Bringing The Right Together Under Tested and Trusted Principles

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2019/01/11/bringing-the-right-together-under-tested-and-trusted-principles/

The recent nationwide electoral shellacking of the Republican Party at the hands of the Democrats reminded me of a key episode in Moshe Rebbeinu’s (the name means “Moses, Our Teacher”) early life. 

In the third reading of a recent Torah portion (Shemot (which means “Names”)), Moshe goes out to observe the Hebrew slaves at Pharoah’s behest as part of his duties as a palace chamberlain. Moses sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew slave and kills the Egyptian after seeing prophetically that no future Jewish proselyte would descend from the assailant. The next day, Moshe tries to settle a dispute between two Hebrew slaves fighting amongst themselves only for one of the slaves to sass him back.  Moshe realizes then that G-d allowed the Hebrews to suffer under the yoke of Egyptian slavery due to their divisiveness and their quarrelsome nature.

Fast forward about 36 centuries to modern-day America and we find the same divisive spirit existing today in the Republican Party in Massachusetts, and in the rest of the United States. The Democrats win elections and advance their ideas in the political arena because they share a vision of left-wing social engineering (particularly promoting homosexuality and abortion-on-demand) and increasing the size, scope, and cost of government. There may be the occasional intraparty argument as to how fast they want to increase the size, scope, and cost of government and who holds power in the caucus, but none of the Democrats seek to put an end to left-wing social engineering nor reduce the size, scope and cost of government, lest they face a hard-left primary challenger.

In contrast, the Republican Party and the center-right movement is racked with internal division despite their efforts to promote conformity in the name of “party unity.” The reason why there is division is that the grassroots base and the GOP Establishment want two different things. The grassroots base is largely conservative and wants to reduce the size, scope, and cost of government as well as stop the latest left-wing social engineering scheme cooked up by the left.  However, the party is governed primarily by an Establishment that for whatever reason does not share the grassroots voters’ values and feels it is their duty to push their preferred candidates down the gullets of the base.

In Massachusetts, I have noticed division between those in the center-right activist community who hold themselves out to be conservatives.  I have also noticed interest in healing it. I attended an invitation-only meeting in November of some of the most influential conservative activists in Massachusetts. One of the key themes of the meeting was reuniting the right, as there is a lot of bad blood among those who are conservative activists.  Many people on our side just do not like each other, and I would like to change that.

Despite suffering slings and arrows launched in my direction by many self-proclaimed conservatives, I am inclined to take the high road to try to change that, especially if I can persuade people to adopt my Biblical-worldview in the exegetical sphere and my Constitutionalist conservative worldview in the civic arena.  I even helped create a new web site that tracks and scores where candidates stand on core value issues to help ensure that moral value conservatives and secular constitutionalists are not hoodwinked, bamboozled, run amok, and led astray by the political class regarding where candidates stand on the issues.

My mentor and former Newton mayoral candidate Bill Heck had two simple rules for running a business:  Figure out where you are going and why; and figure out how to get there in a world of limited resources.  I think anyone who is involved in the center-right activist community needs to take those two simple rules to heart.  This way we can serve as the adults in the room who take charge of our movement and guide it to its highest potential destiny (of electoral wins and G-d-fearing constitutionally conservative policy achievements that increase freedom and roll back the soft-tyranny of unchecked governmental growth).  If Ronald Reagan could win Massachusetts twice, surely there is hope to break the hard-left’s stranglehold over Massachusetts’s political establishment and the soft-left’s stranglehold over the MassGOP.

The way to unite conservatives is under Amos 3:3 (“Will two walk together, except if they have agreed to do so?”). We need to agree on what our values are and we need to figure out how to advance those values in the cultural and political spheres. Are we going to agree to cling to the tested and trusted Biblical worldview or do we agree to be secular citizens of the world who embrace paganism?  Are we going to agree to the tested and trusted Constitutionalist conservative standard for the civic arena based on life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, natural rights, and limiting the size scope and cost of government, or do we allow for unchecked governmental power when those in office carry the Magic R after their name?

 

Joshua Norman is an Auburndale resident serving as the Ward 4 chairman of the Newton City Republican Committee.