‘Moral values’ turned out to be straw
Posted on Friday, December 1, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/47660/
The outpouring of unseemly and unchristian
lies and distortions from the nation’s
self-proclaimed moral leaders that appeared in the days before the Nov. 7 election was truly amazing. I’m no stranger to hardball politics, and as a minister of the Gospel with my own strong political opinions, I’d be the last to argue against anyone’s right to be in the fray. But, I cannot bear to let go unnoticed that many of the candidates who were most closely associated with the Religious Right, those who proclaimed themselves the candidates of “ values voters, ” abandoned the values of honesty and decency in the closing days of their campaigns. A few examples among many: Ohio gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Blackwell — favored by the so-called “ Patriot Pastors” — accused his opponent, a decent, humane man who served in Congress and as a United Methodist minister, of supporting sex between adults and children. Sen. Rick Santorum, declared by archconservative leader Paul Weyrich to be the most important senator in America at the recent “ values voter summit, ” accused his opponent, a popular state treasurer, of aiding and abetting terrorism and genocide. Virginia Sen. George Allen, who will forever be known for his ugly mocking of a young person of color to a chuckling all-white audience, attacked his opponent, a respected author whose military-themed novels have been praised by George Will and John McCain, by calling a few out-of-context quotes “ obscene. ” Colorado state Rep. Dave Schultheis, a “ traditional values” candidate, responded to news of a tragic car accident, which killed three children, not by sending condolences but by demanding to know the immigration status of the family involved. Presumably, Schultheis chose to focus on that particular accident because the driver had a Hispanic surname, and Schultheis was making a name for himself as a tough guy on immigration. (The children’s parents turned out to be a citizen and a legal resident. ) It wasn’t just the politicians. The American Family Association was so desperate to energize conservative Christian voters that it told its members that if Democrats won, they should expect attempts to make “ polygamy legal in all 50 states. ”
And anyone who read the papers or watched television before the election could provide more examples of this unbecoming behavior.
The sad parade of smears and outright lies by those supposedly working on behalf of the Lord made me think of one of the most telling things I have ever read about George W. Bush and his political strategists.
After John McCain won the New Hampshire primary in 2000 and threatened to upset the carefully choreographed coronation of Mr. Bush as the Republican presidential candidate, GOP strategists went to work in South Carolina. They orchestrated a malicious campaign of phone calls and flyers whispering about illegitimate mixed-race children, mental instability, and other falsehoods.
George W. Bush, the president who is so eager to wear his Jesus-changed heart on his sleeve, responded to a righteously angry McCain with the dismissive comment, “ It’s only politics. ” Mr. Bush and Karl Rove aren’t the first or last politicians to adopt an ends-justify-the-means approach to winning elections, but there’s a glaring disconnect between their proclaimed commitment to truth and biblical values and their willingness to shuck it all aside if it means getting enough votes to hang onto power.
But you won’t hear Focus on the Family’s James Dobson or the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins talking about that. They’re too busy telling voters they’ve got to keep Republicans in power no matter what. Unfortunately for Dobson and Perkins, if the election results are any indication, Americans may finally be seeing through the cynical use of morality and religion for raw political ends.
Americans are beginning to demand a new direction in politics, a direction that holds up hope instead of fear, the common good instead of divisions, and aims at solving real problems that affect real American families rather than ideology. And that is a politics that is much closer to the good news of the Gospel than anything the so-called “ moral values” crowd has offered.
The Rev. Tim McDonald is the national chair of People For the American Way’s African American Ministers in Action program and is pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.