Guest post by: A Snark in the Desert

All too often, I hear conservatives say that this is the issue, this is the point where they draw the line. Things can go this far but no farther. A few years ago same sex marriage was the issue de jour. I can’t tell you how many people told me that if it ever came to pass the world was going to end, or western civilization would collapse, or my personal favorite “God Himself shall come and smite us all.” Of course it passed. It has withstood legal challenges and only the most die-hard among us still holds it up as a point of contention.

So where are all the bodies of all the well-known conservatives who were going to die on that hill? If My math is even close to correct then there should be huge holes in our membership from all the people that died when that threshold was passed. And, yep we have huge holes in our local membership, but it seems that most of the holes had been filled by people that did not share that sentiment and were driven away, leaving mostly the people that were going to be “casualties” of the hill. Now I am not saying we should actually go out and harm anyone– far from it.  I want people of all views to flood our ranks so that we can talk about such issues. We tend to get into trouble when we allow our movement to be directed by the choose your own hill crowd and not by people that are willing to talk about anything and everything, no sacred cows, no litmus testing.

One county here in NM recently hosted an unscripted forum where anyone and everyone could ask questions of their elected officials. Not only was the event the best attended they have had in several years but a great deal of information was shared. Almost everyone went away better informed about what is going on and the party got several new volunteers.

There are no stacks of conservative dead on the hills and battlefields we have fought. But our rhetoric our actions and our lack of foresight has torn holes in our ranks and left many who did not take such radical positions seeking other avenues to express their views. As a person of faith I tend to look to scripture as a touchstone for many things. My favorite verse is one that I have never heard anyone outside of my immediate friends quote Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together.” Our nation is stronger than one single issue; our civilization shall survive us having to apply our convictions and laws to all. The true test that we now face is when we have fallen and stumbled, when we were not truly in the right.  Are we going to heed the words of each other and learn from our missteps?  How do we pick ourselves up, dust each other off and move forward wiser?

Thoughts and views expressed in this guest post are not necessarily the views of the editor.