James C. Dobson is founder and chairman of the evangelical
organization Focus on the Family Action. He's also the author of
various books, pamphlets, tracts, and manifestos calling for
America to march in lock-step with his views of how people should
live, think, work, and die.
Dr. Dobson is apparently enraged that the Republican Party seems
to be shuffling away from his views, and so he and his brother
theo-cons (theological conservatives) have announced that unless
the Republican Party nominates a candidate they like they may
form a third party for the 2008 presidential election.
Republicans are shaking in their boots, fearful they may have
their very own Ralph Nader to worry about.
No matter how it turns out, theo-cons will not go away. They will
either weigh down the Republican Party with their lead-weight
fundamentalism, or cut the Republican Party in half and split
away.
Dr. Dobson announced his potential strategy in a recent column in
the New York Times, and some words in that piece blare out the
essential problems of theo-con politics.
Dr. Dobson says: "I firmly believe that the selection of a
president should begin with a recommitment to traditional moral
values and beliefs. Those include the sanctity of human life, the
institution of marriage, and other inviolable pro-family
principles."
What we have here is a sample of theo-con vacuity, the hawking of
"traditional moral values and beliefs" without admission that
many "traditional" moral values and beliefs in this country in
the past were stupid, irrational, and ugly enough to embarrass
anyone with an ounce of decency in their psyches.
Since America has been wrong before, maybe we need to continue
questioning ourselves.
But theo-cons, who believe in revealed "truth", tolerate no
doubts about "traditional values".
The lynching of blacks for entertainment was a "traditional moral
value" in this country until quite recently. The same is true of
physical violence against Chinese, Jews, Irish, and other
minorities during the 19th and 20th centuries. We're a nation
with a history of many corrupt and ugly moral values and beliefs,
and anyone who calls for a return to "tradition" is either
deliberately ignoring history or fooling themselves about their
own morality.
Dr. Dobson wants a commitment to the "sanctity of human life" --
a theo-con mantra. The problem for many theo-cons is that if you
have a commitment to the sanctity of human life you ought to be
marching against the death penalty, ought to be marching for
universal health insurance, marching against segregation, against
war, against any policy that reduces human life to a chip in some
social Darwinism game.
In other words, theo-cons ought to be marching against the
Republican Party -- but not for the reasons proposed by Dr.
Dobson.
In addition to a commitment to the sanctity of human life, Dr.
Dobson wants a commitment to "the institution of marriage" -- a
vacuous commitment par excellence and no more than a screen for a
vicious prejudice against gays.
What is it, this institution of marriage? The "institution" of
marriage did not exist in Christianity until about 500 years
after the death of Jesus Christ. Before then, if two people
wanted to get "married" they essentially shook hands on the deal.
The early Church, in fact, was against marriage, thought it a
lustful diversion from religious obedience, and did not permit
marriage agreements inside any church anywhere. The Church
Fathers were so vehemently opposed to marriage, they foamed at
the mouth as they ranted about it. So instead it became a popular
custom to make announcements of mate pairings outside the church,
on the steps of the church -- the "banns of marriage". Only much
later were announcements of marriages finally allowed inside
churches. And only still much later were marriages finally
"blessed" by priests.
The point is that marriage as an "institution" is a recent
phenomenon and the human species got along quite well without it
for many thousands of years. Of course, when theo-cons talk about
the "institution of marriage" what they're really doing is
signaling their opposition to homosexual unions and to gays in
general. What they really want is a denial of marriage to one
group -- and not a commitment to marriage as an institution. What
they really want is for that group to disappear.
Why?
The theo-con hatred of gays is so vehement it makes you wonder
about its psychiatric components. Why are they so troubled by the
mere presence of gays?
Finally, Dr. Dobson wants a commitment to "other pro-family
principles" -- more theo-con vacuity. What "principles"? What's
"pro-family"? Is poverty pro-family? Where are the theo-con
platforms to end poverty in America? Where are the theo-con
platforms to provide jobs to inner city youths? Where are theo-
con platforms to put bread on the family table of families
struggling to survive? Where are the platforms to bring social
and economic dignity to families of all kinds in America?
Instead, theo-cons like Dr. Dobson support low taxes for the
rich, reduced entitlements for the poor, and amplified corporate
greed at the expense of the very families they say they want to
protect.
The game is theo-con hypocrisy, a circus of stupid buffoonery, a
crowd of carnival barkers hawking "traditional values" to a
gullible public.
It's a sad story of America in a troubled time.