THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406240045
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Medium
DATELINE: 940624 LENGTH:
You would never know it from the campaign being waged lately by Democratic as well as some Republican leaders to effectively demonize (and thus disenfranchize and silence) Christian conservatives as ``intolerant,'' ``extremists'' and ``radicals.'' Fundamentalist and evangelical Christians are said to be on the verge of taking over the Republican Party, the critics warn, and all Americans' civil liberties are said to hang in the balance.
{REST} On Tuesday, Rep. Vic Fazio, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, fired the latest shot. ``The Republicans accept the religious right and their tactics at their own peril,'' Representative Fazio told the National Press Club, ``for these activists are demanding their rightful seat at the table, and that is what the American people fear most.''
As the man in charge of electing more Democrats to the House, it is hard to read Representative Fazio's expressed concern for the well-being of the Republican Party with anything but a jaundiced eye. Representative Fazio's statements, along with similar ones by Democratic National Chairman David Wilhelm and others, can only be read as an attempt to set up a straw man to divert attention from their own party's failings and thus minimize expected Democratic losses this November.
It's hard to make a case that some kind of ``takeover'' of the Republican Party has taken place. Here in Virginia, many politically active Christians voted for Jim Miller over Oliver North in the recent Republican Senate contest because Miller was more conservative on some issues, notably abortion. Organized Christians have supported thoroughly ``mainstream'' Republican candidates, including Gov. George Allen, Attorney General James Gilmore, Georgia U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell, Texas U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and many others.
Unfortunately, some establishment Republican figures have joined in the chorus. Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner has scarcely disguised his distaste for politically active Christians and refused to support Michael Farris for lieutenant governor last year.
The straw man strategy can succeed if no one cries foul. Farris lost his race, and the Virginia Beach Education Association also used this strategy to successfully tar their opponents in the recent school board elections.
The critics, Democrats and Republicans alike, seem to be implying that religious conservatives have no right to participate in the political process. This is utterly in opposition to the American tradition of political and religious tolerance and open participation. It is cynical at best and bigotry at worst. Honorable people have an obligation to say so.
by CNB