I originally posted this piece on RedState, but I’m going to elaborate more in this post.
My Short Conversation with Mary Fallin
I’ll admit, I’m not real savvy when it comes to Mary Fallin, but I can tell you she is the representative for Okalhoma’s fifth district, has voted in favor of Big Oil, voted against a Climate Change Committee, and is an avid supporter of our military. And, at the Navy Birthday Ball in Oklahoma City a couple weeks ago, I got the privilege to speak with her. Our conversation was brief, but very encouraging.
After I thanked her for her stand against health care reform, I voiced my concern about the Democrats and my suspicion that, being Democrats, they’ll start to find (create) “problems” with how votes are cast or counted, or how elections have been grossly unfair in the past, or…whatever they can think of in order to get some sort of “Voting Reform” in play in time for the 2010 elections. (I left out the part about my being prone to conspiracy theories, but I’m pretty sure she picked up on it.)
Her reply?
“We’ll be OK, God is still on the throne.”
Now, for staunch members of the Armchair Politician Community, her answer might not suffice, but for anyone who understands true conservatism, her answer was spot-on.
The Republican party needs more Mary Fallins and Sarah Palins. Not because they are women, and not because they tell it like it is, but because they haven’t hollowed out the core of conservatism-that core being God.
The conservative movement is becoming a force to be reckoned with, but will it be enough? Just this week I heard a man call into Rush’s show and lament that Rush was “our only hope”. Hearing this, I pounded my steering wheel and shouted, “And therein lies our problem! We are no different than the libs if we think our salvation-this country’s salvation- lies in the hands of a man!” Don’t get me wrong, I am not minimizing what Rush has done for the conservative movement. In fact, I contend that, for all practical purposes, we wouldn’t have much of a conservative movement if it weren’t for him.
But there are those who call themselves conservatives and extol the virtues of Reaganism, but wouldn’t be caught dead saying something like this (though it desperately needs to be said)…
“We Americans are blessed in so many ways. We’re a nation under God, a living and loving God. But Thomas Jefferson warned us, ‘I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.’ We cannot expect Him to protect us in crisis if we turn away from Him in our everyday living. But you know, He told us what to do in II Chronicles. Let us reach out to Him. He said, ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land’.” ~R. Reagan
The fact is, those who want to bring back the Reagan Era while omitting the very core values Reagan held, will be sorely disappointed. I contend that it is not only a mistake to think we can stop Obama’s break-neck sprint into socialism (fascism, communism…pick one) with a watered-down, Godless Reaganism, but it is also an exercise in false hope.
That conservatives want to protect American liberty is noble. That conservatives want a limited government that will adhere to the Constitution is admirable. But a Godless conservative movement with lots of steam, good policies, and some great talking points, will have very little staying power if it is not fueled with the Truth. We’ll have our tea parties, our Joe the Plumbers, and, if we’re lucky, a few more Sarah Palins, but if this nation continues to turn away from God, we will have no guarantee that the One who holds the universe will have our backs. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Him, and we sure as heck aren’t going to survive without Him. It’s that simple.
There hasn’t been a nation yet that has been able to withstand the assault of a determined communist movement. And, for the record, communism (along with all the other despotic “isms”) is an ideology that demands, not only the eradication of individual liberty, but also the eradication of the God who grants that liberty. With this in mind, it is important to note that every nation that has fallen to communism had, over time, become Godless (with a big “G”). Quite simply, Godless nations cannot defeat an ideology hell-bent on destroying God-given liberties. It would be a little like asking Michael Moore to defeat obesity.
This brings us to our current conundrum. For reasons far too numerous for this post, gone are the days of America calling itself a Christian nation. That said, what makes us think we can hold back the tide of communism any better than the countries who have succumbed in the past? Tea Party Expresses, calling our congressmen, making our voices heard through our votes, and even listening to Rush, while valiant efforts, are small arms in what is truly a spiritual war.
