*By Rebecca Nugent, CLW Contributing Writer
In the aftermath of an inauguration that many of us hoped and prayed would not come to pass, here we are. And we don’t just feel the weight of an administration that is opposed to so much of what we value in this great country of ours, but as the dust settles, we are beginning to see just how fractured the GOP has become.
Some would say it’s Trump’s fault. But when they say so, it has a negative connotation, as if he just swooped in, made a mess of things, and left. But I surmise that isn’t exactly what happened. In my opinion, humble or not humble as it is, I think that Trump served as a spotlight. He exposed who was who and what they stood for (or didn’t stand for.) As I was listening to an ailing and very seasoned Rush Limbaugh several days ago, he was explaining that the problem with conservatives is that they really don’t know who they are up against, and they really don’t understand the weaknesses of their own party. He assented to the rumor that Washington is just one, big, elite society that controls the direction of the government – red or blue – and that in order to even have any standing or lasting political career (or even live amongst everyone in DC), you had to “toe the line somewhere.” You had to make nice and make concessions where you didn’t want to.
I remember when my husband and I lived in the DC area almost eight years ago, and what an eye opening experience that was to even get close to the inner workings of DC politics. I recall Rick Santorum, the Republican Senator from my own home state of Pennsylvania, taking a defensive posture when asked why he voted in an uncharacteristic way on a certain issue. He said, “Well, now, you have to remember this is still politics. Sometimes, you have to ‘take one for the team.’ ” When Obamacare had just been surprisingly passed and voted on by none other than “we all thought he was a firm conservative” Chief Justice John Roberts, my husband and I went to a dinner party that night for his law firm – the very firm that Justice Roberts had worked for before entering the political sphere. Everyone referred to him as “John,” as if they saw him in the halls every day or just had lunch with him the day before. Most of them were liberals and flippantly remarked, “Oh, we’re so glad that got passed. We all knew John wouldn’t be foolish enough to legislate from the bench.” In other words, he “knew better.”
So, here we are looking around bleary eyed at the many levels of our Grand Old Party. Some have made their way more toward the center, waving their shibboleth of being a “Never Trumper.” Some see Trump as having “fractured the party” between thinkers and thinker-nots. Some voted for Trump – even twice – but really wished he would have given up the 3am tweeting. Some see him as accomplishing everything he set out to do, setting our country back on course after having endured Obama for eight years. And some, whose name I won’t mention (but begins with the letter Q) see Trump as an actual Messiah. And then you have dozens of variations in between.
The question is, who are we now? What do we espouse and what do we believe? How do we move forward?
Especially in the last year, there have been many voices telling us which way this whole thing was going to go. I think one of the most astute voices out there, especially in the last nine months has been Tucker Carlson, who has had a front row seat to the inner workings of Washington and the media for quiet some time now. I often listened to him as I went for my evening walks as he would report on the nationwide riots and our government’s – federal and state – response (or lack thereof) to them. I listened to him report and unpack the growth of the BLM movement, and how critical race theory was beginning to bleed into every sphere of infrastructure that held our country together. At one point, I remember him saying, “What I just heard and saw tonight has made me realize that this country has made a hard turn in another direction, and it’s quite possible we’re never coming back from it.” Admittedly, for a moment, I thought perhaps he was being a bit overdramatic. But now I see that he is one voice that has had his finger on the pulse of not just our government, but our culture.
There are many other voices, however, that have given hope to some. We have been told that the election would bring about an enormous reckoning, finally exposing the elites in DC for the wicked society that they have actually been all this time, and their efforts and scheming would finally crumble to the ground. It was suggested that many in DC (and in Hollywood) were all part of a sex trafficking ring that would ultimately show to be their demise, breaking the enormous power they have over our culture, once and for all. Some predicted (on God’s authority, Who apparently told them directly) with utmost certainty, that Trump would win the election and Biden would never become the President of the United States.
I don’t think some of what we have been told is totally untrue. But some of it has been proven to be so.
So, what does that say about us as Patriots? After a battle is lost, a wise thing to do is to reassess what went wrong, where our weaknesses could have been. As conservatives and those who have such love and affection for our country, our propensity is to hope. To believe. To know that good will conquer evil. And frankly, I think that is a key thing that separates us from The Left, whose philosophy rests on the foundation of nihilism. But in that hope, it is easy to believe things that we want to hear rather than what is true or even probable. As Christians, we are called to wisdom. The bible says that we first attain wisdom by the fear of the Lord. We want to be a people – and be known as a people – who value what is wise and what is true. That’s where our strength lies. It is my hope that as we wade through these next four years, that the desire for growth in wisdom and knowledge of the truth will increase. We know The Left does not have wisdom or truth. Empty platitudes and schemes can only last for awhile. But wisdom and truth are the foundations of a strong civiilation.
Proverbs 1:20 tells us that Wisdom cries out in the streets and lifts her voice in the public square. Get wisdom in these next four years as we rebuild in hope. All is not lost and God will still shed His grace where His people are.
