In Support of Poverty
By Anthony | November 29th, 2005 | 12:31 amLately I’ve been thinking about conservative Christian support for President Bush and for Republicans in general, and I must admit that I find it a bit confusing. Why do conservative Christians like Bush so much? One reason may be that he’s a Christian too. That’s fine, however it should be noted that being a Christian does not automatically mean that a person will make for a good President.
Stemming from this, many conservative Christians may feel that he shares their values. I think in many cases this is probably true – Bush being a conservative Christian himself, this would make sense. However, I often wonder where these professed values are coming from. Are they in fact Christian values?
Jesus and the authors of the New Testament had a great love for the poor. They advocated giving freely to the poor, without reservation, without concern for whether they were in their situation through misfortune or through simple laziness. Yet Republican policies often seem to hurt the poor. From the Bankruptcy bill to the recent budget cuts for programs that many less fortunate people depend on, these policies certainly don’t seem generous to people who are down and out. Quite the opposite.
The party line is that the Constitution doesn’t specifically provide for government-run social programs, so these things shouldn’t be a concern of the federal government. However, that reasoning doesn’t seem to stop many conservative Christians from supporting government-established monuments to the Ten Commandments and other government-initiated religious displays. You’d be hard-pressed to point out where those things are called for in the Constitution. And I wonder, which would please Jesus more – using our government’s power to lift up the poor just a bit and ease their burden, or using our power to erect slabs of law-bearing stone?
There is the abortion issue of course. However, abortion isn’t explicitly mentioned in the New Testament and it definitely isn’t a recurring theme of any sort. I’m certainly not saying that Jesus would be pro-abortion, but if a conservative Christian is going to weigh the issues and vote accordingly, wouldn’t it make sense to give more weight to the issue on which the New Testament speaks more clearly and more vociferously – the issue of poverty?
November 29th, 2005 at 10:17 pm
I think they see a lot of liberals as condescending.
November 29th, 2005 at 10:35 pm
A budget is a moral document.
November 29th, 2005 at 10:58 pm
David – That may be true. If so, it speaks to the opposite side of what was perceived as Bush’s strength: He seemed like a fun guy to go have a beer with. Unfortunately there isn’t necessarily a high degree of correlation between strong drinking buddy skillz and a strong ability to be a successful President. Likewise, even if a particular politician is condescending, that doesn’t mean that they lack an ability to lead and govern effectively.
Similarly, I’ve read and gotten the impression myself that Bush was seen as an “average guy” whereas many people felt that Gore for instance (and Kerry to some degree) was too “intellectual”. It baffles me that people would want an “average guy” to lead the country, as opposed to an intellectual. Personally, I want someone smarter than me in charge, if at all possible.
Cara Michele – I’ve heard that phrase once or twice, but it’s usually been spoken by left-leaning folks, if I’m not mistaken. Do you indeed subscribe to that belief? I think you probably do, but I don’t want to make any assumptions. At what point, for you, does the morality of budget priorities begin to outweigh the traditionally conservative social issues such as abortion?
November 30th, 2005 at 12:17 am
Your post inspired me to blog about Republicans (and others) and poverty. Read it here. (Update: I see that you already did, and commented, thank you!)
Yes, I do definitely believe that a budget is a moral document, and if I could bend GB43’s ear for a while on the poverty, I would. Actually, the Bible also supports the idea of budgets as moral documents: “For where your treasure is stored, there also will your heart be.” Translation: You spend your money on what you care about. God said it. (I need to add that to my blog post!)
As for poverty vs. abortion, they don’t have anything to do with each other, so there’s no weigh or outweigh for me. Separate issues.
If you’re referring to voting, like abortion/Republican vs. poverty/Democrat, then the best I can tell you is that I don’t vote like that. I know this sounds tired and trite, but I honestly vote for people, not parties.
I’ve always voted for folks from both sides of the aisle. I don’t see how any Christian can strictly identify with either the Republican or Democratic party. Both “party lines” veer away from Scripture. Each gets it right in some places, wrong in others. So you find out as much as you can about the people themselves and you pray and you trust God. No matter who is holding the office, God’s still on the throne. Word! Preach, girl, preach!! 😉
November 30th, 2005 at 7:24 am
I don’t necessarily disagree Stew, although sometimes being smart doesn’t translate into good decisions (Clinton). However, if the Democrats want to win more elections they need to find someone who can talk to regular people (Clinton) rather than past them.