Critical Thinking, Logic, and Brutal Self Examination

I am a thinker. I am a writer. I am a passionate lover of God, Country, and Family. I have an economics degree and have been in the business world for 20 years. I am an unabashed free trader and capitalist.
But then I must also consider: Am I a hypocrite? Am I so consumed with the superiority of my views that I refuse to consider the opinions of others? Am I hateful and offensive in my passion?

I must confess, that I have done some intense soul searching in those areas of late. For I am truly fallible and understand that in all manner of life, I must constantly self evaluate and pray that the Lord will convict me when there is too much Dolley and not enough Jesus. The Lord will most certainly, decisively and quickly set me straight in those areas.

What started me down this road, though, were posts from several friends on one of the social networking sites that said, if you believe this, take me off your "Friends" list and another that intimated that all Republicans were liars and hypocrites. I must confess I was taken aback by their stance, and while, perhaps not specifically directed toward me, sent me down the road none the less. Technically, I no longer consider myself a Republican, but accepted the broad stroke to include people of the Conservative persuasion.

The gist of the posts concerned the President's address to school children and the storm surrounding it. I was forced to ask myself, would I be holding the same position were the President someone that held my world view. The painful answer was, no, probably not. Upon reaching that somewhat discomforting conclusion, I continued to investigate the issue. I have come to the conclusion, in the Tradition of Audacity of Logic, that while I may not have objected to another President that shared my world view addressing school children, it is wrong from a Constitutional stand point. Thus, no President or political leader should be conducting this activity.

This was my response to the all Republicans are liars post:

I read the text on Monday and I thought the address was fine. Perhaps geared more appropriately to troubled children than to my sheltered middle class kid. My son is not even aware you CAN drop out of school and does not have a clue about AIDS. ....

The President is a temporary public servant. He is not a King, or a Father Figure - he is by definition the head of his political party, the CEO of the Country, and the Commander and Chief. We have allowed the expansion of the role of the Federal Government to overshadow too many areas of our lives - they are not even Constitutionally empowered to participate in Education.

The enumerated powers and the 10th Amendment limit the scope and the preview of their authority, yet we continue today to allow the ever encroaching specter of the Federal bureaucracy into our lives. The Founding Fathers understood this and instituted a system of checks and balances that is in large part ignored by us. We are becoming a nation that looks to the government to solve our problems, motivate our children, and take care of us from the cradle to the grave. Thus, from that mind set and logical set of reasons, we opted to have our son participate in other activities during the speech. Contextually, I did not object to the message, I do not, however, agree with the worldview from which it came - but I am honest about that."