Over great public opposition, the U.S. Congress has publicly and formally made the transition from principled lawmaking to pragmatic history-making with their passage of health care reform legislation. The Darth Vader-like transition to the dark side of politics is probably the most well documented in history. House then Senate majority leaders bespoke the virtues of the historic nature of their legislation, while virtually no one had time to read either bills before limited debate and passage. Due diligence and process has taken a back seat to political expedience and backslapping.
Closed door meetings and back room sweetheart deals characterized the entire process clinching the 60 votes needed to streamline passage. I would like to think that the straight party line vote drew a clear line between pragmatism and principle, but I am not that naïve. Partisanship is not dead, in fact it is quite alive and well on both sides of the aisle. Money and power have always been a human nemesis and political corridors house no exception.
So how does a principled citizen respond to this misuse of authority? You purpose to vote the inglorious and dishonorable out of office while praying for their political demise along the way. You barrage their offices with your promises of their impending defeat as you raise up and support replacements who will take a stand for liberty, truth, and justice. In the meantime, you continue to defend the right. When the outer castle walls are compromised, you retreat to the inner walls and prepare a new defense there. With regard to this health care reform debacle, the next line of defense is to drive a wedge into the opposition and make compromise impossible and conference committees unsuccessful in finding any consensus. If all else fails, you move to the castle keep for a final defense; in this case, the final votes of each house and the President’s signature. At long last, living to fight another day, we can pray we survive and somehow reverse the damage that was done. This may all sound extremely negative to some, but my point is, there is always hope–something worth fighting for! In Churchill’s inimitable words, “Never, never, never, never give up!”
For the Christian citizen, the spiritual dimension of this battle is always primary and is met in the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and with spiritual means (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Prayer leads the Christian soldier into action–the spiritual world superimposed over the physical world. “God’s truth is marching on.” His sustaining presence is always with His people.
One last ray of hope…who would have thought that Darth Vader, at the last moment, would have turned against the evil emperor and ended up restoring balance to the galaxy? Perhaps principle is not completely gone after all, and conscience can be cleansed and restored. May God add his Amen.
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