By: Dale Weckbacher
James 1:8
8 he is a
double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
NKJV
The Greek word translated double-minded in James 1:8 is
dipsychos. It means one that wavers, is
uncertain, doubting, or divided in interest.
(1) Interestingly the context of this passage of
scripture is profiting from trials. The
previous verses tell us to count it joy when we fall into various trials for
these trials test our faith and produce patience (James 1:2-3). The passage goes on to speak of how letting
patience have its perfect work makes us perfect and complete, lacking nothing
(James 1:4). It then goes on tell us
that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God who gives to all liberally and
without reproach and this wisdom will be given to us. However, we must ask in faith not doubting or
being double-minded (James 1:4-8).
Strong leaders are men and women of faith who ask God for
wisdom and do not doubt. They are not
double-minded people full of doubts or uncertainties but instead are people of
purpose and that purpose is a dedication to serving the people they lead. As we begin our look at moderates who may
seek the Presidency in 2016, we must ask ourselves if being moderate means one
is double-minded.
Chris Christie was born in New Jersey in 1962 and is
currently the governor of New Jersey. He
is best known for his combative style of leadership as governor of New Jersey
and has a long-running battle with teachers unions who have mobilized strong
opposition to his policies. He earned a
degree in political science from the University of Delaware and then went on to
study law at Seton Hall University. He
was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1987.
(2)
He entered politics as a relative brash freeholder in Morris
County. His political philosophy is
moderate and he regularly supports pro-choice positions. His first run for political office came in
1995 when he ran for State Assembly.
However, he had not yet built up support with the Republican Party
apparatus and was defeated. Stung by his
defeat, he did not run for elected office again until 2009 when he won election
to the Governorship of New Jersey. (2)
When I initially heard of Chris Christies’ election as a
Republican in the dark blue state of New Jersey, I was impressed. However, I soon, like others, found out that
he was able to win election by wooing Democrats into voting for him through
moderating the traditional conservative values of the Republican Party. This has led many political consultants to
believe that for a Republican to win election to office, he or she must
moderate the traditional conservative values of the GOP and woo independents
and moderate democrats. However, this
theory assumes that the entire nation is dark blue just like New Jersey, which
is an incorrect assumption according to polling data. (3) The losses of the recent moderate Republican
candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney serve as proof that this strategy does
not apply on a national level.
So how does Chris Christie rate as a leader using our matrix
of vision, courage, integrity, and a servant’s heart?
1)
Vision – Christie won election to Governor
promising to restore fiscal integrity to state government and the improving of
public education. He worked towards
achievement of that vision by achieving passage of a 2 percent cap on property taxes;
public employee pension and health benefit reforms, saving taxpayers over $130 billion
and the passage of $2.35 billion in job-creating tax cuts. His vision of improving schools consisted in
setting historic highs for school funding.
(4) His national vision is much the same and
believes Washington needs leadership that is not afraid to make the tough
decisions and the need to restore fiscal sanity in Washington DC. (5) Even though I share Governor Christie’s
vision for our nation, I have doubts about whether a strategy of moderation is
the best way to win election and implement this vision in a Washington where
liberals view any moderation by Republicans as a weakness and will use it as a
method of incrementally accomplishing their liberal statist agenda.
2)
Courage – Governor Christie demonstrated courage
when he stood up to teachers unions in his state. Like any Republican holding office, he has
had to endure attacks from unions and other liberal organizations. Most recently, and coincidentally when it
began to appear he might run for President, he has had to endure the bridgegate
scandal. In case you are unfamiliar with
the details of this scandal, the scandal revolves around Christie aides and
appointees shutting down two access lanes onto the George Washington Bridge in
Fort Lee, New Jersey as political pay back against the town’s Democratic mayor
who refused to endorse Governor Christie’s reelection bid. (6) Wow a
Democrat mayor refusing to endorse a Republican candidate for Governor, hardly
something that is unbelievable in our extremely divided political climate
today. However, Governor Christie did
demonstrate courage in his not attempting to cover up the scandal when it came
to national attention and instead fired the aides and appointees involved and
stated publicly that he would resign if found guilty of any wrongdoing. (7) This scandal also demonstrates the
willingness of the liberal controlled media to attack and bring down any
opposition, whether moderate or conservative, to their liberal statist agenda
for our nation. Governor Christie has
demonstrated courage in standing up to these attacks.
3)
Integrity – As of yet, there has been no proof of
lack of integrity in the bridgegate scandal and in fact, governor Christie was
cleared of any wrong doing in a recent report.