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4
I’d say a pathological liar for a president, a gaggle of a moral malcontents for czars, and a leftist Democrat congress are considerable strongholds. And, make no mistake, our current leaders do not care how much public support we manage to muster at tea parties or on Fox News. Despots don’t plan their steps based on the polls. Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao handled dissent with humiliation, intimidation, coercion, and violence. Obama and his henchmen will do much the same.
A tea party won’t cut it. We need something bigger. We need Someone bigger.
Reagan had much to contend with, but he didn’t have this scale of evil worming its way through his country. Even so, he repeatedly pointed this country back to its roots-back to the foundation of its founding…back to what he knew was the only avenue of victory for American greatness and liberty.
“We are never defeated unless we give up on God.” ~R. Reagan
It isn’t Reagan’s policies that should be restored and infused into this nation, but, rather, his zeal for and faith in God.
Reagan is dead; God isn’t.
Jlynnr, you said that very well. I think most, if not all...
penguin2 Friday, October 23rd at 12:39PM EDT (link)on this site have some kind of belief or faith in the higher power that we see as God. The Founding Fathers set up the fabric of this nation threaded all the way through with their belief in Almighty God.
Indeed, the first thing Communism must do in order to succeed, is rid the people of their religions and their faith. Until they do that, they can not completely take over. We recognize the threat and the process, but whether the people can awaken in time remains to be seen.
Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.
Benjamin Franklin
jlynnr, Very true and very recommended . . .
mailloux Friday, October 23rd at 12:44PM EDT (link)And, I think Reagan would be the first to agree. We can admire, appreciate, and study soldiers of God, but in the end, they are exactly that . . . soldiers of God. Ronald Reagan was a great man, but his greatness was much the same as St. Paul’s greatness, totally dependent and derived from the ultimate source of Truth, God Himself.
Reliance on God has beaten the odds every single time throughout history. Our choice in this life is very much black and white. It really does boil down to a coin flip . . . God or Not God, those are the options and the options have consequences both natural and supernatural for both individuals and societies.
Thanks for a great diary.
Take Care, mailloux
God on the throne since Tower of Babel: God and Reagan would still favor Reagan's policies and so should we
Mike gamecock DeVine Saturday, October 24th at 10:22AM EDT (link)I know the author means well and if the main point is spiritual, then there is more of it with which I agree, but the combination that appears seems not to make any particular point very well in my opinion.
I think the author:
Reads too much into the congresswoman’s “God is on the throne” line;
Reads too much into the Rush caller’s line, who really meant that our only hope are Rush’s ideas, which include Reagan’s which are inexorable tied to God and Judeo-Christian principles;
Ignores that the vast majority of human history in which God has been on the throne has been tyranny on Earth; and
Imagines some vast number of conservatives that want Reaganism without God, when in fact, the elitist Republicans are the ones that want neither God nor Reaganism.
The most telling line that reveals the lack of logic in the column is its penultimate:
” It isn’t Reagan’s policies that should be restored and infused into this nation, but, rather, his zeal for and faith in God.”
I beg to differ. We do need to restore: peace thru strength; lower taxes and govt regulation; God-goven liberty; judges that don’t usurp the law-making power; and integrity in government etc ad infinitum.
God is the answer to salvation and even during times of tyranny he remains that answer, but we want to preserve liberty on Earth and for that we have to advance actual policies. It so happens that the ones that work are those informed by Judeo-Christian values that have been shown to be successful and were advocated by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln and Reagan.
Their ideas are timeless.
My other objection to this diary is its title and what it and some of the paragraphs imply and play into, and that is the notion of the left and beltway elitist country club republicans that imagine a mass of mind numb idiots that worship Reagan divorced from his ideas and who imagine that such Reagan-bots don’t want any “new ideas” as if Reagan’s principles and policies are somehow passe and/or can;t be adapted to new problems.
That is a lie and it is that crowd that repeatedly seems to take joy in the phrase “Reagan is dead.” As if we don’t know that he is dead. They use it as a taunt.
And it is vulgar.
I know that the author here did not mean it that way, but feel the author is misguided in adopting that phrase to make her point, which seems to me is that we need both God and Reagan’s policies, but that is not what he/she said.
