensive to God, such as worship of other gods and actions contrary to His commandments. Over and over the people to whom God chose to reveal Himself are punished for not believing correctly. Being a merciful God, prophets were sent to warn the people that their actions would bear consequences because correct religious belief is mandatory to God. Even more offensive to the heart of man comes the statement by Jesus:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
John 14:6

This statement is not a break from the original revelation of God to man, but rather a fulfillment of promises made by God and a provision of salvation for Gentiles in His holy plan for man. Praise You, merciful Father.

Apart from anarchy, which is the absence of government, the agreement to the limitation of our free will is what creates government. Not wanting to begin in pre-history, but in direct development of our own Declaration of Independence and Constitution, Magna Carta limited the free will of kings and noblemen while securing rights of man for commoners. The Declaration of Independence was written to inform the current government that we were dissatisfied with the actions of that government and of our intent to secure a new and better government suited to our purposes.

The American rule of law was formed to defend our natural rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness i.e. personal wealth and property. Under this rule of law, we agree to check our own free will which is to take what belongs to another – life, liberty, personal wealth and property - in order that our own rights to those possessions are defended. Under the Constitution, Americans agree to accept these rules and methods of addressing grievances. The first 10 amendments to that constitution – The Bill of Rights – secured individual rights before government. Meaning that we already possess these rights, but under the Constitution, these pre-ordained rights would be recognized and defended, not bestowed and controlled by government.

These two points are important philosophical foundations that reveal the true character of Chet Edwards and his understanding of the purpose of government. In order to pursue “a more perfect union” – for I hope that our elected officials are intent upon that ideal – it is mandatory that we elect representatives that respect our Constitution, the rights it agrees to preserve and defend, and the rules under which we have agreed government to operate. In perverting that ideal, Mr. Edwards reveals that he has departed from that agreement. It is for that reason he is not an appropriate representative for the people of the 17th District.

Note: The first essay in this Philosophical Treatise