The Pilgrim Patriot Blog will Soon be a Thing of the Past

 

I started blogging a little over four years ago in outrage over Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence's attempt to reduce Christianity to a prop for a political campaign. I intended the blog to be a model and a workspace for Christian engagement with community and politics. I am sure that I have not done that perfectly, but I do feel that I have been pretty fair to both main parties. (I even criticized former President Obama for doing something similar to what Pence did to earn condemnation.) I have also tried with some success to give balanced and sympathetic coverage to causes in private and public life.

I now feel that it is time for me to move on to other projects. I will be making changes to my brand as a result. Rather than having one venue devoted to both political and civil society issues, I plan to start a venue dedicated specifically to politics. I still expect to publish information and opinion about civil society matters at times, but I intend to keep it separate from my next platform (whether it's a blog, vlog, podcast or whatever I end up deciding on.)

Another difference in my next project is that it will be focused on western Washington politics. It will naturally also look at statewide elections (including presidential elections) but it will cover those with an emphasis on the views and interests of western Washington. This shift in focus is a direct response to the most recent developments in the federal government and in the Republican Party. I feel that it is time to heighten our emphasis on state and local politics as political coalitions begin to realign.

The reason I am focusing on the western part of the state is that that is where I live. The geographical, cultural, and political features of east and west are so different that some have actually been making noise about splitting the state into two states. I am by no means endorsing this campaign: I am merely trying to take politics and society as I find them rather than as I wish they were. I live in the most populous, urban, and metropolitan part of the state. Although conservative and even centrist politics face great challenges in such an environment, I feel the appropriate response is to view those challenges as a gift and not a burden.

I hope that in this new project, I will be a model for others as I have already been trying to do. I would like to see others write about and get involved in their own state and local politics. Citizens of California and Nevada may want to imitate my approach and zero in on a particular region of the state they live in. Even if the division of the states into smaller states is not the hope or expectation, this type of focus may make party politics more responsive and more effective.

I will continue to write and think about faith and biblical doctrine in this new endeavor. I invite you to pray for me that I will be faithful and that my work would be excellent even above and beyond my ability.

During the coming year, I hope to do a lot of work offline. You will hear about that, as well. I hope you will join me in this journey. Please let me know if you have any advice or suggestions as I begin this new chapter. Thank you for reading and listening.

More Correspondence: Trusting the Process vs. Defending the System

 

Here is another redacted piece of correspondence since the election, with my reply. It was in regard to an article I shared.

"Thanks Owen,

I'm not thrilled with our president's response to the election. I'm not, nor was I ever, an avid Trump supporter (as is the case with most of the people I know who reluctantly voted for him). While I am sure that there was voter fraud (both on the left and the right), I've never been convinced that it was widespread and certainly not significant enough to overturn the several states that would be required to flip the election outcome. 

If I have any complaint about the response of those on the left, it's that they aren't patiently letting the courts do their job. While Trump seems to be simply doing what he can to turn the election results in his favor, I wish that those on the left would let the courts prove him wrong rather than assuming that he is making things up. I have a fair amount of trust in our courts and believe that if a legitimate case can be made for fraud in any state that the courts will see it and address it appropriately."

My reply:

"Hi Y,

Thanks for your response. 

I share your confidence in the courts to determine what allegations of fraud have merit. Of course, part of trusting the process is trusting the courts to determine whether a case is weak or frivolous, as they have determined to be the case with almost every one of Trump's election cases. I think the reason that Trump's critics (including center-right ones) tend to have a problem with allowing Trump's legal battles to go unrebuked outside of court is that these cases are part of a broader political campaign of disinformation and intimidation. People's lives even now are in danger just for holding public office or taking a job and for fulfilling their job responsibilities. This is intolerable.

At this point, I think that the best arguments for Trump's critics to keep their mouths shut where he has not are going to be arguments of tactics, not principle or even strategy. The GOP and the conservative movement have a major problem on their hands, and it is difficult to imagine a serious conservatism that continues much longer to share a political party with Trump.

One of the challenges of our form of government is that we can not banish or execute people just because they are slimy or dangerous. That is why the Civil War was fought for the purpose of saving the Union. It's why people can still publicly embrace Nazi or Communist ideas, the Klan, or Joe Mccarthy. It's why I don't think that criminalizing Trump or his followers is going to fix the problems that he has created or exacerbated. We are probably going to have to live with Trump and Trumpism for a while.

I do think that Trump needs broad political and, yes, religious competition. I think that serious and mature Christians should be part of that competition. Only with vigorous and sustained opposition can Trump's challenge to the American experiment be thwarted and prevented from evolving into something more dangerous. It is even to be hoped that he and his followers will eventually become more responsible stakeholders in American politics.

That is where I am, and I think it is where we are. I think that it is important to not be a Trump fan and to not believe everything that Trump says. I think, however, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to argue that it is enough for Christians or Republicans to merely keep some amount of distance from the president. We have to go farther than that to avoid being complicit in his dishonesty and wrongdoing.

I appreciate your sharing your thoughts. We should chat again soon.

Warmly,

Owen"