(8) Granted this report came from the Governor’s
office and may be biased but with all the other investigations of this scandal
coming up empty of any proof of wrongdoing by the Governor plus the Governor’s
willingness to subject himself to investigation and not trying to cover up the
scandal leads me to believe he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
4)
Servants Heart – Hurricane Sandy is no doubt the
greatest disaster faced by Governor Christie in his tenure as Governor of New
Jersey leaving many homeless having lost everything. In an effort to assist these people, Governor
Christie launched a charity with his wife to assist those devastated by Sandy. In the first 24 days of its launch, the
charity raised $18.2 million from more than 9000 people and corporations. (9) Of course, the liberal media cannot even give
the governor credit for his charitable efforts and claims the charity is not
distributing money fast enough. (10) Of course, the media ignores the slowness of
Federal aid for victims and the possibility that these victims may someday be
asked to repay the money given to them just as some Hurricane Katrina victims
were asked to do. (11)
Governor Christie is a visionary, courageous, and man of
integrity. He also demonstrated his
willingness to serve the people he leads by not waiting for government aid for
his people during Hurricane Sandy, aid that the government may ask people to
repay when the next disaster strikes, but instead formed his own charity. I must give him an A in my matrix assessment
but, as I have stated in the other assessments, this does not mean he is the
most qualified candidate to be our next President.
Governor Christie did win election to governor as a
Republican in the deep blue state of New Jersey, which is no small feat. However, Chris Christie accomplished this by
moderating on traditional conservative issues in order to woo independents and
moderate Democrats in mostly liberal New Jersey. However, I do not believe this strategy is a
winning strategy nationally as demonstrated in the past two Presidential
elections.
The winning strategy for the Republican Party in 2016 is to
adopt the strategy implemented by Ronald Reagan. This strategy involves standing in direct
opposition to the liberal statist agenda of the left or as Ronald Reagan put it
in his speech to CPAC in 1975, “Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new
and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold
colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues
troubling the people”. (12) This is where a Chris Christie presidency
would fail to win election. Granted his
willingness to compromise may woo some independents and moderates, but these
gains will evaporate as greater numbers of conservatives go out the back door
and either do not show up to vote, or vote third party.
Next Saturday we will look at the leadership qualities of
Jeb bush.
1. Stydtlight.org. Strongs Interlinear Bible
Search James 1:8. www.studylight.org. [Online] Studylight.org. [Cited:
May 9, 2014.]
http://www.studylight.org/desk/interlinear.cgi?search_form_type=interlinear&q1=James+1%3A8&ot=bhs&nt=byz&s=0&t3=str_kjv&ns=0.
2. Biography.com.
Chris Christie Biography. www.biography.com. [Online] Biography.com.
[Cited: May 9, 2014.]
http://www.biography.com/people/chris-christie-20648789#awesm=~oDPe08hojcSFMc.
3. Saad, Lydia.
Conservatives Remain the Largest Ideological Group in U.S. www.gallup.com. [Online]
Gallup Politics, January 12, 2012. [Cited: May 9, 2014.]
http://www.gallup.com/poll/152021/conservatives-remain-largest-ideological-group.aspx.
4. State of New
Jersey. Governor Christie. www.state.nj.us. [Online] State of New
Jersey. [Cited: May 9, 2014.] http://www.state.nj.us/governor/admin/about/.
5. Cillizza, Chris.
Chris Christie lays out a national vision. voices.washingtonpost.com. [Online]
The Washington Post, February 16, 2011. [Cited: May 9, 2014.] http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/governors/chris-christie-lays-out-a-nati.html.
6. Levy, Pema.
Making Sense of Bridgegate. www.newsweek.com. [Online] Newsweek, January
13, 2014. [Cited: May 10, 2014.]
http://www.newsweek.com/making-sense-bridgegate-225853.
7. Walshe,
Shushannah. Chris Christie Says He ‘Unequivocally’ Had No Knowledge of Lane
Closure. abcnews.go.com. [Online] ABC News, February 3, 2014. [Cited:
May 10, 2014.]
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/chris-christie-says-he-unequivocally-had-no-knowledge-of-lane-closure/.
8. McCalmont, Lucy.
Report: Chris Christie’s Bridgegate probe clears gov. www.politico.com. [Online]
Politico, March 24, 2014. [Cited: May 10, 2014.]
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/chris-christie-bridgegate-probe-report-104941.html.
9. CBS News.
Christie’s Sandy Relief Charity Raises $18.2 Million In First 24 Days. newyork.cbslocal.com.
[Online] CBS News, November 27, 2012. [Cited: May 10, 2014.]
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/11/27/christies-sandy-relief-charity-raises-18-2-million-in-first-24-days/.
10. Travis, Shannon.
Christie defends wife against Sandy relief criticism. politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com.
[Online] CNN, March 12, 2013. [Cited: May 10, 2014.]
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/12/christie-defends-wife-against-sandy-relief-criticism/.
11. Cripples, Sandy.
From Katrina To Sandy, FEMA Rumors and Failures Keep Swirling. www.thedailybeast.com.
[Online] The Daily Beast, November 9, 2012. [Cited: May 10, 2014.]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/09/from-katrina-to-sandy-fema-rumors-and-failures-keep-swirling.html.
12. Arn, Ulysses.
No Pale Pastels: A Lesson From Ronald Reagan Lost On The IL GOP. www.redstate.com.
[Online] Red State, February 9, 2012. [Cited: May 10, 2014.]
http://www.redstate.com/diary/ulyssesarn/2012/12/09/no-pale-pastels-a-lesson-from-ronald-reagan-lost-on-the-il-gop/.
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