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This could also be titled: “The Post Where I Get Myself into Lots of Trouble”

So, I’m confused, but I am genuinely trying to understand. I hope that some people will bother to read this whole thing, trust that my intentions are what I say they are, and help me out by sharing their thoughts and resources.

I do want to say a few things up front, though…

First: I’m confused … which means I’m admitting that there are many things I don’t know and don’t understand related to the issues I’ll be raising. I’m hoping to get some responses that help clear things up for me.

Second: I have no definite party affiliation, and I don’t blindly vote on party lines. There are plenty of Republicans and plenty of Democrats who are driven by corporate corruption and strange ideas, and I don’t believe any party, political movement, or political figure is beyond reproach. Case in point: Obama’s appointment of Arne Duncan infuriated me and sadly confirmed my suspicion that neither one of them knows anything about education.

Third: I’m raising concerns about issues and problems, but not backing any one approach to addressing those issues or solving those problems. In other words, I feel strongly about “good and bad” results for each of the issues below, but I’m not sure about the best way to remedy bad results or achieve good ones.

Also note that “the best way” is not even the point of this post. I’m trying to understand the thinking behind two groups in relation to a few big issues … nothing more.

Fourth: I’ll be talking about “right-wing conservatives” and “Christians” throughout the post, but I’m trying to pick on anyone. I realize that I’m making generalizations and that my points won’t apply to all people in all situations. However, I don’t want to keep repeating things like “on average” or “broadly speaking” or “as a generalization.” I also recognize that I’m talking about popular conceptions of both. I’m trying to get a handle on the big picture, not trying to pin entire groups to their stereotypes.

The Confusion

The simplest way to express my confusion is this: I don’t understand why Christians and right-wing conservatives are friends. From my perspective, the teachings of Christianity seem to be more in conflict with current conservative political views (typically mapped with the Republican party) than with current liberal political views (typically mapped to the Democratic party).

Sure, I can understand lining up under issues like abortion, but on many of the large issues dominating our national discussion right now, I just don’t get it.

The Environment

For example, I don’t get why so many Christians seem so opposed to concerns about the environment or the idea of climate change. I won’t even go into the merits of the argument for climate change … I’ll leave that to scientists who study this for a living and who, with an amazing level of agreement, believe that climate change is occurring and is impacted by human activity. But even if 97% of climatologists are wrong, I still don’t understand the opposition to a more careful approach to our environment.

The Christian attitude toward the earth can be summed up in the word “caretaker.” The environmental movement supports exactly that attitude. And even if there is no climate change, why would anyone fight against creating new jobs (through alternate forms of sustainable energy), securing the future of the planet through careful management and cultivation of resources, saving money by reducing wastefulness, striving for cleaner air and water, supporting biodiversity, supporting local farmers, holding corporations accountable for their impact on the environment, etc.? What am I missing? And why wouldn’t Christians want concern for the environment to triumph over corporate greed? Because that’s the popular perception that results from aligning with right-wing conservatives on this issue.

The Market

Right-wing conservatives don’t want any government intervention with the market (unless it’s protecting the profits of their supporters, of course), and certainly don’t want any “redistributing” of wealth going on. Never mind that wealth is being redistributed all the time, and for the past 20 years or so, it’s been redistributed from the poor to the wealthy at an increasing rate. Why would Christians be in support of this? Or put differently, why wouldn’t Christians want a government that takes an active role in preventing corruption and the pooling of wealth among the very few? (I’m not taking political sides here: there are corrupt politicians on both sides of the aisle.)

Now, I can see all kinds of dangers when we start talking about how this is to be done. But that’s not what I hear people arguing about … not really. The argument starts and stops at whether or not there should be any government involvement at all … and the answer from Christians and conservatives alike is mostly “no,” followed quickly by accusations of socialism. Yet, isn’t one of the tenants of Christianity that we should help those less fortunate than ourselves? And wouldn’t creating a government that played a role in making that happen be a more-Christian government by extension?

I’ve heard the argument that the government should stay out and self-regulation should rule, but the past 20 years has demonstrated that self-regulation doesn’t work. And Christianity would seem to suggest that self-regulation is a bad idea, given its pessimistic view of human nature. I mean, the love of money is still the root of all evil, right?

I’m not talking socialism or communism here … I’m mostly talking about more regulation, and I’m condemning the complaints from the wealthiest 2% of the nation (who are orders of magnitude more wealthy than even the “middle” class) when they’re asked to contribute more to the general welfare of the nation.

Again, the “how” is certainly a difficult issue, and I don’t have any grand ideas there. But I have a hard time understanding people who think regulation of some sort isn’t necessary, particularly in light of what we’ve just experienced during the last year, or who see injustice in asking those who benefit the most from society to also be the ones who give the most in return.

Health Care

Related to this is the issue of providing health care for everyone. How any Christian can be opposed to this is completely beyond me. Again, we can argue a lot about the best way to achieve this, but I don’t understand why Christians wouldn’t see it as a worthy goal. Currently, we have an industry driven by greed that does whatever it can to protect its wallet … concerns for the patient are far down the list. Yet, the Christian value of caring for others is central to the faith … so why wouldn’t Christians want a government that makes provisions to ensure that all people can receive care? And isn’t the moral of the story of the good Samaritan that aid and kindness should be given to all, regardless of their standing in society (or, dare I say it: legal status)?

Once again: I’m not arguing that the current proposal is the best way to achieve this, I just can’t believe that we can’t get consensus that it’s a goal worth achieving.

Private Liberties

Now, on moral issues, the friendship between Christians and right-wing conservatives seems to make more sense, but the real question for me is: why are conservatives in agreement with Christians on this? Typically, conservatives are concerned with the individual’s rights and, in general, oppose government intervention in how an individual chooses to exercise those rights. (This is true historically and in theory, though with the Patriot Act, illegal wire-tapping, etc., that stance has been greatly eroded.) So, at least historically and theoretically, a true conservative wouldn’t want the government to have any say at all in how one chooses to conduct his/her private life (you know, things like sexual preference …) provided basic prohibitions against things like theft, murder, and so on. So why do conservatives align themselves with a religious group who are very much interested in not only telling others how they should live but in employing the government to enforce the kinds of lifestyles they condone? This seems backwards to me.

In fact, with many of these issues, the issue doesn’t seem to be that one side doesn’t want the government to intervene and the other side does, it seems to be that each side wants the government to intervene for them but not for others, pointing fingers and placing blame hypocritically at every turn, depending on who has the upper hand at the moment. Which is why I think finding some common agreement about which goals are important must be the first step before any talk about how to achieve those goals can happen. I don’t hear that discussion happening, though.

And also … guns!?

The love for guns among the religious right completely baffles me. If you take a minute to think about it, it should baffle you, too.

Conclusion

Now, if I take an historical approach to these issues, I can make some sense of them, but it’s usually a very unflattering kind of sense, which is why I’m trying to take a step back and point out that the two schools of thought don’t really seem to belong together, despite their historical entanglement.

So, I ask this sincerely: why do Christians and right-wing conservatives so often appear on the same side? What am I missing? Or is my perception actually off and the two are more opposed than I realize? It would seem to me that they should be in opposition on some of our major issues. Can you help me understand why they’re friends?