When it looked like Chris was about to protest, Anthony headed him off. "I know, I know. You think you're liberal, so how come it didn't filter you out. You need to realize that you are liberal in name only; most liberals are. When we look at liberals we don't see one monolithic group; we see two. The people we are trying to filter out are the liberal elites, or those that will soon become one.
"You call yourself a liberal because you agree with the stated goals of the liberal elites. Yet you do not have the core values that we abhor in them, which are completely incompatible with the purpose and goals of this kingdom.
"Our crucible filters them out in three ways. The first is by establishing a routine from dawn 'til late at night of intense learning and physical competitions with no breaks or days off. This goes against their sense of how they must decide for themselves what to do in their lives, and they usually give up on this alone.
"The next thing that drives them off is the curriculum. There is none of the multi-cultural, revisionist-history nonsense that is the norm at universities these days. If they last the first few weeks they are usually gone when they actually have take tests where the correct answer is some thing like the fact that our Founding Fathers established the United States of America as a Christian nation. The government they established was secular, but they believed they were establishing a very religious nation nonetheless. This absolutely burns the liberals and their ridiculous notion that freedom of religion requires freedom from religion.
"In your case, you may have disagreed with what you were learning, but you didn't complain about it. This is no different than what conservative students have to put up with when they go to college. They have to nod politely when the liberal professor goes off on one of his socialist-centered rants. They are not allowed to answer tests, or do homework based on their beliefs, but on what the professor wants to see if they want to get a college education. Yet when liberal elites have the tables turned on them, they buckle.
"The third and final way the crucible filters out the people we don't want is through delaying their selection into the kingdom. As I am sure you saw, most of the people were selected within three to four weeks. But there are two different groups that we hold off selecting. One group is the people we think will make good leaders, so we want to test their mettle. The others are anyone we think might be a liberal elite.
"The hallmark of a liberal elite is how obsessed with fairness he or she is. They will not tolerate anything they think is unfair. When they see people they think are inferior to them get selected into the kingdom ahead of them, they just see this selection process as being unfair. They will look right past all of the personal development they are going through, and just give up when they don't get selected when they think they should.
"How unfair did you think it was when you weren't selected until now?"
Chris replied as if he was still trying to connect the dots of what he went through. "A little I suppose… but fifteen weeks!? Was that really necessary? How long could I have been held in there?"
"How long?" replied Anthony. "There is a limit, but it's not a timed thing. Every person who enters this kingdom has to complete what we call the prime curriculum. If you don't finish it in the crucible, you will finish it later as a member of the kingdom. All of our children are expected to complete it before they graduate high school. You were on track to complete it in another three weeks, then we would have had to let you in anyway. So yes, there is a limit.
"What created problems for you is that you didn't just identify yourself as a liberal. You also went on to say that Jesus Christ was a liberal. Just how certain of that are you?"
"Very certain," Chris said quite confidently. "There was never a greater advocate for the care of the poor and downtrodden than Jesus. They idea that he would be on the side of the rich and powerful is absurd. I could quote you hundreds of versus that clearly show him as a liberal. Care to hear few?"
"Save it," Anthony said dryly. "You can derive any meaning you want from any verse you want. People have been committing great acts of evil by doing just that for almost two millennia.
"Instead, allow me ask you a few questions. Do you think Jesus has commanded each of use to care for the poor, or do you think that he has commanded each of us to demand others to do it? Or how about giving to the poor? Do you think he only expects you to do it if you can also force others to do it against their will?"
It would appear that Anthony's questions were rhetorical, because he went on without waiting for a response from Chris. "I'm not against your goals Chris. My problem is with your chosen methods. You have much to learn about politics, and one of the hardest for you to grasp is that politics are not your core values. Politics are how you choose to express your core values. People who are politically or religiously intolerant — without exception — believe their politics are part of their core values. That is specifically why they are so intolerant.
"Another day we'll get more into politics, but for now I want you to contemplate how we in this kingdom define the difference between good and bad politics. Bad politics is nothing more than tyranny of the majority. With good politics, all involved participate of their own free will without any threat of coercion.
"There is nothing political about the message of grace and redemption that Christ brought to mankind. He was neither a conservative nor a liberal. If you honestly believe that Christ's message was meant to be delivered by the force of law, then you have much yet to learn about him.
"Listen carefully now. Laws are what you pass when you no longer wish to respect those that you disagree with. If you can construe that He wanted you to follow His words by disrespecting others, then you are missing out on so much of the beauty that He can bring to your life."
Anthony wanted Chris to think about what he said for a few moments before continuing. "The reason why believing that Christ is a liberal creates problems for us is that once you have become emotionally invested in the concept of liberalism, then the only way you can be converted to conservatism is by identifying with a conservative, and realizing that the reason why you respect that person is because of his conservative principles. Reason has nothing to do why anyone is a liberal, so reason cannot be used to lead anyone away.
"Once you get it into your head that Jesus is a liberal, no mere mortal can ever live up to that, so there isn't much hope in converting you to a conservative. That is why no squad leader wanted to take you on. Personally, I don't care what you call yourself. I might be proven wrong later, but I think there is a lot of potential in you.
"I meant what I said earlier. I like diversity of thought. Perform your duties and you can believe what ever you like. Now, before we get into those duties, do you have any questions so far?"
"Sure," said Chris. "What makes you think I want to be a conservative?"
"I guess you weren't listening to me," Anthony flatly replied. "A change of politics does not mean a change in who you are. I'm not asking you to change what you want in life, I'm only asking you to reconsider your means for accomplishing them."
Chris had another question. "You said earlier that I had no say in my duties. What if I don't like them? What if I think they aught to be different? Am I a slave in this kingdom?"
Anthony was clearly annoyed by these questions, and his replies showed it. "Only a liberal could see slavery in something that he can freely walk away from.
"As for changing your duties, you will have to do something no liberal elite would ever consider, and that is to show respect for those you disagree with. You will have to look upon anyone up your chain of command as someone that is not a monster, and see them as someone who actually wants what is best for those that he leads. You will have to treat him as someone that can be reasoned with, and use logic, not emotion, to change his mind.
"There is no democracy here, so you can't employ the liberal's favored weapon of class envy and hatred to gain what you desire. If you want to move up the chain of command, and directly effect the goals of the kingdom, and in turn the duties the men must perform, then you must show respect for that chain of command."
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/2rw92v/next_generation_christian_kingdom_ch05_to_protect