Getting Religion, Republican Style Jonathan Chait: Getting Religion, Republican Style The Terri Schiavo saga has prompted yet another round of fears that the Republican Party has been hijacked by religious conservatives. The truth, however, is just the opposite: Religious conservatives have been hijacked by the Republican Party. The odd thing is how many people continue to believe that the religious right pulls the strings in the White House and Congress. John Danforth, a moderate former GOP senator from Missouri, expressed this fear the other day in a New York Times Op-Ed article. The traditional Republican agenda, he wrote, has "become secondary to the agenda of Christian conservatives. As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around." There is a remarkable amount of illogic packed into that paragraph. I suspect Danforth didn't worry about gay marriage in his Senate days because it didn't exist yet. And today, the Republicans don't care about holding down the deficit not because they don't care about fiscal issues but because their fiscal agenda consists of things that make the deficit larger rather than smaller. If President Bush had a more ambitious economic agenda, the deficit would be even higher. But the larger fallacy here is the idea that the conservative social agenda has subordinated the conservative economic agenda. How much time has Bush spent worrying about gay marriage? Not very much. In January, a reporter asked Bush about the prospects of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which he has said he supports. But Bush just shrugged and said it didn't have enough votes in the Senate. "Until that changes," he observed, "nothing will happen in the Senate." For his part, Bush did nothing to move it along. Gay marriage isn't the only Bush priority that lacks support in Congress. Social Security privatization doesn't have the votes to pass either. Rather than throw up his hands, though, Bush has persuaded business groups to raise millions of dollars to lobby for privatization, twisted the arms of recalcitrant lawmakers and barnstormed the country for weeks touting his approach and threatening dire consequences for those who stand in his way. And even as support for his approach has plummeted from already low levels, he's vowed to keep on fighting. On Social Security privatization, he's Winston Churchill. On gay marriage, he's Neville Chamberlain. As a supporter of gay rights, I'm happy that Bush hasn't pushed the issue. But why aren't the leaders of the Christian conservative movement, who regard gay marriage as a threat to Western civilization, unhappy? The answer is that they've been co-opted. Republicans will help the social conservative cause but rarely spend any political capital on it. Take the Schiavo case, which supposedly demonstrates the social conservatives' power. Sure, Bush flew across the country to sign a bill "protecting" her. But as soon as polls showed the public disapproved of Washington's intervention, Bush dropped the issue like a hot potato. The main social conservative groups exist mainly to persuade rank-and-file social conservatives to support an agenda to which they have no natural allegiance. High on the Christian Coalition's list of its top legislative priorities, for instance, are cutting taxes (No. 2) and privatizing Social Security (No. 4), two issues that did not receive heavy emphasis in the Sermon on the Mount. Their top issue — confirming Bush's judicial nominees — does have a social angle. But in point of fact, conservative judges have been far more aggressive in overturning regulations on business than in turning back the clock on abortion or gay rights. That's why business groups have raised millions of dollars to help confirm Bush's judges. I suspect that, behind closed doors, most Washington Republicans take religious conservatives for suckers. This has been evident from the Washington Post's recent revelations about GOP activist and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Three years ago, a casino-owning Louisiana Indian tribe called the Coushatta hired Abramoff to help stop another tribe from opening a casino, which the Coushatta feared would dilute their business. Abramoff hired former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed, who enlisted Focus on the Family's James Dobson, who spurred his followers to send thousands of letters opposing the new casino. The poor souls riled up to stop legalized gambling had no idea that they were pawns of another casino. It's a perfect metaphor for the relationship between the Republican elite and the voters who put them into office.
The only people who have hijacked the Republican party are freemarket capitalist extremists . Believe me there is nothing close too Christianity in goverment now just servants of mammon .
The entire right-wing has been hijacked by money and illusion (religion) for some time. Of course, so has the left wing. None of you will recognize this until an AK-47 gestures your next move. :m:
"well,we're all god's children bob" - john kerry in a televised debate its everywhere.blair is a catholic,the minister of education is a member of opus dei.is it true that 95% of humans believe in god?it was in a film so might have just been made up.
religion should be kept out of government. totally out of it. Iran and Vatican City should no longer be recognized as nations. down with theocracy!
