The saying goes that politics is a mugs’ game, the art of the possible and the practical and all that, and we must take what we can get – the crumbs off the master’s table, so to speak.
Perhaps there be some truth in this, but it’s sort of looking at things backwards. To paraphrase Chesterton, who is in turn paraphrasing Christ, we must keep our eyes on the ideal, and the practical will – almost – take care of itself. If we lost sight of the ideal, of the ‘goal of all our striving’, then nothing practical will work – in fact, it all falls apart.
How can we build houses, when we know not what houses are for? (As homes for thriving families, and not childless ‘partners’). What of schools, when we have lost sight of the purpose of education – ultimately, to form souls for heaven? And laws, whose primary purpose is to protect those who otherwise cannot be protected?
And what is the purpose of a ‘conservative’ party that knows not what to conserve, and even what it does purport to conserve, cannot?
Hence, the election of someone like Erin O’Toole, whose squishy ‘principles’ mirror those of his party, and the broader culture, was nearly a foregone conclusion. I write ‘nearly’, since God can perform miracles, but usually allows nature – itself a sort of miracle in a way – to take its course.
Hence, we need to rebuild and reform culture, one person, one small society, at a time. For if we all had our eyes on the ultimate prize, we would never have ‘pro-abortion’ politicians – under the mantra of ‘pro-choice’, of course. In fact, we wouldn’t even have abortion, nor all the other infernal policies infecting the body politic.
So, we in the trenches plod along, striving to hold our stations, to stand on guard, to do our duty, so that we may be found faithful by the just Judge, Who will judge all things, and all people, in that truth that will stand until He comes again.