You might be a “useful idiot” if…

 

The phrase “useful idiot” was probably born as a political pejorative aimed at describing “people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they are not fully aware of, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause.”

Vladimir Lenin is often credited with coining the term, though, far as I can tell, his authorship hasn’t been confirmed. Still, the idea conveyed in “useful idiot” sure does seem to fit quite well with what we do know about Lenin and his worldview.

That being the case, conservative folks tend to enjoy using the “useful idiot” tag to address those of a leftist progressive political bent. Understandably, they see this is a cool, ironic sort of twist-of-the-knife opportunity to use some Vlad Lenin lingo against his very own disciples…or something like that. Thus, conservatives often gleefully incorporate it into book titles, articles and blogs, as well as conversations over dinner or around the water cooler.

It’s not really all that surprising then that “useful idiots” has come to be a term of derision most often aimed at and associated with those of a leftist progressive political bent. Conservative folks have done a fine job of turning (what are probably) Lenin’s own words against his cause.

Good job and neato to that, for sure. On a basic level, I’m right there with those who enjoy turning a tool of the enemy against other tools of the same.

But does the fact that the term “useful idiots” so clearly applies to advocates of leftist progressive or Christ-dismissing liberalism make the tools of the man-centered, progressive right or Christ-dismissing conservatism any less prone to “useful idiot” status or any less deserving of inclusion in the “useful idiot” category? Are willfully blind tools spent in service to the unbiblical leaders and unbiblical causes of the secular political right any less “useful idiots” than those enslaved to an equally man-centered worldview of a leftist bent?

If not, then are Christ-dismissing conservatives any less to blame than Christ-dismissing liberals for the current desperate position of America as a land and culture? Are these conservatives any less in need of hearing and heeding the Gospel command to repent?

Might these conservatives, many of them professing Christians, actually be more responsible for the present sate of America, based on the light given them?

Is it really reasonable to blame most those graced with the least light by which to see and craft a worldview?

How are we to test and measure all of these ideas and questions as Christians?

These seem to be important things to ask, ponder and answer in the best sense of “testing all things” (see: 1 Thessalonians 5:21), so that we might better do our Lord’s will in every realm here and now, all to His glory and our benefit. After all, as Christians, we know that such is the only true path to lasting peace and prosperity here in His creation. So it seems that we, as His “forgetful people” are much in need of a reminder as to who we are in Christ and how we are called (and equipped) to proclaim and reflect His nature right here and right now in every front on battlefield earth.

To that end, I’d like to respectfully submit for your consideration the following ten signs that you, Conservative, might indeed be a “useful idiot” to the enemies of Christ, His people, and His Kingdom…

1. You might be a useful idiot if…you think that The Party of Lincoln and The Patriot Act is going to take a serious, sustained stand against a centralized, all-powerful Federal Corporate State.
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2. You might be a useful idiot if…you think that the party who birthed “Too Big to Fail” bank and business bailouts is going to champion individual financial responsibility, true free markets, and equal financial opportunity for all.
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3. You might be a useful idiot if…you think the party of Richard Nixon, who formally inaugurated a fiat currency/slavery system purposefully designed to give some the power to literally purchase, direct and control the lives of all others by way of “money” crafted out of thin air, is now or ever going to become a true champion for equal access to prosperity through a healthy work ethic and sound economics.
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4. You might be a useful idiot if…you think that the party of Lincoln/Nixon/Ford/Reagan/Bush/Dole/Bush/McCain/Romney is ever going to actually shrink the size, scope, or power of the federal government in any sustained, meaningful manner.
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5. You might be a useful idiot if…you think that the party of the Patriot Act, which openly eviscerated many of the most basic personal liberties and freedoms of average American citizens (all in the name of defending freedom and liberty, of course), is now going to take a serious stand for the personal freedoms and liberties of average American citizens.
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6. You might be a useful idiot if…you think that the party of perpetual war, upset about losing out on another “opportunity” in Syria and determined to make up for it in Ukraine, will ever purposefully lead us to lasting peace. (War is far too profitable for the “Too Big to Fail” folks and far too useful in solidifying and growing the power of the Corporate State.)
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7. You might be a useful idiot if…you are far more angry at the composition (and composer) of this message than you are about the facts contained herein or than you are those who have led you by the nose in helping them to bring these terrible things to fruition. Put another way, if you actually cherish and believe in the beauty and necessity of biblically defined personal liberty, individual responsibility, free markets, a solid work ethic, the pursuit of peace, and equal opportunity for all, then why are you still supporting a political party that has consistently demonstrated open hostility to each and every one of those values in practice for sooooooooooooooooo long?
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8. You might be a useful idiot if…you think that Christ can be dismissed as the essential personal core of any true and good “value” or “principle” without that value or principle then becoming fundamentally corrupted to the point that it brings death to all that it touches. (This is how and why Christ-dismissing conservatism has, in practice, accomplished the destruction of every virtue and principle that many of its “useful idiots” claim to adore.)
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9. You might be a useful idiot if…you think that the fact that God has graciously allowed America so much time to repent in any way condones any single aspect of her persistent rebellion. The wrath of God is already pouring out on this Christ-dismissing land (see: Romans 1). Unless there is repentance (from Christ dismissing conservatives as much as anyone else), it will pour out fully and America will be rightly destroyed.
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10. You might be a useful idiot if…you think that you are fooling anyone by pretending never to have heard or or noticed such facts as those presented here. You have been made aware of them and you are responsible to God for what you do with what you have been shown.

If you’re still reading and open to a suggestion, please consider avoiding conservative political talk and commentary for one full month while exclusively pursuing Scripture and solidly Christ-centered writings and teachings on economics, family, work, business, and the like. Purge yourself of the bilge and noise that has become so common on the right and so uncritically accepted by many Christians. Seek to restore Christ as King over your own political and economic thoughts and actions, so that you might influence this dying culture for the better while there is yet time.

Shake off the political puppet show that has fo so very long distracted so many “useful idiots” into service of the enemies of Christ and the material enslavement of His people.

Please test every word and contention made here in light of His perfect nature as revealed in His perfect Word and act on what you find therein. Then, and only then, we might actually attain the many beautiful things that Christ-dismissing conservatism claims to offer, but can and will never actually deliver.

Please accept this challenge to seek Him out in all things at this critical time…or ignore it and become not only a useful idiot, but a willful one.

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