Political Pragmatism

Between now and Election Day, there is almost nothing you can do to change the course of this country. Candidates for both major parties have already been selected. Third party candidates almost never win, although Connecticut may prove otherwise with Joe Lieberman’s run as an independent. Write-in votes are even more futile. If your congressman, senator, or governor is an incumbent, he or she will likely be reelected.

If the candidate you like has little name recognition, few funds, and fewer issues that are attracting attention, most likely he will be reading the want ads after Election Day. If you live in a congressional district or state that has a predominant party affiliation, if your regional political demographics favor one party over the other, that party will probably retain control. Many moderate to liberal Democrat will use careful language implying support of traditional marriage and will promise not to take your guns away. Many moderate to conservative Republicans will use careful language to assure elderly voters that their Social Security checks will arrive and stronger language supporting public schools. It is all about winning. There are no second place ribbons or consolation prizes in politics.

Your bumper sticker, the sign in your yard, the rally you attended in a phone booth, and the rabid zeal you have for your cause is not going to translate into much between now and Election Day.

I say this as someone who is incredibly optimistic about our country. I say this as someone who is incredibly passionate about politics. I say this as someone who cherishes our history, honors the Constitution, delights in individual freedom, local liberties, and limited government. I say this as one whose love for the Federalist Papers is exceeded only by my love for the Anti-Federalist writers. I say this as a conservative, a Calvinist, a Christian Reconstructionist, and at times, almost a secessionist.

Overall, I am quite proud of President Bush, occasionally pleased with the Republicans in Congress, impressed with Condoleeza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld, hopeful about Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, and thrilled at the writing success of Ann Coulter. I support the war in Iraq, not just the soldiers, who are doing a great job, but the war, and those who direct it from Washington. I can even rejoice while pumping nearly $3.00 a gallon gas in my guzzling Suburban.

I must admit that I am politically a pragmatist. My political philosophy is “Within certain loose limits, I am happy with whatever works.” I used to be much more principled, but I fell into heresy. The sources of my heresy? The Bible and history.

My Fall

It all began when I rejected the overwhelming, all encompassing creedal mantra of liberalism: There is no god but government and Washington is its prophet. It was the bedrock of liberal ideology, but conservatives also acted like government and Washington could save us all, if only our guys were in power. My fall began with William Jefferson Clinton’s administration. When he was elected, I wanted an AK-47, a retreat in New Zealand, all my money in gold, and a stash of non-hybrid seeds. Instead, I ended up wasting my time pastoring a growing Reformed church, starting a Christian school, reading great books, and delighting in my wife and ever growing quiver full of children.

Neither Clinton’s foibles, moral lapses, bad foreign policy, cabinet full of liberal ideologues, wife, daughter, jogging suit, nor his politics were able to dim the luster of the great works of God I experienced and saw many others experiencing.

When I rejected all hope of political salvation, I had to replace it with something else. I found the answer in 1 Peter 4:17 which says, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.” I originally thought that in the Greek, the language “house of God’ must have meant legislative houses. Instead, I learned that this meant the church.

Positing my two premises together formed this thought: What happens when Christians gather to worship is more important than what happens when legislators gather in Congress. Hence preaching is more vital to the nation than political oratory. Thus pastoral ministry has more impact than political advocacy. Therefore, tithes are greater than taxes. Consequently, God is more concerned about faithful churches than conservative to libertarian legislatures.

Add to this a third premise that grew out of my experience: Short people with shrill voices kept interrupting me while I was watching Fox News, Hardball, and the O’Reilly Factor. I really needed to know the buzz on Capital Hill about impending legislation in Congress, but these little creatures kept showing up at my house, climbing in my lap, and wanting to watch Bugs Bunny or hearing the story of the three bears. Bible study did not help my political dilemma: “Children are a heritage of the Lord.” How could I contribute to saving the republic, to turning back the clock on socialism and fascism, to revitalizing the principles of our Founding Fathers, with these little kids hanging on to me?

Government and History

All of this discussion is far too personal and subjective. If what we need is true conservative Christian statesmen who will enact God’s Law in the next legislative session, then such examples no doubt exist in history. If expansive government programs never work, then the principles of limited government, strictly divided powers, small republics with minimal powers must be found in the historical examples.

While driving down an interstate highway, I reasoned that government programs never work. While teaching about the 1944 Normandy Invasion, I realized that big government programs always fail. When buying a piece of property that lies in the domain of the original Louisiana Purchase, I noted that governments ruthlessly expand their landholdings and skirt limitations. While calculating how little income tax I would be paying due to my appropriately named dependents, I realized the economic stranglehold of big government taxes.

We are living in a tyranny, you know. This is a police state, you know. This is fascism and Fabian socialism and, yes, even communism. Why be surprised? After all, look at history. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Hitler came to power the same year. Both were orators. Both promoted government policies that were interventionist and centralizing. The Gestapo rounded up Jews and political opponents and shot them. Agents from the Agriculture Adjustment Act rounded up pigs and cows and shot them. Hitler drafted men into the military and children into the Hitler Youth. Roosevelt created government work programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps so that men like my father were able to work creating national parks. Nazis established Dachua; we established Yellowstone. Hitler killed political opponents. FDR campaigned against them. Admittedly, these similarities are weak, but you cannot deny that the WPA had an eagle for a symbol and the Nazis used an eagle on some of their symbols.

