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Mark Shiffman, one of our friendliest rivals or least rivalrous friends at Front Porch Republic has posted some important reflections on Christian personhood and limited government.  Here’s a major take-away:

Over the course of the history of “Christendom” the consensus of limited government has been developed and maintained by the fact that the communion of personhood which constitutes the human transcendence of the state’s purview is sustained and publicly acknowledged in practices belonging to “civil society” (i.e. non-state practices and institutions).  That consensus is now disappearing, because the practices that cultivate and sustain our experiential awareness of our transcendent personhood are ceasing to shape our souls.

This is very well said in my view, and for that matter, just plain true.   The trick embedded in this formulation is a fragile dialectic between transcendence and immanence, religion and politics.  Liberty depends upon “personhood” understood as grounded in a personal God who absolutely transcends the political realm (and its “civil religion”); but at this same time this ground must be “public acknowledged” — it must be anchored in beliefs and practices that are shared by and authoritative for an actual community.  ”Civil Society” is the apparently simple name that we use for this fragile dialectic which holds together the beyond and the concretely authoritative.

And that belief,

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From Bearing Arms, this story of how Govt uses its Power to Crush on a person that simply knew the Law – and they didn’t:

Bullies have certain personality traits. Most are very insecure. They like to prey upon those that they feel are weaker than they are. They have long memories and thin skins, and look for an opportunity to seek revenge for perceived wrongs. So doesn’t the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection—the agency behind the Connecticut State Police—sound like nothing more than bullies in this instance? (reformatted, emphasis mine)

The commissioner of the state’s public safety department has filed suit against the state Board of Firearms Permit Examiners and a Derby man, appealing the return of the man’s pistol permit in what a state prosecutor had called “a nothing case.” Scott Lazurek, 36, of 21 Burtville Ave., was a security guard who had had his permit revoked by West Haven police in June 2013. Police had stopped him and a friend on the city boardwalk as they carried their loaded pistols in the open.

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Trust.  Small word but with large implications and I’ve been writing about and around it for a few months now as it does matter.  Maybe not to our elected leaders much any more, or the Political Class of staffers, talking head pundits, and political operatives that make their livings all within the bubble of politics, but to us in the grassroots, it does.  Lots.

And one small facet of the increasing lack of Trust is in the way that NH GOP Delegates are being treated as shown by the unwillingness of the NH GOP to update the NH GOP Platform based on the votes of the duly elected grassroots Delegates at the last meeting. 17 days and still no update – and my polite (and yes, I can be polite at times) phone calls have gotten the “he’ll call you back shortly”.  MMmm-mmmmm-mmmm.  Now, others are starting to question: Do we even matter? Or any we only supposed to do what we are told?

Another Delegate has told me that trying to reach NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn on Facebook as been a complete waste of time.  So, he sent an email off and is so disappointed in the official response (if it comes from an NH GOP Area Chair, I guess that would be an official word):

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Subtitle choices:

Some Work – Oh gosh, it is just SO hard to update about 50 or so words – stop fidgeting, children!

Preoccupied – The gang that can’t chew gum and type straight?

Understandable – Don’t you understand that YOUR changes will hurt OUR candidates so we aren’t gonna put it up before the election?

Go WORK – Only winning counts; the Platform means nothing

Well, it seems that I’m not the only one that has been watching the NH GOP hostage taking of the updated NH GOP Platform; I was forwarded an email from another elected NH GOP Delegate that is having a beef over having to say “Where’s the beef?!” that is inquiring why a duly authorized update is being held back.  He did get a response from his NH GOP Area Vice Chair, Mark Vincent.  I duly note the weasel words – the inability or desire to tell the plain truth to a simple question:

On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 11:11 PM, Mark Vincent  wrote:

John and Brady,

The NHGOP, or the state committee as I assume you mean, does not vote on the platform. The platform is voted on by the elected delegates, and they did so at the recent State Convention held on the 20th of September. The new revised platform has

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“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (John Adams, October 11, 1798.)

