Groupthink

Groupthink. This is the commonly found definition for this term:  Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints, by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.

Groupthink requires individuals to avoid raising...alternative solutions, and there is loss of individual creativity, uniqueness and independent thinking. The dysfunctional group dynamics of the "ingroup" produces an "illusion of invulnerability" (an inflated certainty that the right decision has been made). Thus the "ingroup" significantly overrates its own abilities in decision-making, and significantly underrates the abilities of its opponents (the "outgroup"). Furthermore, groupthink can produce dehumanizing actions against the "outgroup".

If this doesn't describe what has happened with regards to the campaign of one Donald J. Trump, I don't know what does. They have replaced faith in God and common decency with a groupthink cult following of one specific man. To be clear, no one man can make America great. America was made great by God's providential hand because Americans, from the founding, recognized God's leadership in all that was good. 

Before you say to me, "Hey, you are Christian and you encourage groupthink", know this; God encourages each of us to develop our natural gifts, through His word, and to be our own person while following his Son. We are given free will and are not instructed to be all the same. Principles are not the same as a cult. Following the one true God and believing on His Son, Jesus, is the highest calling that any person undertakes. No man can save us from hell and no man can grant us admission to heaven. That debt has be settled. 

After what the Combed Over One has done in the past two weeks, this groupthink cult has crystallized itself. While a few in the Trump camp have jumped ship or questioned his motives, the vast majority of his indoctrinated followers haven't. When talking to these people in person, I seriously question each person's individual sanity. I have yet to find a Trump cultist who has been able to make a coherent argument on why they support the man. They spout platitudes like, "He'll build a wall and make Mexico pay for it", "He'll run the country like a business", "He's not a politician", "He's self funding", "He'll hire the best people", "He'll make America great again", etc. There are a few Trumpists that are members of the cult and they can be reached and pulled away. They are the people that haven't seen any better. Once they are shown, their eyes are opened. Those are few and far between.

The vast majority of the Trumpkins are not fully coherent. They have felt marginalized. I understand this part. The part where the disconnect happens is their solution for their feelings of marginalization. Feelings are never valid for making decisions. Prayerful discernment is needed for making decisions. These cultists have projected their own perceived or real inadequacies on a man and that is a recipe for complete and utter disaster. Trumpkins are not students of history. If they were, they'd see visions 2008 Barack Obama, several failed campaigns of William Jennings Bryan, and if they were to delve deeply, shades of Benito Mussolini would start to bubble to the surface. 

Nationalism, which has been what people like quasi-conservatives like Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity have called what Trump has been pedaling, is nothing more than an inward lurch of an all powerful big government. Nationalist movements seek to isolate in order to consolidate their power in the centers of government and then typically, once that is done, they lash out at those forces outside the borders of the nationalist state that their "leader" sees as the aggressors. Europe in the late 1930's comes to mind. Populist Nationalism is nothing more than fascism wrapped in the flag and is the result of weak minded groupthink. The people that back a nationalist leader feel inadequate and are unprepared to be left alone to fend for themselves by government. They are little different from the socialists and communists and only differ in that they see their country as their God. Socialists and communists reject all theories of superiority except that of the nameless, faceless state.  

American Exceptionalism, on the other hand, recognizes the fact that our country was founded by men, guided by divine providence and a belief in Almighty God. Our founding documents were inspired by God and written by godly men. We are no different in our flesh and blood from any other group of people on the earth. The reason we are different is a reliance on divine providence and the fact that rights come from God and not from man. If rights were derived from man, man can then take those rights away and those rights are nothing more than privileges. This is a wholly different ideology than nationalism. Alexis de Tocqueville was the first person to coin this term. The only reason government has to exist is to protect those rights which are inherent and from our Creator. 

The country is on a precipice right now. Do we lurch toward totalitarian fascism in one Donald Trump, socialism in Bernie Sanders, veiled socialism in Hillary Clinton, or American Exceptionalism and Constitutional government in Ted Cruz. I know where I stand. I stand with Ted Cruz. 

