Principled or Partisan?

What is the difference between Principles and Partisanship and how does it impact our lives? Most of us consider ourselves ordinary people. We go to work, pay the mortgage, raise the children, pray for ourselves and our neighbors, visit family during the holidays, and hope to leave the world a little better than we found it. When we find ourselves in a leadership position we feel uncomfortable. For myself, I find this blog to be a terrifying experience. I don't have children yet, but I'm pretty sure that's also a terrifying experience.

So, why talk about Partisanship? It's simple really. Since we are normal people, more concerned with making ends meet then solving the world's problems, we tend to trust political leadership to other people. For decades we have elected men and women to represent us. We trust them to govern honestly and represent our wishes. However, because of the sheer size of our great nation, those seeking election seek the help of established parties in an effort to reach more people. These parties facilitate the election process in return for influence with the leaders once they are in power. Now we have a partisan system. This partisan system is the one that makes the laws, taxes the citizens, and protects the nation. So, what is a Partisan leader and how do they differ with a Principled leader?

Well, let's look at some definitions. Dictionary.com defines Partisan as: –noun

1.	an adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, esp. a person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance.

This definition shows some of the reasons why people tend to express frustration and weariness at the concept of "partisan politics". In the most recent election, John McCain tried diligently to cast himself as a "bipartisan" politician. He failed to get elected, and I believe that's because he failed to understand that bipartisan is not the opposite of partisan. In fact bipartisan is really an oxymoron. You cannot have a 'biased, emotional allegiance' to diametrically opposed points of view.

Herein lies the crux of the problem. Take almost any person off the street, pull them out of the daily bill-paying grind, give them a guaranteed salary, a staff to support them, great health-care, and power to spend "other people's" money, then wait for a decade or two. That normal person, trapped outside the real world, is left to listen to the loudest voices around them. Often, that is the party that helped put them in office, embodied by the party leadership. Almost any person, put in that situation, will become a partisan politician.

I wish to emphasize that this disease affects both sides of the aisle. Power over other men's lives and treasure is the most dangerous power on earth. Yet, for government to exist, it must be entrusted to someone. That is why the founders sought to safeguard the American people from the government. After all: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, 1887)

This post is a call to action, from the poorest family to the highest peaks of power. Live a life of principle. Resist the temptation to join in with the crowd. Fight the urge to compromise your morals just because it is all you see. The whole world can make the same noises as loud as they want. If they are all wrong together, then they're still wrong. There is real, absolute, moral truth in our world. It must be sought after, but it is there. My call to you is this: get yourself and your family on solid ground. Prepare for the storm, for it is coming. And the day is also coming when the storm has passed, and we rise from our shelter and view a new dawn, with a world washed clean from sin and corruption. Each of you, seek in your own lives to be able to say, when you see the storm: "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." (D&C 123:17)

God is watching us. He cares for each and everyone of us, from the mightiest politician to the lowliest beggar. In the end, his arm will be revealed. May He watch over us all until that Day.