None other than Gary Bauer just made the quintessential case, far better than anyone else could, for why each one of you should vote for John McCain. Here it is guys. Gary, you da man:
February 29, 2000
The Religious Right Is Not a Burden
By GARY L. BAUER
Yesterday Senator John McCain delivered a speech in Virginia in
which he was critical of several leaders of the religious right.
Commentators have interpreted this as a political tactic in his struggle
with George W. Bush, and as an apparent admission that conservative
Christians have become a burden for the Republican party. Nothing
could be further from the truth.
The so-called religious right is not a mindless mob that marches in
lockstep at the command of this or that organizational leader. Though
some may conjure up imaginary conservative conspiracies in order to
frighten voters or divert attention from presidential scandals, social and
culturally conservative voters, not all of whom happen to be evangelicals
or necessarily even religious, are a diverse, independent-minded bunch.
In addition to supporting a robust national defense, pro-family tax reform,
and a foreign policy that reflects our national security interests and values
as well as our economic concerns, the one thing these voters have in
common is a shared concern for the virtue deficit.
So it is no surprise that both George W. Bush and John McCain have
emphasized those principles for which our party in its best moments has
stood and which are of such profound concern to religious conservatives.
These are issues that will serve our party's nominee well in the general
election. Even in these times of unprecedented economic prosperity,
millions of Americans, whether they consider themselves religious or not,
are deeply concerned about our country's moral meltdown.
In his speech yesterday, Senator McCain was hardly jettisoning the
religious right. He went out of his way to praise evangelical leaders like
Chuck Colson, who works with prison inmates, and James Dobson, who
has devoted his life to rebuilding America's families. He was careful to
make a clear distinction between certain organizational leaders and the
vast grass roots of religious conservatives with whom he shares a great
concern for traditional values.
On issue after issue of concern to traditional-values voters -- the sanctity
of life, California's Proposition 22 defending marriage against homosexual
redefinition, a pro-family tax code, judges who respect the Constitution,
a strong national defense -- Senator McCain has stood firm.
I often wonder why conservatives are hesitant to reform our campaign
finance laws. Conservatives must scratch their heads and wonder why so
much of their agenda, from family-friendly tax reform to prayer in the
schools, in many cases supported by the vast majority of Americans,
never seems to get enacted. It is because special interests -- lobbyists
and soft money -- exert a stranglehold on Washington. Until that hold is
broken, the voice of average Americans will be drowned out in the halls
of power.
I ran my presidential campaign this year on the idea that the Republican
Party cannot succeed if it is solely the party of fiscal conservatism, that it
must embrace a message of social and cultural renewal. Ronald Reagan
was the last G.O.P. candidate who understood clearly the need to unite
fiscal conservatism with a social message that resonates with the millions
of Americans who care deeply about the declining state of the American
culture.
Republicans won when we reached out to embrace both of these
traditional constituencies; we lost badly when we abandoned that Reagan
legacy.
Gary Bauer is the founder of Campaign for Working Families, a
political action committee. |
