Politics Based on Principle
In order to win, we must firmly stand for what's right
One hundred years in the eyes of God is the twinkling of an eye. We elect our presidents for four years and that is not even the twinkling of an eye in the sight of God. And we have to ask our selves, when we elect our presidents. Is what we are doing an unwise short term concession for no gain in the long run, or are we surrendering the present to obtain the future?
I made an decision in my life back in the mid 70's, that I would surrender the present to obtain the future. Working in the present, working in the politics of pragmatism my own experience in politics, which began at age eleven, persuaded me that we could not achieve a reversal of the course of public policy in the United States of America by redirection. I came to believe in the 1970's the truth of the maxim that "to achieve victory first you must seek it."
The politics of preemptive concession has crippled our cause for many years. People say, "we can't do it, we can't accomplish it, it's too hard, it's impossible," and therefore we give away the game before the whistle is blown to start the contest. It's the politics of preemptive concession. We're told that we have to do things incrementally, that we should not have goals that are too great or standards that are too high. They say we've got to prevail incrementally. However, the reality is that incrementalism is the strategy of the ideological enemies of Christians, conservatives, constitutionalists and those who believe in the principles our nation was founded upon. It works for the enemy at this point, because the enemy has managed to prevail on the grounds of core, guiding principles, a foundation upon which incremental changes are made. For example: Gun control. The liberals are winning that debate because they have established the principle that the framers were wrong when they said we had a right to keep and bear arms, a right that government could not justly abridge. They've established the false principle that this is no longer relevant today, and that therefore, you've got to restrict it. Their goal is to completely deny us the right to self-defense, but they are achieving it incrementally. Incrementalism is not working for us, it is working for them. In order for us to succeed, we've got a price to pay. What we must do is overturn the establishment of those false principles that lay at the foundation of their success in destroying our republic. However, we will never accomplish this through compromise on core principles, instead, we must reestablish them. Once we have the opportunity to do this, we can then move forward in great bursts. We may not often prevail right now, but when we do prevail we can buy back ten years, twenty years, a hundred years of retreat, defeat, sell out and surrender. However, we got to keep our standards high in order to do that.
Click here to view the Constitution Party candidate profile for Howard Phillips
Click here for a printable version of the Constitution Party platform
(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
(10/03/00)
Message of the Day from Howard Phillips
copyright © 1998 - 2002 Markle Foundation | Online presence by mindshare Internet Campaigns LLC.