I wouldn't be inclined to turn anyone away at the current moment, least of all because they were a sinner. Donald Trump, for all his flaws (and sins) certainly did not look down on porn stars. Nor, per se, did another figure of some importance.
Of course, I am a sinner myself and not much inclined to throw stones from my glass house. Perhaps these are better people than me, more upright and moral, and thus more fit to condemn; but they still are going to need people to effect a democratic solution.
The entry to heaven is said to be narrow, but roads made by men should be wide. If you make the road too narrow, no one can follow you; and perhaps you cannot keep to that road yourself.
9 comments:
I think I'm getting whiplash here. Didn't we just excommunicate the combat veterans over at Black Rifle Coffee for making a bad marketing decision and criticizing racists on the right?
In any case, Monty Python had a bit on this phenomenon: The People's Front of Judea
Personally, I'm for the big tent. It's not like upending a century plus of misgovernment and leftist infiltration is going to be a cakewalk.
It’s strange to me that you think those are parallel cases. In the case of BRCC, nobody is forcing them to leave or even asking them to leave; they decided to work with the NYT to find themselves a way out. Her case is the opposite; she was looking for a way in.
It’s probably true that a limiting principle is needed that allows the exclusion of (say) the KKK. Some potential allies are unacceptable even though they’d work with you.
I haven’t seen any of this lady’s “work,” either. Perhaps they know more about that (though if so, they may thereby be in a strange position for morality policing her).
William F Buckley was famous for successful exclusion of the John Birch society. They were conspiracy theorists who saw Communist infiltration everywhere. The right was made healthier, people said, by driving them out. Yet now we have institutions infiltrated by leftists openly aligned with Communists in Cuba and China.
Z-Man has absolutely no use for Kirk's bunch. Read all the way to the end of his essay, some of which can easily be ignored, to get the whole picture: https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=24450
I didn't take it that Hafer & Best were trying to find a way out. I suspect they will continue to support both the 1A and 2A, and patriotism generally and Republican candidates specifically, as well as veterans, in the years to come.
I think they see a potential PR problem with some sketchy people wearing their gear prominently and they want to distance themselves from that. I think they did a bad job of it, but one can fail spectacularly with the best of intentions. (Lord knows I have a few times.)
So, maybe I misjudged your post about BRCC waving the white flag and loving Big Brother. Those seemed pretty stony statements to hurl and seemed quite like an excommunication, but maybe I misjudged them. If you see them as leaving us behind, I can see how they would be a "Don't let the door hit you on the way out" sort of statement.
What I do completely agree with is your statement that I wouldn't be inclined to turn anyone away at the current moment, least of all because they were a sinner.
TPUSA can be pretty good, but they also can get pretty precious.
If "we" are going to push priests to go where the sinners are instead self-importantly waiting for the sinners to come to them, it would behoove Conservatives to welcome the sinners who are coming to them, so long as they're actually trying to do better or to see what better might look like.
A parallel that I see with BRCC is that both entities are terrified of inconvenient optics and are putting that terror above the mission.
Eric Hines
I think that's a good point, Mr. Hines.
I checked out Walsh's main feed and picked up a couple of other tidbits.
It seems Ms. Love is 48 and wore her stage name on her ID for the event instead of her real name. Also, the event was for high school and college students. So, was she there to join the conservative side? Or was she just there self-promoting? Or some of both?
Anyway, I can just imagine 16 y/o Johnny going home afterwards and telling his family about meeting a porn star at the TPUSA conference. Goodbye TPUSA!
His feed also gets into the conservative vs. libertarian fight. It's an interesting argument I don't have time for at the moment.
I agree with Tom that the devil is in the details here- and actual facts have been hard to come by in any of the discussions about the event in question- I had not heard about the name tag, for instance.
What troubles me most about this whole event is the smugness and divisiveness seemingly *everyone* (present company excluded) has addressed this with.
America is divided for a reason.
Conspiracy theorists and tax collectors were excluded for a reason.
It's not like Grim liked hearing what i had to say either about the future (the present now).
People who exclude or set limits on their blog, then talk about how facebook and Turning point has to put down their walls.
The issue is way bigger than that. Like satan level.
Does Brandi Love have a coffee company?
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