Listening to Scott McClellan talk about his book I was struck about his reasons for writing.  He said he had a “higher loyalty” to the truth than he did to the White House.  This is a grand statement.  I can’t help but wonder why that loyalty only kicked in after a book deal.  Loyalty to truth should trump everything else, including personal financial gain.

When truth only comes out when it is to our advantage for it to come out, it calls into question our commitment to it.

I don’t doubt that Mr. McClellan believes what he is saying, but if he did not truly delve into all of these questions with his superiors and did not give them all a chance to clarify it leaves you wondering.  Isn’t it possible he didn’t know as much as he thinks he did?  Wouldn’t loyalty to truth require more effort and in a more immediate fashion than waiting to publish a book?

I just read a comment on a post at Politico.com.  The article was on the weakness of the Republican brand and how it would be difficult for John McCain to overcome that.  The poster's comment- "There are two things that would make be abandon John McCain, pandering to the base and selecting Mitt Romney as his VP choice."

It is fascinating to me that anyone could even make such a statement.  How can someone react in such a fashion and claim to have any rational basis for doing so?  I am not a big McCain fan, but the alternative in Barack Obama is so far to the left that as someone who leans conservative there is no choice but to support him.  "The if I don't get it exactly my way I'm going home" mentality is evidence of a mindset that is more emotional than rational.

A similar analogy would be a vegetarian saying, "If you give me vegetables sautéed in animal shortening I am going to leave and eat a porterhouse steak!"   Such a statement would suggest that an individual's anger, his or her emotions, are the driving force rather than his or her values.

I see this everyday.  What people feel is becoming more important than what people think.  Their beliefs and values are so lacking a rational foundation that they change like the weather.  I see this in my practice.  People feel badly.  They want to get better.  They want antibiotics.  I give a detailed scientific explanation as to why that would be bad medicine.  The response I usually get, "I don't care, I want to get better."  To them their feelings are equal to my medical training.  My opinion is no better than theirs.  They want something, and that is all the justification they need.

Unfortunately, when people want conflicting things, there is no way to get what they desire.  You can't eat fatty foods and be thin.  You can't have a good marriage and live like a selfish pig.  You can't have a stable Iraq and abandon it to Al Qaeda.  You can't placate terrorists and be left alone.  This is not the reality of the world in which we live.

Rational people understand this.  Unfortunately, it seems that rational people are becoming an endangered species.

It is a simple and obvious fact that is ignored and rejected by many in our culture.  We are not all equal.  We do not all have equal abilities, equal potential and unfortunately, equal opportunities.  This is reality.  When this reality is rejected, great harm is done.
For example, not everyone can be a doctor as I am.  Medical school is four years of 30 unit semesters.  Not everyone can do that.  For many people the academic work load would be too great and they would fail.  I am not an artist.  No amount of schooling, practice or effort could change that.  I have an artist friend who has painted murals in my office.  In just a matter of hours he painted freehand beautiful murals that covered the wall of one of my exam rooms.  It would take me days of effort to accomplish the task, and the quality would be far less.  I am not his equal.  I am comfortable with that.
    This week I had a consult visit with a family who's daughter was struggling in first grade.  She wasn't failing, but the teacher was concerned that she wasn't keeping up with all of the other students.  As we talked it became evident that the teacher, as she had been trained to do, was viewing all of the children in her class as equals.  I reminded the parents that this isn't necessarily so.  A remarkable 50% of Americans are of below average intelligence!  There will be students who are in the bottom half of the class!  I can predict with certainty that the bottom half of the class will contain exactly half of the students!  What was and is important is that the child do as well as she can, and become the best that she can be.  Treating her as if she is equal when she is not can do great damage to her self esteem.
    This "all are equal" philosophy is dangerous in the political arena as well.  It is what leads some to decide that successful people deserve to be taxed more.  Since everyone is equal, no one should have more than anyone else.  This thinking is foolishness, yet it is common.  It has as its consequence tax policies that paralyze the economy and stifle productivity and growth.
    So why is this idea so wide spread?  First because of a misunderstanding of equality.  Men are all created of equal value, deserving equal rights and respect.  It is easy to mistakenly broaden this definition to say all men are equal..  Secondly, and more importantly it is due to a rejection of our Christian heritage.  The Sovereign God who has created us has decided to bless people disproportionately.  A culture that rejects this truth will turn to other false ideas instead.  Amazingly, the evolutionary mindset that dominates are academia supports inequality in another way.  Implied in evolutionary theory is the existence of advantageous mutations.  What are such mutations if not inequalities?
    We need to reject the notion that all are identical and equal.  We need to celebrate and embrace the truth that all are equally valuable yet not equal in ability or talent..  Only form such a place of truth can we truly address the ills of society and develop solutions.