what i don’t understand about politics

i was watching the news today, and there was a story about the recent interviews that evangelical pastor rick warren had with presidential candidates john mccain and barack obama, and the whole thing left me profoundly frustrated.

before i go further, you have to understand that there are two types of conservatives with very different goals. one group are the moral conservatives, mostly what we call evangelicals, that think we need to legislate morality back into the fabric of our society. the other group are fiscal conservatives, business (wo)men mostly, that are primarily concerned with money; making all of it, if they can.

the evangelical vote has become extremely powerful in this country over the last twenty years, and particularly since 9/11, due to some powerful grassroots campaigning in the bible belt of america, kansas in particular, where one of the most passionate local conservative political groups is located. if you want to know more about conservatives in kansas, read this book. it’s a good one.

i don’t have a problem with the cultural conservative platform, that of needing to bring back morality to our culture, because we are failing in a lot of ways. however, i do disagree with the idea that legislation, or participating in government at all is how it should be done. however, that’s not really what i’m here to talk about.

the thing that doesn’t make sense to me is that evangelicals are electing people that are hurting them just because they talk a good game. in the interview with mr. warren, when asked about what we do with evil in the world john mccain says, “defeat it”. and the crowd goes wild. i wish he would have added to the end of that, “and while we have you thinking we’re trying to defeat evil, me and my business buddies are going to bleed every red penny we can from you”.

it is really very simple. if you look at the people that most political conservatives (republicans if we’re naming names) are associated with, they are either extremely rich or they are involved in large corporations. big business. the people that really control this country. most economic legislation that conservatives support is designed to keep more money in the pocket of big business, so the ones left to pick up the economic slack are the middle-class and the poor.

if you’re smart, you’re starting to make the connection here. conservative politicians are manipulating the emotions of evangelical christians to get elected, and then when they are in office they are passing legislation that is hurting the very people that put them in office.

need evidence? look at our economy. since president bush has been elected things have been in steady decline. our housing market crashed because banks were allowed to give unstable loans to people that couldn’t pay for the consequences of their trust and ignorance. i guarantee the decision-makers in those institutions are republicans. there are many examples, many that i’m not even aware of, but you get my point. and i know someone is going to argue that we were headed into recession before bush got elected, and i’m going preemptively call bullshit on that because we had a generous surplus, which bush spent in days on his pet war. do the research.

ultimately public education is to blame. not public schools, but the education of the public about things that happen in the world that they don’t tell you about in school. evangelical voters want the world to be a better place, and i can’t blame them for trying to use the system we have in place to try and achieve that. but they can’t see that the wool is being pulled over their eyes and they are being manipulated into signing their own warrants.

my question to evangelicals: what have they done for you? is abortion illegal? gay marriage is continuing to gain momentum. god is not back in schools. yet many of you are struggling with debt. your children are having to opt for the military hoping to get college money, and they are going off to die in an unjustified war. some of you may be homeless. and we are becoming slaves to high gas prices.

its time for evangelicals to wake up and realize that the republican party does not have their best interests at heart. politics has never been about morality or culture. politics are about money. if you aren’t voting for the people that have your best economic interests at heart, you are failing.

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