CLASSIC LIBERALISM RESPECTS THE WORD OF GOD

Eric Martindale • December 16, 2018

More than a few readers have misunderstood this blog and website as being an attack on liberalism. It has become important to distinguish the critical difference between classic liberalism and the modern Far Left. First, watch this astounding and eye-opening Prager University Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlIjMJBSnRE on this subject. He totally nails it. This blog post takes Dennis Prager’s arguments to the next step, and applies it to Christianity and Christian contributions to social justice. Prager is Jewish, so he simply might not be thinking in this direction, but it’s clearly an extension of his arguments. Let’s give him the benefit of doubt.

Classic liberalism is not objectionable at all. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, respect for education, and the full equality of minorities and women (without any radicalism or socialism) are all classic liberal views. Most are positions clearly articulated in the founding documents of our Republic. Some are in the Declaration of Independence, some are in the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights, and yes others were added later. When I criticize “intellectualism”, as I did on a prior blog, I am not talking about classic liberalism, or any thought process leading to it.

It’s fair to argue that those people who are constitutionalists or conservative should support all of these “liberal” positions. If you are proud of America and if you are conservative about the U.S. Constitution and what this country stands for, these positions of classic liberalism are a good part of what America stands for.

Those who are classic liberals not only support these views and positions, they respect and admire the United States as the nation that puts forth this worldview and advances it globally. The classic liberal respects the English language works of literature such as Shakespear. They admire and advance the notion that Western Civilization, and the United States in particular, is the guiding light of humanity and the wellspring of progress for the world. The classic liberal knows that America was the impetus for democracies to replace monarchies, and prevented horrendous forces from winning the Second World War and the Cold War. Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union would have destroyed Western Civilization and set back humanity. The true liberal has zero desire for historical revisionism because such rewriting will undermine the very “liberal” progress that they believe should be continued. A great many veterans of World War II, what historians called “the greatest generation” were solid supporters of FDR and the New Deal.

Classic liberals either actively support the Christian Left, or have a healthy respect for Christian teachings, even by those liberals who are agnostic or atheist. This differs greatly from the modern Far Left.

It is abundantly clear that the Teachings of Jesus promote helping the poor, and admonishing greed. Jesus had a general contempt for tax collectors, which at the time meant collecting money from the poor to give to the Caesars and kings, who spent it almost entirely on enriching themselves and maintaining a military force. Nothing was spent for schools or social services, and perilously little for stone roads, water infrastructure, or public buildings. Jesus advanced no specific economic theory, but He was clear that the poor and working class should be uplifted, and that those of different backgrounds should be respected and embraced, not neglected or persecuted. The classic liberal understands that these are Christian teachings, and has a healthy respect for all of this, whether they are believers in Jesus or not.

Within the past few decades, our whole nation has drifted so far from Christianity and a healthy respect for religion that this perspective has evaporated among the Left. This perspective has also diminished among the Right, which has created another whole set of problems. The subject of future blogs, I promise. America’s drift from God is indeed the source of all our problems.

History, at least until it is rewritten by the historical revisionists, is quite clear that the Abolitionist Movement of the 1840’s and 1850’s and the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s were led by very strong believers in God, and almost entirely by Christians. Muslims and Jews were supporting players in the latter, and that is perfectly fine. The classic liberal who is atheist or agnostic knows and respects the role of Christianity in advancing both of these critical chapters in American history. While they might not personally believe in God or Jesus, this understanding that Christian-based initiatives have led to great social progress is important. It allows believers and non-believers to work together in harmony for progress, and it acts to limit outright hatred for Christianity.

This classic liberal perspective on both Christianity and America is absent from the radical Left of our modern times. In many regards, I am still a 1980’s liberal. I didn’t change too much. It was the Left that changed, and I didn’t come along for the ride.

The classic liberal and the modern Far Left are light-years apart in both philosophy and tone. This is a major difference, a major rift.

We don’t want to focus on what we oppose, but we do have to quickly list the differences in the rift between the modern Far Left and the classic liberal. The Far Left wants to demonize America, minimize the Word of God, fault the U.S. Constitution for whatever good things were left out, cast Christopher Columbus as a great force of evil, dismiss the Founding Fathers as a bunch of White supremacists that wouldn’t give equality to women and minorities, blame the White Man for all the problems in America and the world, and then use all of this as the arguments in voting for or against particular candidates. They want to rewrite every chapter of history from the perspective of victims and oppressors, in order to educate and indoctrinate all future generations, and set a political perspective of political correctness, class conflict, and socialism.

Modern political correctness is an absolutely caustic approach that fails to recognize the progress occurs in phases, and that at each phase, it would have not been possible to “do everything needed”. The Far Left approach has alienated millions upon millions of people, and driven them away from Democratic Party, which has in turn pulled the Party even further to the left, and even further from God.

The classic liberal is more inclined to agree with this webmaster that progress occurs in phases, that America is generally a force of good, and that we’re not done with progress.

If the modern Republican Party had all the answers, there would be no reason to create this blog or website. I am 100% about reforming the Republican Party, and I want to do it by bringing over whole groups of constituents. I want to increase the respect for the Word of God within the Republican Party, and bring over immigrants and minorities by the millions. And yes the classic liberal has a seat at the table. Absolutely. It is only the Far Left, those radicals with their caustic message of hate and class conflict, and their contempt for Jesus, that are not likely to be supportive.

Republicans haven’t wizened up on how to handle the rift between leftists and liberals, which is to take the high road and become the Party of unity and principle. There is only so much I can do given my limited audience.

We can accept and embrace the classic liberal in the Welcome Movement, and we can appreciate the Christian Left as partly fulfilling the need for politics and public policy to conform to the Word of God.

It is important to note that this “conforming” is a one-way street. It is the world of politics and public policy that need to conform to the Word of God, not the other way around. Our kind words of agreement with the Christian Left on this posting should not be interpreted as a weakness in Christianity. Revelation is the only process in which the Word of God changes. We do not support the modern call for churches to shift their Teachings to conform to the already indoctrinated positions of teens and young adults on various culture war matters. Those positions have been pounded into their heads by the entertainment industry. They do not derive from their own sincere and objective study of the Bible. They already know what they know, and are so close-minded they won’t even open “that stupid book”. It is the church that must lead and teach the younger generations, not the reverse. Sorry for the short sermon.

Not too much focus here, as we have pledged to advance what we support, not criticize what we oppose. I guess the ratio of supporting versus opposing will have to be 8:1, but greater whenever possible.

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We are upset that Donald Trump is positioning himself as the great defender of Israel. Trump has done nothing to try to win the Muslim vote, even though most Muslims are social conservatives. Meanwhile, the political support that many Muslims feel for the Democrats is unsustainable, as the core positions of the Left are hostile to our beliefs. Both problems are much more than frustrating. Muslims who are social conservatives must take a stand to state their beliefs. Those who agree with the following 25 conservative points are asked to click on the link below, print it, sign your name to this Declaration, and mail it to the Trump Campaign. Trump needs to be deluged with thousands of these. Each will be opened, because they think it’s a campaign donation. Trump and the Republican establishment need to hear it loud and clear that Muslims are the real conservatives, and that Jews are the Leftist and atheist enemy of the whole world.