The problem is the Republican Party's dependence on the evangelical vote. It's like crack cocaine--it may give you a short-term high, but it's tearing apart your system.
More seriously, it is true that the evangelicals turn out on election day and vote Republican, but they alienate what I believe is a majority of Americans, and even Republicans, on issues like abortion, and prayer and religion in schools (like how many Americans really believe that evolution should not be taught in schools?!). For example, I firmly believe in the economic soundness of school vouchers, but all I can picture is thousands of white kids in Alabama being pulled out of schools to send them to segregated evangelical academies. Perhaps that's discriminatory, but it certainly colors my view of whether vouchers can be implemented in a reasonable manner without destroying our educational system. Another case: Just because one is against affirmative action intellectually, can that justify being in the same camp with those who have less savory and moral reasons for being against it? I just think that sometimes you have to be judged by the company that you keep, and if it's the racists and bigots at Bob Jones University, then that's how you've chosen to define yourself.
Doughboy. |
