Do You Know What You Are?

I recently discovered the writings of Mychal Massie, and much of what I read rings true to me. I wish I had seen this post when it was first published.

In this post, Massie hits the nail right on the head. This election is not about partisanship, but about preserving America.

For the past decade, I have had difficulty calling myself republican, democrat, liberal, conservative, centrist, libertarian, etc., etc., ad nauseum. For a time, I called myself a Patriot, until the tea party people co-opted and tarnished that one. But at heart, that is what I am.

I firmly believe that God had a hand in establishing this nation as a land of promise. Promise, which means covenant. I believe that God inspired the Founders as they established a land of freedom; that this occurred by design. 

I believe that because America is ceasing to bless God, God is ceasing to bless America. That is part of the covenant relationship.

We stand at a crossroads. We have been inundated with dogma and personal attacks. Logical fallacies abound. Civility was abandoned and left for dead at the last rest stop. People scream tolerance when they really mean “see things my way or you are an idiot.”

As an observer, a noticer, it is alarming to me to see how quickly this has happened. We cannot trust the news media. We can’t even trust the so-called “fact checkers.” Few are open to polite discussion. Even fewer are offering any solutions.

But please read Massie’s take on this. He has said what I feel.

His original post may be found here.

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By Mychal Massie on March 16, 2016 in Daily Rant, Education, Politics

There has been a lot of talk by pundits pursuant to who is best to occupy the White House for a minimum the next four years. The question, however, is why should we believe them.

Politicians and the media, depending upon which side of the political aisle you are on, would have us believe that patriotism is synonymous and defined by which political party you support. Unless you belong to the Socialist Party or Communist Party in which case there is no such thing as patriotism, but I digress.

The questions I have for you is how do you define patriotism? What is your understanding of same? Does your definition of patriotism have its basis in a historical perspective?

Words have meaning and unless we understand the meaning we do not understand the word. If we do not understand the word, we do not understand the meaning, if we do not understand the meaning how then can we understand the context in which the word used? The tragedy is the majority of people are quick to apply certain labels to define themselves and/or others without a clear understanding of what said labels factually mean.

We are quick to call people liberals, conservatives, centrists, constructionists, and constitutionalists, but what do those assignations mean? What does it mean to be a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or Libertarian? How many reading this can accurately define the aforementioned political identifiers we all use on a daily basis?

I’m inclined to reason that few can accurately define these political labels and even fewer can place them in the proper historical context they were born from. Before you ask why is this important, think about it this way.

Suppose you were given ten dollars and told to go to the store and bring back the homemade Mabi. Now suppose you knew that Mabi was a beverage but nothing more. Suppose once you arrived at the store the clerk realizes you do not know what Mabi is and sells you Malta instead. Then arriving back home you are made aware that not only is Malta not remotely close to Mabi, but Malta costs significantly more than Mabi.

Now let’s add to this scenario that the store closed the day of your purchase and will not reopen for two weeks while the small family business is closed for vacation. The obvious point is that you are stuck with the wrong item because you let someone else choose it for you based on your ignorance. You did not take time to make sure you understood what the item was that you were to buy – you just took the money and off you went to let someone else identify the item for you.

This is not dissimilar to what is taking place in the political arena. You are being asked to back a political party because they are assigning labels to themselves that you think you understand when in reality many do not.

This election is about retaining our Constitutional right to choose. It is not about saving Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, or saving America as such.

In order to understand that, we must first understand what it means to be what we self-identify as because if we do not, then someone else is defining it for us.

Specific to that point, the most important assignation is one born out of action and not one born out of a lapel pin or stick on label. That assignation is patriot. A patriot doesn’t heed labels; they heed the summum bonum, party affiliation and party dictates notwithstanding. The characteristic that sets patriots apart is that they are not blind ideologues – they are pragmatists who are willing to risk all for the welfare of the whole.

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A special thank you to Beau Henderson for a powerful meme. -RDS