Conservatives — Like the Battered Wife

Wrongly Believe, They Have Nowhere Else To Go.

 

George W. Bush ran on the promise that his election would guarantee Supreme Court nominations in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. But when he finally got an opening on the court he named stealth candidate John Roberts. After an initial round of puzzlement, conservatives viscerally reacted to his test balloon of pro-abortion candidate Alberto Gonzales. But the final sense of betrayal came when he nominated Harriet Miers.

The conservative response fell like sheet lightning!

Asked by MSNBC's Tucker Carlson if he was impressed by Ms. Miers, Former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork replied: "Not a bit.  I think it's a disaster on every level."

Pro-Life President of Eagle Forum Phyllis Schlafly said “President Bush's choice of Harriet Miers to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court is a terrible disappointment and a missed opportunity.  We were expecting President Bush to move the Court away from an activist, supremacist Court toward a Constitutionalist Court and there is no evidence that Harriet Miers would be any better than Sandra Day O’Connor."

Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer, who is normally a strong Bush supporter, wrote that if Miers weren't a Bush crony, "her nomination to the Supreme Court would be a joke, as it would have occurred to no one else to nominate her."  He then called on President Bush to “withdraw his nomination of Miers.”

Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol argued “…if Miers does not prove to be impressive in her confirmation hearings, conservative senators can do the conservative cause, the Republican party, and the Bush administration a favor by voting against confirming Miers.”

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum takes on the Bush loyalists by saying, “Don't trust me. Trust your own eyes… Why is a Republican president bypassing so many dozens of superb legal conservatives to choose Harriet Miers for the highest court in the land?”

And finally, Washington Post columnist George Will asks "Can this nomination be justified?"

While the heavy hitters in the conservative movement slam-dunked Miers, Bush still had his supporters namely the partisan hacks and the ever trustful and forgiving Religious Right.

 “Evangelical leaders have generally supported Ms. Miers as part of a Faith-in-Bush initiative. Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, said, "We're giving the president the benefit of the doubt based on his record thus far in nominating judges." Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said, "We have a president with a track record of making nominations in keeping with his own philosophy on the judiciary, that of judicial restraint." Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, American Family Association president Tim Wildmon, and Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, also gave President Bush the benefit of the doubt.”[1]

But conservatives need to open their eyes and look at a few facts, namely some recent political history.

In his insightful article, Taken for Granted, John M. Leone observes, “The Republican Party of the last decade has sacrificed traditional conservative values on the blood altar of political expedience.  This party has abandoned its core principles in the pursuit of raw political power.  In the effort to "grow" the party, Republicans have embraced a "big tent" philosophy, wherein the goal is to gain as many supporters as possible, even if the methods used to attain these ends destroy the perceived conservative foundation of the party… 

…The Republican ruse of supporting reform for a return to Constitutionally limited and smaller federal government, is just a party line, and not an actual political principle that will ever be embraced or acted upon…

…The Christian conservative base is now completely taken for granted by the Republican Party and is given mere lip service on the major issues of our time.  The Republican Party knows that the vast majority of the Christian conservatives believe that they have nowhere to go and will remain loyal to the party even while it is sprinting away from conservatism at a world record pace.  On occasion, the party throws the Christian conservatives some worthless meat disguised as food and expects them to be cheerful and content with this meager fare… 

…Knowing the Christian conservatives will behave like a battered wife who doesn’t believe she can go anywhere else, the Republican Party has no impetus to make any meaningful change, and the murderous status quo will endure for another generation, with tens of millions more babies savagely butchered at the hands of abortionists.  But brethren, let me tell you that we do have a legitimate place of refuge and safe haven in the Constitution Party...[2]

Christian conservatives are to the Republican Party what urban blacks are to the Democratic Party.  Both support their party candidates at levels approaching 100 percent, both are completely taken for granted by their elected representatives, and both are given vacuous promises that rarely, if ever, amount to anything of import.  What it will take to turn this sad tide of political complacency is a courageous and faithful remnant willing to work at unflagging levels and who are dedicated to preserving and restoring America’s Christian and Constitutional heritage.”[3]

The Miers nomination clearly demonstrates that the President and the Republican Party do not support our values.  But they do respond to pressure!  Bowing to Conservative outrage Miers withdrew her nomination and Bush quickly nominated Samuel A. Alito Jr., in her place.

Hopefully, this latest illustration of Conservative Christian bashing by party elites and their subsequent kowtowing before the very real power of our righteous anger, will serve as the catalyst that finally gives us the courage to leave. 

The Constitution Party supports our Christian values and is waiting for us with open arms.  Like Gideon, we are soldiers of Christ.  We should be marching forward in obedience to God, supporting candidates that unapologetically stand up for our values and then trust in God for the results.

[9] From an article in the November / December  Issue of  The Wild Man’s Journal, www.catholicgentleman.com Copyright © Tom Walsh 2005