choices

we all face decisions every day of our life. some are more weighty than others. as a teenager growing up i found myself constantly getting in trouble. and of course, many times i would find myself in the office of Pastor Mark. his mantra to me was something like, "Nick, life is full of choices, and what you choose every day affects the outcome of your life". everytime he would see me screwing up, he would just sigh and say "choices, nick....choices." this happened so many times that it almost became a joke if it weren't true.

sometimes we are faced with choices that pit the principle of what we believe against the realistic consequences of those decisions in the short term. for instance, when you have a screaming kid who wants too much candy, do you hold to your principles and suffer the crying, or do you give him candy and risk setting a precedent that the kid can get whatever he wants if he throws a big enough fit? many frustrated and exhausted parents have chosen the latter even though they know better. they let their emotions push them towards a pragmatic decision as opposed to an idealistic one - a decision based on principle.

i'm going somewhere with this. i promise. and ya know where i'm going? politics. yup. don't worry. i'm not going to try to indoctrinate you. i'm not trying to push you to be a republican or democrat. i just think there's a practical lesson to learn from the last two years about choosing between the pragmatic (the realistic, short term) decision and the idealistic (long term, principled) decision.

I supported and voted for Ron Paul in the last presidential election. i liked his small government philosophy and extreme respect for the constitution. i knew he was an outlying candidate that didn't have a huge chance at winning the election, but i really believed in what he said even when he didn't win the primary. some said i was throwing my vote away. and maybe i was, but i was facing a decision to either go with principle or go the pragmatic way and vote for McCain because it was more realistic that he would have a chance at the presidency.

here we are a few years later. of course Ron Paul didn't win. but i realized this - before that election, republicans were still big spending "compassionate conservatives." but now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of smaller government and stronger individual rights. Tea Party candidates are putting old school republicans out of races. and speaking of the Tea Party, do you realize that the first Tea Party (other than the one in the revolution) was organized by Ron Paul's campaign back in the fall of 2007?

listen, i'm not trying to convince you how awesome he is. that's not my point. i'm trying to demonstrate that sometimes you have to just follow your gut and make a principled and idealist decision even if you don't see the benefit in the short term. Ron Paul's run for the white house was not successful. but it was hugely successful in changing the tone and the direction of the republican party. do what you know is right - even if you don't see how anything good can come of it.