2. Of course I do, but they are not blank checks. A huge chunk of American Jewry assimilated in the early waves of immigration, partly because people felt they needed to work on Shabbos TO LITERALLY PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE.
Anyone trying to give them the benefit of the doubt can no longer do so. As I mentioned, they are no longer pretending to ask shailos, and honestly, who thinks attending a political wedding necessitates violating Shabbos for, or finding leniencies such as it’s “only a chartered bus, and we’re not the ones driving?”.
There’s a story I heard which I was reluctant to share as I didn’t know all the details, but due to its relevance I’m opting to share it now. (Please excuse my vagueness, and if anyone can fill in the specifics, I’d appreciate it.)
Some decades ago, while bombs were aimed at Israel, a certain Rabbi (whom I’ll refer to as Rabbi A) published a pamphlet detailing the specifics of his psak heter that bomb shelters may be built on Shabbos because of Pikuach nefesh. Another, more traditional Rabbi (whom we’ll call Rabbi B) disagreed, so Rabbi A paid a visit to Rabbi B to try and convince him of what he perceived as the truth.
The Talmidim of Rabbi B expected a point by point “academic” rebuttal on the merits of Rabbi A’s heter, instead they were surprised when Rabbi B approached Rabbi A and exclaimed
“!מיין מאמע האט מיך געלערנט אז מען דארף היטן שבת”.
(Roughly translated “My mother taught me that one must keep Shabbos!)
This story epitomizes what’s wrong with your “don’t you believe in Halachik principles of…?” approach, and what many of us are wary about. Temimos is often a good thing, of which we can all use a couple of doses of nowadays…