The Art of Politics

Jesus Saves

But can he save Democrat electability? Irresistable force meets the immovable object...

New DNC head and improvised explosive device Howard Dean has begun laying forth some of his ideas for how to improve the electoral chances of his party. The party that has tried to make hay marginalizing religious Christian voters may soon try to set up a political tent in the temple in a new gambit for voters of faith.

"We need to talk about Christian values and how they're Democratic values...Jesus taught to help the least among us. He spent his life reaching out to the disenfranchised. The Democratic Party is the party of that value, not the Republican Party."

There is room for debate as to the veracity of Dean's statement - does throwing money at the disenfranchised, or biasing the rules in their favor, equal a Christian call to alms for the poor. The larger problem is that there is no room inside the party for voters who vote primarily on matter of social concerns informed by faith. The Democrat party is an association of factions, rather than merely a big tent party, and as a result, it is both empowered by, and in thrall to, those factions. The abortion rights lobby and feminist lobby are big players in the party, and they are there to deliver their votes in return for the party delivering support on their issue - abortion rights. The party cannot internalize millions of rural Christian voters who may be drawn toward more progressive tax structures and pro-union pro-farm policies but will ultimately bring a strong anti-abortion rigor to the party.

Additionally, the Democrat party has become home to secular America - and having an active voice in the party's disdain for faith, are a driving force behind the attempts to characterize President Bush as a religious nut - the folks who bring you the lawsuits behind banning the words "under God" from the pledge, references from God from the public square. They are singularly happy in the Democrat party, because the party itself doesn't have a faith - in fact, any true faith, not as it relates to God, but because it has become an amalgamation of interests, it's become merely a wholesale dogmatic catalog, versus the doctrinal faith of the Republican party. The Republican party is caricatured but also strenghtened by it's straightforward doctrinal beliefs - pro-life, pro-defense, lower taxes, less government. Those who come to the party occassionally differ on a facet of the doctrine - normally abortion - but share the overarching tableau of belief - there is a coherent vision of faith in a set of beliefs.

The Democrat party lost this when it changed into a coalition party - the constituents tend to be strongly committed to their core issue or issues, and only the party by extension and to the extent it can deliver support back to the issues. From environmentalists to abortion or gay rights activists, they support each others causes not out of belief but out of commiseration - there is nothing about abortion rights that naturally extended to support of a ban on Arctic fuel exploration. As a result, the Democrat party can only expand in a zero-sum manner - you cannot add pro-life voters without yielding the support of core abortion rights voters.

Dean has indicated a willingness to try and talk around this problem by concentrating on shared values when he says "We're going to look at what we have in common, not what divides us" - and his strategy is right, but it's a strategy of a big tent party applied to a coalition party.

Dean's words would seem like wisdom were the Democrat party serious about moving back toward mainstream electability - changing back to a big tent party. It is in fact Republicans who are using religion to bring in support to their party, attempting ot make inroads in traditional religious black neighborhoods and with pro-life Hispanic Catholics. It is argued that the Republican party is infact itself in thrall to the religious conservatives - but they have correctly noted there is no alternative for those voters, as they are surely not going to vote Democrat, and when big issues are on the table such as abortion or gay marriage, will not stay home either. Bush has special dispensation with this group, himself publicly conscious about his own faith, and that carries a great deal with those voters who may be wary of more pragmatic policies.

As to Who Would Jesus Vote For... neither party has a monopoly or claim to divine inspiration on policy. Is Jesus more fond of Republican limited government and self reliance? Or is he more fond of Democrat progressive policies a hand out to those in need? Only a fool would offer an answer, and Lord knows there is no shortage of those around...

Posted by MEC2 at April 12, 2005 02:46 PM