Last night, I had a conversation with a classmate at a party. We were all watching the Obama speech, or it was in the background rather, and it spurred some political discourse. Of course, I am more than happy to hock my opinion to any who will stand in my immediate vicinity, and luckily my classmate is also a big talker, so it went well. He is a very southern young man, with very conservative values. He is protestant (likely evangelical, but not sure) Christian, and was raised here in the south. To illustrate the insularity of the South, he didn't know what Manischewitz was. Seriously. Someone brought it to the party, and he eyes with incredulity, saying, "what is that? I've never heard of that." So little exposure to people outside of this area. But he's a nice guy. Anyways, he was taking the side of the clapless Republicans during Obama's speech, and for the sake of argument, I shifted from my center-left opinions to real Left. I wanted to get a rise out of him, but also try to poke a hole in some of his stances and see what he's all about. I made the point that the Republican party is suffering losses now because they have become too Right and too Christian; flying a banner of anti-abortion, anti-evolution, and pro-guns. Now, all of these are important issues, but my point is that they have become too much the only point that Republicans are making. The Republican Party experienced a resurgence in the 70's and 80's as a rejection of the anti-intellectual argument proferred by the democrats during the 60's and early 70's. The abject populist activism without regard for intelligent, thought-out leadership was what was lacking in the democrats, and the republicans were more than happy to fill that void. And how they did, which is beautifully exemplified in the uber-republican satire Jack McDonaughey, the Right of Right rich GE CEO on 30 Rock. More lately, the Republican Party has pandered to the Evangelical Christians, who have formed an increasingly cohesive voting bloc. And so my point was that the Republicans have actually estranged potentially Republican-Voting people like myself, who do not have as much in common with evangelicals as an ideology, and in fact despise the notion of ideologues gaining executive power. What my dear friend responded, emphatically, was "Actually, I think the Republican Party isn't right-wing enough." And to me that's where the problem lies. The Treaty of Tripoli was signed by John Adams, states, "The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." Even more directly is James Madison:
"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretence, infringed.''
We are not a Christian Nation, we are a nation of christian, jews, muslims, hindus, seikhs, and whoever else seeks freedom to practice their religion, and to be guaranteed the inalienable human rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We are not a nation to be bible-thumped into accepting christ and christian values into our life. The republican party, in my opinion, is too conservative, and is allied too sharply with evangelical christian values. I think they are important to be discussed and determined, but they should not be that parties', nee any parties', sole focus. I demand more depth from my elected officials. And if neither option has the requisite depth of thought and intent, I'll pick the one that is less likely to launch a pogrom. The Republicans have traditionally been the voice of intellect and reason against heinous Big Gov't policies from the Left. Now, with the help of mass-media pundits, the Republican message has been increasingly monoptic: less taxes, more morality. That morality stuff is irrelevent to the public. The government should not even be thinking of legislating morality! I thought we learned that one during Prohibition. This country has plenty of religion, and if they don't, that's the church's problem, not congress'. I like the idea of smaller government and lower taxes, but if we want to have a multi-theater war, we have to pay back our debt. Say what you will about our frigit Northern Neighbors (Canada), they have strictly adhered to conservative fiscal policy, and as a result have had a balanced budget for the better part of a decade. America should take a lesson from them. Shame on the republicans for allowing the country to run a huge deficit under their leadership. They had the Legislative and Executive for the better part of the pat 8 years, and they have run up a big tab. The American people, who elected these people who ran up this large tab, need to pay back the debt. I know we've all lost all our money, but if America is to be viable, we have to pay back what's ours. If the US govt starts becoming a shaky lending institution, Lord help us. So my point is, the Republicans need to push stronger their intellectualism, populism, adaptability, focus on responsibility and temperance, and they shall find success once again.
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