A Warning To The GOP
By Deal W. Hudson
November 25, 2008
Page 2 of 2
The moderates were not casting ballots against Sarah Palin or the social and religious conservatives she represents -- this election was not a referendum on abortion or gay marriage. How could they be when John McCain almost never brought them up?
In reality, McCain's reticence on social issues contributed to the fact (web site) that 4.1 million religiously-active voters did not go to the polls on Nov. 4. If there is a warning for the GOP from the presidential election results it is this. As Karl Rove noted, "Americans aren't suddenly going to church less; something was missing from the campaign to draw out the more religiously observant."
If Whitman has her way, something will soon be missing from the entire Republican Party that will keep religious conservatives -- or should I say "social fundamentalists"? -- from serious engagement in GOP politics. Whitman is calling out a potential voting group (web site) of 30,000,000 Catholic, Evangelical, Mormon, and Mainline Protestants.
In the final chapter of my recent book, Onward, Christian Soldiers, (web site) I posed this question for the future, "Will the Democrats Get Religion, Will the Republicans Keep It?" Obama won, in part, because he successfully courted religious voters -- the Democrats successfully found religion, at least for one election cycle. (web site)
Did the GOP lose religion? No. But when over four million religiously-active voters stay home there was certainly what Evangelicals call "backsliding." If Gov. Whitman has her way, the GOP will offer voters nothing different from the Democrats on abortion and marriage. If that happens, the Republican Party can wave goodbye to religious conservatives.
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Deal W. Hudson is the director of InsideCatholic.com and the author of Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon and Schuster).
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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA. >> Back -- Page 1 2
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