What people say to shut down political debate

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iStock/koya79
iStock/koya79

Wouldn’t you know it? It was bound to happen.

You are talking with a friend about this, that, and the other thing, and you do what you always do — you avoid discussing anything political. 

You know that you and your friend don’t see eye-to-eye on what’s happening in today’s cantankerous political battlefield, so you just, for your part, try to keep the conversation light. But, suddenly, the taboo topic materializes. Yes, innocently enough, it springs to life.

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Trump is bad for democracy

For me, I knew my friend Jeffrey did not like Trump, so I always skirt issues of politics.  But seemingly out of nowhere I found myself on the phone with him being schooled on “how bad Trump is for democracy.” 

What happened? 

All I did was bring up a film I thought we both liked: “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.”

Now, believe me when I say that I thought this was a perfectly safe subject on which to comment since we are both Christians and admirers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his valiant stand against Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. We also know Eric Metaxas who wrote what many consider the definitive Bonhoeffer book, which inspired and jump-started this particular screen version of the modern-day saint’s life and times. Not only that, but Jeffrey is also aware that I was Metaxas’ radio producer for many, many years.

But my friend immediately pointed out that Bonhoeffer’s descendants are not fans of Eric Metaxas because he is a Trump supporter. This observation was to convince me of how terrible and, dare we continue to say it, how Hitler-like Trump is. And thus, the conclusion is that Trump, at the very least, is “bad for democracy.”

After briefly explaining how descendants of any person are entitled to their own opinions and are swayed by their own times and culture, I pointed out the most blaring mistake in Jeffrey’s observation: America is not a democracy; we are a constitutional republic.

I suggested that in many ways a democracy is a terrible form of government because it means that 51% of the people can vote to force the other 49% to comply with rules and regulations under which they must live even though they might not like or benefit from them.

Suddenly, he agreed with me on that point, but went on to complain that Trump was doing whatever he wanted; for example, sending back all the “asylum seekers” that came through the borders during Joe Biden’s term in office.

I asked Jeffrey how he knew that those 15-plus million migrants were all asylum seekers.  Who vetted them? And I pointed out that Trump was very nearly prevented from sending back even the very worst-of-the-worst violent criminals by an unknown, unelected judge from … wherever.

Then I said, “It’s hard to imagine these days that the words ‘Christian’ and ‘Democrat’ can be mentioned in the same sentence.”

He was not happy to hear me say that.

I pointed out just a few unbelievable things that the Democrats champion.  Setting aside wide open borders (which was okay, apparently, for my friend even though I highlighted sex trafficking, fentanyl poisoning, and increased inner-city violent crime as a spinoff), I mentioned sex-change operations on children, drag-queen story hour at public libraries, men participating in women’s sports — and at that point, my friend cut me off.

“Of course, I don’t agree with those things,” Jeffrey said. 

That’s when he said the only words a far-left person can say when they are about to lose an argument by being enlightened by the facts: “Let’s just agree to disagree.”

End of discussion.

Since Jeffrey is my friend, I let the conversation fizzle out. We engaged in a couple more moments of pleasantries, then said our goodbyes.

Not long after I hung up it hit me how disingenuous the words “agree to disagree” are when it comes to a discussion or debate. When that phrase is used it implies that neither party will ever change their point of view because neither participant can further state his case and then be challenged on his facts.

What is surprising, too, is that when Jeffrey said we should agree to disagree, he also seemed to imply that this is the way he looks at disagreements he might have with the Democrat Party. That such horrific ideas such as child mutilation and men in women’s locker rooms are so utterly disagreeable — and as a Christian, these should be especially abhorrent — but, hey, Democrats stand up for “the little guy!”

Political correctness has finally morphed into political immaturity

In order to avoid making waves, many Christians years ago got onto that slippery slope popularized by the words, “Political Correctness.”  Somehow, being on the right side of politics meant you were championing the well-being of marginalized people. And wouldn’t the Bible and all the saints speak out for the disadvantaged among us? 

Down the road, after a couple of decades, PC got kicked up a notch to being “Woke.”  Suddenly, the world was now waking up to a new reality and everyone who was sane and reasonable would join the growing number of those whose eyes were magically opened to the brand new day. That included Christians, of course, if they knew what was good for them, and wanted to be a part of this new and great Awokening.

So, what’s next?

With people in general justifying the absolutely obvious craziness of the far-left by being silent and looking the other way, we can announce a brand new term: “Political Immaturity.”

When you ignore common sense to do whatever you are told is “correct” and “woke” you have not matured into rationally thinking for yourself. You might start with a wish to “go along to get along” and now you are being led around and told what to think and do like somebody’s child.

The only hope for America over these next few critical years is a true Great Awakening to the Truth within the Church that can lead to a foundational restoration within this great country. Optimistically speaking, if this route is taken, future generations might look back and say with joy:

“Wouldn’t you know it? It was bound to happen!”

Another version of this article appeared previously at American Thinker.

Albin Sadar is author of Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It, as well as the children’s book collection Hamster Holmes: Box of Mysteries. Albin is also the former producer of “The Eric Metaxas Show” on the Salem Radio Network.



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