[Vision2020] An Open Letter

[Andreas Schou]

Another great quote, straight from the horse's mouth, is:

"Reforming the State is not about forcing people to be Christians. But
it is about forcing people to outwardly conform to a Christian
standard and about protecting the Christian religion. Historically,
the civil magistrate has enforced laws against blasphemy, apostasy,
heresy, swearing, and working on the Sabbath. The difficulty is not in
defining or punishing these crimes; the difficulty is finding the
strength and wisdom to do so."

That's right. Are you a Muslim? A Jew? A Hindu? Agnostic? How about a
Quaker or Methodist? How about a Reformed Christian who doesn't
believe in pedobaptism -- a belief which Doug has repeatedly referred
to as "heretical?" In Doug's America, you're first against the wall.
What is crazy is not that people object to this: what is crazy is that
we, which is to say, Moscow and Latah County, are electing people who
subscribe to this set of beliefs to public office. What is crazy is
that we're taking their openly hypocritical cries for tolerance
seriously.

Tolerance is a virtue. I take appeals to my tolerance seriously, and
apprecate people who bring my lack of tolerance to my attention.
Infinite tolerance, however -- whether it's tolerating the mugger
who's got a pistol under your nose or agreeing to buy coffee whose
profits are devoted to preaching your own execution -- is crazy. No
matter how idealistic you are, eventually, some reducio ad absurdiam
will make you turn pragmatic. For me, this is that point.

Those who refuse to abide by core democratic principles -- among them,
the general consent that you will not execute your political opponents
once you attain office -- should not participate in it at all, and be
prevented from doing so if at all possible by those voters that
actually care about its nhealth.

-- ACS