Authority

The Lord shall give strength to his people . . . 

 - From Psalm 29

We have been looking at the moral foundations that inform the way we think, make decisions, and vote. So far, we have studied the concepts of Fairness, Caring, and Loyalty . . . using the lectionary readings as a framework.

We have found that fairness and caring are hard qualities to force on others. We have our own way of manifesting these virtues. People that describe themselves as "liberal" tend to vote, with only these two dimensions in mind. They are not typically concerned about the other four foundations, one of which we just studied: loyalty.

If people were more loyal to their family, or to their church, than they are to politics, the world would be a much better place today. Families and churches are uniquely equipped to address problems in fairness and caring. And many people simply choose to address both needs in person, directly, through charitable work, and not forcing a method on others by way of government coercion.

It's not . . . well, fair, to force people to embrace the government approach, when they are doing plenty, anonymously, in private, to better the lives of others. It becomes unfair, indeed, to force others to accept bureaucratic action when they are doing more than enough. And it does not demonstrate care, at all. In fact . . . when one group of people is out doing circles around government, in world disaster relief, it is simply wrong not to stop and learn how they do it. It is evil to avoid approaches that would leverage those that do relief well.

We turn now to the next moral foundation. It, too, along with loyalty, caring, and fairness, is a foundation used by Conservatives, in equal weight to the others.

And this fourth foundation is authority. Conservatives tend to respect authority, or chain of command. There is a major segment of any population, as much as 65%, that simply wants to do what it's told, make no waves, not rock the boat, and go home at the end of the day, to a predictable and steady lifestyle.

This is the sincere wish and vision of the majority.

This view holds that, when making decisions on life, career, buying a home, voting, etc., people that have a high regard for authority will think long and hard before going against the advice of their own elders. Authority is closely linked to loyalty.

And the idea itself goes back to the belief that God is in charge. That it really doesn't matter what we do, that He will take care of things. And from that belief comes the conviction that we will do well to listen to other people that also follow the Lord.