I don't support Ted Cruz because I think he is nice guy(he actually is) or because he's flashy(he isn't). I support him because he is a defender of the principles that made the United States of America the shining city on a hill. We are the last, best hope for mankind. As Rafael Cruz, Ted's dad, is fond of saying, if we lose freedom here, where do we have to go?

I invite you to read history. Don't let yourself be an uninformed voter. It may not be all your fault. Schools stink(putting it mildly) at informing people about history, mostly from a willful standpoint, but that's for another post. After all, if we don't know history, we are doomed to repeat it. God's favor and the ability to learn from our past mistakes are what separate us from animals. Let us not forget that.

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Hold Fast to What is Good

On Wednesday, March 30th, I was sitting in church listening to Joseph Brown give a message based upon a passage in Romans. These two verses hit me like a ton of bricks. 

 Romans 12:9   Let love be without dissimulation(ie: pretense, concealment). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 

  Romans 12:10   Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 

We must prefer those that are on the same path. Once we accept Jesus, we need to stop lowering ourselves to the level of the world and those that would see us separated from our walk with God. I fell victim to thinking that I was OK being friends with people that didn't share my beliefs for many years and it cost me so much that I am still trying to recover. 

This isn't to say that we must stop trying to reach out to those that aren't walking with Jesus. The exact opposite is true. We must be continually working to bring people into the flock of believers but the job doesn't stop there. Once they take the first step, we must encourage their walk. We can't drop the ball on newly saved believers. 

I think this is where I have made a change. I was too comfortable with evil in the past. I had fallen into the libertarian trap of personally excusing my own sins and the sins of others. If the sin doesn't harm someone else, then it really didn't matter. That was my rationalization. I was wrong. The sin harmed God and that is immeasurably worse. I had stopped holding fast to what was good.

I never thought this much change could come from signing a commitment card to be a part of a political campaign, but it did. God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. Little did I know that half of the people on stage at the Rally for Religious Liberty that I attended in Des Moines last August would now be my friends. I look back on what happened that day and I can't comprehend it. I do know that I don't want to return to my days of just living for me. When I look back, I was wandering aimlessly and we were all created for so much more than that. Serving others in the name of God, and therefore, leading them to salvation is our ultimate commandment from Jesus.

I want to love my Christian family without pretense. I've seen what happens when people I know love unconditionally and I want to follow that example. God rejoices when we follow him. I also need to continue to abhor that which is evil. There can be no more moral equivalency. Virtue and righteousness are diametrically opposed to sin. If it is biblical, it is worthy. If it isn't, it isn't. That's not to say that we won't fail, because we will. We must always ask for forgiveness and repent. We must realize we will never be perfect while still working towards drawing near to God. 

What has been my biggest help has been realizing that I'm never going to be able to pay back my debt to God, but in His infinite and patient mercy, that debt was paid by Jesus. Jesus was the final Passover Lamb. For this reason, I must tell people about Him and I must help lead others to Him.

To sum this up, we must surround ourselves with other good Christians and use each other to hold one anther accountable. I've found that support system with my church and the best group of people I've ever been around. We must encourage others to do the same. If people think you are a little nutty, so be it. I'd rather be laughed at by those who think this world is all there is while I still strive to live for God. Hold fast to what is good.

Fight For Principles, Not For Parties

Don't vote for a man. Vote on principle.

I've seen much hand wringing taking place over the last few days regarding the polling data that shows how bad a certain Combed Over reality TV star gets beat by Monica's ex-boyfriend's wife. It is no one's fault but those in the conservative intelligentsia and the so-called conservative/Republican media machine. The Orange Faced One could have been fully vetted when he threw his hat in the ring and roundly drubbed out for being the misogynistic, unprincipled boor that he is. Instead, he was dismissed and his rhetoric was encouraged by some in the media. I saw through him from the beginning.

