Michael Gerson

 I know very little of this man's story, but the snippets I do know, suggests a person who spent their life committed to deeply held beliefs that were unflappable at their lowest moments. Any snapshot from Gerson's life speaks volumes about any moment in his life and career. My introduction to Gerson was during the George W. Bush regei-ahem presidency...yeah W - the dumb one that waged war on America. So, yeah - I disliked him. I assumed he was either an idiot following an idiot, or part of the Ashcrost/Rove/Cheney was machine. He was none of those... much like Pence, he found himself a Christian in a morale-bankrupt-cash grab on America Party. Unlike Pence, Gerson did not speak to the veil - he spoke to his beliefs as a Christian. Okay - I know, all GOP "are Christian" - but Gerson indeed was. Though maybe I can't agree with his party of choice, and I can't share his beliefs - I admired his transparency and honesty. He pleaded with Evangelicals to NOT back the Cheeto-King due to his incitement, bigotry, and malice. He wrote the most passionate words W. ever said following Sept. 11attacks. This line in particular punches:

"Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance, and love have no end. And the Lord of life holds all who die, and all who mourn."

He was a remarkable artist with words, his stories often bit with force; familiar enough with the history of America's politics, that even an air of hypocrisy was fresh bait. His craft fed his pride, a party-member that holds the same convictions throughout their life is god-like in reverence. In a political environment that favors hurting the other party over policy, there are few who are the moral-equivalent of Gerson. His death seems like one fewer soldier protecting truth from narrative; illustrating what a Christian-faith dictates, and it's not a hyperbolic journey through made up Biblical morality...

Would I elect someone like Gerson? No... sadly, an infallible Christian life also means that you do not believe a woman has the RIGHT to make decisions over her own body. Sacrificing those rights for someone that would lead with morality and be an honest American President is still no contest for me. Women and their bodies and their ability to have dominion over those bodies is a very REAL thing, and you, however moral and just you are, have chosen to devote your belief system based on a book of fables written hundreds and thousands of years after Christ died as the word of an omnipotent creator. So... again, we don't have to agree to respect. 

I don't know why I wrote this last paragraph. It sounds like I am defending myself against an audience that doesn't exist. I'm yelling "NOT REPUBLICAN" in a post about a GWBush Staffer.