History can be so cruel. If it would just sort itself out into Golden Eras and Dark Ages, all would be fine. We could model ourselves after the one and flee the other with reckless abandon. History is such a tangled up mess for a principled conservative looking for purity. It can be worse for the Christian. After all, the Nicene Creed was formulated and financed by a government program. Being a Presbyterian doesn’t help. After all, the Westminster Standards came into being by government directive and Parliamentary sponsorship. Being a Calvinist doesn’t help. After all, Calvin’s Geneva had government subsidies for schools, welfare, hospitals, and other agencies, with a fair share of government involvement in church matters.

Being an American doesn’t help. America was established by government decrees and initiatives, usually from the Stuart monarchs. As a Southerner, I even tried being a Neo-Confederate. But the short-lived Confederacy had such libertarian principles as a military draft, paper money with incredible inflation, political infighting on a scale comparable to the Battle of Gettysburg, and a failed war policy that makes our current military ventures look like a picnic. But after all, the Confederacy was outnumbered, so of course it lost. Never mind that history is filled with examples of minorities triumphing over majorities.

History can only make sense if God is trying to accomplish something other than pure government. The story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis sheds light here.

The Bible and Government

If conservative, limited, strictly constitutional, republican government is the Biblical pattern and ideal, then we must find such there. If a politically pure commonweal exists, then such must be in the Bible.

By a series of amazing providential twists and turns, Joseph became the power behind the throne of ancient Egypt. His time precedes Moses’ giving of the Law, but he had the Law written on his heart; he had the commission to his Great Grandpa Abraham to “keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice” (Gen. 18:19). A good and godly man in ancient Egypt had his hands on the levers of power. His power and influence was such that in his patriarchal world, he described himself as “father to Pharaoh.”

We don’t know the whole story of the moral and political influence of Joseph. There were those, like his steward, whose language reveals true commitment to God. There were those like Pharaoh who held Joseph, his family, and his beliefs in the highest regard. What we do know about Joseph’s political program is that it was based on something far different from libertarian, laissez-faire, limited government principles. Summing it up, Joseph’s policy was tax, control, spend, regulate, confiscate, and relocate. God missed the chance to enact a model republic in Egypt. Instead, He used Egypt as refuge for His covenant people, for the Church in its embryonic state, to have a safe haven.

We should add that Joseph’s policy did include tax breaks for priests. While there may have been priests who came into covenant with Joseph’s God, most likely Egyptian religion remained polytheistic and pagan.

Joseph’s failure at providing an earthly model of pure government is only compounded when we look at other examples. Even Paul, with the advantage of having Roman citizenship, failed to use his good mind and personal skills to attain political power. For some reason, he thought that preaching the Gospel was more important than attaining a position as procurator of a Roman province.

How Shall We Then Vote?

As you pile the sticks of dry wood at my feet, listen: I am not an Anabaptist, a Pietist, a Quaker, or a social gospel theological liberal. I am a Theonomist. Greg Bahnsen preached my ordination sermon. Like Abraham Kuyper, I affirm the following:

"One desire has been the ruling passion of my life. One high motive has acted like a spur upon my mind and soul…. It is this: That in spite of all worldly opposition, God’s holy ordinances shall again be established in the home, in the school and in the State for the good of the people; to carve as it were into the conscience of the nation the ordinances of the Lord, to which Bible and Creation bear witness, until the nation pays homage again to God.”

Between now and election day, I can do the following to achieve this goal: Pray for and with my children and wife, faithfully preach and pastor the church where I am an elder, teach God’s truths in my Christian school, and vote for the better of the viable candidates for office.

I pray for and expect a lot of my family: I want not just godly children, but godly grandchildren. I pray for and expect a lot from my church: I want an orthodox, Reformed, and evangelistic church. I pray for and expect a lot from my school: I want our students to be the leaders of church, culture, and society of the future.

I pray for but don’t expect nearly as much from our government. Whenever and where ever they can halt or slow down bad legislation, I am pleased. Wherever Christian men and women are able to sit on committees, administrate over agencies, or influence the direction of the country, I am thankful. Anytime a more conservative, more likely pro-life, judge is appointed to replace a deceased liberal, I rejoice. Anytime a liberal squeals in agony because of a Bush appointee, I applaud.

Yes, I know of President Bush’s failures, inconsistencies, bad judgments, and compromises. Thank God for him. Pres. Bush may fail in achieving our hopes and principles, but then again we could have experienced Gore or Kerry succeeding at achieving their principles.

Since politics will not save us, by all means we need to get out there and vote. Vote for the best, most winnable candidate. Yes, sometimes that means the lesser of two evils or the evil of two lessers. In your family life, in your church life, in your children’s education, you can set the highest goals and work for them. In the realm of government, there is less you can do, even if you are the winnable candidate. Vote for the best candidate who can win.