Idol worship

“You can win an election on screaming and anger but you cannot hold and govern for a significant period of time on screaming and anger.” This is what Senator Bob Bennett said after he was defeated in the Utah Republican primary by a candidate heavily backed by the tea party. It got me to thinking about what is really involved when we speak of governing.

Governance requires more than just brow beating your opponents or giving passionate speeches. It requires skill, reasoning, and compromise (aka “working with enemy” in tea party lingo.) A key component of true governance is not raising men to the status of idols. When this happens we turn our logic and reasoning over to the sentiments and passions of our hearts. Such an action can be detrimental to a society. In the past, liberals have done it with Woodrow Wilson and John F. Kennedy. They currently do it with President Barack Obama. All three of these men made the public believe in the power of the executive. Wilson vowed to reshape the world; Kennedy vowed to find a way to eliminate the business cycle and thus prevent recessions from ever happening. Such boasting is not unique to the 20^th and 21^st century. During the American Revolution, political leaders time and time again referred to the strengths of men to dramatically change the world. Patrick Henry famously said “we have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Such statements tug at the heart don’t they? They sound brave, powerful, and inspiring. And no doubt they are. But brave, powerful, inspiring words can also be misguided and dangerous. Substitute Patrick Henry for Adolf Hitler and the quote sounds a lot different doesn’t it? Yet the logic is the same. There are those who believe in the power of men to achieve perfection in this world. They may be liberal or conservative; republican or democrat; but in either case they are wrong. Conservatives fall into the trap too. Every time I hear someone say, “I’m a Reagan conservative” I just shake my head. It is here that we fall into the trap of liberals in the past. We substitute debate for name worship. We disagree with each other by latching onto an image instead of an idea.

Throughout history we have continued to give more and more power to the executive. We even rank how successful a President is by “what they have done.” Just look at the list of top ranked Presidents and you’ll find that almost all of them increased the size and role of the government. We need to get rid of this fascination with the executive. If we don’t the role of government will never change…and that’s something we literally can’t afford.