As the excellent book What's the Matter with Kansas? has pointed out so painstakingly, the Republican Party has shamelessly pandered to evangelical Christians on issues such as abortion, gay rights, 10 Commandments, etc. with no intention of ever following through on actual legislation. At the same time, they've been able to use the evangelical vote to win power and champion un-Christian war and un-Christian fiscal policies.
Some evangelicals are starting to get the picture.
In the July issue of GQ there is an article about
Christian Exodus, a group encouraging evangelicals to move to South Carolina, with the strategy of taking over the state and changing the government there completely to their liking.
While I would normally dismiss this as a small group of crackpots, it's difficult to do so when they eloquently express so many of my own thoughts. A few quotes from members of Christian Exodus:
"Phooey on them. They don't follow their own platform. George Bush isn't a conservative. He's a statist. He celebrates the existence of the state."
"I just don't agree with going to war preemptively. What kind of war is that? Who attacked us?"
"There's a quote in the Scriptures that says 'By their fruits you shall know them.' A lot of what has been done is evil. I believe people on the religious right are being deceived, and that to me amounts to spiritual darkness. I'm concerned about what Bush's real motives are. I think he has ulterior motives: one world government, the new world order. Is Bush a deceiver? The fruits seem to say so."
I've never had an issue with people using their religion to guide their life, their politics, etc. What I've always had an issue with is hypocrisy. And while I'm sure Christian Exodus and I aren't exactly on the same page, I can respect that they see the rampant hypocrisy in a Republican Party that pays lip service to Christian values while putting into practice the exact opposite.
Today's Chicago Tribune has an article on a similar theme of what evangelicals want versus what they're getting:
For a quarter-century, a politically awakened movement of conservative evangelicals and moral traditionalists of other faiths has played an increasingly important role in Republican electoral successes. In campaigns, they have knocked on doors, stuffed envelopes and dependably performed the other mundane but essential work behind winning elections. At the polling place, they have provided a crucial bloc of votes.
Yet religious conservatives so far have not had much success on the issues that matter most to them. Reagan gave them hope but little in the way of action. President George H.W. Bush never seemed quite comfortable talking about their issues.
Abortion is readily available, with few legal restrictions. The gay rights debate has moved from employment discrimination to marriage equality. Pornography is more accessible than ever. Popular entertainment is full of sex-drenched shows such as ABC's "Desperate Housewives." And the 10 Commandments were just thrown out of courthouses in Kentucky.
It is a source of frustration to some leaders of the movement.
"We have very little to show for all these years of electing Republicans. If we don't get a decent [Supreme Court] nominee, we've got to ask ourselves what we have been doing," said Paul Weyrich, a longtime leader of social conservatives who helped found the Moral Majority and is now chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.
"For President Bush, social conservatives and the senators they helped elect, the moment of truth has arrived," said Richard Land, head of the public policy agency for the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest non-Catholic denomination.
I don't feel sorry for these people, as I believe many of them use their religion as a way to discriminate and intimidate those who aren't like them. But I'm glad to see that they are finally calling out the hypocrisy of wooing evangelical Christians for votes, only to say "see you next election."
The GOP has reached a critical point. Either do the bidding of the far right and become completely unviable to swing voters, or continue to pay lip service to evangelicals and risk losing them altogether (or at the very least risk having them not show at the polls).
Either way, they've painted themselves into a corner, and that's great for the rest of us.