PREAMBLE:
To make sense of this article you really need to read this one, OR you can skip to the conclusions, OR, if you embrace chaos and mystery via laziness, you can read my article without reading the context and try to solve the puzzle Sherlock Holmes style. You decide. Anyways, let’s begin.
INTRODUCTION:
OK, so, if I had unlimited time, space, and patience, I could go through this guy’s commentary, line by line and point out the flaws. I could point out that he’s a person who has a dubious relationship with journalistic standards, a questionable ability to critically assess his own arguments, and a generally intellectually dishonest tone.
I could also point out that he seems like a whiner.
And actually, that sounds fun and sadly necessary. And if I use language that is a little more harsh or on-the-nose than usual, it’s because Mr. DeWitt likes to use insulting and accusatory language in his articles, and I figure what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Just check out his previous articles since 2019 on the Ohio Capital Journal website. He literally calls President Trump a traitor…as in a criminal worthy of some pretty stiff penalties…therefore you can tell that he’s a fair and evenhanded guy.
CRITICAL INTERACTION:
ANYWAYS, so we can say we did, allow me briefly to address his intellectual claims, such as they are. First, and this is perhaps the most important part of the whole thing, is that Mr. DeWitt’s fundamental claim is that what the Ohio Republican Party is doing is both illegitimate and an effort to undermine the will of the voters. Mr. DeWitt is really big on this democracy stuff. He is a really big believer in the will of the people. Back a while ago he had an article where he told everyone to vote down the proposed Constitutional amendment which would require 60% of the vote to affirm. He quotes the Ohio Constitution which says:
“All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform, or abolish the same, whenever they may deem it necessary.
– Ohio Constitution, Bill of Rights, Article I, Section 2”
I mean, I don’t see in that passage how it says that pure majoritarianism is what the Constitution means by the power being inherent in the people. But I guess Mr. DeWitt does. In a breathless article full of high rhetoric he talks about protecting things like “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Life.
You know, that thing that Mr. DeWitt wants to exterminate whensoever it’s convenient for him. He speaks in high moral language, but uses such language to defend the indefensible. But more to the point. He talks about how we need to respect purely majoritarian democratic decisions, because the decisions of voters are to be honored and respected and handled with sacred reverence. Any change whatever, any attempt to undermine current law or policy, anything anyone does to transform existing law is a violation, a blasphemy of this sacrum depositum.
Except when he wants to undermine the will of the voters. Then it’s OK. Because you know, the Ohio voters have supported a right to life since there have been Ohio voters. The Ohio 1802 Constitution’s Bill of rights says this in Article 1:
Section 1 – That all men born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights; amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety; and every free republican government, being founded on their sole authority, and organized for the great purpose of protecting their rights and liberties, and securing their independence; to effect these ends, they have at all times a complete power to alter, reform or abolish their government, whenever they may deem it necessary.
The 1851 Constitution, whose language was retained in the 1912 Constitution, which is the model we’re working from and amending, says this:
§1 All men are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.
See, in the 1912 Constitution there’s no confusion. You don’t need to be born to enjoy your right to life—you have it.
Does Mr. DeWitt care about the Ohio voters from at least 1851 onwards who wanted to ensure that all people have a right to life? No. Why should he? DeWitt doesn’t really care about Democracy. He doesn’t actually value the voter’s will. He doesn’t, in truth, think that Vox Populi, Vox Dei! No. He tells us so much in an article he wrote following the defeat of Issue 1 this summer. He says that he’s proud of Ohio voters. So, if Ohio voters had voted to raise the standard necessary to amend the Constitution, he would have been disappointed? He would have disagreed with the blessed, beloved, besainted—albeit benighted—majority?!
The reality is that nobody really believes in pure democracy. People might like pure democracy when the majority is on their side. But DeWitt doesn’t actually like majority rule qua majority rule. He likes it when he gets his way. Which demonstrates that he’s a petulant man-child masquerading as an intellectual. He wants what he wants and he’ll take it howsoever he can get it. He happens to be on the popular side, this time. Goody gumdrops. But he’s already shown his true colors. He doesn’t believe in pure democracy, because only the most stupid actually like pure majoritarianism.
Majoritarianism is bad. And anyone with a coffee-cup’s worth of common sense knows this, and even if you haven’t any common sense—anyone who’s read any 20th century history knows that pure majoritarianism is not a good thing.
The second huge problem with DeWitt’s article, and one that has huge implications for Christians, is that he states that any attempt by the Ohio General Assembly to limit the impact and implications of Issue 1 is a violation of the special, super-wonderful democracy. In the words of Dwight Schrute: that’s politics, baby.
So, if Ohio voters had chosen to pass a law that outlawed abortion in all 9 months of pregnancy, from conception to delivery, and a Democrat General Assembly was working to undermine that bill do you think Mr. DeWitt would be upset? Would he be crying from the rooftops about the unfairness of it all?! And if you’ll buy that, lemme know, so I can tell you about some sea-side investment opportunities I got in Phoenix.
