John Danforth Quotes

Many have said that President Trump isn’t a Republican. They are correct, but for a reason more fundamental than those usually given. Some focus on Trump’s differences from mainstream GOP policies, but the party is broad enough to embrace different views, and Trump agrees with most Republicans on many issues. Others point to the insults he regularly directs at party members and leaders, but Trump is not the first to promote self above party. The fundamental reason Trump isn’t a Republican is far bigger than words or policies. He stands in opposition to the founding principle of our party — that of a united country. We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, and our founding principle is our commitment to holding the nation together. This brought us into being just before the Civil War. The first resolution of the platform at the party’s first national convention states in part that "the union of the States must and shall be preserved."

Our record hasn’t been perfect. When we have pushed the agenda of the Christian right, we have seemed to exclude people who don’t share our religious beliefs. We have seemed unfriendly to gay Americans. But our long history has been to uphold the dignity of all of God’s people and to build a country welcoming to all. Now comes Trump, who is exactly what Republicans are not, who is exactly what we have opposed in our 160-year history. We are the party of the Union, and he is the most divisive president in our history. There hasn’t been a more divisive person in national politics since George Wallace.

We cannot allow Donald Trump to redefine the Republican Party. That is what he is doing, as long as we give the impression by our silence that his words are our words and his actions are our actions. We cannot allow that impression to go unchallenged. As has been true since our beginning, we Republicans are the party of Lincoln, the party of the Union. We believe in our founding principle. We are proud of our illustrious history. We believe that we are an essential part of present-day American politics. Our country needs a responsibly conservative party. But our party has been corrupted by this hateful man, and it is now in peril. In honor of our past and in belief in our future, for the sake of our party and our nation, we Republicans must disassociate ourselves from Trump by expressing our opposition to his divisive tactics and by clearly and strongly insisting that he does not represent what it means to be a Republican.

I was raised in a Republican household during the glory days of "I like Ike!” I am currently an independent voter who votes on the integrity of the individual and the facts surrounding the issues. I have read the Mueller Report, and recently listened to the televised Congressional Mueller hearings, and listened to analysis by both CNN and Fox. As a citizen, I have come to the conclusion that President Trump attempted to obstruct Mueller’s investigation in multiple ways. The OLC opinion blocked Mueller from indicting a sitting president, but he stated that an ordinary citizen facing these charges would face a criminal indictment.

Should we leave this seriously flawed individual in charge of our nation, and in extension, the free world? I think not. Each of us as citizens of this democracy have a duty to listen, learn and act in the best interest of our fellow citizens. That’s what we just celebrated on July Fourth. Look at the evidence, decide for yourself, and let our elected officials know how you would direct them to act. If Americans abdicate this responsibility on such a serious matter, perhaps we don’t deserve the democracy that so many have given their lives for.

Many, if not most, Americans can imagine a fate worse than death, and it is a seemingly interminable process of dying. For them, it is frightening that politicians can find ways to interject themselves into this sad process.

The problem is not that Christians are conservative or liberal, but that some are so confident that their position is God's position that they become dismissive and intolerant toward others and divisive forces in our national life.

But the public display of religion is not God. We do not put God in our nation's life by placing the Ten Commandments in courthouses, nor do we evict God by removing the Ten Commandments from public property. God is not portable. Bland prayers, offered as noncontroversial formalities after the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance do little to honor God.

I had not been left behind in the parish. I wasn't holding the hands of grieving widows. I wasn't struggling to educate my children. I was pontificating on the great issues of the day in the comfort of a privileged lifestyle.

When you see your neighbors, their needs, their joys, their sorrows, when you see them next door or halfway around the world, you will know what to do. It is concern that precedes and inspires agendas, and survives when agendas fail, and it causes us to try again, always trying our best, never certain about our own judgment. It is knowing that God's purpose exceeds whatever we can put in an agenda. For Christians, it is trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

That founding principle of the party is also a founding principle of the United States. Even when we were a tiny fraction of our present size and breadth, the framers of our Constitution understood the need for holding ourselves together, whatever our differences. They created a constitutional structure and a Bill of Rights that would accommodate within one nation all manner of interests and opinions. Americans honor that principle in the national motto on the presidential seal: "e pluribus unum" — "out of many, one." Today, the United States is far more diverse than when we were a nation of 3 million people , but the principle remains the same: We are of many different backgrounds, beliefs, races and creeds, and we are one.

I find the president guilty of both obstruction and collusion. Mueller has left it up to Congress to carry this process forward with impeachment according to Article I of the Constitution. Section 3 of Article I gives the Republican-controlled Senate the responsibility to try all Impeachments. Republicans, by and large, have chosen to remain mute in the face of President Trump’s attacks on freedom of the press, the judiciary, the Intelligence Department and our NATO allies, while failing to demand Vladimir Putin to stop meddling in our elections. President Trump suffers from a troubling personality disorder called malignant narcissism, which has limited his ability to develop into a fully formed adult male. His juvenile attacks and outbursts are a result. His prolific lying is necessary to create a reality that supports his fragile ego. This is unfortunate in an ordinary citizen but dangerous in an individual occupying the presidency of the United States.

The relationship of faith and politics is not about fashioning religious beliefs into political platforms. It is, instead, the way in which faithful people go about the work of politics. If it were the former, family values could be reduced to legislation, but despite the efforts of Christian conservatives, that is not possible. Family values concern how a person, in my case a political person, values his family, his wife and his children. Is the family, especially the spouse, first on the list of priorities, or is it somewhere down the line?

Most of all, faith brings recognition that our quest never leads us to certainty. We are always uncertain, always in doubt that our way is God's way. That self-doubt makes it possible to be reconciled to one another. It is faith that makes the reconciling work of politics possible.

I think a lot of us share a fear that we and people we love will lose control of our own destinies at the end of life.