Category: Faisal Gill

PERSEVERING FOR THE BEST IDEAS

On By Citizen TomIn Culture War, Faisal Gill, Information Warfare, Philosophy, religion, Republican Party

bible

It has become one of my favorite quotes, but that is not because it is easy.

Be egalitarian regarding persons. Be elitist regarding ideas. — Peter Kreeft of Boston College (from here)

The statement is simple, but the implementation is not. Only one person has ever satisfactorily carried it off.

John 1:14-18 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Word Becomes Flesh

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”

16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

As John said, He was full of grace and truth. Because He knows the Truth, He upholds the best ideas. Because He could forgive us, He offered us His grace and even friendship. We, on the other hand, can only do our best to follow His example.

We live in interesting times.  Our world teeters upon the brink of tumult.  Even our nation, once thought stable and still extremely powerful, looks more and more pitiful. And so we wonder what to do. What would Jesus do? What of His grace and truth?

How can we be full of grace and truth? We can strive to be egalitarian regarding persons and elitist regarding ideas. However, we must admit the difficulty. Consider the following, Who, and what, the tea party likes by Steve Hochstadt (suggested by phadde2 in this comment). Here is how it begins.

Tea party politicians don’t like people who are out of work. In Congress and in campaigns they consistently oppose paying unemployment insurance to the most distressed citizens, those who have been out of work for the longest time. A poll earlier this year found that 70 percent of Tea Party Republicans oppose extending unemployment benefits and 65 percent oppose raising the minimum wage, even though most other Republicans favor these policies.

They don’t like people who have suffered from catastrophic events beyond their control. Chris McDaniel, the tea party favorite who challenged Republican Sen. Thad Cochran in a Mississippi primary, said he didn’t know if he would have voted for federal aid to those people in his own state who were devastated by Hurricane Katrina, legislation that passed the Senate unanimously. (continued here)

If instead of pleasing people we seek the best ideas, some of those who disagree will shower us with hatred. Hence Tea Party activists must expect slander and libel. How should we react? As  observed in Government Censorship/Party Censorship: Does it happen here?, responding in kind to such vitriol just takes us off topic. So it is best to just ask the undecided to give us a fair hearing and judge us on the issues, not the volume of our opponent’s slander and libel.

What else can we do? We can practice what we preach.  We can be kind and fair to people who do not look or altogether think like us. Remember Faisal Gill?  In 2007, Gill ran as candidate for the House of Delegates, 51st District. Gill is a Muslim of Pakistani descent. Most Republicans do not like Islam, but many saw Gill as a serious and competent Conservative who lived and campaigned honorably. So we supported his campaign. Although Gill lost a closely contested race, local Republicans still have no reason to fault their decision to support Gill. That is particularly true since this article came out: Feds Spied on Prominent Muslim-Americans, Report Claims. How many politicians could survive that level of scrutiny?

If we choose to live with grace we can forgive our enemies and confidently acknowledge our friends. If we seek the truth, beg for wisdom from God, we can enjoy the peace that comes from knowing we seek to do what is right.

CURIOUS INCONSISTENCIES

On By Citizen TomIn Faisal Gill, Republican Party

elephantgop.pngOccasionally, when I see I am getting a fair number of visitors from Black Velvet Bruce Li, I wander on over to see Greg Letiecq’s latest mischief. Since I do not approve of his website, I find it mighty strange that he advertises mine. I can only suppose he feels our occasional conflicts help to bring visitors to his website.

People do in fact tend to be attracted to conflict. We stage sporting events, the news media sends reporters into war zones, historians record the history of our conflicts, and story tellers make up yarns that portray imaginative conflicts with aliens, monsters, gods, and whatever.

At his website, Letiecq stages political sporting events and tells political yarns. For example, in addition to settling a personal grudge, Letiecq’s attacks on Faisal Gill provided ample opportunity for imaginative yarns and political conflict (for related posts on this website, see Faisal Gill). Unfortunately, Letiecq’s imaginative personal attacks are not harmless. They cause unwarranted harm to people’s reputations.

Consider Letiecq’s latest personal attacks, his attacks on Will Payne and Senator Ken Stolle (here). I do not know anything about Will Payne and Senator Ken Stolle. I just have sympathy for anyone Letiecq would attack. Why is Letiecq attacking these men? Well, Letiecq considers switching political parties a grave betrayal. Yet as one of his commenters pointed out (here), Letiecq really has nothing on which to base his charges.

I suppose Letiecq thinks nobody should ever switch political parties. Yet people do. I wonder, for example, if Letiecq has ever heard of Ronald Reagan or Winston Churchill. When each of these men switched political parties, were they what Letiecq would consider putzes? Fortunately for Payne, some members of the Democratic Party seem happy with his “abuse of trust” (see here and here). Is it because they want a traitor in their midst?

