{"id":25170,"date":"2016-09-28T05:45:14","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T09:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=25170"},"modified":"2016-09-27T20:55:25","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T00:55:25","slug":"keeping-our-promises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/09\/keeping-our-promises\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping our promises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

First Things<\/em> editor Alexi Sargeant says that \u201cTrump\u2019s policies,\u00a0such as they are, usually come down to America breaking its promises.\u201d \u00a0Read the\u00a0argument after the jump and say what you think of it.
\n<\/p>\n

From Alexi Sargeant, <\/span>Trump\u2019s Revolt Against Vows| First Things<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s policies, such as they are, usually come down to America breaking its promises. In the debate, he doubled-down on his previous pledge to back out of defending our NATO allies (who came to our defense after 9\/11). Later in the debate he casually said we can\u2019t defend Japan, another nation with whom we have a mutual defense treaty. This promised perfidy is of a piece with his rhetoric about tearing up deals and starting trade wars. He then brushed off the idea that stop-and-frisk policing was unconstitutional\u2014not by taking the chance to give us any sense of how he understands the Constitution, but with flat denials. It seems that, like America\u2019s treaties, the Constitution is just another document waiting to be renegotiated. . . .<\/p>\n

\n

Hillary tried to emphasize Donald Trump\u2019s lies, exaggerations, and absurd boasts. But playing fast-and-loose with the truth is hardly something that makes Trump unique on the political scene. What were most disturbing in his first debate performance were the times he chose to acknowledge his past dishonors brazenly, to frame them as matters of pride. This was how he reacted when confronted about his refusal to release his tax returns (\u201cthat makes me smart\u201d), his bilking of contractors<\/a> (\u201cI was unsatisfied with his work\u201d), and his tax-dodging (\u201cit would have been squandered\u201d).<\/p>\n

Donald Trump seems to think that backing out of agreements is laudable, as long it helps him get ahead. But any churl can break a vow. What takes character, in politics, business, or marriage, is to make a vow and keep it, come what may. Trump left open for Clinton a line that should by rights be a conservative rallying cry, \u201cIt is essential that America\u2019s word be good.\u201d Alack the day the GOP lost the right to say that!<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First Things editor Alexi Sargeant says that \u201cTrump\u2019s policies,\u00a0such as they are, usually come down to America breaking its promises.\u201d \u00a0Read the\u00a0argument after the jump and say what you think of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,36],"tags":[3457,3881,4829],"class_list":["post-25170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-politics","tag-2016-presidential-election","tag-donald-trump","tag-promises"],"yoast_head":"\nKeeping our promises<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First Things editor Alexi Sargeant says that "Trump's policies,\u00a0such as they are, usually come down to America breaking its promises." \u00a0Read the\u00a0argument\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/09\/keeping-our-promises\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keeping our promises\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First Things editor Alexi Sargeant says that "Trump's policies,\u00a0such as they are, usually come down to America breaking its promises." \u00a0Read the\u00a0argument\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/09\/keeping-our-promises\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-28T09:45:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-28T00:55:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/09\/keeping-our-promises\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/09\/keeping-our-promises\/\",\"name\":\"Keeping our promises\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-28T09:45:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-28T00:55:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"First Things editor Alexi Sargeant says that \\\"Trump's policies,\u00a0such as they are, usually come down to America breaking its promises.\\\" \u00a0Read the\u00a0argument\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/09\/keeping-our-promises\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/09\/keeping-our-promises\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/09\/keeping-our-promises\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Keeping our promises\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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