He is just playing on people's fears and feeding a long dormant white power/populist nationalist movement that has now found their figure head. This isn't battle for a nomination. It is now a battle between good and evil. The forces of evil must be defeated. Last night, things became crystal clear to me as I spoke to a friend about the state of our nation and this presidential race. This election isn't about electing a Democrat or Republican.

Our nation is at a crossroads. I'm no longer just fighting for my candidate, Ted Cruz. I'm fighting for a nation that will respect our right to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am fighting for our ability to be able to send missionaries to all corners of the globe to tell people about Jesus Christ. A respected pastor said something to me several months ago that has stayed with me. The United States is the base for 83% of the world's missionaries and much of the world's charity.

I'm fighting for the ability of people to raise their children as they see fit, according to biblical principles and in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I'm fighting for people to educate their children without federal government intervention. I want a country where one income is enough for a family to succeed so that children can have a parent at home so that they aren't raised by a government school that isn't looking out for their individual interest. I'm fighting to end the federal Department of Education.

I'm fighting for a fair and flat tax rate that doesn't penalize success. I'm fighting for a business tax code that encourages companies to make things in the United States again. I'm fighting so that a small business isn't buried under a mountain of federal regulation. I'm fighting so that a farmer isn't treated better than the hardware store owner in the small town that he lives next to. I'm fighting for equality in taxation.

I'm fighting so that each state can become the laboratory of policy and democratic experimentation. I'm fighting so that Texas isn't treated to the same stupid laws and policy that New York is. I'm fighting so that Iowa isn't subjected to the same policy that Florida is. I'm fighting so that states that haven't adopted backward big government aren't forced to do so by an overarching, all powerful federal government.

But most of all, I'm fighting for each and every staffer and volunteer that has become my friend during the course of this campaign. I'm fighting for the church that I've found through this campaign. I'm fighting for my family and my friends. I'm fighting for the people that have given so much and asked little in return other than a chance to see their principles reapplied. I'm fighting so that my nephew and my young friends have the opportunity to live in a country more free than the one they were born into, rather than have to live with the decline of a nation, once the freest in the whole world.

I urge you to join me. I urge you to get involved. Don't just vote. Volunteer. You can even volunteer from home to make phone calls. Don't sit back and waste the opportunity to stand for principle. We finally have an opportunity to do just that.

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A Challenge to Christians.

This last week has left me time to be contemplative. Dangerous, I know. My mind can work overtime when I have time to think about where our nation is headed. Even more so when I think about where the Church is headed. I'm not referring to the place I go to worship several times every week. I'm talking about the body of believers, as a whole, in the United States of America. Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about the death of the denomination that I grew up in. This year has given me even more cause to examine the state of the Church in America. This is what I've come to know.

I've traveled to more of the continental US this year than I have in any single year in my life. I've been from Utah to most of the mid Atlantic states to the old South to nearly all of the Midwest. I've found that there are still great churches. Sadly, they are becoming fewer and more far between. The majority of the so-called Evangelical churches either leave out much of the Word of God and have become places to inflate the self image of the pew sitters or they leave the Bible behind completely and become hives of prosperity preachers who will tell their congregants anything to make a buck and put a butt in a seat. Most old line denominations are falling victim to politically correct nonsense that has nothing to do with the Bible and everything to do with left wing social policy.

I had been a part of this degradation of a church body before and knew that I wanted nothing to do with a church that didn't preach to real issues that impacted normal people. I wanted a church that wasn't just a theoretical church that preached platitudes but a place where people were called to action for God. I wanted a church where the pastor took his job as a mouthpiece for God seriously. I wanted a place that didn't shy away from tough issues. I found that place when I found Marion Avenue Baptist Church. I found that Pastor in one Joseph Brown. You can read about how I found my church here.

