Editor, Republicans stress the need to restore American values and the faith of our fathers. The allure is strong. I feel the gravity of the idea stirring my soul. Me too! I’m a restorationist!
The Republican National Committee presents a very skewed and edited version of what that faith was about and just what those values were.
It excludes the Mayflower Compact and any notion of the common good, but it exalts the economic theories of Adam Smith (a Brit). It’s adamant about our Christian roots, but very ambiguous about Christian fruit and works. The RNC televises images of a line of freshly-painted homes and cottages, autumn leaves and high-flying flags, even as it impoverishes and shrinks the middle class that lives in those neighborhoods.
The Republican Party exalts rugged individualism because members think the rugged can endure the policies they skew to rich corporations--hardly stalwarts of rugged individualism themselves. They pontificate on prayer in the schools and couldn’t care less about those who don’t have a prayer. They praise family values, but can’t be bothered to worry about families or values when they get chewed up and spit-out by the clogs and wheels of big business.
The RNC paints minorities with a broad bush and always has, using all the code words that awaken and bring to attention the bodies of bigots.
I profoundly prefer the restoration of the Democrats: the idea that we’re all in this together--we cannot love God without loving our neighbors; the idea that in a democracy, the partitions come down and everyone is encouraged to participate. I like the Democratic Party because it wants to restore the ideals of Jesus and the behavior of the good Samaritan.
Like the RNC, Democrats do not have a corner on Christianity and our party is far from perfect. But, if we have our faults, the poor are nevertheless fed. If we blunder, families still have a chance to survive. But if the Republicans blunder, families are devastated and still the RNC will admit no fault. They’ll trod the same road as long as their campaign coffers are filled t
Douglas John Donaldson
Clearfield
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