As I have said before, I would like to see Letiecq removed from participation in the Prince William Republican Committee. If the Republican Party is to maintain high standards and deserve the public’s trust, then we must have some standards for the people we accept into our membership. So in future posts I intend to discuss the case removing Letiecq and the difficulties that would be involved.

Nothing of this sort is ever easy, but I suppose that is just as well. Stay tuned.

IF TRUE, HOW SAD

On By Citizen TomIn Faisal Gill6 Comments

world.pngI suppose the dream that we might judge each other solely by the content of our character instead of by our race, sex or creed remains only that, a dream. The Potomac News reviewed the electoral races in Prince William (here) and offered an editorial opinion I would rather not have to see.

The 51st District race, we believe, was determined by race and religion, rather than the issues.

Republican Faisal Gill isn’t fundamentally different in opinion or principle from his Republican counterparts, yet he lost to Democrat Paul Nichols in a district currently represented by Republican Michele McQuigg.

The fact that Gill is of Pakistani descent and a Muslim, plus his history working with Muslim groups and the mischaracterization of his relationship to one of those groups, led to his being beaten by a Democrat. If anybody else with the same political views and beliefs as Gill had run in his place, the Republicans would have kept the seat.

I cannot know why people voted the way they voted, but I have been disgusted by the conduct of some of our local bloggers. We all saw their posts. These bloggers engaged in a smear campaign that included posts that can only rightly be described as discrimination based on race and creed.

One of these bloggers (see here, here, here, and here, for examples) I would like to see barred from participation on the Prince William Republican Committee. As a member, his unseemly conduct reflects badly on those who do participate honorably (see here and here).

Greg Letiecq knew and knows Faisal Gill is not a terrorist (see here). He just ignored facts as inconvenient. However, the Dept. of Homeland Security had to satisfy two senators that Faisal Gill is not a terrorist. That is what you call clearance, and this information was no secret.

The worst of Letiecq’s dirty work took place before this year’s primaries. Because Greg Letiecq is President of Help Save Manassas, I would like to say he has reformed somewhat in recent months. However, his irrational rage against Faisal Gill continues. Consider his last couple of posts. In this post, Letiecq predicts Faisal Gill’s electoral victory. In his next post, Letiecq suggests Paul Nichols should switch parties. Finally, we have a post about the Faisal Gill Effect. The point being to emphasize Gill’s relative unpopularity.

Why does Letiecq so despise Faisal Gill? I cannot read his mind, but the answer may have little to do with race or creed. What I do know is that Gill took the part of Steve Chapman, a young politician attacked by a previous incarnation of Letiecq’s blog (see here).

Whatever Letiecq’s motivation, the PWC GOP’s continued association with Letiecq is at best unwise. Admittedly, Letiecq has obvious talents, but he lacks the requisite scruples the wise require of anyone they would call an ally.

Other Views

Innumerable post have been done on this subject. Here is just a sampling.

The SkepticalObserver reviews the continuing Faisal Gill hatred here.

The Mason Conservative reviewed Faisal Gill’s chances of victory here.

Bearing Drift identified this problem some months back here.

Bacon’s Rebellion found Black Velvet Bruce Li’s beginnings disturbing (here).

This website exists principally because Two Conservatives did so many posts defending Faisal Gill from scurrilous attacks Charles needed a separate website.

The Latest On Faisal Gill – Republican for House of Delegates, 51st District

On By Citizen TomIn Faisal Gill

campaign.pngThe SkepticalObservor has the latest regarding the Eleventh Congressional District Committee’s unanimous rejection of Julie Lucas’ appeal regarding the 51st District Convention which nominated Faisal Gill (see here).

Charles at his blog, Two Conservatives, has fact checked the bloggers attacking Faisal Gill (see here and here for a start), and SkepticalObservor has done the same (search both blogs). This blog has a category essentially devoted to refuting the absurd charges against Faisal Gill.

Fans of Faisal, another blog operated by Charles, has focused on comparing Faisal Gill with his opponent. That, ladies and gents, is what an election is about. At this point, the sole accomplishment of all the infernal Gill-hating is to undermine the morale the PWC GOP. If we want to come out ahead this fall, then we need to focus on something positive, getting the candidates we support elected.

The race between Julie Lucas and Faisal Gill is over. Lucas is running for School Board.

If you do not like Faisal Gill, that is your prerogative. You can also spend all your efforts hating Faisal Gill, but that is sick behavior that is not going to buy anyone anything — unless you are a muck-raking Democrat. Serious Republicans need to ask themselves what they want to accomplish. Do you want to sulk and take your toys home, or do you want to be a player?

We live in the great state of Virginia. This is our home, and it has a future. Do you want to spend your time shaping that future, or do you want to listen to people who have nothing better to do than hate to Faisal Gill?