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The Godless Democrats
Reflecting on the problem Democrats seem to have with religious voters, Dreher writes:
I am not saying that Democrats are "godless." That would be absurd. I am saying, though, that the Democratic Party has made it very difficult, even impossible, for religious conservatives who might otherwise favor Democratic policies on environmental protection, on the economy, on foreign policy, and what not, to affiliate with them. Why? Because if you are a social conservative -- if you are pro-life, hold traditional views on sexual morality and family structure, and have serious concerns about the direction of biotechnology -- it is quite clear that the Democrats do not want you around stinking up the place with your fundamentalist views. This is a real shame, as Ross notes, because it gives the Republican Party room to take religious conservatives for granted. But we remember how Gov. Casey's party treated him, and it's going to take the Dems a long, long time to overcome that. Dreher mentions Ross Douthat and perhaps it would be of interest to also quote what he has to say:
Andrew, echoing Kevin Phillips, makes a big deal about the GOP becoming America's first "religious party." But of course that isn't what's happened at all - it's that the Democrats have become America's first aggressively-secularist party. The McGovern cadres took over the Democrats long before the Christian Right took over the GOP, or vice versa, and the whole rightward migration of Catholics and evangelicals is a response to a Democratic Party gone secularist. Ann Coulter is indeed despicable, as Andrew says, but her "Godless" slur contains a kernel of truth - the GOP is as religious as it is today because the Democratic Party is playing (for perfectly sensible reasons) to a secularist voting bloc that is essentially unparalleled in American history. Andrew has decided - reasonably, given his political and religious views - to align himself with that bloc. But he shouldn't pretend that it's the religious right that's out of step with America's political traditions. It's his own side, not ours, that's a new thing under the sun. Andrew Sullivan's take on this is worth reading too. This theme of the Democratic party scaring off religious voters is a useful theme for the right, and has even been co-opted by some on the left like Amy Sullivan, Jim Wallis and Rabbi Lerner. Even though this theme is largely a rhetorical contrivance of the religious right, religious and secular progressives have not been very effective in responding to it.
The Godless Democrats | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
The Godless Democrats | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
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