Burnt Orange Report

Democrats 'Finding God' (Yes, I'm Back!)

By Vince Leibowitz

[Writer's Note: After a way, way too long sabbatical from blogging (caused in part by a severely damaged computer (dropping computers while moving them is bad...very bad), massive amounts of work, and a change in ISPs), I'm back. I don't think I've been away from blogging this much since the campaign last year when I stopped blogging to, well...run a campaign. Aside from all that, I'm glad to be back in the saddle, and hope you'll find my first entry in a while to your liking.--VL]

I'm always amused when I hear someone talking about religion and noting, proudly, "I found Jesus!" or "I've finally found the Lord!" Perhaps it is because, taken literally, these are among the funniest statements in the English language. Seriously: if I say, "I found my keys," you'd ask me "Where?" This is exactly what I want to do everytime I hear someone say this, except I'd probably follow it up with something clever like, "Oh. I didn't know Jesus was missing."

Well, evidently Democrats in the Texas Legislature have found Jesus, too. Maybe he was hiding from Ronnie Earle in fear of being connected to Tom Craddick or Tom DeLay or something. Maybe he was just lost in the Capitol somewhere. Those corridors behind the Senate Chamber are tough to navigate. At any rate, this interesting article from the Dallas Morning News the other day tells us all about our party's effort to find the Lord (so to speak).

In the article, we are told that the House Democratic Caucus has produced weekly morality and Bible lessons and brought clergymen to talk about God and politics. Interesting. In the lead of the story, DMN political corespondent Gromer Jeffers manages to make the Texas Democrats sound like an alcoholic on a 10-year binge who finally made it to an AA meeting:

After a decade of losing power, Texas Democrats have bottomed out, holding no statewide office and being handily outnumbered by Republicans in both houses of the Legislature. So they have sought to reframe the debate over issues.

In the House, which Democrats have hoped to use as a building block for electoral success, regular caucus meetings have taken on a decidedly more religious tone.

Led by Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio, a former Catholic altar boy, the House Democratic Caucus has produced weekly morality and Bible lessons and brought in clergymen to talk about God and politics.

Why is my stomach turning over as I read this?

No, it's not because I'm an unchurched heathen (I'm a lapsed United Methodist, thank you very much) who doesn't "believe" (I do believe), but rather because I can see the road that this is taking us down as a party and I don't really like it one bit.

Yes, the Republicans were able to take religion and morality and wrap themselves in it like the shroud of Turin. It worked very, very well for them--at least when it came to getting them elected. Clearly, though, as evidenced by the shape of the state of Texas and the shape of our country, it's a mantra that sucks when it comes to governing.

Why does it suck when it comes to governing? How can I count the ways...? First of all, remember when GWB got (illigitimately) elected--the first time? Remember when he was Texas governor? Now, I disgagreed with almost everything he did but I will say two things: he was more "moderate" than he is now and he was more willing to compromise with a legislative body than he is now. There is no doubt that he was a whore for the Religious Right while he was in Texas. He just didn't necessarily do every drop of their bidding. Now, because they got him his job, his every move is beholden to them.

As Democrats, I always thought our party was above this type of pandering. Yes, it's nice that people in the House are having a Bible study. God knows the Texas House could use some guidance from the Almighty from time to time. But why publicize it like this? Just to be able to tell the so-called swing voters, "Hey, we've found Jesus over here, too!"?? Furthermore, by doing this, aren't we setting ourselves up for the same thing that's happened to moderate Republicans over the years? They've become beholden to the ideals of the Religious Right because they are forced to to stay in their party. Sure, we may be trying to attract "progressive denominations," as the article notes, but do we want to be beholden to "progressive denominations," or any other denomination or group? Democrats, it seems to me, have always been the party beholden to the people, and not the "special interests," which to me would include any denomination of church or religious sect (Christian, Muslim, Jewish--whatever).

Though I'm not quoting from quite as much of the DMN article as I would like (please do read it if you haven't already), I do want to point out some other things.

The article notes:

Dean Grodzins, a history professor at Medville Lombard Theology School in Chicago, said Democrats could look to history for guidance, including the role played by black churches during the civil rights movement.

Since then, he said, "Democrats have not talked about values as much as issues. ... People want to vote their values, and there is a huge realm of religion that's been neglected."

Democrats said they were not concerned about alienating their secular base.

"Religion is a personal issue, and our party believes strongly in the separation of church and state," Mr. Coleman said.

The Rev. Albert Pennybacker, head of the Clergy and Laity Network, said religion didn't have to dominate a party's platform or be used as a wedge.

"It's trivialized if it's limited to single-issue politics," he said. "But it's inevitable that religious persons are going to have expressions in the public debate."

Ms. Benkiser said Democrats send mixed messages about morality.

"They called Bill Clinton's affair a personal issue, and then they want to talk about family values," she said.

But Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, chairman of the Democratic Caucus, said the discussions about religion and morality are teaching his members how to express themselves better to people of faith.

"No one party has a monopoly on morality," he said.

I've never understood the oft-uttered phrase, "Democrats have not talked about values as much as issues." Whatever. I don't know about you, but I believe 150,000 kids without health insurance is one Hell of a "family value," issue. I think that making sure our teachers are paid a fair and decent wage shows where our values lie. I think our party's record speaks for itself. You do not have to come out and say, "these are my values," to be talking about values.

I have no objection to Democrats, "express[ing] themselves better to people of faith." Heck, I wish I could express myself better to people of faith. What I do have an objection to is any segment of our party trying to adopt its own, internal, faith-based initiative (for lack of a better turn of phrase) when what we should really be doing is not moving farther to the center or farther to the right but back to the left.

As a party, we've got to return to the values that put is in office in the first place: equal opportunity, good jobs and good wages, quality public education, preservation of separation of church and state to preserve the freedom to pursue our beliefs. If that sounds familiar to you (or at least the last part of it does), it's because it's taken from those little cards the state party used to hand out: "What It Means To Be A Democrat."

This whole "Democrats Finding Jesus" thing sounds nice on paper, but just gives the Republicans one more thing to attack. Instead of doing things that put us on the defensive (and believe me, you can bet money on it that the Texas GOP or some religious group will issue a smart-ass press release on this article if they haven't already), we should be constantly on the offensive--demanding equal rights for all people, demanding a quality education for all children, demanding a fair tax system.