Not a Purest, I Am a Man of Faith

By:  Dale Weckbacher   

Matthew 17:20

So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

NKJV

In the heated GOP nomination battle for President of the United States, the word purest has been mentioned.  The term refers to members and candidates in the party considered pure idealists.  On the other side of the party, we have pragmatists who weigh candidates against a perceived electability standard.  (1)  These pragmatists, many of whom are in the GOP leadership and work as consultants, parade their favorite candidate, a candidate many purists in the party have major disagreements with, telling voters this is the only candidate that can win.

In the last two elections, many of the so-called purists, including myself, voted for the GOP pragmatic nominee.  However, both Senator McCain and Governor Romney lost, thus disproving the claims that these candidates were the only ones capable of winning.  Many believe part of the reason for these losses is that even though many of the so-called purists held their electoral noses and voted for McCain and Romney, many stayed home.  (2)

However, once again the GOP leadership seems to be ignoring the electoral facts and once again, they are parading candidates like Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, or John Kasich claiming they are the only candidates capable of beating presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.  However, this election cycle has a twist that was missing in the last two presidential elections, Donald Trump.

Trump seems to be defying traditional political logic.  (3)  As such, the traditional logic of political consultants that a candidate for president supported by the so-called purists of the GOP cannot win may be changing.  However, the true purists in this election cycle may actually be the pragmatists who continue to cling to their belief that a candidate appealing to the purists of the party absolutely cannot win.  This leads us to ask why these pragmatists continue to ignore the fact that their strategy has lost three of the last five presidential elections and four of the last five popular votes. 

I believe we must go back to the election of 1964 when the GOP nominated a conservative, Barry Goldwater.  They look at the drubbing he received in this election only winning 52 electoral votes and 38.47% of the popular vote.  (4)  Since this election, GOP consultants believe that a conservative candidate scares off independents, leading to a sure electoral defeat. 

However, this logic totally ignores the two electoral landslides of conservative candidate Ronald Reagan.  Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter winning 489 electoral votes to Carter’s 49 and winning 50.75 percent of the popular vote.  (5)   In 1984, Ronald Reagan won by an even larger margin winning 525 electoral votes to only 13 by Mondale and taking 58.77 percent of the popular vote.  (6)

Since these two historic landslides, we have witnessed only three GOP electoral victories, four GOP defeats, and only two GOP popular vote electoral victories with five GOP popular vote defeats.  Perhaps instead of going back to the GOP defeat of 1964 as evidence a conservative cannot win, GOP consultants should go back to 1980 and 1984 to see what a decisive victory, a victory by a conservative, looks like. 

I am an evangelical Christian conservative.  However, I do not consider myself a purist for that would be claiming to be pure and perfect, something I am not (Romans3:23).  I am, however, a man of faith that believes Jesus is the only way to salvation (John 14:6), and one that believes in the inerrancy of the Bible, the Word of God. 

Therefore, when deciding on which candidate to vote for, I weigh the candidate’s values against the standard of the Word of God.  This does not mean, however, that I refuse to vote for a candidate that does not share my Christian beliefs, only a candidate that does not support programs violating my Christian beliefs, and a candidate vowing to protect my first amendment protection to freely practice my faith. 

I therefore urge the GOP establishment and consultants not to ignore persons of faith with a devout faith in the Bible but instead to support candidates that support the biblical standard of marriage, life, and truth.  Persons of faith like myself belief marriage is between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5).  We believe God is concerned with every individual, including those still in the womb (Psalm 22:10).  We believe in the standard of truth Jesus came to bear witness of (John 18:27) and as such want candidates that will do what they promised to do and not candidates that will say one thing to get our votes and another when in office. 

Even though the number of those professing Christianity is declining in the United States, a recent Pew Poll discovered that there are still 70.6 percent professing Christianity.  (7)  This represents a massive majority, a majority I urge the GOP establishment not to ignore.  I also urge the GOP establishment to heed to words of Jesus in Matthew 17:20 for even though the faith of people of faith may be as small as a mustard seed, it is a mountain moving faith. 

1. Benen, Steve. Purists vs. Pragmatists. www.washingtonmonthly.com. [Online] Washington Monthly, June 30, 2011. [Cited: October 30, 2015.] www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/purists_vs_pragmatists030607.php.

2. Griffin. What went wrong in 2012? The case of the 4 million missing voters. www.redstate.com. [Online] Red State, November 14, 2012. [Cited: July 12, 2015.] http://www.redstate.com/diary/griffinelection/2012/11/14/what-went-wrong-in-2012-the-case-of-the-4-million-missing-voters/.

3. Gorenstein, Colin. Anderson Cooper is Dumbfounded by The Donald: "Trump defies all laws of political gravity". www.salon.com. [Online] Salon, August 12, 2015. [Cited: October 30, 2015.] www.salon.com/2015/08/12/anderson_cooper_is_dumbfounded_by_the_donald_trump_defies_all_laws_of_political_gravity/.

4. USelectionatlas.org. 1964 Presidential General Election Results. www.uselectionatlas.org. [Online] uselectionatlas.org. [Cited: october 30, 2015.] uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1964.

5. uselectionatlas.org. 1980 Presidential General Election Results. www.uselectionatlas.org. [Online] uselectionatlas.org. [Cited: October 30, 2015.] uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1980.

6. —. 1984 Presidential General Election Results. www.uselectionatlas.org. [Online] uselectionatlas.org. [Cited: October 30, 2015.] uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1984.

7. Pew Research Center. America’s Changing Religious Landscape. www.pewforum.org. [Online] Pew Research Center, May 12, 2015. [Cited: May 17, 2015.] http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/.