Posted by
voice_of_reason on Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:02:50 AM
It is important to understand the effect that religious beliefs can have on the American Public's acceptance of certain aspects of Socialism.
A recent survey showed that 91% of Americans believe in some form of religion. Therefore, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that there are religious people on both sides of the political spectrum. Many conservatives dismiss ALL leftists as "godless commies", as though all leftists are the hardcore ACLU-types.
My contention is that for every one of those 'secular leftists' there are many more who lean towards the 'progressive' side of the spectrum
because of their religious beliefs. In most cases, it is due to their seemingly logical but misguided application of religion-inspired altruism.
No doubt there are also those who deliberately take advantage of this grayness in our moral code. Whether they happen to be parasitic recipients who live off their productive neighbors - or politicians who pose as modern day Robin Hoods - their nature cannot be revealed until we identify the weakness in our own political/moral code.
Conservatives who fail to grasp this have a limited understanding of what predisposes many decent people towards the left.
But why is this a big deal?
In my opinion, we conservatives could use this understanding to widen the appeal of our positions. For example, some Religious Leftists will grasp the fact that altruism becomes malignant when it crosses over from the private space to the public arena (see previous article titled:
Altruism causes .. Cancer?).
Also, conservatives should be able to attract some moderate Leftists by the strength of our economic ideas. Of course, that would require a consistent focus on American self-interest and laissez-faire economics on the part of conservatives. Recent trends have not shown that consistency, but one can only hope ..
Finally, it is interesting to look at the social issues that seem to take center-stage in our political psyche! It is a given that many on the Religious Right vote (R)
because of their social stance. But how many votes are lost in the process? I'm referring to voters who believe in American self-interest and laissez-faire economics but are socially liberal.
Clearly, it would be useful to identify the
lead issues that make people decide to vote (R) or (D). Could it be that there is a large proportion of (D) voters who might be persuaded to vote for an (R) platform if social issues were not in the mix? Similarly, do a majority of (R) voters assign a higher priority to social or economic issues?
So, here are two $64 questions. If you choose to respond, please consider each question to be independent of the other:
Q1) If the (R) party adopted a neutral stance on social issues, but strengthened its stance on American self-interest and laissez-faire capitalism, would you vote (R) or (D)?
Q2) If the (D) party abandoned its current stance on social issues, but strengthened its existing stance on the environment and on re-distributing affluence in America and the world, would you vote (R) or (D)?
For the purposes of each one of these questions (independently), let's assume that the other party remained unchanged. Examples of 'social' issues are gay rights, abortion, etc. Also, let's assume that there is no (I) or 3rd party position.