Last time I knew, moral and religious people do not lie – and should not countenance those that do.  It is clear that we, as a people, are no longer such and it is clear that our political candidates are all too willing to take advantage of that.  No longer is it “is this right or wrong” but more aligned with “can I get away with this?”.  Those of us that hold to the now quaint notion that “Character is what a man is when no one can see them” seem to be scorned by those that retort “Suckers!”.  We certainly see this in Kentucky in the US Senate race between incumbent Repub Mitch McConnell and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes where the latter’s campaign staff and advisors were caught by James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas video investigators pretty much saying “Lying to the voters?  Lying to the media?  They’re just rubes and you will win!”.  Yep, politics has devolved, in many cases, past Principle, past morality, and spiraling downward from there, lying as necessary (and as possible).  But (and I hear this among Republicans, too) “It’s a ‘W’!!” and that’s all that matters.  We get what we deserve simply because we don’t demand better.  SURE, she supports her State’s coal industry (wink, wink):

Coal is prince in Kentucky – but it turns out she wants to make the entire industry a frog.

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“Colin Van Ostern puts progress over politics”

I haven’t done my weekly visit to Political Scoop in a while but toddled on over yesterday to play catch up (once a week (or once every three weeks) is certainly enough).  Too bad, too because it gave me the opportunity to ask a question (a la Pindell’s Political Scoop):

What kind of Republican uses the word Progress like a Democrat does?

Especially in endorsing a Democrat? With grand delusions of Progressing the poor masses to an ever more Collective and dystopian Utopia of the Progressive making?  How many Republicans even think that way?  At least we in the base simply want to make it possible for individuals to be left alone to create their own instead of being herded into one like in a cattle drive? But to endorse a “rising star” in the NH Dem Party?  Especially when there is a Republican in the race, Timothy Dillon?

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I’ve been remiss in recognizing new followers to our Twitter feed @GraniteGrok.  Frankly, I am humbled by those that do follow us that tell us – “yep, ya got worthwhile stuff to read and listen to”!  So I’m going to try to do a better job at highlighting them.

For instance, Fake Annie Kuster and her constant harping on Town Halls:

Heh:

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On each and every one of the talking head shows this morning, the Obama Administration surrogates were out there saying “Chill! We’ve got this!” as the discontent of the American people is becoming palpable over the handling of the Ebola crisis.  Why shouldn’t we, given the obvious shortcomings of what we’ve seen lately from the “Benign and experts from the most Progressive Administration EVAH!”?  From the laxity of our travel policies from Western Africa (lying on the form and a bottle of Ibuprofen will do ya!) to the highly competent hospital staff that ignored the truth (“I’m from Liberia” and “Here’s some pills – go home”) to cleaning the Ebola laced vomit off the sidewalk in Dallas with el cheapo pressure washer by unprotected workers (“hey, make those virus particles airborne!”) to trapping the family that housed him with his dirty linens before finally letting him go to the number rising of “contacts” from 10 to 15 to 80 to about a 100.  And those four kids went to public schools during the time (and one Dallas based “educator” had the temerity to proclaim “hey, only 10% of our students are showing up any more!”).

And TMEW just told me that one of those “low risk” contacts has just vamoosed – tested once and now they can’t find him.  Sometimes, the American population will take note of the news and they kinda already know about how this is playing out – and how dangerous this could be is to them and their families at a 70% death rate:

And the Administration says “Chill! We’ve got this!”.  The rest of us are thinking –

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Although TMEW doesn’t do the level of politics I do, she does seem to be more aware of current events than most.  As the talking heads on TV were telling us “all is well” this morning, she stumbled across this over at Yahoo News:

They don’t know enough about this virus. I think their bringing it here originally was a mistake. However I think that’s why they brought it here was to learn at the expense both financially and healthwise of the US citizenry. It has given people like Duncan the idea that if they lie and camouflage their flight path they can get in here for treatment. They will end up getting better treatment than Obamacare will cover for any of us if we get it.