Again, I know this is the case because Mr. DeWitt is also against the death penalty. He doesn’t say that sentencing should be handed over to a jury instead of a judge. No. He’s OK with pharmaceutical companies refusing to supply the State of Ohio with the drugs used for lethal injection. He thinks this is ethical.
So, if the Ohio General Assembly passes health and safety statutes so draconian and targeted that they shut down all baby-murder centers, I mean, abortion facilities, in Ohio would that be ethical? Or a frustration of the will of voters? What if the State Medical Board starts revoking licenses of baby-murderers, I mean abortionists, because they are violating the Hippocratic Oath? No, Mr. DeWitt wouldn’t find this heroically ethical, but would throw a hissy-fit about how it’s flouting the will of the voters.
I could go on all day. I could talk about Federalism and how he’s mad that a decision by the Ohio Court he liked was overturned by a higher court. Boo friggedy hoo. We live in a Federalist representative Republic, bucko. Dry your eyes and deal with it.
Cause I intend to. And I pray you intend to.
CONCLUSION:
Brothers and sisters, Tuesday was a disappointment. I was disappointed in Ohio. I was disappointed in this state I love. I was disappointed in a people I love. I love Ohio. And I love the people of Ohio. And I thought that Ohioans were better than we actually are. And more fool me.
But, in the end, this has not changed so much as revealed the truth. Lots of Ohioans are as conservative as their pocketbook and about as moral, too. It is not the calling, duty, and privilege of Christians to expect the lost to share our morals and ethics. It is not even reasonable for us to presume that the godless will demonstrate simple moral clarity.
There is not now and almost certainly never has been a majority of Ohioans who are truly born again. So expecting the lost to choose costly righteousness over convenient wickedness was always a longshot. We’re on the tail end of 80 years of decadence, degradation, and moral idiocy. And this is part of broader set of cultural shifts that began centuries ago. We’re seeing the logical conclusion of Modernism, Enlightenment philosophical presuppositions, Scientism, Radical Individualism, American Consumerism, Political Progressivism, Critical Theoretical Liberationist moralities, Personalist Antinomianism, and the sexual revolution.
Taken together, these ideas have functioned not as an Anti-Western coalition, as is so often presumed, but as an Anti-Christian. These movements, both in isolation and in coordination have sapped us like a succubus of our faith, hope, and love. We are no longer a godly, moral, or serious people. And it happened in that order. And it will have to be restored in that order. Godlessness begets immortality which begets folly. The answer is not in teaching fools wisdom but in showing Christ to the Lost. Which is the duty and calling of the church in any event.
Yes, of course, an intransigent, dedicated, and active minority can truly change the culture. Indeed, there’s good evidence that those are the only kinds of people who ever truly do!
So, I do not despair that Issue 1 passed. I lament. I weep for the lost babies. I weep for the shattered lives. I weep for the mothers who will become murderers. I weep for the fathers who will become their accomplices and for the fathers who will never raise their children. I weep for their souls. I weep for all that could have been and never will be. I weep for Ohio. I weep for America. But I will not despair. I refuse to despair because 1) Despair is a sin. 2) Despair is completely unproductive. 3) There’s no reason to. Because we have the gospel; we have Christ. And yes, in this world we will have trouble—but take heart, for Christ has overcome the world. And maybe America and Ohio are doomed and they will never be restored to godliness before Jesus returns.
So what? Our job is to get the Word of God out. Our job is to get out the Gospel. Our job is to puck those burning brands out of the fire. Our job is to save the bruised reeds and the smoldering wicks, to go running after the Ethiopian Eunuchs and to eat with the Cornelius’ and to go to Rome, even in chains!
Does abortion make me sad?! Of course, all Christians should lament for such wickedness! Should we work to make Ohio and America more godly through political means at our disposal? Of course! Anyone who says different doesn’t understand the Old Testament…or the New…or the Church Fathers…or the Reformers…or any theologian of any worth whatever. Is there a good chance that America is headed for a fall from which she cannot recover? Of course. But that is no cause for despair—and even if it were, it wouldn’t change our duty: to get the Gospel to the lost.
Brothers and sisters, you don’t know the future. You don’t know what effect your actions will have. There is much to lament. So fast, pray, lament, and when you’ve wept your weeps, and dried your eyes, and washed your face and anointed it with oil, get back out and preach the word of God. You don’t know what effect you gospelling others will have. But you do know that it will be an act of obedience to Christ and it will be the one thing people need for eternal life.
So let’s have hope, as well as faith and love, and get out the Word of God.
ALTERNATE ENDING:
But I will not despair. Because we’re playing rock, paper, scissors, swift-kick-in-the-crotch. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the swift-kick-in-the-crotch that beats everything else. And only the Church has that particular move. And it wins! EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. The problem is we’ve been sittin’ on the winning move this whole time. And every time I try to extend this analogy it falls apart, but suffice to say, if your opponent is throwin’ rock and you throw a swift-kick-in-the-crotch, you’re gonna win! The gospel always wins.