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The "third-way" approach among the evangelical elite is not an alternative political system. It lacks political substance. Nor is it a way of doing politics. It's a *posture* that allows for the use of ad hoc & maximally moral principles for selected issues...
The "third-way" approach among the evangelical elite is not an alternative political system. It lacks political substance. Nor is it a way of doing politics. It's a *posture* that allows for the use of ad hoc & maximally moral principles for selected issues...
...in order to avoid the (necessary) messiness of politics and to maximize public moral purity. Lacking substance and a political end, they avoid "tribalism" and simply "engage" tribes (seemingly from nowhere) to demonstrate their "moral witness."
The "substance" they have are "heavenly" political principles, which stand above earthly politics. Being unsuitable for earthly politics, they allow for selective engagement with no view to success other than "witness."
None of this is politically serious, because the goals of this approach are not political. These people are parasitic on those who do the real work of politics, though the ruling class is perfectly fine with their politically weak "moral witness."
If we're interested in restoring a classical Protestant approach to politics and securing civil and ecclesiastical good for us and our posterity, we must reject this self-absorbed approach to public engagement.
Also, the posture follows a specific ethos, as I described in this thread: https://twitter.com/PerfInjust/status/1299706263425691648?s=20
They do not engage the "right" and "left" with a coherent, substantive, and practical alternative. They "enter" into "contexts" to interact and engage and show forth their heavenly morality. But then they leave and declare themselves "homeless."
Homelessness based in heavenly principles is simply a way to avoid the need for a coherent & systematic alternative that could, at least in theory, replace the existing secularist order. If you critique these "tribes" without offering an alterntve tribe you pose no threat to them
So third-wayism is a way to be above it all while still "engaging" and to do so selectively in order to maximize one's group-tailored "witness". Political engagement is simply a means for non-political ends.
