Ladies and gentlemen, we are at a crossroads. Do we want to live in a country where people do the right thing or do we plan to do what we want without a moral compass? Are we a country of laws or can some people get away with murder? I dare say that our democracy (and our world) will only survive if each of us is committed to do the right thing.
In response to Republican Senator Pat Toomey explaining that he had voted his conscience when he voted to find President Donald Trump guilty for his incitement of the insurrection and was committed to do the right thing, to my shock and disdain, Mr. David Ball, chairman of the Washington County GOP in Pennsylvania, proclaimed: "We did not send him there to do the right thing."
He then voted to censor Senator Toomey, a long-time loyalist to the Republican agenda. Having a conscience and doing the right thing seems to have been irrelevant to Mr. Ball's political expediency. Have we crossed the Rubicon?
Sen. Toomey thought differently and explained that when President Trump's legal challenges failed to turn the election in his favor: "President Trump summoned thousands and inflamed their passions by repeating disproven allegations about widespread fraud... He urged the mob to march on the Capitol for the explicit purpose of preventing Congress and the Vice President from formally certifying the results of the presidential election. All of this to hold on to power despite having legitimately lost."
Does Mr. Ball have a spouse, children, friends, business associates, and relatives who depend on him to do the right thing? If you are not a person that lives by upright principles, I certainly would not want you anywhere in my life.
When did we lose our focus on honesty and integrity? As Americans, aren't these principles at the core of what we hold dear? At what point did Mr. Ball think he had the monopoly on how a man or woman thinks and acts? The Bible teaches that as a man or woman thinks, so are they. Does this then mean that Mr. Ball is a man without a conscience; does it also mean that those who voted with Mr. Ball are also without a moral compass?
We all had grandmothers, parents, teachers, pastors, friends, and neighbors who impressed on us not only to treat everyone as you want to be treated by to "always" do the right thing (honorable and just) - don't lie or steal and make your word your bond.
"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap." "Do not grow weary in doing good." "Seek the LORD and his strength; see his presence continually!" "Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all." "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you heap burning coals on his head." "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Where have all these lessons gone? When does doing the right thing become a cause for derision?
I am dismayed to say that many people like Mr. Ball think we are in an America that is waging a "zero sum" war within. That is to say for me to win, you must lose. Our better angels are calling for all of us to learn to live with the differences among us that made this country great. A zero-sum mentally ensures that we all lose.
"Now, the effects of the corrupt nature are obvious: illicit sex, perversion, promiscuity, idolatry, drug use, hatred, rivalry, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, conflict, factions, envy, drunkenness, wild partying, and similar things. I've told you in the past and I'm telling you again that people who do these kinds of things will not inherit God's kingdom. But the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control," (Galatians 5:19-23)
Even though we often fall short of these rules of the road, we all subscribe to them. Step back from the line. Let us not cross the Rubicon.