What I've seen from many other churches is an unwillingness to teach from the Bible. Most other churches don't teach about Heaven and Hell and salvation through knowing Jesus Christ as your savior. These issues are really the only things that matter, truly. The works side of faith can only come after the acceptance of Jesus and the repentance of your past sins. When a church preaches that you can do things to prepare you to be a part of the body of Christ, they are lying. When a church preaches that you can be a good person, while not confessing that Jesus is your savior, they are setting you up to spend eternity in a very hot and miserable place. There is absolutely nothing anyone can do to "earn" a place in Heaven. We are broken and separated from God. Our natural destination is Hell because we are all sinners. The only way to overcome that is through the acknowledgement that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and paid the debt for all that we do against God. If a church and its pastor do not preach that, I urge you to find a church that does.

I don't go to church to be comfortable. I go to church to be challenged. Perhaps, that's why I've developed a different outlook on life. I do not care what people that don't care about me think about me. I know where I stand with those I do care about and I know that I'm a child of God so the pressure to conform to societal norms and to be politically correct is gone. Now, follow me as I pivot this toward what I normally write about.

I've had a chance to talk to many "Christians" and I've recently seen a few terms that might properly describe many of them. "EvanJELLYcals" and "CINO's(Christians in Name Only)" are just a few. I've encountered many of these people in my work in politics over the last year. Many of those encounters took place in the South, the so-called Bible Belt. It seems that there is some sort of Baptist or Evangelical Church on nearly every corner in South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and so on. What I also found is that many of those churches' members were not what I've come to expect of a true Bible believing and Bible preaching church. I've been to churches in Iowa, like my own, that welcome everyone that comes in the door in an effort to save souls and win people to Christ. What I found down South was a prevailing culture of Sunday morning Christianity. To be fair, there were many good Christian folks but many people also went to church because that's just what one does in that part of the country to fit in. I can assuredly tell you that I don't go church to fit in. People in many of these churches, and not only in the South, have adopted a callousness toward seeking truth and instead use church as a means to pass off their horrible behavior the rest of the week. This is a recipe for disaster.

The next kind of "Christian" I've encountered is the weak kneed, I don't want to offend anyone type. They pass themselves off as people that want everyone to be happy. They go to church to feel warm and fuzzy and want the preacher to speak well and not offend anyone. They do not dare discuss current issues because someone might take offense. They don't talk about faith, Jesus or anything that might cause someone to think they are "weird". Many times these "Christians" attend churches that accept all kinds of non Biblical practices such as same sex marriage. They also refuse to teach that the ONLY way to Heaven is Jesus. I know so many people like this and trying to talk to them about real life issues is like trying to pull teeth without the aid of Novocain. It can be done but it will cause much grief for all involved.

The worst kind of "Christian" is the one that will use the church for ulterior motives. Here's where I get political. Donald Trump is this kind of "Christian". The man wouldn't know a Bible believing church if one fell on him. You can tell by his daily words and actions. His spiritual fruit is rotten. He uses Christianity as a prop. He uses his Bible as a prop. I find this behavior disgusting. He also falls in line with prosperity "gospel" preachers like Joel Osteen and many others that will use God as a means to a non-spiritual end. People like this must be called to account. False teachers must be made known to the people. They are seeking to separate, rather than unite the people and God and do so for their own selfish aggrandizement.

Jesus didn't come to make us rich or famous or good looking or popular. Jesus came as ultimate sacrificial lamb. He came to bear what we couldn't. He came to pay the wage of our sin. He can to allow us a path to eternal life.

I guess the whole point of this post is to encourage people to pray more, seeking God's face in addition to his hand. Don't fall victim to finding a church where you are comfortable. Find a church where the people love you because they know that Christ first loved them, not just because they want something from you. Find a church where you are challenged. Find a church that is more concerned with your soul and less with your wallet. Find a church that makes you uncomfortable with yourself. We are all broken. We don't need a church to tell us we aren't. We need a church that provides us with the repair manual for our own individual life. That repair manual is the Bible and the repair is accepting Jesus as your personal savior.