God is alive and he wants our souls in Heaven. But I think he also wants us to have peace on Earth, and for that task against the Prince of Darkness, ie Satan, he has left that task in our hands as men and for success we have to go beyond slogans about God and into the weeds of politics and policy.
And we are better off in politics in making the sale objectively based on what policies work, and not mere appeals to God.
In Christ
Mike Gamecock DeVine
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” - Andrew Jackson
I get the line that spoiled it for you
pilgrim Saturday, October 24th at 11:33AM EDT (link)When I first saw just the title of this diary I thought it was kind of rude, and i did not know what kind of diary I was going to read. Then I began reading the diary, and I was pleased that it had to do with the importance of spiritual morality and God being the source for hope.
At the end there seems to be a statement of choosing not both hope from God and change from Reagan, but instead choosing only hope from God.
Haystack wrote it the best in his parable diary…
Hope comes from God and Change comes from Man
The majority in our nation needs to understand and embrace what Haystack wrote.
It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.Calvin Coolidge
Perfect connection pilgrim.
penguin2 Saturday, October 24th at 11:55AM EDT (link)Haystack’s “Hope comes from God and Change comes from Man.”
I see what Mike is saying too. The two are not mutually exclusive, and both are required for success. I had to read the title twice, and the diary to be sure I knew where she was going with it. I think you and Mike are nicely broadening the points of the diarist.
Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.
Benjamin Franklin
Great points all Pilgrim, Penguin and 'stack! - nt
Mike gamecock DeVine Saturday, October 24th at 12:18PM EDT (link)Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” - Andrew Jackson
Mike DeVine; me thinks you protesteth too much.
jlynnr Saturday, October 24th at 12:47PM EDT (link)For openers, yes, my point was more spiritual. But let me clarify the main point of my post: We need leaders who are not afraid to acknowledge God’s sovereignty…and use their outside voice to do it. The core of Reagan conservatism isn’t…Reagan conservatism… it was his faith and reliance upon God.
Also, let me point out that:
I am not maligning Rush.
I am not maligning Reagan.
I am not maligning those who want to reinstate Reagan’s policies (I am among them.)
Reagan IS dead. I was not invoking some sort of leftist hate speech by saying that.
That said, let me parse your comment, if I may.
(Forgive me, I’m not sure how to italicize for quotes in the comment section.)
YOU: “I think the author:
Reads too much into the congresswoman’s “God is on the throne” line;”
I’m really not sure how this could be. This isn’t exactly something your average congressman/woman would say to a constituent who is worried about the goings on in Washington. This remark from Fallin wasn’t flippantly said, nor was it meant to be taken lightly. In fact, when I heard it, it filled me with a lot of hope and encouragement because I got to see that there is someone in the Beltway who truly knows, “from whence our help comes.” If she had said, “Well, we are really working to bring back conservatism and Reagan’s ideals,” it wouldn’t have had nearly the impact on me that it did. In fact, I probably would have thought to myself, “Great, another republican playing the Reagan card in a room with more medals than the Olympics.”
YOU: [The author] Reads too much into the Rush caller’s line, who really meant that our only hope are Rush’s ideas, which include Reagan’s which are inexorable tied to God and Judeo-Christian principles;
CALLER: “But our only hope is the encouragement that you, especially you, are giving us, and if there’s no hope for you where does that leave all the rest of us?”
That is the caller’s line that ‘inspired’ my diary. Our only hope is NOT Rush’s ideas. Our only hope is in God. This is tantamount to those teams who lose their star player and end up performing dismally the rest of the season. So, if Rush loses hope, we are left high and dry? I sure hope not.
But let me see if I get this straight. You point out that Rush’s ideas are tied to Reagan’s ideas which are tied to Judeo-Christian principles.
