I have to admit that this all took me by surprise. Not that Bush won, but why he won. I knew that morality and elitism for the Democratic leadership was a problem and even wrote a post or two about it. But mostly I thought that Bush voters were motivated by the war, terrorism, and taxes.
I’m not sure why I was so dense. I should have looked at the Bush voters in my own family. They voted for him because they are bigtime Catholics, and they hated Kerry’s record on late term abortions, stem cell research, gay marriage. On all others issues, they side with the Democrats. My dad is still a registered Democrat, but hasn’t voted with his party since 1980. He once wrote that pro-lifers should be more at home with the Democratic party.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself for missing this one. Paul Begala was just saying that mainstream media (or the coastal media as they are calling themselves) missed out the moral angle of this campaign, because Bush was silent about this during the debate and on the stump. These issues were pushed on the local level by direct mail and other sources. I don’t know, Paul. That sounds like a vast right wing conspiracy to me.
Should we fear the mandate that this election gave religious conservatives? I am hopeful that our Madisonian government can prevent any hasty action from taking place and that there will be much variation of law between the states. Also, maybe by making some inroads with the religious, like my folks, we can find some common ground, especially on economic issues.
Things to Read:
Nicholas Kristof writes that the Democratic Party needs to connect to religious Americans.
Kieran Healy writes that the exit poll data show that 22% of the electorate thought that “moral values” was the most important issue in the election, and these voters went for Bush nearly 80% to 20%.
Eszter at Crooked Timberjumps starts a good conversation about religion and politics. Russell Arben Fox, Harry Brighouse, and others debate whether or not to fear religious groups and the failure of liberals/Democrats to bring them into their tent.
Bill Bennett: Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and electoral votes to see to it. Now is the time to begin our long, national cultural renewal (“The Great Relearning,” as novelist Tom Wolfe calls it) — no less in legislation than in federal court appointments. It is, after all, the main reason George W. Bush was reelected.
Morality is good. Vice is bad. Well, except for gambling. That’s okay.
Tim Burke debates the benefit and wisdom of abandoning the fight with religious America and allowing for vast differences between the states on these issues.
Apt. 11d 
I had an inkling of this in the second debate when Kerry looked that young woman in the eye and said something to the effect of ‘I know where you are coming from and I really respect your beliefs’…. When someone says this to you they are patronising you at best. I shivered as he threw away thousands of votes. I was also very unnerved at the convention by the fuss they made over stem cell research. It seemed to me that they were not just throwing away votes but consciously inviting people to come out to vote for Bush who otherwise wouldn’t. But in that case I assumed they had done some smart polling showing that what seems to me (an academic with half a toe in bioethics) to be a completely obscure issue. Apparently not such smart polling.
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My inlaws vote on those moral and social issues. If they didn’t they’d be voting democratic. I am reading a lot and writing a lot and trying to sort through how to deal with all of this. I disagree with the right’s philosophy of legislating morality and bioethics and religion. But I want to find a way of compromising or getting the right to understand. I don’t know how to convey the idea that I don’t want anyone to have an abortion and to prevent that from happening, I think we need to figure out why people have them (lack of access to birth control? lack of education?) and fix those problems. Because if you outlaw abortion, people will still have them. I don’t know. I’m still struggling.
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Kerry said several times that he was a Catholic and that he prayed regularly, but I don’t think people bought it. His support of late term abortions, which has very little support, hurt him. Stem cell research, as Harry said.
But it’s not just Kerry’s fault. Or even Theresa’s. It’s part of long series of gaffes and slights by the Democrats that rural, religious America haven’t forgetten. For example, the Clinton thing that Harry discusses quite well at Crooked Timber.
To keep myself sane, I have to think that all the reflection and reexamination by the Democratic party in the next year can only be a good thing. Though there may just be no compromise on certain issues. Thank God for Federalism.
Tomorrow, if I still have the energy to write more, I am going to have a long post on Federalist Paper #10. Either that or a post on Wife Swap, the TV show. One or the other.
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For what it’s worth, getting caught up in all those CT threads, plus reading Timothy Burke’s deep and powerful thoughts on the subject, got me fired up to put down some of my own here. Much too long and no doubt insufferably pedantic, but perhaps worth reading just the same.
