Newt Gingrich greens hisself up, and the left has a free-range cow. Gingrich might well be wrong about this or that -- Newt has been known to have a kooky idea or ten in his day -- but for goodness sake, why can't the enviro-left understand that they're winning?! Capitalize on it, guys! When a Republican ideas leader like Gingrich starts talking like this, it's a sign that environmentalist forces are gaining control of the debate. Surely Andrew Sullivan is right when he says:
It seems to me that if environmentalists actually care about the planet, they should be engaging in dialogue with those who want to do the same thing, even if they differ on policy.
You get the feeling that many, maybe most, of them would rather their opponents lose than that they win. Surely they should learn from the practical political wisdom of, yes, Ayn Rand. From a recent article in Reason:
Rand and a fair number of her closest followers were notorious for casting into outer darkness anyone who might agree with everything she advocated, but not for their reasons, properly deduced from the facts of reality. This perceived dogmatism helped make her seem a silly character to many, liberal or conservative. And yet, when it came to Goldwater, Rand wrote something wise that conservatives should contemplate, and return the favor: "If he advocates the right political principles for the wrong metaphysical reasons, the contradiction is his problem, not ours."In other words, when it comes to politics, politics is more important than metaphysics.
So what is it with mainstream environmentalists? Is theirs a political cause, or a religion? If the latter, fine, excommunicate everyone who doesn't agree with you lockstep. But if it's politics...
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Environmentalists are bad guys too. How many Californians are slaughtering and maiming deers and many other wildlfie on the highways and neighborhood streets now? Hunters during hunting season, don't kill as many deers as just a stretch of highway in hundreds and hundreds of California towns. And also, MANY PEOPLE are killed by hitting animals on the highway. We are paying three-dollars PLUS for gas because environmentalists will not allow refineries to be built. This blog topic proves two things, "The Right" is far more open-minded than "The Left" and that "The Left" is a totalitarian enterprise that has no desire for prisoners to be included in their ranks. Oops . . ., three things . . . environmentailsm is a religion called Gaia worship.
Rod, many of us on the "environmental left" distrust Newt because of his past. He has shown himself quite willing to say whatever it takes to get elected. This last minute conversion to a green position needs to have some works behind it before it can be accepted as real.
After all, it was James who said that our works should reflect our faith, was it not? Let Newt do some work to reflect the truth of what he says. Then he deserves to be trusted as sincere. Until then, it's just words Rod...just words.
After all, you probably would not trust Hillary if she suddenly started talking like a religious conservative, would you?
watsy-
Hillary, a betrayed wife who stayed in the marriage to work it out, could't talk about the importance of fidelity? I'd think she would be one of the best people to talk about the pain it caused. She wasn't the wanderer. She stayed while "social conservatives" were shrill about how awwwwwful she was for not leaving him.
Newt, on the other hand, has so little credibility on so many fronts (including his own commitment to "family values") that it is little wonder that folks in the know would be dubious.
The last thing you want to do is bring the Apostles into a debate about Liberal and Progressive ideology. The Apostles wrote papers opposing these people before the neologims describing their 21st century incarnations were invented. And, for those that think riches are the way to happiness:
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Elizabeth,
You are right. I thought about that after I posted it. The example would have worked better if I'd said that hubby Bill was publishing the book.
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