Your logic chain actually proves the point I was trying to make. There are conservatives who tout Reaganism, but wouldn’t be caught dead admitting, like Reagan (and Fallin) did, that this nation is accountable to God. They fear it would be intellectual suicide. So, while some might actually (rightly) believe we are accountable to God and He is in charge, they won’t use their outside voice and say those words; they’ll wax eloquent on Reaganism instead. And by your reasoning, it’s the same thing.
The problem is, and the point I tried to make is that… it’s not the same thing.
My clarion call, my warning flag to conservatives is that we must be as bold AS Reagan in pointing this country to our only hope and Deliverer. Pointing people to Reaganism isn’t going to cut it. God won’t take a back seat to an ideology built around a man.
YOU: [The author] “Ignores that the vast majority of human history in which God has been on the throne has been tyranny on Earth.”
I am an avowed historian, so ignoring history just isn’t in my gene pool. That there has been tyranny on earth is patently obvious. But a look at history will show you that, for all nations, their periods of prosperity, individual liberty, and influence was/is inexorably tied to their allegiance to God. Period. If America hopes to be restored back to what it once was, an all out allegiance to God is the only way, not a veiled nod through Reagan’s policies. And what I am saying lines up EXACTLY with what Reagan said. Reagan’s own words prove this.
YOU: [The author] Imagines some vast number of conservatives that want Reaganism without God, when in fact, the elitist Republicans are the ones that want neither God nor Reaganism.”
I don’t think there are vast numbers of conservatives who want Reaganism without God, but I do contend that there are many who want Reaganism without having to ACKNOWLEDGE God. Reagan unabashedly acknowledged God, and took considerable heat for doing so.
YOU: “The most telling line that reveals the lack of logic in the column is its penultimate:
” It isn’t Reagan’s policies that should be restored and infused into this nation, but, rather, his zeal for and faith in God.”
I stand by this. Reagan’s policies devoid of an all out turning back to God will not save this nation. I know that is a brazen statement, but Reagan himself said as much. And only history will prove me right or wrong. So, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if I’m some kind of a whack job or…a true Reagan Conservative.
And if it sounded like I was chucking Reagan’s policies in the bin, I wasn’t. And I wasn’t insinuating that Reagan conservatives are Reagan-bots.
YOU: “God is alive and he wants our souls in Heaven. But I think he also wants us to have peace on Earth, and for that task against the Prince of Darkness, ie Satan, he has left that task in our hands as men and for success we have to go beyond slogans about God and into the weeds of politics and policy.”
“…He has left that task in our hands as men…go beyond slogans about God and into the weds of politics and policy.” I’ll go into the weeds for this country, but I will not foolishly go in thinking this battle rests in the hands of men. And when people start saying things along the lines of “we have to go beyond slogans about God” it smacks of the very sentiments of those elitist republicans you mentioned who don’t want God or Reaganism.
YOU: “And we are better off in politics in making the sale objectively based on what policies work, and not mere appeals to God.”
I’ll take both, thank you. But I’ll put them in their proper order…like Reagan did so faithfully.
Most all conservatives that tout a return to the Party of Reagan share our Christianity
Mike gamecock DeVine Saturday, October 24th at 1:36PM EDT (link)I think the main problems I had with your column is the vulgar title and the statement that you do not favor a return to Reagan’s policies.
Do you really oppose Reagan’s policies?
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” - Andrew Jackson
Help me out here
SteveLA Saturday, October 24th at 2:00PM EDT (link)game
I’ve got my copy of the Reagan Diaries handy, so help me out.
Where can I find in Reagan’s daily diary a concern for the social agenda and reclaiming this country for “Christian values” that you state those of us who were actually Republicans who actually voted for Reagan might remember?
Lots of entries by Reagan on the state of the world, the place of this country in the world and international relations, lots of writings about fiscal and military matters, but I don’t see a whole lot of entries about social conservative matters.
Don’t get me wrong here, Reagan was a spiritual guy, shows up in his writings for sure in small ways, but a culture warrior in the terms that it means today, hardly.
