Con Wonking

I sparred all weekend with Wade, the squirrel-haired dealer in anime inaction figures, mostly ones featuring pronounced hemispheres in their sculpting. He sells posters, the little cell-phone charms designed to fall off and make one cry at the loss, and body pillows (the oversized pillows you lie alongside in bed, imprinted with anime babes posed languorously thereon. When you see a guy with one or two of those newly-purchased, he may as well be wearing a sandwich-board: "I will never, ever get a date.".) To be fair, they also have guys printed on some of them. I don't look at those.

Wade is a talk-show Conservative. He makes me look like Alan Colmes.

Selah.

I finally learned that there is conservatism, and then there are Conservatives. The two are not necessarily congruent. Then there is the Constitutional, which is often incongruent with the other two.( I am amusing myself thinking of an SNL sketch starring Christopher Walken "The Constitutional". Just not on a body pillow.)

Conservatives, the crowd championed by the likes of Limbaugh and the Hannitoad, have as doctrine that the YouEssofAY is the policeman of the world, that we must have tight drug laws, so that apparently it is illegal to feel good beyond what well-taxed libations can supply, and the Constitution is trumped by The Way We have Been Doing It. I suspect that this is not really what Buckley and Goldwater had in mind at all.

"We must conserve the way we've been doing it all along!" Because we are The Right! I find far less of a Constitutional bent in Radio Conservatism than I do in the tinfoil hat brigade with the likes of Alex Jones. Even FOX News, the alleged Right-wing mouthpiece, can barely acknowledge the mere existence of a Constitutionalist like Ron Paul, at least without rolling their eyes like a twelve-year-old given a curfew.

Wade likes Paul's fiscal policy, but "his foreign policy scares me" sez himself. We must be The World Police. Sometimes Limbaugh surrogate Roger Hedgecock was dismissing Paul in doctrinaire fashion, horrified that if there was a war in Rwanda (What? Really?) Ron Paul would not immediately dispatch our olive drab pizza delivery and security detail to the fray.

Entangling alliances? I realise that "entangling" has four syllables, but the Jefferson's inaugural intent should not be that hard to divine. Oh, wait.

Washington's thoughts (and they are more commercial than military) are reasoned and clear:

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.  

If the Alex Jones brigade have connected the dots properly, "Fast and Furious" has revealed the most egregious betrayal of the Founders' intentions by linking gun-running (our people actually making deliveries!),  cocaine importation, and our Government. Iran-Contra 2.0!

Ron Paul may be the most dangerous man in politics, but if The Powers That Be have their ineffable way, he will become the most invisible.

Herman Cain is the one that makes me nervous. The single Liberal bone in my body thrills at the thought of being able to vote for a black man (that he is ostensibly conservative apparently matters little to the Liberal bone. It is, after all, quite small. I think it resides in my ear, that or my left wrist.) His Fed connections worry me. His assertion that internal vulpine Fed audits are sufficient to secure the Federal Reserve henhouse appalls me. His 9-9-9 plan annoys me (though I quite liked the movies). He used to be a FairTAX man. Now he's a pragmatist with a trademark.

Not happy with the Cain.
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Whilst away at TsubasaCon in Huntington WV (an amazingly well-run anime convention!) politics marched on, and the Babelisation of the Repuglican hopefuls continued apace. A Texas Baptist preacher with a 10, 000-member flock introduced Rick Perry as a Christian, as opposed to Romney who is a cultist. "

“Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person — or one who is a born-again follower of the lord Jesus Christ?”

We are not amused. I am no Romneyite. Captain Underoos (c) Vox Day holds no charms for me, but neither do the piaculative pretentions of professional politicians. My thoughts on pols who run "as Christians" are to be found elsewhere on the blog; suffice to say that EVERY time I have drunk the grape juice offered by candidates touting their faith - or allowing it to be touted by others - I have been bitten well and hard on the keister, from Jimmuh Cahter on.

I would vote for a cannibalistic Cargo Cultist IF he swore or affirmed to adhere to the Constitution, and did it.

The perception of point-of-view offers a new dimension in understanding behavior.

Could that sound any more boring?

A Certain anime voice actor, Vic Mignogna - who is also a music minister at his church - catches a great deal of grief on the more Belial-oriented web forums. He is openly Christian, and offers a "chapel service" on Sunday mornings at anime conventions, a voluntary get-together for believers who wish a church service away from home. A sweet young miss of my acquaintance took umbrage upon hearing that he had said at one such meeting that someone might go to hell., Now, I know this artist, and have been to a couple of the meetings, and have never heard a tart utterance in his presentations, himself making a case for reconciliation with God through Christ. Now, if I go to a happenin' dance club, I do not get offended by the techno beat, because I expect it in that context. If you go to an as-advertised Christian meeting, you should not be surprised or offended by hearing Christian ideas.

Now, if I am a marathon runner, and upon approaching a treacherous mountain path, a man with a light baton starts waving wildly and shouting that if I continue on that path, I will fall to my doom because the bridge is out, I can either 1) be thankful that he cared enough for me to warn of the impending peril, or 2) I can get angry that he interrupted what I was doing, and tried to force his wacky ideas on me. Number one is my only reasonable response.

In Christian teaching, we have the concept of a loving Father God, who sent his very Son to be born a human, who taught us how to live lovingly, and was killed for his trouble. His death atoned for, paid the blood-price for our sins, and through faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to God, and to one another. But God is a gentleman, and does not force himself upon anyone. If we do not wish His company, we may go elsewhere. That is hell. It is the ultimate in Choice. So, if a Christian perceives that you may not have chosen company with God, and recognises the alternative, he is caring for you, showing you love by warning you of the consequences of your choice. That is his point-of-view, that is his motivation. Eternity in God's company, or a gnawing eternity of regret. One should always make informed choices.

I do not discount that there are hateful people (*cough*Westboro) who buttress their own insecurities and self-righteousness by verbally consigning people whose actions they do not like to Eternal Grilling. Their motivation and message are both horribly flawed. It is not their job to punch anyone's ticket. Judgment is above their pay grade. But the committed Christian believer is commanded to point the way to the Father, and to warn of the alternative. Each is a side of the same doctrinal coin. Whether YOU agree or not, please recognise that the major motivations are care and loving concern for you.