And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
While Washington was correct, he presided over a nation founded on the principle of religious freedom absent government coercion via the establishment of a national religion, along with minimal restrictions on the exercise of what one freely deemed to be one's a religion. That meant that in that nation he founded, one could choose to live outside any religion, with no religious beliefs or any base of beliefs that one considered a religion, and unrestrained by the religious morality of others, so long as that individual engaged in no acts outside established laws.
Societies naturally evolve toward the less restrictive, which was certainly the case in the American Revolution. So when religion becomes a matter of free choice, then no religion becomes a choice, and societies become more permissive, outside of the sphere of religion.
Lots of people make the slippery slope argument against the changes that our society is undergoing right now, but that slippery slope began with the idea of individualism and freedom. So, here we are... the product of that nation founded by Washington and The Founding Fathers.
I very much think that SoCons swim upstream, and generally fight a losing battle. And I think that Democrats have found our Achilles Heel, and they run electoral campaigns on social issues. They paint Republicans as social troglodytes based on the social conservative's push against what I believe to be the natural flow of societies, and Republicans, forced to acknowledge what constitutes a strong and vocal portion of their constituency, end up trying to win elections based on social issues, which is our weak flank.
They lose those elections, and Democrats then run the gamut of their agenda on the society.
Perhaps ALL Republicans need to run elections based on the Democrat's weak flank. Drop the social issues and talk about jobs, debt and taxes until they force the Democrats to defend the indefensible... their record these past five years.
Here's an interesting take on Ted Cruz and the TEA Party in general from Cal Thomas.
There are a lot of points that I agree with Cal on.
Cruz is quoted in the article:
"Many of the critics are saying the path to victory in November is for Republicans to put their heads down, don't rock the boat, don't take any stands. I think history has proven that that is a consistent path to failure"
I agree. I just don't think that those stands should be on gay marriage or any social issues.