Intentional Conservative

Broken Promises Week, Part I: “Lock Her Up!”

January 4, 2019November 28, 2016 by debisimons

I was all set to write a post about this topic last week but got distracted by the many excellent articles out there that I thought needed an airing. The more I’ve thought about this particular issue, however, the more I see it as emblematic of Donald Trump’s entire campaign and now, scarily, a precursor of how he will run his Presidency. As we move forward (notice how I keep using this phrase, as my purpose is to apply the lessons of the campaign to the mess we’re in now, not, as I’ve said, to “re-fight the election.”)

The Uneasiness Grows.

January 4, 2019November 26, 2016 by debisimons

Here’s my challenge to my readers: Take note of the ideas in the article below, particularly the ones about the future of NATO and of Ukraine now that we have elected Donald Trump. A year from now I’m going to revisit this post, and we will see how accurate these predictions were.

So the question for now is: how much influence did Russia exert in our Presidential election? I listen to and read a wide selection of sources and I have to tell you that there is a common perception that, while our election was not “rigged,” it was most certainly nudged or swayed in the direction that Vladimir Putin wanted it to go: a Trump victory. Our President-elect’s admiring attitude about this vicious, power-hungry demagogue is extremely troubling. I mentioned in an earlier post that, while the Republican Party platform is admirable it was not the product of any input from the Trump campaign but instead put together by a platform committee. The only input from the Trump people, according to a number of sources, was a request to soften the language of how much help we were willing to give Ukraine in maintaining its independence from Russia. The day after the election Trump had an unsupervised half-hour phone chat with Putin, an action with John McCain (bless him!) strongly condemned. Here’s what McCain home state newspaper, the Arizona Republic, had to say:

All Media Bubbles Are Dangerous.

January 27, 2017November 25, 2016 by debisimons

Well! I was doing bopping around looking for some info about the coarsening and vulgarization of political discourse and came across a new conservative voice: Charles Sykes. (Some, but I hope not all, of my readers will automatically dismiss him because his article is in Politico, which is just the point.) So, rather than spending my time writing something that will be vastly inferior to this well-reasoned and informed article, I’m just posting it. I plan to add him to my list of dependable news outlets and commentators:

“Donald Trump and the Rise of Alt-Reality Media”

And a corollary article from last week by Jonah Goldberg, which I read but for some reason did not post:

“This Is How It Starts”

What Is a Christian’s Obligation to Government?

January 4, 2019November 23, 2016 by debisimons

Let me start out with several quotations, and since the Bible is our first and foremost authority to which all other ideas must be compared and conformed to, I’ll start with those (all from the NIV with one exception noted below):

Exodus 1:17–But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live.

Acts 5:28-29–We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.” But Peter and the other apostle replied, “We must obey God rather than men.”

No One Can Immanentize the Eschaton.

January 4, 2019November 22, 2016 by debisimons

A brand-new term for me, gained from the peerless and fearless Jonah Goldberg. (He didn’t come up with it, to be clear.) Here’s what it means, as per that great fount of wisdom Wikipedia:

In political theory and theology,to immanentize the eschaton means trying to bring about the eschaton (the final, heaven-like stage of history) in the immanent world.

And here’s what Goldberg had to say about it:

The Trump team is ecstatic — and they have every right to be. They pulled it off. The philosophical and political sacrifices they made, the grief they took: It was all worth it. Congrats! But now they have to lead their own herd of shiny unicorns into the light of day. For example, Trump vowed that, if elected, he would make “make every dream you ever dreamed for your country come true.” Now, if you know anything — anything! — about conservatism, or human nature, or just plain reality, then you know in your heart this is balderdash of the highest order. It’s a less poetic version of Obama’s crazy talk about reversing the rise of the oceans because “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” As I’ve been writing for years and years, politics can’t immanentize the eschaton any more than basset hounds can fly.

Well, I’m tempted to quote paragraph after paragraph, so it’s only fair to stop here and just give the link to the entire article:

“The Election Is Over–Now Trump Must Govern”

What’s Sauce for the Goose . . .

January 4, 2019November 21, 2016 by debisimons

is sauce for you, too, if you think that the rules are different now that your candidate won.

Pretty clumsy wording. Sorry.

I had said a couple of months ago that the best article I had read this election season (now mercifully over, so at least we can be thankful for that) was this one by Leon Wolfe over at the conservative website RedState.com.

Should I Just “Give It Up”?

January 4, 2019November 20, 2016 by debisimons

Let’s do a little thought experiment here. Let’s say that the other candidate (TOC) won this election. Let’s also say that the President elect (TPE) lost the electoral vote but won the popular vote by, oh, 1.5 million or so. And let’s further say that I am now fulminating against TOC. (Perhaps for nominating Sid Blumenthal as Chief of Staff, or some such.)

Would you say, “Debi, just give it up”?

Why not?

Think about that.

And let me say here and now that, while I so appreciate those of you who read these posts, either on the blog or the Facebook page, and agree with them, and like them, I appreciate even more those of you who disagree with me but still read my stuff and take the time to post comments. So far I’ve only had to totally block one commenter and have taken down only a few others. I hope you’ll stick around.

But . . . if you feel that you must un-friend me, or just stop reading, I’ll be sorry to see you go. We need conversations across the divide. You can always come back. I will accept any and all friend requests.

I will quote here the great Lord Peter Wimsey from the great novel Gaudy Night as my response to those who may be departing:

”Very well. Vade in pacem. If you ever want me, you will find the Old Firm at the usual stand.”

Now the Real Battle Begins.

January 4, 2019November 19, 2016 by debisimons

I find myself completely overwhelmed with the sheer volume of material I want to get across to my readers. So many good,thoughtful people on all areas of the political spectrum coming forward, or continuing to come forward, saying that we must hold the line against the man who has now been elected President. We must not normalize his behavior. Just to give an example of the range of voices out there, w-a-a-y over on the right (but not, to be absolutely and completely clear, the alt-right) is RedState.com. To the right of center is Jennifer Rubin of the Right Turn Blog at the Washington Post. And pretty far over on the left is Slate.com, whose podcast, “Trumpcast,” has been sounding the alarm since before the Republican National Convention.

I will be addressing the questions next week, What is a Christian’s proper attitude towards his government? What is Paul asking us to do when he says to pray for our leaders? And what is the concept of “the loyal opposition”? So much to say! For today, though, I will post Rubin’s article from earlier this week. I hope and pray that voices such as hers will not be silenced.

“Who Will Stand Up to Trump?”

Bible Christians Continue to Speak Out.

January 4, 2019November 18, 2016 by debisimons

A selection of quotations from Christians who refused to support Trump:

“This election was not a race to the top on matters of personal integrity; as Al Mohler, the vocally anti-Trump president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said during the campaign, if he were to support Trump, he would have to apologize to Bill Clinton, who he called out for sexual immorality in the ’90s.”

A White Nationalist Talks about Trump

January 4, 2019November 17, 2016 by debisimons

photo credit: Center for Investigative Reporting

So, you say, it’s not that big of a deal that swastikas are now cool in the wake of the Trump victory. I was talking to someone recently who voted for Trump and who was ecstatic that he had won. I related to her the story I posted about the Jewish family who is planning to move to Israel because they’re so terrified of a Trump administration, one reason being that their neighbor down the street hoisted a flag with a swastika on it the day after the election. “But . . . do you really think that Trump thinks that way?” she asked. To which my reply was, “It doesn’t matter.” What matters is that he has surrounded himself with people who do believe that; he has made it safe and acceptable to parade such views. So I did a little poking around to see what someone who is unequivocally in that camp would have to say.