[Dean's World] Shay: Foley Circus May Wake Up Elephants

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Posted by Shay:
Foley Circus May Wake Up Elephants
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1160057229.shtml


   [1]Argues Stanley Crouch, the moderate-conservative columnist over at
   New York Daily News: "We know that the scandals of the Catholic Church
   shook the faith that many followers had in its leadership. And we can
   only hope that the Republican faithful will wake up now that Mark
   Foley has been exposed for advances to young male pages, to whom he
   made overtures in the electronic pit of iniquity that the Internet has
   become in many instances. The putrid Foley scandal - and the failure
   of House leadership to do the right thing when given evidence of the
   man's predatory nature - can only disappoint and devastate the moral
   'majority' that fancies itself the soul of the party. Politically, it
   will probably cost the Republicans one house or two in the midterm
   elections. But here's the funny thing: Despite claims that this will
   bring the party down, over the long run, the scandal might actually be
   good news for Republicans. It could prove to be the backbreaking straw
   that wakes up the party's rank-and-file voters to the fact that,
   despite claims by the elephant leaders that they are the party of
   virtue, they are, in fact, just as damnably human as the Democrats.
   Perhaps now ordinary Republican voters will begin to see that, despite
   claims to the contrary, the grand Republican alliance with the
   conservative Christian right was not a genuine revelation. It was
   primarily a lip-service conversion purely for political convenience.
   Now, the sham marriage is revealed. Perhaps Foley's fall will help
   bring an end to this hypocrisy and party leaders will start defining
   themselves according to political ideas instead of religious dogma.
   That will be good for the party and the country - because a political
   party should never sell out to any religion. Our job as a nation is to
   preserve the right of religious freedom, not to be dictated to by any
   religious order."

   My response: while I agree with much of Mr. Crouch's commentary, I
   take issue with his ending points. A political party has the right to
   be linked to a religion - or lack thereof - if it so wishes. That does
   not undermine religious freedom, as voters have the right to choose to
   accept or reject said political party. Not to mention that political
   ideas and religion have never been as separate in America as he
   implies (hello, Civil Rights Movement? Anti-slavery movement?)

References

   1. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/scrouch/