[719] in libertarians
Conservative Coaltion Holds Firm
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Derek Rose)
Thu Feb 16 00:24:23 1995
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 00:28:14 -0500
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From: Derek Rose <rosed@world.std.com>
Cc: mailed to you at request of Chris Ferris <bryan@mainstream.com>,
libertarians@MIT.EDU
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13,1995
Conservative Coalition Holds Firm
By RALPH REED
Pro-family groups are playing a prominent role in lobbying for the balanced
budget amendment, whipping up support through fax alerts, computerized
bulletin boards, and broadcasts on Christian radio and television. It is
the liberals' worst nightmare: Sonny Bono and religious conservatives
working together for fiscal responsibility.
What is going on here? Such unity on the right was not supposed to happen.
The demise of communism was alleged to spell the disintegration of the
coalition of economic and social conservatives that had elected Ronald
Reagan. Without a common enemy, it was argued, the deep fissures that
always existed on the right would be exposed, and liberals would be the
beneficiaries. Yet five years after the Berlin Wall crumbled, the
conservative coalitionwhile slightly reconfiguredis stronger than at the
height of the Cold War.
Likewise, the much anticipated "holy war" pitting moderates against
religious people in the GOP ended without a single shot being fired. Last
year editorialists warned that Republicans were "in the midst of a blood
war for the heart and soul of their party." One columnist charged that
religious conservatives were "an albatross" that would drag the Republicans
down to defeat.
Evangelical Turnout
In fact, exit polls demonstrate that the precise opposite occurred. A
remarkable 33% of all voters were self-identified born-again
evangelicals--the largest turnout in history. They voted 69% Republican and
only 26% Democrat. These voters contributed mightily to a conservative
landslide that pollster Fred Steeper has called the most ideological
midterm election in the modern era.
The reasons for this remarkable unity are numerous--the visionary
leadership of Newt Gingrich, the growing savvy and sophistication of
religious conservatives, and a consensus across ideological lines on the
need for values that inform our private and public lives. But even more
important is a new respect for a rather old-fashioned wisdom: that in an
essentially conservative society, traditionalist ends can be advanced
through libertarian means.
Religious conservatives eschew efforts to replace the social engineering of
the left with their own government-run Promised Land. Moses delivered the
10 Commandments, not a 10-point legislative program. The values we
advocate are learned, not mandated. They are values taught around kitchen
tables, on fathers' knees, during bedtime stories, and at midnight mass and
sabbath services. These values suffer when weighed down by the heavy hand
of government. Therefore, anything that reduces the role of the Washington
bureaucracy in the lives of families is a step in the right direction.
This is where the Contract With America fits so neatly into a religious
conservative vision of society. In sharp contrast to Bill Clinton, who
strayed from "New Democrat" themes by bobbling issues like gays in the
military and racial quotas, the Republicans are sticking to their message.
And religious conservatives are providing much-needed ground support for
the Contract With America.
Critics charge that the Contract ignores the social issues. But people of
faith know better. It includes tougher laws against violent crime and
pornography that are ravaging our neighborhoods and assaulting decency.
Middle-class tax relief will reduce the crushing tax burden on families. A
tax credit for adoption services provides a compassionate alternative to
the tragedy of abortion.
Welfare reform, with its emphasis on reducing illegitimacy and encouraging
responsibility, is ultimates a cultural issue. An Election Day survey
conducted by Luntz Research Co. found that nine out of 10 evangelical
voters ranked welfare reform as their top priority for the new Congress.
But after the Contract, then what? Religious conservatives have four major
priorities for the new Congress. First, government should be the friend
rather than the foe of the family. At a minimum, this means that it should
no longer undermine the values that we nurture in our homes and celebrate
in churches and synagogues. The abuses of the National Endowment for the
Arts are notorious and legion. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Legal Services
Corporation cry out for budget cuts. It is unconscionable that in a nation
in which one out of two marriages ends in divorce, the government funds
200,000 divorces a year. It makes even less sense to provide massive
subsidies to Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the
Western world.
