The Party of Family Values(?)
There seems to be a strange phenomena that happens with political parties: they grow complacent and feel that they can take certain socio-economic votes for granted. Though I am not considered in the racial minority, it certainly seems that the Democratic Party has come to take the African-American vote simply for granted. We’ve seen largely the same attitude from the Republican Party considering the “Christian” vote.
The Republicans have tried hard to position themselves as the party of “family values,” noting well that such issues were a top concern for many voters in the 2004 election. Yet, it seems that the fact that the Republicans were just “playing politics” ought to be obvious as evidenced in the recent scandal surrounding Mark Foley, former Republican member of the House from Florida ’s 16th district.
For those who intentionally or unintentionally avoid the “news” and might be unaware of the situation, it has surfaced that Foley has had a habit of sending sexually explicit e-mails and text-messages to boys. Much of the controversy surrounding the six-term congressman from Florida extends beyond him and his actions, as appalling as they are.
The larger picture seems to implicate many higher-ups within the Republican party itself. Not that they necessarily knew of or supported Foley’s actions at the time. However, it seems that, according to articles in the Washington Times and others, that suspicions about Foley arose as early as late 2005. The Washington Times reports that:
Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois, the Republican chairman of the House Page Board, said he learned about the Foley e-mail messages “in late 2005.” Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the leader of the Republican majority, said he was informed of the e-mail messages earlier this year
As I’ve mentioned previously, I am largely a “one-issue” voter. Though I no longer consider myself a Republican, I vote as such primarily because I am staunchly pro-life. Though I have retained my voter registration as Republican, the current events give me great cause to wonder whether that remains a viable option for me.
It seems that many Republicans have come to count on the conservative, Christian vote primarily because of the abortion issue. Having provided appropriate lip-service to the larger “family values” issues, it seems as though they have felt that they appeased us enough and that they certainly shouldn’t be called to live out those same values they espouse on the campaign trail.
The very notion that party officials knew of these incidents and did not take immediate action proves that, at least for the most part, their “values” are primarily about political expediency more than anything else. While it’s certainly not my desire to lead a “mass exodus” of Christians from the Republican Party, it is my desire that Christians examine their vote, that they understand that it is taken for granted and that they have tremendous potential for change if they were to stand by the values they claimed to hold, and that many believed Republican leadership shared.
What many Christians need to grasp is that the “conservative” approach of the current Republican party has very little to do with true “conservative” thought, either in the political or theological realm. The current approach of the party is largely an economic one driven by promoting a “free market economy” at any cost. This means that though smaller government is proclaimed, it is not sought. The good of the individual is promoted while often sacrificed to lobbyists and the family is simply a means to the end of more votes. Pro-life has proven to be a politically expedient approach, but the ramifications of family, God and the like that are attached to the position for many average Americans do not apply in Washington.
The current scandal ought to serve as a wake-up call for many well intentioned American believers who have come to equate being an American Christian with not only being patriotic, but with being Republican. Though I have many problems with the album as a whole, I cannot help but think of Derek Webb’s line from his recent Mockingbird album:
my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it’s to a king & a kingdom
The question before us is whether or not we are outraged by the obvious lack of consistency among Republican leaders and if so, what will we do about it? Will the true facts about politics, that votes are taken for granted and indecencies covered up cause even a ripple among most Christians? These events are certainly indicative of the larger cultural climate of our day and the reality is that many professing Christians are unaware of the shifts, much the same way the frog is unaware of the slowly heating water. Will we act before it’s too late?
- Download Mockingbird by Derek Webb for free
- Purchase a copy of Mockingbird
- Read Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher
I feel like I’m fighting an uphill battle here at home in Illinois!
I support a write in candidate for Governor, Randy Stufflebeam, the only pro-life pro-family option with no corruption bagage. But there seems to be an unbreakable allegiance to the republican party even though the candidate for governor is pro-abortion and pro-homosexual, and steeped in the traditional corruption that Illinois has become famous for.
How do I get people to place their faith and values above a political party?
Great post. I may link to it in a future plea to friends family and faithful to consider truly voting their values and conscience instead of “the lessor of two evils”! Any amount of evil is evil.
Brent, you aren’t staying on the talking points!
Remember:
“Republicans can be bad sometimes but Democrats are always badder (or is it more bad, on second thought maybe its always baddest?)”
“Democrats are obviously hypocrites because they care about this but they didn’t care about Monica-gate.”
This current scandal is very disturbing to GOP leadership for one reason: it causes evangelicals like yourself to feel complacent about going to the polls in November. They don’t care if you like Republicans so long as you fear Democrats.
I think this complacency is good, because it creates an environment where Christians are actually thinking about who they vote for instead of mindlessly pulling the lever. There are a myriad of issues to consider when voting during this mid-term election; as evangelicals we have a responsibility to think about each issue with respect to our worldview.
The fact that there are “talking points” on an issue like this is exactly the issue.