Now, I’m not making the same supposition (“that’s why they brought it here”) but I think the conclusion stands (bolded by me).  After all,

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Why isn’t the American Public believing its institutions?  Certainly, a crushing indictment by Matthew Continetti  at the Free Beacon aimed at the Big (and normally unaccountable) Government that Progressives have built.  While we hear that the United States is ungovernable, that the Federal Government is unmanageable, the result is the same – a total lack of actually admitting and DOING the right thing  and an unwillingness to realize that “gridlock” is THE safety brake that the Founders intended and should be a siren call to ask “hey, according to Constitutional Principles, are we on or off course?  Instead, we get “Same old, same old” and a double down on status quo.  Matthew gets it right and why people are just tuning out because the Ruling Class has tuned them out (the supreme mark of Progressivism (and incipient Totalitarianism) – “we know better what’s needed than you so sit down and shut up” (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Over the last few years the divergence between what the government promises and what it delivers, between what it says is happening or will happen and what actually is happening and does happen, between what it determines to be important and what the public wishes to be important—this gap has become abysmal, unavoidable, inescapable. We hear of “lone-wolf” terrorism, of “workplace violence,” that if you like your plan you can keep your plan. We are told that Benghazi was a spontaneous demonstration, that al Qaeda is on the run, that the border is secure as it has ever been, that Assad must go, that I didn’t draw a red line, the world drew a red line, that the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups involved not a smidgen of corruption, that the Islamic State is not Islamic. We see the government spend billions on websites that do not function, and the VA consign patients to death by waiting list and then cover it up. We are assured that Putin won’t invade; that the Islamic State is the jayvee team of terrorism; that Bowe Bergdahl served with honor and distinction; that there is a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

And those are just the easy ones.  Simpler and simpler – they believe that they can tell us that the yellow rain is simply that – rain.  They know better.  Shut up.  Sit down.  Behave as expected.  We’ll tell you what that is.  And we will always tell you the truth and do exactly what we’ve told you we will do. And then they are surprised

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Yeah, One Note Skip – as I told Steve on his Shaheen posts, I’m on a “post roll” – a post, followed by another one, by another on the same topic; yer on a roll!  And I believe, on a very important topic that is splitting the NH GOP apart – more this cycle than most other.  I ran across this post over at American Thinker by Sally Zelikovsky that says it well – why the Establishment Republicans are ticked that the grassroots aren’t going for the “Unity” schtick.  Why should they?  For well over a couple of years now, the Elites have been doing everything they can to make fun of their base, to denigrate their base, (and the phrase that keeps on giving) “Crush them” (thanks, Mitch!), and had the Establishment use tactics against members of their own party that formerly were used only by Democrats.

…Rove’s admonition [“Just give me more money!!!  -Skip] is a mere band-aid and not the cure for this malady.

…To glean the answer, all one needs is a finger on the pulse of the conservative grassroots — the actual donors and volunteers who will not precinct walk or phone bank and have withheld donations. I am not convinced that the GOP leadership is at all in touch with the grassroots. Fundraisers, book tours, speeches, luncheons, meetings, and conventions are important events that connect candidates and leadership with cash-rich constituents. But millions of supporters are foreclosed from participating in such events. Their only outlet is the occasional town hall, the rare publication of a “letter to the editor,” and, if they’re lucky, a once-in-a-lifetime 20-60 second comment on talk radio. These are the conservative voices lost in the wind.

For those with their ears to the ground who have been listening to persistent grumblings among the grassroots, there is no mystery here. Grassroots conservatives feel marginalized, underappreciated, mocked, and, all too often, denigrated by their own party. They do not feel they have a place

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“So who’s right? The educators who insist on making the fundamentals of mathematics as complex as a Rubik’s cube, or the kid who probably has secret access to his mom’s old flashcards and sees this as a foolish waste of time?”

My mom’s flashcards taught me the answer was 13.  Period.  The kid gets it – and the teacher is leading him/her astray.  Or, given that most teachers were nearer the bottom of the SAT scores than the top than other college students (I’ve posted about the hour of my life trying to teach a School of Ed student that was in my EC 101 class  what Y=MX + B meant for graphing homework), this teacher hasn’t grasped the error of this way.  I’ve put up examples like this before – what our kids are now being taught, a curriculum / testing regime that has NEVER even been beta tested.  I have followed some of the money – and it leads to folks that are quite happy to keep upending what used to be the best educational system in the world (and if not THE best, certainly one of them). 

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