The book is limited in its discussion to the role of Christians in moving from the divisive politics of the conservative wing to a more effective approach of reconciliation and does not offer wider discourse of the many religions and spiritual traditions practiced by citizens of the United States and the wider world. He makes a strong case for rebuilding the middle.
Ideologues claim that centrists stand for nothing. The ideologues stand for a lot. They have reduced it to emotionally charged sound bites. But they accomplish nothing, and they can accomplish nothing. They are all talk and no do. They have led us into stalemate.
He reveals the Christian Rights political purpose with the Defense of Marriage Act before the 2006 midterm elections as a singular effort to energize the Republican/Christian Conservative base. Senator Danforth boldly takes-on Dr. James Dobson who stated in an interview the day before the Senate vote, “It is true what this vote will do is help voters identify who is and who is not supportive of the family. And I think those that are not are going to have to answer for it.” (Wrong, again! -my emphasis).
Danforth states,
“I think that the only purpose served by the campaign for the amendment is the humiliation of gay Americans, advocated by the Christian Right and eagerly supported by its suitors in the Republican Party. To call it a constitutional amendment designed to defend marriage makes it seem something loftier than gay bashing. But in reality it is gay bashing.”
It is unfortunate however, that Senator Danforth does not support equal marriage. He discusses his beliefs that the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage was judicial activism. In another section of the book, he discusses similar traditional conservative perspective on Roe v. Wade that the ruling was judicial activism, with acknowledgement that it is settled law. He takes President Bush and the Republican leadership to task on the tragic politicization of Terri Schiavo and government intervention. He refused to become a pawn for the Christian Right despite his strong personal religious convictions.
Senator Danforth was a guest on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which led me to read the book. His message is to move forward together. Perhaps it is something to contemplate?
I’m not aware of many right-wing evangelicals around here. Who are you supposing should contemplate?
<
p>
Yes, it’s nice to see a republican christian who is not authoritarian-minded, theocratic, and plain old nasty. But what are we supposed to do with this information? Many republican christians–the overwhelming majority of those who explicitly identify themselves as such, as a matter of fact–are authoritarian-minded, openly theocratic, and very nasty.
<
p>
I’d rather fight those people to a standstill than move anywhere with them. It’s nothing personal; it’s just that I don’t consider the direction they want to go in “forward”. It seems better to me to highlight the differences in philosophy we have with them than not.
<
p>
Idealogues have accomplished quite a bit. Under GWB, neo-con ideologues have gotten their war against a Middle Eastern nation. Rightwing Christians got Samuel Alito to replace moderate Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court and his influence on women’s autonomy will last for decades. Rightwing ideologues also had a ton of federal money given to their charities through the faith-based programs of GWB–this is an indirect subsidy of their proselytizing. They have decreased the federal government’s role in providing sex education that includes information about effective contraception & disease prevention. They may have lost battles over Intelligent Design in science classrooms, but they have delayed government action on global warming. They have also gotten massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, creating unsustainable budgets for our government.
<
p>
The problem with Danforth and other centrists is they are not willing to do the one thing that would defeat ideologues–join with liberals in opposing these rightwingers. I’d advise you to look through Danforth’s book for moments when he states that liberals are just as bad as conservatives. That sort of false equivalence has been spouted by “centrists.”
However, my read was different and I saw instances when he opposed the Christian Right/Republican agenda. The book was about his convictions in taking those stances and about reclaiming the middle/center of politics in America. There is finally some movement in what is called Middle Church http://www.ncccusa.o… in response to the destructive Christian Right/Republican agenda. I believe those are the people who need to be engaged and connected to progressive ideas.
My math may be off, but if there is a bell curve in politics and the whole thing shifts left, the things I care about happen. If the vehicle for the shift is the philosophy of reconciliation and the middle emerges, rejects the right and shifts left, then boo-ya! Now go ahead and throw this under the bus, but before you do I would like to say that I heard Deval Patrick talking to a larger consciousness than a singlularly liberal mindset when he said, “Together We Can”.