This is getting friendly buzz
in some conservative circles:
i) At one level, this is
quite reasonable. As a rule, conservatives have a fairly live-and-let-live
attitude. As long as you leave us alone, we will leave you alone. That’s a bit
overstated, but it’s largely the case.
Liberals are just the
opposite. They keep trying to subjugate everyone to their viewpoint. They have
a colonial mentality.
The result of their
ironfisted policies is to create a predictable backslash. They don’t succeed.
Rather, they intensify opposition.
Why force two groups to live
together who can’t stand each other?
However, I don’t agree with
this proposal:
ii) For one thing, secession
isn’t feasible. I don’t see any politically realistic pathway to achieving that
goal. And such a cause would divert time and energy away from what we really need to focus on.
iii) Even if it were
feasible, I still disagree. For one thing, I think Christians should maintain a
missional presence. Be salt and light. I know that’s become a cliché, but it’s
a valid cliché. We need to be a witness to a dying world, including our own
country–even if that sometimes means feeling like foreign missionaries in the
land of our birth.
To absent ourselves from our
godless neighbors would be selfish, loveless, and merciless. Are we going to
abandon their children to godlessness? Write off the next generation, except
for our very own offspring?
iv) In addition, it’s not as
if liberals are genetically liberal while conservatives are genetically
conservative.
If you could start from
scratch with a country that was purely Christian or conservative, it wouldn’t
remain purely Christian or conservative. Conversely, if you could start from
scratch with a country that was purely liberal or secular, it wouldn’t remain
purely liberal or secular. Liberals can emerge in conservative communities
while conservatives can emerge in liberal communities. Sealing yourself away in
airtight communities doesn’t solve the problem, for the problem has an internal
source as well as an external source.
Take the Amish. You can take
the Amish out of the world, but you can’t take the world out of the Amish.
Amish communities have their own social problems. Indeed, their insularity can
exacerbate certain social pathologies.
I agree, secession is a bit excessive, but I think nullification (principles of '98) might hold promise.
ReplyDeleteno more waiting to nullify
States are beginning to use this power again to protect their citizens from the federal government:
nullification victories