Taking My Own (Political) Temperature

No.109: May 27, 2022

Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This publication is free, but please take the time to read the opening section this week to learn more!

---

Dear Friends,

I hope you will indulge me a moment or two of your time before I get into today’s newsletter.

Of the many things I’m not very good at, there are two of which I am painfully aware: self-promotion and asking people for money.

We should all try to compensate for or improve our weaknesses, so here’s an attempt at rectifying the first one: I think The Square Inch is a good and important publication that helps people maintain some sanity in our cultural moment. I would not do this if I didn’t think I was helping anyone. I think there is a desperate need for cultural engagement and analysis that is not just “fan service” telling people what their itching ears want to hear. And there is a desperate need for such that isn’t just utterly caught up in strict partisanship or whatever the outrage of the hour or day happens to be. And it needs to be well-written enough that people enjoy reading it even when it irritates them. I try to speak to relevant and interesting issues, and speak into various bubbles people occupy and to provide, as best as I am able, some perspective: biblical, theological, historical, and cultural.

And you know what? My friend Andrew and I talk frequently about how in our experience the social media posts that get the most attention, the most “likes,” and the most reach are the ones dedicated to trashing other people. That is a sad cultural commentary, and it is something I don’t think you find very often, if ever, at The Square Inch. From where I sit, people seem to really enjoy this publication, perhaps partly for that reason. In fact, to my knowledge, in the entire two-year history of The Square Inch I’ve had only one person unsubscribe. And that person apologetically explained that they just needed it to go to a different email account.

So that’s the self-promotion bit. How’d I do?

So now I’ll have a go at the second: will you please upgrade to a $5 per month paid subscription? You should. I have often considered setting up a Patreon account or some other forum where my readers could “tip” me occasionally or just send a donation every now and then. And I really considered that option. But I’ve had a desire to scale things up: more writing, more outlets, more genres, more topics. That means more of my time. To be able to invest the kind of time and energy I would like, I need more than a hope and a prayer that maybe somebody will suddenly feel moved to “tip” me for an article or two. I need broader, more solid, and sustainable support.

As it stands right now, with a paid subscription you’ll be getting on the order of twelve different pieces of writing from me in a month—stop! I know exactly what you are thinking: Brian, I can’t read twelve essays from you in a month. I barely get to all the Friday newsletters! I know. Trust me: I know. One of the outlets I subscribe to very quickly overwhelmed me with the number of newsletters they were sending my way. But consider two things: (1) they are there if you find yourself looking for something to read. (2) You may not need to read a certain essay, but maybe that essay you are skipping this time around is exactly what somebody else really needs to read. See, it isn’t all about the individual subscriber. It’s about a community of like-minded people. So maybe that Off The Shelf didn’t do much for you, but it delighted and enriched someone else. Your subscription helps make that happen. I’d like to think subscribing is an act of loving yourself, but, failing that, think of it as loving your neighbor.

Finally, I’ve mentioned before that I understand how irritating it is that every single piece of media now wants a subscription. I understand the reluctance completely. I will just let you know that it is literally the minimum amount allowed on this platform for me to charge: five dollars. I believe that if you and I were to ever meet and sit down together at a coffee shop or, if you’re not one of my Baptist friends, somewhere where they serve adult beverages, you might offer to buy me a drink. And in today’s economy, it would cost you more than five dollars. So: will you buy me a drink once a month so that I can “talk” to you through this medium?

There. That’s the “ask for money” part. How’d I do? Ooh, terribly. I almost forgot this button:

---

Photo by Ashford Marx:

---

Last week I wrote a couple of things that, upon further reflection, sobered me a little. The first was the bit about how the ideological cohesion of the political right has eroded. The second was my brief comment about how fast our culture and political environment has changed.

It got me to thinking: have I changed? Am I part of the erosion of a set of ideological commitments? And has the lightning-speed change of circumstances caused me to shift or move in any way? It’s really worth thinking about, as a matter of self-examination and self-understanding. I confess that the past half-decade has felt like the ground shifting and moving under my feet, and it hasn’t felt like I moved at all. But that could be self-serving and deceiving. You should always double-check your location when everyone to your right is crazy, and so is everyone to your left. Is it really likely that I just so happen to occupy the rational, sane middle? I should take an inventory. I think we should all take an inventory. Have I been the proverbial frog in a frying pan? Have I gone along with and gotten used to the changing temperature?

