I mean that question in all sincerity. It has been pretty standard for the Republican Party to bring up social issues as a wedge to divide the electorate. Whether it's abortion, or race, or prayer in public schools, or religion in general, it's been thrust to the public table and made part of the discussion whether it is relevant or not. So far, this time around, not so much. Even the introduction of Sarah Palin, clearly the pick of the religious right, has not pumped up the volume on the outrage over the holocaust of abortion, or the de-Christianizing of America, or the way God has been kicked out of our public schools in favor either of Satan or Mohammed, or both.
Maybe it's because, unlike previous election years, not only do we have the toilet bowl of Iraq to deal with, where we are flushing $10 billion a month plus all the dead and wounded, we have the collapse of the investment banking industry in a short span of a couple weeks. People are jittery about things that actually matter, like keeping their homes, their jobs, making decision about buying gas for their cars or medicine and food. Worrying over the ontological status of a fetus just doesn't compare with these more immediate realities; kids probably are praying in school more, especially that they might have enough money to buy lunch; and since all the Christians in the high reaches of the Republican Party seem to be either stupid or corrupt or closeted homosexuals, or some combination thereof, I don't see where a discussion of Christian values matters all that much.
Overall, I think this is a sucky year to be a Republican.
Virtual Tin Cup
