Obama's March To The Middle

I hate to jump on the bandwagon here, but one component of Obama’s recent centrist makeover is deeply disturbing to me. I was relatively okay with him pandering to churches in Appalachia with cheesy fliers featuring corpseless crucifixes. Whatever it takes to win, right? But his plan to expand Bush’s faith-based initiatives program is crossing the line in a big way. Here’s why…

Let’s say you give the Church Of Christ the King a $20,000 grant to feed orphan children in Costa Rica. Let’s pretend, for the sake of argument, that the members of C.O.C.K. will not proselytize in any way, that their mission is strictly to put food in the mouths of hungry orphans and that they are organized, motivated, and efficient. One could certainly argue that this is a win-win situation. The taxpayers’ $20,000 has been well spent on a good cause, with no apparent conflict between church and state.

Now let’s look at C.O.C.K.’s overall budget for the same fiscal year. Sure, we might find that our $20,000 is meticulously accounted for, faithfully allocated to the agreed mission. But what if we turn the page to a separate budget line and find that another $20,000—raised by the church for their own purposes—was spent on bus trips to “pro-life” marches in Washington D.C., classes designed to “cure” homosexuals of their gayness, and a fee for Pat Robertson to speak at C.O.C.K.? What if the pastor of C.O.C.K. has a $20,000 SUV, paid for by the church, to transport his wife and three children to church from their home in the suburbs, for which the church pays the $20,000/year mortgage?

I am currently sequestered in the village of Fabius, New York (pop. 344) where there are three churches—that’s one per 115 residents, without accounting for how many actually go to church on days that aren’t Christmas. Back home in Florida there is a stretch of suburban road that I like to call our church mall. In the span of a mile or two, you can choose between Greek Orthodox, Baptist, Armenian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Church of Christ, and a synagogue. What about the financial overhead involved in having so many factions competing for souls? Should federal funds be used to subsidize the eternal debate over which interpretation of which ancient religious text is the best? (Even I might be able to get behind funding for effective programs that are completely interdenominational—open to Christians, Muslims, Hindi, Jews, Scientologists, Buddhists, Mormons, Wiccans, et al—given the reduced likelihood that funds could indirectly support any specific mythical creation.)

When coupled with his denunciation of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the death penalty for non-muderers (not that I support it for actual murderers) and his newfound sympathy for the telecom industry (as expressed by his support for the new FISA bill which grants them retroactive immunity), I’m beginning to worry that Obama is not the candidate he promised to be. If I’d known that he was going to start acting like a run-of-the-mill politician, I might well have decided that Hillary Clinton would be the stronger candidate in the fall. Instead, I bought into the story that his candidacy was premised on something new and better.

While I cannot credibly suggest that I won’t vote for him in November, I can tell you that I have decided to cease my periodic donations to his campaign until I see how this plays out. I’m not interested in fueling a campaign (with money I don’t have) that is going to abandon such fundamental ideals as the separation of church and state by adopting George W. Bush’s platform.

Turn it around, O. Don’t do this. I know that all the political gurus are telling you that you have to, but remember that they’re all stuck in the same political time warp that defeated Hillary. They’ve been playing one game for too long and have accepted their own conventional wisdom as the rules of that game. You showed them that ignoring those rules could work. Don’t start playing politics now.

Also…we’re ready for something big. Where’s the grand vision, man? Things are shit up in here. Where’s our New Deal? Where’s the visionary plan that is going to take the foot off our throats? Stop dicking around and start firing us up. Don’t engage in the same, tired old debates by telling us where you stand on the narrow spectrum of acceptable positions. Transform the debate. Tell us what we can do for our country and how we can take it back. Tell us how we’re going to stop the bleeding and start the healing.

Comments

[Brutus]

Welcome back. The argument you make is why when I donate to my alma mater I designate the general fund. I could elect some specific program for my funds to support, but in the end, all the various departments and programs draw from the same well. Supporting something I like has the effect -- within the institution -- of supporting others of the institutions programs for which I don't especially care.