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My Experience in the American South (A Follow Up To Why I Can't Support Trump)

Wow. I've been in 15 states over that past 45 days. I've spent so much time totally engrossed in political ground work that I've had little time to write. This post will distill what I've now seen as the greatest threat to my value system in my lifetime. Whether you agree or not is of no consequence to me. I have friends that will attest to the validity of my claims here.

Donald Trump has done something amazingly horrible. He has turned approximately 30% of the primary electorate on the GOP side into zombies(45% if you figure the white populist nationalist herd in the South). He was right when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and he wouldn't lose his supporters. No amount of actual evidence will change the minds of his core group of supporters. What I experienced while working with the Cruz campaign in South Carolina and Georgia was both fascinating and terrifying, all at the same time.

Let me start with the people of the American South. There are some nice folks. There are some good Christian folks. This goes for the ones that aren't those two things. Now, I'm going to be blunt. I don't fit in in the South. I am plain spoken and quite open about why I believe what I believe. Ask anyone that knows me. I hate(strong word, I know) fake niceness. Being polite is great but when you don't mean it, I see right through you. I can normally talk to anyone that has more than a few brain cells to rub together. That wasn't the case in South Carolina and Georgia. Self deprecation is not a trait of most Southerners. Those of us in Iowa and around the Midwest laugh at ourselves all the time(after all, besides cow tipping, what else is there to do in central Nebraska). See what I did there.

While I did have a few doors slammed in my face in Iowa, I equaled the total from 4 months of campaigning in Iowa in my first day of door knocking in the Greenville, SC area. People in the South are incredibly suspicious of those that are different from them while at the same time being insufferably polite to your face while holding you in contempt as soon as you turn your back. It was very hard to gauge a person's actual mood or mindset with just a few minutes of contact. Contrast that to the Midwest. In Iowa, I could talk to almost anyone and gauge whether they were with us or against us in just a few minutes. People in Iowa and the Midwest, in general, are easy to talk to and open about their views. Even the ones that didn't like my choice of candidate would usually talk to you. Many would debate you. I love that. The caucus system in Iowa encourages neighbors to talk openly about their views and the issues that matter to them. I got the sense in South Carolina and Georgia that politics was a private issue and that no matter what, people weren't going to discuss things. And we wonder why the sense of community has died in many towns...

Frankly(there's an inside joke here), I think we should be discussing our political situations with everybody we know. Politics in the US invades every aspect of life, unless you are an off-the-grid mountain man who can make it by hunting and gathering,(not going to lie, that idea does sound appealing from time to time) politics has an impact on your life. If you can't discuss the state of politics in your town, state or country, you are being derelict in your duty as a citizen of these United States.

Another disturbing aspect of the South that I encountered was the still alive climate of racism and bigotry that has long dogged the American South. This doesn't appear as much in the more urban and suburban areas but in the loose communities that dot the countryside in the South, the racist climate is still alive and well. Certain towns are still almost entirely voluntarily(or not) segregated. My heart was broken by what I saw and heard. I was screamed at for supporting someone with a "Cuban" last name. I was called stupid for not supporting Donald Trump multiple times. Confederate flag flying homes, almost 100%, could be counted on as a home of a Combover devotee. His supporters speak like him. They use the same empty words and phrases(all with a southern drawl). "We're going to build a wall", "We'll be so great", "America doesn't win anymore", "He'll make good deals", etc. When pressed to provide more information on why they support the Combed Over One, they started screaming and used foul language.

The final home on the last walkbook I worked in Georgia was a glaring example of this. I was with Elizabeth(she's 12). Her brother was turning the van around, so we both jumped out and as soon as we approached the man in his front yard and introduced ourselves as Cruz supporters, he became visibly angry and told us to get the h*ll off his property. This was in a very well off neighborhood in Cobb County north of Atlanta. If I'd have been alone, I wouldn't have cared so much. I was seething inside because I knew Elizabeth didn't deserve that kind of treatment. Being rude to ladies, no matter the age, really chaps my hide.

