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The Republican Party adopted a platform that is very different from previous platforms. Former member of the RNC platform Cynthia Dunbar offers this commentary.

An anecdotal painting of my life and its political journey is essential to cast the best vision for this oped. To say that I was thrown into the deep end of the pool of all things political since my birth is, quite frankly, not hyperbole. No, I do not hail from a family of Kennedys. However, my father was a Senator, and my mother was a Judge. So, I will give you a second to imagine dinner-time conversations in my household. My parents met when my mother was a bill drafter for the legislature and my father was a junior representative, and they were married in the rotunda of our state capital. Are you starting to get the picture?

I had a front-row seat to all things political throughout my childhood. My parents were both “conservative Republicans” before the phrase had even been coined. My father once told me he did not care who I married as long as they were a Christian and a Republican and that he perceived those went hand-in-hand. I saw them repeatedly fight for the implementation of godly principles into public policy, often battling “the powers that be” in both parties.

I witnessed many times when the attacks from within their party were as vicious and brutal as those from the outside by the Democratic party, if not more so. This gave me a bad taste in my mouth for the political spirit in general, but as a good Christian soldier, I had been trained that no matter how distasteful, disengaging from the war was not an option. So, I stayed engaged, even becoming a youth delegate when I was 16 to the RNC Convention in Detroit when we nominated Ronald Reagan.

Fast forward to adulthood, God opened doors for me to obtain my Law Degree from Regent University, where I was taught how to decipher civil laws through a biblical worldview. During this time, I served as the graduate assistant to the Dean of the Law School, who had studied directly under Francis Schaeffer at Swiss L’Abri. I felt blessed to have acquired what appeared to be a double degree in law in addition to political philosophy, kingdom jurisprudence, or what I like to refer to as God’s Heart for Government. Equipped with this knowledge as a weapon in the warfare of cultural ideology, I stepped boldly, yet timidly, onto the battlefield. I ran for office several times, ultimately winning some and losing some. I can state without equivocation that while winning is much more fun than losing, both can positively impact the world around us.

In my campaigns, as well as my elected offices, I suffered more than my fair share of character assassination and political carnage. Nothing to compare with that of President Trump’s attacks, but then again, I held the offices of Member of the TX State Board of Education and National Committeewoman of the RNC for VA, positions hardly worthy of international awareness and attack, and yet the attacks came. I wondered at the level of attention and attack that was unquestionably disparate to the level of positions that I held, and I came to one conclusion. The enemy we fight is not flesh and blood, and the principalities and powers of darkness in high places both fear and oppose the injection of truth into the public square with a vengeance. This efficacy has much more to do with how proactively one pushes back darkness than it has to do with the position of power one may hold within the systems of men.

So, where am I going with all of this? I have taken the time to paint the above picture to benefit those who might argue, “Well, you just don’t understand.” I do understand; I completely understand. I have spent a lifetime of political involvement, hoping and praying that someday the body of Christ would step into the realm of the political and engage. But now that we seemingly have, there is a pervasive problem within the Christian community of American politics today.

Piety towards alignment and getting in lockstep with the trending political narrative has become synonymous with godliness. If you in any way expose errors in either the principles or practices of that given narrative, the party historically, and now ironically, cast as the defender of liberty and unalienable rights of free speech has become the policing force to bring silence. Why? Well, because the party has been coopted as the mouthpiece for a singular campaign, and, after all, there must be a consensus of beliefs and alignment at all costs. There is neither time nor room for “dictates of conscience” in a world of chaos and contention. Scripted uniformity is implemented through control from the top down. Such hierarchal domination is foundationally in opposition to the biblical depiction of servant-leadership and anathema to the biblical declaration that, ultimately, every “Archy” will be brought low.

In short, we are witnessing the essential need for godly perspectives through a paradigm shift away from political piety and back toward principles. Please hear what I am saying, not what I am not saying. I am not advocating for a departure from being salt and light within politics and government. I am not saying God is not with a particular man or candidate. The God we serve loved the entirety of humanity enough to die for us, so undeniably, God is with him. And we must continue to pray for him.

None of that changes the fact that we somehow have lost our way and must shift our focus from a man and a party to the one true Messiah of the world who CAN save a nation in a day. Otherwise, a burden is placed upon a mortal man that is too heavy for anyone but Christ to bear. This, coupled with numerous other reasons, enables us to see the need to be focused on principles and policies more than personality and party. This need cannot be overemphasized.

I realize I have had the benefit of growing up watching my parents fight not for personalities but for principles, and I have always done the same. This focus is foundational to establishing proper perspectives. Too often in the political game, principles are the first victims to be sacrificed in the guise of a strategy to “win at all cost.” But we must see the bigger picture, for once we allow principles to be sacrificed, we have already lost them. Sadly, that is where we find ourselves today.

The polarization and character assassination that has become acceptable and synonymous with politics has indeed made winning the ultimate goal, bringing with it a Machiavellian mindset. Truth and doing what is right become dispensable casualties of war. Life is no longer unalienable. Family is no longer sacred or worth upholding. We desperately fight to win, but in a world where life and family are no longer valued, what have we won?

Meanwhile, we vilify our political opponents, who are not our true enemies, as we do not wrestle with flesh and blood. Instead, we should be praying for them. Jesus Christ on the cross exemplified the power of love eclipsing that of hate.

It is time for us to be reminded that in our never-ending pursuit of political victory without the presence and principles of God, the solutions we are advocating may be equally bad as the problems we already face.

We cannot Make America Great Again if America is not good. Unfortunately, the politics of the day have proven that we are not. That is why our perspective must shift to Jesus, and our prayers shift to “Make America Good Again.” It is in God, and God alone, that we must place our trust. So, may we declare with a clarion voice, “Let God Arise!”

Intercessor, what are your thoughts? Please share in the comments.