______________________________________
Competency over ideological purity
read Reagan's evil empire speech and see all the pro-life, pro-marriage and Anti-baby Doe/Shiavo actions and then recall that he
Mike gamecock DeVine Saturday, October 24th at 5:40PM EDT (link)wrote and published a book against abortion while in office. Look at the policies he pursued. He made at least one speech/advocacy per month on the life issue as President. Was for the Life amendment every session of Congress. All of his speeches were infused with Judeo-Christian values and advocacy in that name.
Seriously, go read the evil empire speech and be amazed at how the bulk of it is about social issues at home and not the evil empire.
I have the Diaries, his radio transcripts, speeches and memory of the times handy, btw. smile
I think we have had this debate before where you try and paint Reagan as David Frum, and I’m not going to that Alice in Wonderland with you again.
smile
btw, Reagan also has a sense of humor. Live it.
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” - Andrew Jackson
I see your points better now and am glad you think my logic chain endorses your point - one other advantage to my logic chain is
Mike gamecock DeVine Saturday, October 24th at 1:39PM EDT (link)that we can enlist enough non-Christians that we need to save the nation electorally since one can endorse our policies and principles before they reach the final link in the chain that you and I share re faith in God specifically.
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” - Andrew Jackson
OK, maybe the title was a bit much, but...
jlynnr Saturday, October 24th at 2:16PM EDT (link)I need to make this clear: I do not oppose Reagan’s policies.
I think I’m still misunderstood when it comes to your logic chain, but I am seeing your point. That we can enlist non-Christians electorally is an angle I didn’t address, and I’m glad you brought it up.
But my emphasis is two-fold. 1) Reagan conservatism without it’s spine, that being God, will have nothing to hold it up in the end. And, 2) This nation’s spiritual condition is its biggest priority. Until it is addressed, we are in danger of our endeavors being in vain.
Reagan’s words agree (and they are worth quoting again):
“We cannot expect Him to protect us in crisis if we turn away from Him in our everyday living. But you know, He told us what to do in II Chronicles. Let us reach out to Him. He said, ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land’.”
He also said this:
“Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience,…without God democracy will not and cannot long endure.”
I get the strategy that says, “Leave God out of this so we can enlist the non-Christian sector.” If anyone has read my blog these past five years, you’ll see it’s a strategy I’ve employed. But I’m starting to wonder if, by taking God out of my own rhetoric (getting to a personal level here), am I really doing what I’m supposed to be doing for my country? How am I encouraging people? Is taking our only real chance for this country’s restoration out of the battle a smart move? Militarily speaking, it isn’t (according to my husband).
Reagan was an optimist, and it wasn’t due to his “policies”, it was due to his faith in God. And he continually drew his country’s attention back to Him. I’m just trying to bring Reagan’s strategy to light.
We are on the same team and page baby and I'm glad
Mike gamecock DeVine Saturday, October 24th at 5:35PM EDT (link)We need both of our approaches to save this nation. And we are 100% on the same page in saving the souls of individuals and the nation.
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” - Andrew Jackson
Excellent diary
wayneinnh Friday, October 23rd at 12:59PM EDT (link)The quote from Second Chronicles is one I use often when discussing the current state of our nation. To see that Ronaldo Magnus used it just adds icing on the cake. One of my favorite songs is done by Casting Crowns, it’s called “What if His People Prayed?” and is based on this verse.
Thoughts From a Fallen World
Jon 14:6 -
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
It’s not intellectual to believe we evolved from hydrogen gas.
wayneinnh, great song, great video . . .
mailloux Friday, October 23rd at 2:23PM EDT (link)Thank You . . . it was time well spent!
Take Care, mailloux
I have to admit,
Steph C Friday, October 23rd at 1:28PM EDT (link)I was leery when I first clicked the link but this is an outstanding diary.
Thank you.
“[I]f the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.” –Candidus in the Boston Gazette, 1772
Hillbilly Politics
ditto...I to was leery. nt
pilgrim Friday, October 23rd at 1:36PM EDT (link)It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.Calvin Coolidge
Thank you for the kind words. n/t
jlynnr Friday, October 23rd at 5:03PM EDT (link)n/t