“I believe that leadership is all about putting the right beliefs into action, and knowing, on the basis of convictions, what those right beliefs and actions are…Without convictions you might be able to manage, but you cannot really lead.” R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters
Mohler’s larger point in his book is that leaders must lead from and with conviction. Without genuine conviction leaders will be susceptible to being governed by pragmatism. In turn they will be characterized by political posturing. This is bad for the leader and worse for those they lead.
Sadly, on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, we read the following from The Washington Post today:
House Republican leaders abruptly dropped plans late Wednesday to vote on an anti-abortion bill amid a revolt by female GOP lawmakers concerned that the legislation’s restrictive language would once again spoil the party’s chances of broadening its appeal to women and younger voters.
Many Christians have faithfully endorsed the Republican party as their party in light of a shared conviction over morality. Part of this conviction has included opposition to abortion. But as we see, perhaps the base was not as secure as once thought.
It would appear that at least with some members of the GOP their convictions on issues are a bit more fluid while their conviction for political success remain solid. We should not be surprised here. If politicians adopted political views in the first place in order to gain popularity why would they hang onto them if it would cost them popularity?
If politics were a game of poker (and by this I do not mean to offend any poker players) then what we have here is a tell. The politicians hand has been tipped off based upon their behavior. We know what cards they are holding with conviction and which are being held for convenience.
New York Times columnist Russ Douthat gets it right in this tweet:
Put not your faith in princes. Or Congressional Republicans.
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) January 22, 2015
We may be disgusted but we shouldn’t be too surprised.
