The Republican Cross To Bear

It has always amazed me when religious groups in America back a political party. It amazes me because in our country, politicians are about as concerned by religion as they are by the economically disenfranchised. That is to say not at all. Yet, for some reason the Christian Coalition has repeatedly thrown their collective hat in the ring with a political party that has instituted more to hurt the poor than any other (lest we forget, there are quite a few Christians who live below the poverty line), steal trillions of dollars in scandal after scandal starting with the S&Ls and moving right up to Iraq (stealing last time I checked was a sin) and let's not forget our latest Republican offering: pedophilia. Okay, attempted pedophilia. And yet the latest poll shows that Christian voters would still rather see a party that, on paper, appears to hate their moral values more than Satan himself stay in control.

This really isn't a question of Republican or Democrat, it's a question of religion and politics. And the steaming piles and piles of hypocrisy. Karl Rove, it has been written, was one of the chief architects in marrying the Christian Coalition to the Republican bandwagon and it paid off in spades. With Coalition's help they've been able to boost their base by at least ten percent and all they have had to do is "defend marriage" (a sad fact considering that Karl Rove's own father was gay) and give the the occasional anti-abortion speech. The problem the Republicans are facing now however, is that when something like stem-cell research comes up and you have to choose between saving actual lives versus saving bible lives, is that ten percent worth the other forty? That answer may be yet another reason why The Administration's ratings are in the toilet. The Republicans are alienating their core base by catering to the religious fringes much the same way America percieved the Democrats did in '68. (I say percieved because let's face it, Humphreys wasn't exactly a radical.)

Iraq is another situation in which the Republican's miscalculated on a grand scale with their Christian base. You see, not all Christians believe that America has the right to blow up Shi'ites and Sunni's at will. Some Christian's actually believe "thou shalt not kill" was written to include everyone. And now that the civilian death toll in Iraq is estimated at 600,000, even some of the religious right are beginning to cringe. It's difficult to preach from a pulpit when you're standing on skulls. In a latest poll taken of Christians over fifty percent believed that the war was wrong, not just politically, but morally.

Truth be told, The Administration is, like a high school quarterback, just using the rich girl in school for her nice house and pool. You can't ask for more proof of this than the Foley scandal. If The Administration had even the slightest interest in running a Christian political party, do you think they'd allow homosexuals into the fold? Let alone known sexual predators? House Speaker (for now) Hastert knew for years about Foley as did many in the higher ranking Republican circles. They knew and did nothing while this man accosted minors from his congressional office. You have to go as far back as the Roman Empire to find that sort of arrogance. It not only shows that Republicans no longer care about thier "values" but even more astounding, they no longer seem to even care about maintaining their facade of values. I suppose they don't have to, after all, they're not Democrats.