Federal cultural policy amounts to a reverse Robin Hood syndrome: robbing
from the middle-class to dive to the tuxedo and evening pumps crowd. A
recent survey of contributors to WETA, the public TV station in Washington,
D.C., revealed an average net worth of $627,000. One in seven owned a wine
cellar; one in three had been to Europe in the past year. If single
mothers in the inner city must make sacrifices, let patrons of the arts
sacrifice as well. Let Barney, that lovable Jurassic billionaire, get rich
on his own dime.
Second, Congress should radically downsize government. Bill Bennett and
Lamar Alexander, both former secretaries of education, have proposed
abolishing their old department, eliminating 50 of the current 253
programs. An even more sweeping proposal is to take the $33 billion spent
at the federal level--70% of which never reaches the classroom--and give it
back to the people in the form of block grants for school choice.
"A Bible and a newspaper in every house, and a good school in every
district-all studied and appreciated as they meritare the principal support
of virtue, morality, and civil liberty," said Benjamin Franklin. Today we
deprive children of all three--and Franklin is given shorter shrift than
the Twist or the Hula-Hoop in a new history course developed by federal
bureaucrats. It is time to shift power and responsibility for educating
children away from Washington and return it to local school boards and
parents.
A third priority is to replace the welfare state with a community and
faith-based opportunity society. Since 1965 the U.S. has spent $5.3
trillion on welfare at every level of governmentmore than it spent in 1990
constant dollars on World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The magnitude of
Great Society failures is staggering: multigenerational poverty,
skyrocketing illegitimacy, and inner cities that resemble Beirut.
Glenn Loury, the brilliant economist from Boston University who also grew
up in the inner city, observes that "in every community there are agencies
of moral and cultural development that seek to shape the ways in which
individuals conceive of their duties to themselves . . . and of their
responsibilities before God." He adds that unless "these institutions are
restored, through the devoted agency of the people and not their
government, [it] threatens the survival of the Republic."
These institutions--churches, synagogues, private charities--have eroded
through decades of neglect. Mr. Loury proposes rebuilding a nation of
neighbors who redeem society through one act of kindness at a time. We must
replace the pity of bureaucrats with the generosity of citizens; the
destructiveness of handouts with the transforming power of faith and
personal responsibility; the centralized scheme of the Great Society with
the compassion of communities and charities.
The fourth and final priority of the new Congress should be to secure
religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all citizens. Too often, a
scowling intolerance greets those who bring their faith to bear in the
pubic square. For people of faith the issue is much broader than voluntary
school prayer. They seek to redress three decades of systematic hostility
toward religious expression by government agencies, the schools and the
courts.
Religious conservatives will propose a religious liberty statute and
constitutional amendment, modeled after the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act of 1993, to guarantee that the right of all citizens to freely express
their faith in public places is not infringed. Congress should codify in
federal law what the Supreme Court ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines School
District in 1969, that no child sheds his right to freedom of expression at
the schoolhouse gate.
Blurred Constituencies
The purpose of this agenda is not to legislate family values, but to ensure
that Washington values families. In many instances, these proposals will
enjoy the support of deficit hawks and tax cutters, of religious
conservatives and business groups. The differences between these
constituencies are becoming increasingly blurred. A recent survey
conducted for the National Federation of Independent Business found that
43% of an small-business owners are evangelical Christians. Their concern
is both the regulatory chokehold of the federal government and the
coarsening of the culture.
Differences over issues like abortion will remain. It is best to
acknowledge those disagreements forthrightly and discuss them freed while
stressing unity on the broader agenda. If religious and economic
conservatives can cooperate where possible and remain civil in
disagreement, they win accomplish far more together than separately.
# # #
Mr. Reed is executive director of the Christian Coalition and the author of
"Politically Incorrect: The Emerging Faith Factor in American Politics"
(Word Publishing, 1994).
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Derek Rose rosed@world.std.com