What my experience with people in the South illustrated is that the lack of awareness of others has become a glaring hallmark of Trump supporters. They are only looking out for themselves and see no importance in principles that built this nation. Never once did they cite the Constitution as a reason to vote for their figurehead. Some openly said that the Constitution was old and that was Ted's problem. He held too tight to it(I'm not kidding). The support of this man, this demagogue, can only be described as a cult of personality. No amount of factual evidence was able to move the needle with them because they were projecting all of their problems onto one man thinking he was going to assuage their anger and vanquish their demons. A very small few were able to be reached when I started to quote the Bible and by the end of my time down there, the Bible has become my only real defense. Some folks still thought highly enough of the Good Book to listen. Some didn't. They will come crashing to the earth if they ever awake from the trance they are in.

As Ted Cruz says, no one man can make the country great. God made us great by inspiring a people to be free to pursue greatness, all while giving thanks to Him for his divine providence. It is the people, under God and indivisible, that make the country great. We need to work on ourselves and get the government out of the way. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the most manifest testament to this, directly from the word of God.

Don't get me wrong, I met some good people, as previously stated, but those good people must become more vocal and involved to help salvage what I saw down there. As it stands now, I don't really have a desire to visit the south ever again, unless I was to be called down there for a Christian mission of some sort. The "Bible Belt" is frayed and the buckle is highly tarnished and the people need true spiritual revival. The one saving grace I cling to is Ted Cruz has won the youth vote in every state he's competed in. Maybe the younger generations are turning away from the backwards thinking down South. One can only pray that is the case.

All of the hate and distrust emanating from the people in the South had one glaring effect on me. I turned toward God even more. I found myself praying between homes or between phone calls. My pastor was incredibly helpful in sending me Bible verses to help me get through the days. A friendly call from a friend or two also helped. Working along side of friends made the work fun, even if we did get yelled at a bunch. Knowing people back in Iowa were praying for me also gave me comfort.

I guess you could sum up my experience down South like this. I'm so glad I grew up in Nebraska, lived in Colorado and now live in Iowa. I'm also happy that my sister lives in Kansas. I guess you could say I'm a westerner Midwesterner(think that one through), and I'm glad to be one. #GBR for all of you Husker Twitter followers.

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Jeremiah 29:11   For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 

  Jeremiah 29:12   Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 

  Jeremiah 29:13   And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 

  Jeremiah 29:14   And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. 

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go Ted Cruz!

I'm writing this piece from the 14th state I've been in over the last 30 days. What a wild ride! I feel the tide starting to shift. 

Just yesterday, I spent 5 hours at a caucus site in Emporia, KS. I was blown away at the support Ted Cruz has here in the middle of the country. Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas have provided an anchor. Add Maine and Alaska and you have the start of a wide ranging base of support. The late votes broke heavily toward Ted Cruz in Kentucky and Louisiana too. 

I feel a change coming over the electorate and I think the last debate had a lot to do with it. Ted Cruz was the only adult in the room. With the one who shall remain nameless and Marco Rubio just trading insults, Ted Cruz prosecuted the aforementioned unnamed one while staying out of the mud.

While having a conversation with 5 friends last night by text message, the mood was decidedly lighter. We've all worked so hard for the same causes that Ted Cruz champions. I remember having a conversation with one specific friend on Tuesday before the election results started coming in(Thank you, Texas!) and I told this person that I was no longer nervous about the results. Her response was one of the most beautiful things I've ever read, "It is one of the many blessings of our position as children of God - sweet peace in the midst of storms." After I read that, I knew I had worked as hard as I could and God was in control. She's totally correct. There's peace knowing God will never give us more than we can handle while also knowing that our trials will only serve to make those of us who know Jesus stronger in the long run. 

This has been such a whirlwind experience that I've only slept in my own bed 4 nights in the last month. I'll write a more in depth review of the last month in the coming week. So, for now, good bye from Kansas. Perhaps a Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go Ted Cruz chant is in order.