I do agree that iran and the vatican republic city are theocratic but i don't think that we should down size them from nations to nothing just because they aren't comunist democratic. i mean we didn't clame that germany was not a nation when there gov. was nazism. i think the best thing we can do is help the people go from being ran by a tyrant to being a democracy
Religion should be kept out of US government, but other countries should be free to be theocratic if they wish. I mean, what's wrong with Bhutan, or Tibet (before the commies)? Besides, the Vatican doesn't have much of a population, and they're all religious, aren't they?
Christianity itself has been hijacked by a bunch of fascist, moral absolutist, greedy individuals who seek their own economic and power gains. In turn, they organized and learned they could control politics. Now it's just a big fuckin' mess... "I say blow them all away in the name of the Lord!" - Jerry Falwell.
you know just because you are a conser vative does not mean that you are a cristian honostly i am a conservative but i am not a cristian to tell you the truth my religion is davidism it is where david believes what david wants to believe and no one will tell me different.
The Republican part was hijacked by the Moral Majority more than 20 years ago. The chairman of the Republican Moderate party of Alaska was telling me how he was a leading republican in Alaska in the 70's when Jerry Prevo and Falwell approach him and want him to get aboard. He tells them to bugger off, because as the chairman saw it, Falwell hand no place in politics, nor his religion. Well, Falwell and Prevo organized a coup, and all the Republican caucus meetings around Alaska were swamped by Christians. Followers were elected to Republican positions, swarmed through the Alaska Republican Party ranks and purged all the old polticians from power. I'm assuming something similar happened Outside.
tibet's a different story, because Buddhists are usually peaceful, and aren't necisarilly violent. christianity, however, and islam, have caused thousands of deaths from relgious-sanctioned warfare. anyway, but USUALLY religion should be kept out of government...
Interesting post Esoteric Politics in action thats for sure. My twopenneth Having recently scanned the forums at Free Republic it seems many of the posters are expressing concern re the christain radicals. The whole site has taken on a more fundemental tone of late. Comments such as There IS such a thing as the "Christian" Taliban, and it has a loud voice on FR. and from the same thread I can't remember the last time I clicked on a thread which did NOT feature tons of pasted Scripture and people expounding on it. Are becoming increasingly common. Now I'm sure the GOP top brass think they can control the monster (even if the grass roots are feeling the squeeze) but I gotta ask, In a democracy, what prevents the lunatics from taking over the asylum? Just a thought. Dee Cee
Huh? As Roman said already, the Republican party began its love affair with the Christian right during the Reagan years. If you want to see what a real Republican (aka a libertarian conservative) looks like, read a little bit about Barry Goldwater. He is basically the sort of Republican that, until quite recently, was represented by the party. This new religious socially conservative fiscally irresponsible trend has nothing to do with the Republican or conservative philosophies.
Republians don't know what they are anymore. I mean, how is a Republican from the Reagan years supposed to vote these days? Bush's deficit spending, Homeland Security and religiosity are very out of sink with the original, core Republican ideals. He's fiscally a liberal, and idealogically a fascist. It's depressing. So what do real republicans vote?
"So what do real republicans vote?" For more money for their corporations that pull their strings. The Democrats do the same thing so in reality both parties are giving taxpayers monies to whomever supports them from the corporate world.
Well, I did a joke-vote for Badnarik (L) this past November, but I live in Massachusetts which is a blue state until death. So my vote didn't really matter much. If I lived in a state that was at all borderline, I would have voted for Kerry in hopes of gridlocking the Fed between a Dem Executive and Repub Legislative. In this era of welfare/nanny-state socialism, it's the best a true conservative like myself can hope for. I wasn't too scared of Kerry ceding sovereignity to those pussies at the UN because a Republican Congress never would have let it happen. Likewise, the Congressional Republicans would begin acting like Republicans again if a Democrat was in the White House.
