Former Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer endorsed Mike Huckabee in 2008. Mike Huckabee then endorsed Bauer in his next election.
Sen. Lindsey Graham vocally supported Sarah Palin as she ran for VP; she then donated to his campaign fund.
Mitt Romney endorsed Gov. Nikki Haley in her campaign; now she has just endorsed him for president.
Does anyone see a problem with all of this???
What is an endorsement?
Endorsement:Â [en-dawrs-muh
nt]
noun
- approval or sanction: The program for supporting the arts won the government’s endorsement.
- the placing of one’s signature, instructions, etc., on a document.
(Source: dictionary.com)
An endorsement is placing your name on something as evidence of your approval and/or support. It’s testifying to something’s legitimacy with all the weight of your name.
A good name: not for sale
Scripture says “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” If we don’t have any business selling our name, what business does anyone have selling an endorsement?
Is it right to put your name behind a candidate – as a good faith pledge that you think this is the best candidate – if you actually don’t?
Would it be right to the public to assure them that Mitt Romney is going to lead us all to utopia when he’s actually a conservative’s nightmare? How would his having endorsed you in the past change that?
Perhaps the reason endorsements are given so casually is because we’ve forgotten the value of our names.
A historical example
The signers of the Declaration put three things behind the Declaration: their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. In other words, their endorsements. Of the three, this was the greatest sacrifice.
You can give your money to a cause, and you can die for it, but a willingness to be forever maligned by the history books for your heroism and self-sacrifice is in a completely different league altogether.
Would the founders have done it to return a political favor? Not on your life.
An endorsement: not for sale
We’ve got to get rid of the notion that you have to endorse a lame blackguard just because he endorsed you. You owe it to God and to the public to endorse only the candidate who’s the best for that office, period.
And if a candidate thinks that’s too much to ask, that’s a pretty good indicator that he’s not worth diddly anyway.