I’m not exactly sure what you’d expect (Speaker) Ryan to do (in terms of the omnibus bill). Governance is about compromise. The GOP doesn’t have a filibuster proof majority; the “freedom caucus” has bolted from him again; and so he had to work with Pelosi to finish the job. (I am) not surprised and (I am) actually happy that the majority is governing and not simply trying to shut things down like Ted Cruz.
Dr. Sean Michael Lucas
Dr. Lucas is a minister in the PCA and does some teaching at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He’s also written a biography on Dr. R. L. Dabney. I encourage you to go to Amazon to read the reviews of his book. Now before we get to far into this, let us remind ourselves what was in this omnibus bill that Speaker Ryan “compromised” on and which Dr. Lucas has expressed his happiness concerning a governing majority.
The omnibus bill that Speaker Ryan passed via compromise with Pelosi, included,
1.) The continued funding of Planned Parenthood
2.) Quadruples H-2B Visas … thus bringing more immigrants to take American jobs.
3.) fails to defund other harmful regulations, including the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule that has been fairly described as “ObamaCare for your IRA”.
4.) Major amendments to protect Americans against abuses of government surveillance authority were stripped from the bill for the second consecutive year. These included limitations on the government’s content collection authority under section 702 of FISA, and a prohibition on the NSA working with the National Institute of Standards in Technology to weaken internet encryption standards.
5.) Increases Government spending… again. This time by 80 billion over two years. I know … I know … chump change.
6.) $1.2 billion in new funding for the Department of Education,
7.) What amounts to a bailout of the International Monetary Fund, by increasing the U.S. quota for that fund. This means the IMF will have access to even more of our taxpayer dollars to fund bailouts of irresponsible state actors such as Greece.
8.) The Cybersecurity Act of 2015. To begin with, this nearly 140-page, brand new program should be considered on its own, not tucked into a massive bill no one really has time to fully read. This bill is the final product of mashing together the Senate’s CISA bill and the House’s two bills, and manages to contain most of the worst provisions of each of them.
Now let’s start by asking, in what world can a Doctor the Church (in this case Dr. Sean Michael Lucas) be happy where a governing majority votes to fund an organization that is killing unborn babies in such a way as to preserve certain body parts in order to sell those parts on the market? On this point alone Dr. Lucas’ happiness is mind boggling for a follower of Christ to consider.
Secondly, I’m sure unemployed Mississippians in Dr. Sean Michael Lucas’ Church would like to have some of those jobs that Dr. Sean Michael Lucas finds happiness in via the majority that is governing.
I could go on here to mention how the Department of Education is destroying America and ask how the increase of funding of that Department is reason for anyone to be happy about governing majorities. I could ask how a Doctor of the Church (in this case Dr. Sean Michael Lucas) finds happiness in governing majorities when those governing majorities vote to increase the Stasi like surveillance culture in which we currently live. I could ask many more questions here of Dr. Sean Michael Lucas.
However, what I really want to pursue here is how it is that someone like Dr. Sean Michael Lucas can be reputed to be Theologically conservative while appearing to be politically liberal. (I mean how else should I take this quote above except as coming from someone who sanctions the liberal agenda which the omnibus bill represents?) It seems to me that a person’s Theology is expressed via everything they weigh in on, including politics. I promise you, that politically speaking, this quote is either very liberal or was written while having some kind of physical episode. Aside from the art of contradiction, how can one be theologically conservative while politically liberal?
Did Dr. Sean Michael Lucas ever consider that there might have been a reason why the “freedom caucus bolted” from Speaker Ryan. Maybe that reason was because the omnibus bill didn’t represent … oh, let’s say …. freedom? One more thing, Dr. Sean Michael Lucas, when it comes to shutting down the Government that is something the President does, not Ted Cruz or the House. The President, by vetoing appropriation bills sent to him at that point chooses to shut down the Government. A little civics 101 on the cheap there Dr. Sean Michael Lucas.
And about the compromise which Dr. Sean Michael Lucas says governance is about, just ask yourself, if you’re a Christian, when is the last time the pagan left ever compromised? Did the pagan left compromise on Obamacare? Did the pagan left compromise on the stimulus package? Did the pagan left compromise on “fast and furious”? Did the pagan left compromise in the IRS Lois Lerner scandal? Did they compromise in being forthright with the Benghazi disaster? When has the pagan left ever compromised Dr. Sean Michael Lucas?
I asked some of these questions to Dr. Sean Michael Lucas but he responded by saying he was not going to engage me and asked me not to take offense. I told him I didn’t take any offense in the slightest, but now you know why Dr. Sean Michael Lucas didn’t want to engage me.
On a different front to Dr. Sean Michael Lucas’ opinions, and pertaining to the politics of what has happened with the omnibus bill it is important to know that Republicans have made a political calculation that they need a new base and as such they are repudiating their former conservative base. They are reasoning that the threat of losing their conservative base is less of a threat than shutting down the Government over conservative principle. Now Doctors of the Church like Dr. Sean Michael Lucas may be happy about this majority governance but I think it portends dark times for the ethic called for in biblical Christianity.
One is left wondering if the doctor is referencing human governance, God’s governance, or both, with such a statement. While reading his statement I envisioned the embedded link. Balanced movements are best left to the experts.
He is referencing human governance… after all, God’s governance requires no compromise.