Scott Tibbs
Disowning family over politics
By Scott Tibbs, November 10, 2023
I missed this the
first time it went around, but Adam Kinzinger talked on the
Bulwark's Halloween podcast about how he had been disowned by his family via certified letter, because of his opposition to Donald Trump and also because he lost the trust of "great men" like Sean Hannity.
Oh no! The MAGA Cult is horrible, and has twisted so many people's minds! The marks of a cult are punishing people who leave and turning members against their own family!
Let's chill out for a minute.
Yes, there are people who have an unhinged devotion to Trump, and see him the way the followers of a cult leader see him. I have railed against this open idolatry in the past and called on idolaters to repent. I stand by that and I am proud of it. But I stopped listening to the
Bulwark podcast after four minutes because of the myopia of both speakers. This is not a Republican, conservative or "MAGA" problem. There have been plenty of people who have disowned family over politics on both sides. Some
deranged Leftists cannot even be bothered to thank people who clear their driveway if the kind neighbor has the wrong politics.
We have too many people who treat politics as a religion. Ideally, politics should be downstream of culture, and culture should be heavily influenced by the Church. If there is religious devotion in politics, the politics should be the outgrowth of religious faith, not replacing or taking a more important place than that faith. Some of this is driven by fear caused by catastrophizing the opposition and what the "bad guys" will do to you.
There are two cures for this: One secular and one spiritual. The secular cure is federalism. Every national election would not be seen as a "must win" if we had the proper balance between state and federal authority that the founders intended. The continental United States has a land mass of 3 million square miles, which is one and a half times the Roman Empire at its height. It is inefficient to have such an enormous land mass with different cultures and needs governed from one city on the East Coast. Having each state be mostly sovereign over its own affairs makes each national election mean much less.
But while that has its advantages, the major problem is spiritual, placing faith and trust in political leaders instead of God. It is especially illogical for Christians to be governed by fear, given that we serve a sovereign and omnipotent God Who is in control of everything and knows the end of time from the beginning and every detail in between. We can - and often should - advocate, lobby and campaign according to our beliefs. God does work through His servants. But we must remember that God is sovereign and puts the leaders in place that He wills. Trust Him, not political parties and political leaders.
Opinion Archives
E-mail Scott
Scott's Links
About the Author
ConservaTibbs.com