Don't Be A Foregone Conclusion
Cross-posted from Good Will Hinton:
In the wake of David Kuo's story about the White House paying lip service to conservative evangelical Christians, I have given a lot of thought to how political parties treat their various constituent groups. It is painfully obvious that the Republican party treats conservative Christians as a foregone conclusion. And they are one of many groups like this. Isn't the Religious Left headed by Jim Wallis and his Sojournors organization a similar foregone conclusion for the Democrat party? Does anyone honestly believe that this group would ever vote Republican?
One constituent group in America really knows about this. The black community in America has long been taken for granted by the Democrats. But they are finally starting to turn the tables. Not only are many blacks across the country running for office as Republicans, but many black voters are now voting Republican for the first time. The point isn't that some blacks are now voting Republican; the same holds true if they are long voted Republican and now voted Democrat. The important thing is that politicians are now less able to get away with meaningless rhetoric and demogoguery aimed at getting the black vote.
Hopefully, we will see the same maturity in the Christian community. We are already starting to see many conservative evangelical Christians speak out about environmental issues and buck the stereotype. Maybe we will start seeing the Christian community start rejecting the demogoguery and fear-mongering rhetoric that often comes from Republican politicians.
In the wake of David Kuo's story about the White House paying lip service to conservative evangelical Christians, I have given a lot of thought to how political parties treat their various constituent groups. It is painfully obvious that the Republican party treats conservative Christians as a foregone conclusion. And they are one of many groups like this. Isn't the Religious Left headed by Jim Wallis and his Sojournors organization a similar foregone conclusion for the Democrat party? Does anyone honestly believe that this group would ever vote Republican?
One constituent group in America really knows about this. The black community in America has long been taken for granted by the Democrats. But they are finally starting to turn the tables. Not only are many blacks across the country running for office as Republicans, but many black voters are now voting Republican for the first time. The point isn't that some blacks are now voting Republican; the same holds true if they are long voted Republican and now voted Democrat. The important thing is that politicians are now less able to get away with meaningless rhetoric and demogoguery aimed at getting the black vote.
Hopefully, we will see the same maturity in the Christian community. We are already starting to see many conservative evangelical Christians speak out about environmental issues and buck the stereotype. Maybe we will start seeing the Christian community start rejecting the demogoguery and fear-mongering rhetoric that often comes from Republican politicians.
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