Learning from the Christian Right
"Oh, Woe Is Us! Well, Maybe Not" by Paul Starobin, in National Journal (Jan. 16, 1999), 1501 M St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
"Oh, Woe Is Us! Well, Maybe Not" by Paul Starobin, in National Journal (Jan. 16, 1999), 1501 M St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
"Oh, Woe Is Us! Well, Maybe Not" by Paul Starobin, in National Journal (Jan. 16, 1999), 1501 M St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
To hear many pundits and professors tell it, electorate not even bothering to vote and Big American democracy is ailing, with half the Money’s political influence growing ever stronger. How could a grassroots movement these days even hope to get off the ground? Well, says Starobin, senior writer at National Journal, "Cast aside all prejudices, and consider the reaffirming achievement of the Christian Right over the past two decades." Look at how—despite the continual scorn of the national press and the academy—the Christian Right "has triumphed in placing its signature concern with traditional moral values and behavior at the center of political and cultural debate." Its footprints are everywhere, from the emphasis on personal responsibility in the 1996 welfare reform law to the declining rates of abortion and illegitimate births. The Christian Right, says Michael E. McGerr, a professor of American history at Indiana University, Bloomington, "may well have done more to revitalize grass-roots democratic action than any other group in the last 10 years." Starobin limns some lessons for other groups:
"Fans of popular democracy," Starobin concludes, "should credit the Christian Right with showing that the American experiment is still— happily—alive to the possibility of achieving change through collective action. And rival groups should be studying its playbook."