Religion And Politics

Everyone and his dog these days has a post-mortem opinion of why the Democrats lost in so many of the recent elections. I'd like to cast mine out.

I think that it was basically religious issues that killed Kerry this election. Of the four big issues this election (Iraq, the economy & taxes, gay marriage, and abortion), the latter two are, at their core, religious issues.

And that presents a big problem for the Democrats.

See, the democrats have to preserve this face of being progressive thinkers. And often to do that they have downplay the role that religion plays in their lives. A Democrat has to make sure that Church and state are separate. A Democrat has to appeal to atheists as well as believers of many different faiths.

But a Republican has no such concerns. For them, being religious, and especially Christian, is one of their biggest selling points.

That's why Democrats have to appear to take sides where they don't personally believe. Like saying that they think abortion is wrong, but that it should be a choice. "You can't legislate morality", they say.

But with both the presidential election and the anti-same-sex-marriage referenda, it's clear that there's a majority (small though it may be) that thinks certain points of morality should be legislated. And I think that in their efforts to distance themselves from the right wing, they don't allow for that.

Granted, it was a close one in the presidential this year. I think that shows that in social issues, and issues of foreign policy, that the country was pretty evenly split. That's why the moral issues were making such a difference, and a big factor in why Kerry lost.

I, myself, decided not to vote republican because even though I agree with their stance on abortion and gay marriage, there are other issues that are very important to me. Like I said in blogs past, there really wasn’t one candidate that truly represented me. But then, I’m not sure there ever has been. I’m kind of a hard one to nail down!

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com