Heroes, Cause and Effect, and Frog Kissers
Published in Marietta Daily Journal August 7, 2016
Well, well. I thought it was Christians who were
self-righteous. That’s what I’ve always
heard. If they are, why, in light of
Donald Trump’s alleged moral slackness and Biblical illiteracy, did over 1000
Christian leaders meet with him recently?
Why did so many of those leaders announce they were supporting Trump?
Quite a few political commentators
and Republican elected officials have said that Trump lacks “the moral fortitude”
to be president. One must assume Trump’s
critics consider themselves the moral standard.
At least 8 of the evangelical
figures who attended the meeting are my spiritual heroes, all men in this case,
who have lived consistent Christian lives and who, incidentally, have always spoken
out against self-righteousness. Those 8
are either pastors, leaders of para-church ministries, or political
activists. They are all educated, humble
men and effective communicators. All of
them have now endorsed Trump for president.
I suspect that out of the 1000 plus at the meeting, Trump garnered far
more than 8 supporters.
Just who, then, is being
self-righteous toward Mr. Trump? The
list is long. Many on this anti-Trump
list are actually my intellectual heroes, men and women who through their
writing and speaking have informed and challenged my thinking, but with whom I
must part company on their estimation of Mr. Trump.
One such intellectual is George Will. When the Marietta campus of Kennesaw State
University was still “Southern Tech,” Will came to speak at one of the
college’s outstanding symposiums.
Chatting with him briefly was quite stimulating. Quiet, wry, and almost non-communicative up
close, Will still evidenced smarts and character. He still does in speeches, columns, and
books, except when he is self-righteous.
A political conservative and a
religious agnostic, Will is one of Trump’s harshest critics. Although the blue collar billionaire
candidate is well educated, he appeals to working class folks a little too much
for the professorial Will. Perhaps the
most condescending of all of Trump’s critics, Will argues that Trump is ill-suited
for the presidency, intellectually and temperamentally. The famed columnist exudes self-righteousness
with every word he writes on Trump. To
Trump, Will in effect says, “Be as I am,” which is the essence of
self-righteousness.
I’ve examined several dictionaries
to find definitions of self-righteous.
The rendering of The New International Webster’s Standard is as good –
and terse – as any: “confident of one’s own moral superiority.” Will is certainly confident. So are several more of my intellectual
mentors such as the writers at National Review Magazine and the Wall Street
Journal. Their morally condescending tone would deeply offend the Christian
leaders I referred to above.
Second only to Will is the Wall
Street Journal’s Brett Stephens.
Intoning that Trump fails to arouse “the better angels of our nature,”
Stephens recently channeled the worst angels of his own nature by asserting, “Those
who believe Trump will transform into a statesman also kiss frogs,” a reference
of course to the storied frog that turned into a prince when kissed by a
princess.
Stephens, Will, and a long list of
Republicans who slunk out of sight during the GOP convention must not realize
that it was the frog kissers who brought Trump to where he is. Trump isn’t the cause. He is the effect. And when the self-righteous anti-Trumpsters
trash Trump, they are trashing millions of frog kissers.
All of Trump’s detractors should
return to Logic 101. Every effect has a
cause, and the cause is bigger than the effect.
If Trump is defeated, the cause will not die. Those who are fed up with regulations,
illegal immigration, a stagnant middle class, and a $20 trillion debt will
engage another leader. Think 1964 and
the passing of the mantle from Goldwater to Reagan.
Although I don’t know personally all
of the nationally known religious leaders who met with Trump, my local
spiritual heroes are opposed to self-righteousness just as surely. Whether or not they support Trump, area
Christian leaders like Ike Reighard, Perry Fowler, Terry Nelson, Mike Stephens,
Nelson Price, Scotty Davis, and Charles Sineath have had to live and minister
in a culture that often casts them as Elmer Gantry hucksters or as prideful men
who are “confident in their own moral superiority.” Yet these men and many
others like them are as far from self-righteousness as anyone could be. They are humble lovers of people.
As it turns out, it’s not Christian
leaders who are looking down on Mr. Trump.
It’s media stars, conservative
columnists, and establishment Republicans, they who have already attained moral
perfection.
Roger
Hines
8/3/16
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