Many conservative Christians feel like the Republican party has left them; much like many southern conservatives have felt abandoned by the Democrat party dating back to the sixties. I think I will vote Libertarian for the next few local, state and federal elections and inform the Republican party officials at those levels if they want my vote they had better get their act right and come back to the true conservative roots that Reagan represented. The abortion issue is important to me as well, and that is the ONLY reason I have not made this decision sooner. Abortion will have to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which won’t happen with the current court (IMHO). We still need to get rid of Ginsberg and Stevens. I understand my votes will be protest votes and merely symbolic in nature and not effectual, but successful revolutions always began small and build momentum.
Republicans and Democrats….will there EVER be a viable third option for REAL change in this country other than these two pathetic excuses for a choice?
I lean Libertarian but still find myself a fish out of water.
What was once so familiar and comforting (my ignorance in believing that Dubya and his cronies in the republican party actually stood for conservative values) has been shattered into tiny pieces since Katrina, the war(s), the fear mongering, illegal immigration and the steady erosion of our FREEDOMS vis a vis the Patriot Act and its hundreds of provisionary clauses.
I don’t recognize this country anymore and fear that our politics have caught up with our decaying and abysmal culture. Or something.
I’ve lately been thinking of that Bob Dylan lyric, “I’ve been on the bottom of a world full of lies and I ain’t lookin’ for nothin’ in anyone’s eyes.”
Come Lord Jesus.
Hey Jeremy,
Remember that President Lincoln was a third party candidate. His party? Republican.
We can make change. Right now I don’t think any viable alternative leaders will step up to the plate because so many people feel defeated and are unwilling to support them because, as Shawn B. says, its “protest votes and merely symbolic in nature and not effectual”.
What crap. When we are ready to cast a vote for the right person regardless of whether it is “effectual” or not, then I think we will see real leaders step to the plate.
IMHO
“It seems that many Republicans have come to count on the conservative, Christian vote primarily because of the abortion issue.”
The political strategy seems to me to be one of taking the conservative, Christian vote for granted.
The underlying thesis is that they have no where else to go. Why waste time or effort pandering to them since we have them in the bag?
Perhaps that’s true, but what if it wasn’t?
Slavery was a big enough issue to split off a new party, what one might call the fuller extention of providing the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Is the pro-life discussion a big enough issue to split off a new party, again in an attempt to guarantee those aforementioned rights?
If enough of us vote for an alternative which represents our values, such votes will be more than protest or symbolic. Any vote for an alternative, even if cast alone, is protest, is symbolism, and is an elegantly consistant act, a necessary act which may be the beginning of a snowball gradually gathering size and momentum.
There’s a lot of misunderstanding on this blog about what can be expected in the American system of government.
A fundamental principle that you’ll discover in any good political science intro class is that America will always be a two party system because of the winner-take-all structure of our elections. The Electoral College and the single representative districting (as opposed to multi representative districting) guarantee that it is too costly for people to splinter into a slew of little parties. The system rewards those who build coalitions and devastates anyone who seeks “perfect” results at the expense of working with others who don’t perfectly agree.
Please remember that choosing a party for political results is not like choosing a denomination for one’s faith. In faith we must strive for purity, but in the American system of government you must co-labor with people that do not agree with you if you hope to get anything done. The alternative that you yearn for is simply not available in this country. So if you truly want to make an impact on a core set of issues, examine which of the two party’s candidates reflect more of an agreement with you than the other. Remember you cannot afford to only play offense in our political system, you must also play defense. If you choose to go with a third party, you aren’t even in the game, you’re on the sidelines.
I believe results matter, even if they are incremental. Just look at what happened with Ross Perot when the collective sense was that we needed an alternative. It gave us Bill Clinton and his lifetime legacies of Bryer and Ginsburg on the SCOTUS. President Bush was not my first choice, but I elected him knowing that I would get results on the cause of human life and national security. If you care more about stopping the deaths of millions of unborn babies than you care about feeling pure in your political affiliation, I plead with you to come off the sideline and join the fight. We can’t afford to not work together.
As a side note, the line about Abraham Lincoln being from a third party is fiction. Stop using it. The fact is that in the Republican Party’s first presidential election, it took second place, not third. Check http://www.historycentral.com/elections/1856Pop.html The new party came into existence because one of the two major parties, the Whigs, collapsed.
There was a comment that we’re often choosing the lesser of two evils and that evil is still evil.. and that is true. But I would be afraid to vote for a third party–afraid that if I did, the greater of the two evils would have a chance at winning. I’d be afraid of how much damage a ‘greater evil’ winner could do in four (or eight) years of service. For now, I’m probably gonna have to stick to voting for the lesser evil…
Amen to Jim I and Amber’s comments, they are right on. Do not be decieved, if you vote for the third party, that you know has no possibility of wining, or notvote at all, you are in essence voting for the “greater evil”
If you vote for the lesser-evil, and the lesser-evil thinks that you are in its hip-pocket, thinks that it does not need to cater to your faction, then you are truly nullifying your vote. I think that at least the real threat of 3rd party formation has a benefit. When a faction becomes very engaged, active, and displeased, it can pull a middle of the road candidate in its direction, as highly vocal, extremely active, dissatisfied Abolitionists did with an initially pro-abolition, but somewhat tepid, Abraham Lincoln. He was slow to move toward the extreme Abolitionist position, though he sympathized, but in the end his actions were those desired by the extreme abolitionists.