The Journal

Issue date: 11/2/06 Section: Opinion/Editorial

Midterm elections. Republicans are dreading them and Democrats are salivating in anticipation. While I hope those swing voters have recovered from whatever severe head injuries prompted them to re-elect Bush in '04, I am not busting out the party favors quite yet. How so many people could blindly put their faith in a man and a party that has used such blatant, fear-mongering tactics to gain political power is scary and at times unfathomable. More annoying than that, however, is the moral self-righteousness.

Right-wing Republicans have been waging their moral crusade for quite some time, but it never gained such hellish momentum until the Bush administration came into power. Christian Conservatives came crawling out from their spider holes at Cracker Barrel and Wal-Mart in order to keep a "Christian" in the White House. What they failed to understand were two very important things:

1) Bush is to Christianity what Jessica Simpson is to the craft of music.
2) Bush and his cronies used Jesus as the "get out the vote" guy but secretly joked these extreme Bible-thumpers were wing nuts of epic proportion.

So a deal was made with the devil: Promise the Children of the Corn that their moral agenda would make its way into the White House in exchange for political (read: votes and $$$) support. Bush and his henchmen then unleashed the true terror upon our country - the wedge issue. It was (and is) ingenious. Divert attention away from significant issues such as the economy education and international relations and re-direct it to a phantom boogeyman … perhaps gay marriage … prayer in public schools … or even (insert maniacal scream here) the "war on Christmas." Use a message architect like Karl Rove to construct an entire platform that preys upon fear and ignorance and then use it to divide the nation.

We have endured insufferable "morality cops" like Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and our own Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) bringing their personal religious beliefs into the nation's capital in order to try and create legislation that promotes discrimination and intolerance, all under the guise of "moral imperatives." We listened to these self-proclaimed Christians as they unleashed vicious attacks upon American citizens simply for being gay and wanting the same civil rights as their straight counterparts.

We heard them lecture us about the importance of a democracy in Iraq while they tried to deny that very same thing to citizens in this country who disagreed with them about how and why this war was being fought. They used twisted and circular logic to muzzle criticism of their beloved president and his administration's hideous policies here and abroad. The only thing more sickening than their lack of a moral compass is their unwavering conviction that they are doing God's work in public office; apparently they missed the day in grade school where the issue of separation of church and state was discussed.

And here we are, weeks before the mid-term elections, and most people have one name on their minds: former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. While it is unfortunate that Mr. Foley has blamed alcohol and alleged sexual abuse for his actions, the fact remains that this scandal could well be the final nail in the political coffin for Republicans this fall.

While part of me wants to take the high road and not relish in their misfortune, the other part of me delights in the fact that these hypocritical authoritarians have finally demonstrated to the American people that they do not have a monopoly on morality or "family values." If anything, their disgusting and numerous scandals over the past few years have proven that they should be cleaning their own houses instead of throwing stones at others'.



Donald Miller, a graduate student in media communications, is a guest writer for The Journal.

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