UNEARNED VENERATION
By
Rudy Takala
May 10, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
The
Biblical book of Esther tells an insightful story about Haman, the equivalent
of Persia’s prime minister in 500 B.C. Haman demanded that all
who were beneath him bow in reverence. But Mordechai, a prominent Jew
who “sat in the king’s court,” refused to bow down
before Haman. When Haman found out that Mordechai was a Jew, he set
out to kill all of the Jews in the kingdom.
But Mordechai asked Queen Esther to appear before the king, uninvited,
in order to plea for his people’s survival. An uninvited intrusion
was punishable by death. The queen responded to the prospect by saying,
“If I perish, I perish.” Ultimately, it was her selflessness
that saved the Jews. The king had Haman hanged in gallows that had been
intended for Mordechai.
Like many politicians to follow him, Haman demanded unquestioning reverence. And he found, like many to follow him, that it led to revolt rather than to respect. This lesson has been repeated often enough in history that it should have been by now imbued upon our collective consciousness.
Yet it remains one of the most common reasons for the downfall of leaders. We should be reminded it of it in light of Colin Powell’s continued complaints that the Republican Party is “getting smaller and smaller” at the expense of more moderate members.
Similarly, the liberal Bob Shrum delighted in a column last month, “In politics, the smaller a party gets, the more small-minded it becomes. With only 24 percent of voters identifying themselves as Republicans, the GOP is being miniaturized.” In Shrum’s assessment, the problem is that there are too many conservatives in the party, and too few who realize what Powell explained. “Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less.”
Powell and Shrum are advocating for the same end on the basis of two different principles. For Powell, it is that politicians, in order to be successful, must place their own popularity on a pedestal, and pursue it as an end in itself, one for which principles may and should be sacrificed. For Shrum, it is that liberalism is the mandate of the American people.
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Both believe the Republican Party should move to the left. But if the two gentlemen were correct, the Republican Party would find itself still holding a majority.
Powell’s philosophy has already governed the party for the better part of a decade. In attempting to become popular, politicians such as John McCain sacrificed swaths of the conservative platform from global warming to fiscal conservatism.
The party made it a goal to attain adoration as an end in itself. A corollary effect was an application of Shrum’s suggestion that it become more liberal. And in the process, party members who objected to the transformation were ridiculed or sent into exile for not revering their leaders over their principles.
What Shrum failed to mention in citing the statistic that only 24 percent of voters affiliate with the Republican Party is that only 37 percent (according to Pew) affiliate with the Democratic Party, and 32 percent as independents.
The numbers do not suggest a sweeping mandate for an increase in government. The number of those affiliating with the Republican Party has declined over the past year, even in the face of its advocacy for more government and its persecution of those who objected. Conservatism has not harmed the Republican Party.
Nor has there been any sort of failure to help its more moderate members; Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) complained a couple of months ago that the National Republican Senatorial Committee was supporting Republicans who had voted for the Obama bailout – Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Arlen Specter – but not others who were more deserving of support, such as Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) or Jim DeMint (R-SC).
In contrast, the Senate Democratic leadership’s conferral of junior status upon Arlen Specter illustrates their determination to maintain their (successful) party’s ideological coherence.
The Republican Party has rewarded those who did what it took to get elected and actively tried to be more “mainstream.” It has punished and sought to be rid of those who tried to govern as individuals. Ironically, governing as individuals is exactly what most mainstream Americans would do if they were elected.
The Republican Party does not need to focus on becoming more liberal, or even on being popular. What it must do is remember that leaders are rarely adored, but rather only tolerated. The current president is precariously close to forgetting the same lesson; the Republican Party would do well not to be associated with it when the American public once again grows weary of demands for unearned veneration.
© 2009 Rudy Takala - All Rights Reserved
