Thread by @profthomlambert

My former colleague @HawleyMO, whom I recruited to Mizzou Law and consider a friend, penned this @firstthingsmag piece. He argues that Robinhood’s restriction on GameStop trading was a Big Tech conspiracy to hold down the little guy. A few thoughts. 1/x firstthings.com/web-exclusives…

@HawleyMO is lying. I hate to say that of a friend, but it’s true. He’s saying things he knows are false. As many have explained, Robinhood halted certain trading to deal with a liquidity crisis. He knows there was no conspiracy to protect hedge funds. 2/x google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.…

But that fact doesn’t support @HawleyMO’s campaign to rail against the sort of coastal elites that, like him, went to schools such as Stanford and Yale and now, like him, have amassed power. This campaign, he hopes, will endear him to regular folks. 3/x

So he’s said stuff he knows isn’t true. Just like he’s done when discussing Section 230. And the First Amendment. And the antitrust laws. And the validity of election challenges. 4/x

I know @HawleyMO to be a good man. We’ve discussed matters of faith, and I truly believe he desires to glorify God by doing the right thing. So why does he say things that he knows are not true and that so harmfully divide people? 5/x

I believe he does so because he thinks it will help him win elections, which will empower him to make constructive changes that he thinks (and I often agree) would make our society more just. It’s an “end justifies the means” thing. 6/x

The problem is that the end doesn’t justify the means, at least not for Christians. Jesus clearly taught that his followers are to *be* certain sorts of people, not to achieve certain ends. And a smart person who misleads others to gain power isn’t who we’re to be. 7/x

Which brings me to @firstthingsmag. The name “First Things” refers to a C.S. Lewis essay emphasizing the importance of keeping matters in their proper place, of not overvaluing (admittedly good) things that are of secondary importance to other things. 8/x cslewisinstitute.org/First_and_Seco…

Doing so, Lewis warned, may ironically destroy the value of the second thing that was improperly elevated above the first thing. 9/x

As Lewis elsewhere put it, “Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first and we lose *both* first and second things.” 10/x

For the Christian politician, electoral success and advancement is a second thing. Christian virtue—truthfulness, kindness, humility, peacemaking—must come first. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” 11/x

This new breed of Christian nationalist may retort, “Yeah, that’s a recipe for continued electoral defeat and ultimately anti-Christian policies.” To which Jesus responds, “What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?”12/x

@firstthingsmag used to understand this. Its founder, Richard John Neuhaus, famously said that “culture is the root of politics and religion is the root of culture.” Get that? Religion (Christian virtue) is the first thing. Culture, and ultimately politics, follow. 13/x

The sort of “muscular” Christian who views political success as paramount for protecting religion, and thus as an objective to be achieved however necessary, puts second things first. As Lewis warned, we’re likely to lose both first things (virtue) & second (elections). 14/x

I’m sad to see @firstthingsmag invert the order of things. I’m even sadder to see a good man, who I truly believe wants to do right, compromise on truth-telling.15/x

Come home @HawleyMO. I personally miss the old you, and we Missourians want you to lead us with integrity. My hunch is that if you do so, you’ll advance politically. But even if you don’t, you will have put first things first. END