Social Conservatives Are “Mad as Hell”

by Paul Edwards - December 25th, 2007 - Townhall.com

Huckabee is not the fiscal conservative the Republican establishment would like. Horror of horrors, he has actually advocated using tax dollars to help the poor. Huckabee, it seems, actually applied what the Gospels say about our responsibility to the poor and suffering to tax policy in Arkansas. On issues like HIV/AIDS, the plight of the inner city poor, and education, Huckabee’s positions are admittedly more center left than center right. And while he believes in securing the border, Huckabee reminds us that there is lady standing in New York Harbor with a torch raised high beckoning ”your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” to come here, to the land of the free. Can we fault them when they actually do?

The Republican establishment has looked down its nose at social conservatives far too long, tolerating us because they need our votes. But now the tables are turned. The grass roots are looking up at the establishment with the will of a Lech Walesa, demanding that fiscal issues take a back seat to moral issues for a change. It’s long past time for the moral and social issues of our times to be given more than just lip service. It’s now time for our fiscal policies to be informed by our social policies rather than sacrificing our morality to our economic standing in the world.

Government goons are going to enforce moral policy? I have never looked down my nose at social conservatives as this writer claims and yet when I wrote him a private email to disagree with his socialist agenda, he would not discuss it without first insisting I acknowledge believing things I do not believe. I used to think I was a social conservative, mostly. But this writer is now claiming Social Conservatives are nothing but socialists. Where in the bible did Jesus Christ say it was okay to tax your neighbor to force them to do good works for the poor? When did the power of the state, armed goons, become the collection element in our tithing? What part of God granting "free will" does this writer not understand? His agenda is not Christian or even moral.

Socialism and government forced welfare are evil. If Social Conservatives have become socialists it is time to run them out of the party. The Republican Party, and the governing coalition it represents, is not and will not, become the party of socialism. If this writer, Paul Edwards, honestly thinks that it is okay to tax people to provide charity, might I agree he is "Mad as Hell". "Mad" as in one meaning of the word, insane. The Republican Party will never accept socialism as a part of our philosophy. If his views are really where these so-called Christians are going, they have not just proven themselves to be intolerant, the standard criticism of social conservatives. They have proven they have left both the church and conservative philosophy. I also feel they are making a mockery of what the bible says. This man is a pastor? Has he not participated in any of the many dialogs about the incompability of socialism and Christianity?

If this is the new agenda of the social conservatives, I would resign as a social conservative and suggest that we not just let them leave, but actively run them out of the party. Political power is not a goal in its own right. Embracing the evil of socialism is not what the Republican Party is about. I just added Huckabee to my list of candidates I will not support. And I added this writer to my list of socialist writers. I will not be reading him for advice but solely to argue against him. If social conservatives require we become socialists to retain their votes, I personally would rather lose elections.

However I don't think that is necessary because I don't think that is what most social conservatives really want. Conservatism, even social conservatism, starts with freedom, not tyranny. This writer is off the reservation.