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BS ‘n’ About…
Family Values and the Christian Conundrum
What exactly are “Family Values” and how in the world did the Republican Party manage to ordain itself their champion? What is “Liberal” and why has it become such a dirty word? America has changed much as a nation in the last few decades, and much of that change can be traced to the spin doctors sinking their teeth into these two labels.
Historically, the Republican Party has stood for Big Business, the wealthy, and a somewhat hawkish foreign policy. We turned to them when we needed to be strong. The Democrats favored Big Labor, social services, and a somewhat defensive foreign policy. We turned to them when we needed to be nurtured. The candidates would hit the stump, proud of what they stood for, and We, the Voters would make our choice, depending on the needs of the nation at the time.
But the process has become distorted. Both parties seem to spend an awful lot of time and money trying to convince us they are something they aren’t. In this spin-doctored, win-at-any-cost, sound bite of a world we share, the Republican Party has latched onto a “Family Values” platform that we can’t in good faith vote against, yet has virtually nothing to do with the job we send them to Washington to do. Abortion, Gun Control, Right-to-Die, the Death Penalty, Gay Marriage, and Stem Cell Research are, for the most part, State and Court driven Constitutional Amendment issues wholly outside the bailiwick of Washington. Our Founding Fathers set it up that way for a reason.
Washington’s job is defending the Constitution, collecting the taxes, spending them wisely, and finding a way to get along with the neighbors. These are the issues by which an Administration ought to be judged. By latching onto the smokescreen issues outlined above, the Republican Party has managed to ordain itself the champion of the American Family without enacting any real legislation to assist in the financial nuts and bolts of raising those families, nor actually have to do anything concrete about the Amendment issues around which they run their campaigns. Along the way, they manage to paint the Democratic Party in a Devil’s Light every time it hems and haws about Constitutional Freedoms already there.
Democratic Presidential candidates Gore and Kerry had, on paper, two of the more impressive resumes to ever run for the office. Both wanted to spend more of our money on us and less on the Empire. Yet both came across as wishy-washy because of the impossibility of taking a firm stand against the implied “Christian-ness” of the “Family Values” platform. “Liberal” has become a dirty word by supporting many freedoms of choice already outlined in the Constitution, being in favor of charitable works for the less fortunate in our society, and supporting social services for working class families.
Twenty-five years ago America was weak, but the family was strong. We ate our meals together, had union jobs and rights, health insurance, secure retirements, and the kids were on the way to college. Today, America is strong, but the family is weak. We eat our meals on the run, live in Right-to-Work states, healthcare eats up half our paychecks, retirement is sketchy at best, and the kids are on the way to Iraq.
When looked upon from afar, the “Family Values” platform seems to be a lot more about the imposing of our values on others than the protecting of those values for ourselves. More about limiting the other guy’s freedom than protecting our own. Maybe this is the kind of nation we want to become, but my guess is that this is the kind of nation most of our ancestors were escaping when they set out for America.
America is being asked to vote its faith. This threatens the very foundation of our Democracy as laid out by the Founding Fathers. There can be no Freedom of Religion when we use our faith to build the house in which our neighbor lives. Freedom of Religion has no gray area. If we want it in its entirety, we must allow it in its entirety. Anything less isn’t Freedom of Religion.
Washington needs to start respecting our faith and quit taking advantage of it for it’s own selfish motives. Grass Roots stuff needs to stay at the Grass Roots level before all this Constitutional corner cutting leaves us with a document devoid of meaning. There is a statue in New York harbor which once proclaimed we were something special. Something better than that. Are we?
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