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Well, I voted against Kerry because I didn’t trust him to pay the right kind of attention to external threats, to act unilaterally when it is necessary for the country. And because of the penumbra of Moore-ism and MoveOn which surrounds the Dems these days. I held my nose about Bush’s opposition to abortion on demand, stem cell research, gay marriage, etc., and pulled the lever for him anyhow.
So it seems to me the Dems are better off trying to get people like me back, than to make some Hail Mary pass to the religious right.
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My husband and I were talking about this last night, and all of sudden from the shadows of my memory, I remember these videos about the Christian right that I saw freshman year in college (ok, so that was only 8 years ago).
They’re a scary and powerful, powerful political machine and have been gearing up for the day their guy gets into office for decades. I cannot even fathom how deeply infiltrated they are into the political consciousness of this country. Bush is like the Promised One. They’ve been waiting for him probably since before I was born. They’ve been preaching their agenda in churches and schools for decades. They’ve raised a generation of people to think like them.
Thinking about all that last night, it struck me that we should be surprised that Kerry got as much as he did.
For the Christian right, it’s more than politics. It’s protecting themselves from impending moral doom. They think that the government represents them before God (because America is God’s chosen nation, right?), and the only way to protect themselves from God’s wrath is to get as many Christians (Bush’s type) into office as possible to legislate good morals.
It’s more than politics to them. It’s life and death. This is the kind of fervor that makes people blow up abortion clinics (or themselves, for that matter). They think liberals are evil and anti-Christ.
Kerry’s Catholic profession withers before them.
I’m simplifying the case, I realize. And perhaps this is nothing new to anyone. It just struck me so forcefully last night.
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People keep saying that the Republicans got evangelicals to vote against their own interest, and that got me thinking:
Aren’t evangelicals all about bringing about the rapture and the end days and the second coming? Doesn’t that come about by a final war of good against evil?
Is it possible that evangelicals are voting for Bush not IN SPITE of their worsening condition but BECAUSE OF it?
If you’ve fallen for the Left Behind religio-porn, and believe an escalating war with terror and the fall of the West will lead to armageddon, then — if you are born again — isn’t that a good thing?
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Nicholas Kristof writes that the Democratic Party needs to connect to religious Americans.
Yeah, just what we need. Turn everybody into a theocrat who wants to the death penalty for gays and athiests.
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I voted for Kerry because of moral issues. But I really had to read between the lines, and behind the scenes, in order to find any moral issues held by the Democrats. They have been running away from any moral stances for years, since Dukakis at least. I’m not saying the party needs to move right — I’m saying that the party needs to make a moral case for its own long-held positions. Caring for the poor is morally right. Educating our children is morally right. Healthcare for our children is morally right. Giving breaks to the disadvantage before breaks to the wealthy and powerful is morally right. Civil rights for all is morally right.
But nobody says it. The Dems have turned tail every time moral issues have come up. Just look at how Kerry tried to bargain his way around the gay marriage issue. If they don’t articulate it, how can they expect anyone to believe it?
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More Religion/Politics
One of my new favorite sites, 11D is having a good discussion on the topic.
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I agree with Dave S., if the religious right is isolated then they don’t have the electoral majority. The Democratic battleground is to be won in the West and there are plenty of hot button issues there that divide Republicans (who, let’s not forget, are an uneasy coalition currently united by success and about to rip each other to shreds: Arlen Specter vs. Rick Santorum e.g.) Democrats need to Nixon the Republicans out West. Just as Nixon divided the Democrats by getting their most divisive issues to be the center of debate (racial quotas, negative income tax), the Democrats now need to do this to Republicans. First off, immigration, then hunters vs. energy companies. etc. etc..
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Just a note: Laura makes reference to an article by her father, George McKenna. That would be “On Abortion: A Lincolnian Position,” and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever read on the abortion wars. Laura, your mention of it made go to my files and dig it out again; I have no idea how relevant it really is to the current situation, but I still like what he has to say about the Democrats and moral leadership. (More here. I am writing way too much lately.)
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