Scanning through the headlines, trying to find one that does not
contain the phrase “president-elect” — does anyone remember
George W. Bush being called anything but “Governor” until his
inauguration? — I happened across a piece from the BBC
humorously
titled, “Uncertain times for US Religious Right.” In it, the
left muses on its favorite dream; that humbled by defeat in the
last two elections, “Christian conservatives may find themselves
working alongside Democrats” on certain social issues.
BBC’s Matthew Wells hopefully focuses on the “tension between the
narrow social agenda of Christian conservatives and the broader,
more pragmatic ‘low tax’ wing of the party.” Well, I hate to
disappoint our British brethren, but the “religious right” has
never been more certain that its cause is just; given that the
“narrow social agenda” we defend originates far higher up the
food chain than Washington, D.C. And the events of November 4
will only make true conservatives even more determined to fight
for it.
We lost this election not because this agenda wasn’t important to
voters; it’s that their pocketbooks were more so. One has only to
look to statewide elections where bans on same-sex marriage
passed, to know that even in California, the radical left agenda
did not hold sway across the board. The thought that a big win by
Democrats will make the conservative movement dry up and blow
away is as laughable as the notion that 20 years of Reagan/Bush
decimated the liberal agenda.
Of course our challenge is much greater than that of the left
because of the stranglehold they still retain on the media, the
public education system, and especially the courts. As we are
seeing in California, even when the people exercise their
right to self govern by amending their Constitution, liberals
seek to circumvent this process through their willing allies on
the bench.
But such efforts will only serve to further strengthen our
movement and commitment, especially as our very identity as
Americans comes under assault. We are called conservatives
because we seek to preserve that which every American should hold
dear: our founding document, the U.S. Constitution.
This is why many conservatives never fully supported John McCain;
we remember his political free speech-busting Campaign Reform
Bill. And although he naively signed it believing that the
Supreme Court would strike it down, President Bush deserves
credit for appointing our current Chief Justice who, in negating
some of its most offending aspects last year,
wrote:
“[W]hen it comes to defining what speech qualifies as the
functional equivalent of express advocacy subject to such a ban
— the issue we do have to decide — we give the benefit
of the doubt to speech, not censorship. The First Amendment’s
command that ‘Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of
speech’ demands at least that.”
Again, many think that because McCain and Obama never fully
discussed other issues important to conservatives, these will
somehow magically fall off the political table. Not a chance.
Just as Chief Justice Roberts calls the First Amendment a
“command,” so do we believe that its protection of religious
freedom is sacrosanct.
Barack Obama is notoriously supportive of abortion in all of its
vile forms. He has promised that “The first thing I’d do as
President is sign the Freedom Of Choice Act.” As we all know,
FOCA would erase all existing bans on abortion, and worse, force
all those whose religious convictions now prevent the government
from making them participants in this heinous practice, to toe
the murderous line. The repercussions of this would be
disastrous, even to Americans allowed to be born, as explained
by Bill Donahue of the Catholic League:
“[R]eligious liberty is enshrined in the First Amendment and
cannot be trespassed upon lightly, and certainly not by abortion
zealots. Those who support FOCA must realize that if
Catholic hospitals are ever required to perform abortions, the
bishops will close every one of them; no one would be hurt more
than the poor.”
The left must realize that we will fight legislation like FOCA
with all our strength. For the past eight years we have been on
defense; especially on the War in Iraq and the economy. But
conservatives are never more united and focused than when our
Constitution and our values are under direct assault, as they
will most certainly be in the next four years.
Let us take the offensive in the culture wars and leave the
navel-gazing and hand-wringing to those paid to do it. Let us not
worship the cult of personality as the Democrats do, but let our
positions on the issues lead us instead. Let us, as Ronald Reagan
said, be known for communicating great ideas.
In closing his article with a burst of wishful thinking, the Beeb
writer opines that if Obama “steers clear of a social and
cultural policy agenda, preferring to focus all efforts on the
economy and foreign affairs, the Religious Right will have
nothing much to react against.” Those on the left assume that
they will continue to have conservatives in a defensive position;
let us prove them very wrong.
