There have been a whole lot of statements recently regarding the GOP and its policy positions, particularly in light of the recent CPAC gathering and its slate of speakers. In the process of building steam for a GOP presidential run by an as-yet-unidentified candidate, and countless down ticket races, there has been an urge to make great shifts in policy ideals. Many have made statements on the lines of making the GOP more "inclusive" or otherwise more palatable.
I certainly don't have a problem with including more people in the party - that is a desire that I believe every member of our party shares. What concerns me is the path to adding those party members that seems to be taking shape.
Take for example the following passage from a recent post online:
Yes, that will please the social conservatives and the religious right within the Republican Party, but there are more than a few sectors within the Republicans' big tent who believe it is adherance to the demands from those former groups that have led to the definition of the Republican Party as stale and out-of-touch; to the forwarding of high-level candidates who pass the limited litmus tests of some within the party but who don't have sufficient viability on a grander stage. The result: High-level losses and the need for reconsideration.
The article is available here:
http://www.gopusa.com/freshink/2013/03/18/rand-paul-two-visions/?subscriber=1
What scares me the most is the party's willingness to change for the sake of winning - regardless of what we're changing. The Republican Party has to be about more than than catering to the 'winning' demographic or social segment. We must first remember the Authority from whom all blessings flow.
Consider this final quote from the same piece:
There are natural allies who are at each other's throats over single issues on which there must be accommodation to allow for survival.
What's frightening to me is the growing belief that there are bedrock places where 'accommodation' or compromise or concession 'must' be made. Gay marriage? Abortion? Surely a more widely palatable position on these two hot button topics exists - that'd be the easy way out. But what has changed? Has God's Word changed on life or marriage? Or has man's faithful reliance on its guidance and principles been shaken?
God is unchanging. His Word is unchanging.
As long as any Party puts God at the forefront of its policy initiatives it will be in the right.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. John 15:4-6