I happen to have a really helpful, convenient, and decisive thermometer. Ten years ago I wrote a book about politics. (Hey! What do you know? Self-promotion!) In retrospect, it is a very “pre-Trump” book. A lot has changed in the political landscape. Donald Trump unquestionably altered the complexion of the Republican Party. The Left has continued careening down the path of radical Cultural Marxism at an astonishing rate. They fell off the cliff. Teaching grade schoolers that they can each choose to be a boy or a girl or something in between was not really a thing way back in the olden days of 2012. Back then, the Democrat President opposed even same-sex marriage. How quaint.

To figure out if I’ve changed all I have to do is pick up my own book. Do I disagree with anything I wrote ten years ago? Do I cringe at all?

I mean, I look around at what used to be the conservative movement and see dozens of people who would miserably fail this test. The Claremont people let one of their guys publish the infamous “Flight 93” essay, and basically everything they ever published before that was instantly obsolete (well, I don’t think it is, but they seem to). Bill Kristol, a man who spent his whole life building conservative institutions and founded a magazine for the cause now probably wouldn’t agree with anything he ever published at The Weekly Standard. Richard John Neuhaus’s magazine, First Things, used to be a bastion of classical liberalism, but now that he’s gone and Donald Trump ran for President it’s run by guys who seem to think they’re going to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire (I know: Trump is a rather odd choice for that brand!). And the guy who made probably a million dollars publishing The Book of Virtues eventually found there was no vice he couldn’t rationalize and excuse in the interests of political power. That’s just to name a few.

People who I thought believed in free markets and free trade suddenly discovered that global trade is to blame for working class poverty and that tariffs are great because Donald Trump said so. People who I thought loved the American Dream and meritocracy and upward mobility and equality of opportunity suddenly, like good Bolsheviks, grabbed pitchforks to throw out the rich “elites” and cut them down to size. People who I thought believed in America as the place for the “huddled masses” of the world are suddenly terrified that a Salvadoran might put new shingles on their roof. People who I thought loved the American founding and the rule of law suddenly thought rioting to stop the lawful and peaceful transfer of power is “patriotic.” People who I thought loved political liberty are suddenly fans of Vladimir Putin. People who I thought were dedicated to the First Amendment and free speech suddenly want the government to start policing private social media platforms. People who I thought were pro-life recently recoiled and wrung their hands at the prospect that—like the dog who catches the car—the Supreme Court might actually overturn Roe. People who I thought were dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “dream” of a day when people would be judged “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” suddenly think Critical Race Theory is a super helpful way of evaluating the world.

You know what? As much as I might try to convince myself otherwise, as much as I assure myself that I must be missing something or am just misinterpreting the times, I am not making this up or dreaming. Everyone has gone crazy.

I don’t think I’ve moved an inch and it so happens I can prove it.

My book was oriented around the question: what does God love? I suggested three things: people, prosperity, and justice. And over the course of those three sections I wrote about collectivism and individual liberty, biblical realism and utopianism, human dignity, image bearing, the right to life, abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, stem cell research, sex, marriage, the family, limited government, civil society, mediating institutions, free association, wealth, economic opportunity, growth, redistribution, poverty, private property, charity, the rule of law, justice, equity, punishment, and even war.

I can honestly say I can’t find anything substantial to retract. Maybe that’s evidence of pig-headedness, but I don’t think so. I am a Christian who loves and is grateful for the fruits and benefits of Christendom. I know that’s a bad word these days, even among Christians (someone might call me a “Christian Nationalist!”—that’s the epithet du jour), but I really couldn’t care less.

Christendom, the culture and society that Christianity produced, admittedly with many fits, starts, and abject failures, has led to human rights and human equality and human values and human freedom and human prosperity and human achievement the likes of which the world had never seen—nay, never even dreamed. And I will not join with those who want to tear it all down, not the progressives who view all these values and institutions as patriarchal, racist, and oppressive legacies, nor with those on the right who want to tear it all down because they have decided that the civic architecture and rules bequeathed to us (and helped deliver these blessings) are to their political disadvantage.

In the evergreen words of William Shakespeare (speaking of the fruits of Christendom): “A pox on both your houses!”

I think I’ll stay on the middle way, the old way, the way forged (often, sadly, with blood) out of two millennia of Christian civilization—political liberty, human dignity, freedom of religion and conscience, rule of law, limited government, and civil society. In Holland a 150 years ago Abraham Kuyper called his political party the “Anti-Revolutionary” Party and this was basically his program. And that is just as relevant today as it ever was: reformation, not revolution. Many people cringe and laugh and roll their eyes at Ronald Reagan’s “City on a Hill” stuff, but I can’t and won’t. I’m too grateful of our heritage and blessings to despise it.

If the last decade hasn’t moved me an inch, I don’t imagine anything will.