Posted on 09/06/2006 9:13:55 AM PDT by Reagan Man
Rudolph Giuliani has repeatedly extended the hand of friendship to Christian conservatives in recent months. But a leading member of a think tank closely associated with the former Mayor has just delivered a powerful jab to the face of the same constituency.
Mr. Giuliani, long viewed with suspicion by the religious right because of his pro-choice, pro-civil-union positions, went so far as to campaign for former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed back in May. The move was widely seen as an attempt to curry favor with a voting bloc that will play a crucial role in electing the Republican Presidential candidate in 2008.
But last month, Heather Mac Donalda fellow at the Manhattan Institute, the organization that served as a semi-official brain trust to Mr. Giuliani during his time in Gracie Mansionmounted a brazen frontal assault on the politics of piety. Moreover, she chose Pat Buchanans magazine, The American Conservative, as the unlikely platform from which to do so.
Ms. Mac Donald is a heroine to many in the conservative movement, in part because of her robust attacks on everything from feminist ideology (lunacy) to The New York Times (a national security threat).
She is also, not incidentally, a self-described nonbeliever.
Skeptical conservativesone of the Rights less celebrated subculturesare conservatives because of their skepticism, not in spite of it, she wrote in the Aug. 28 issue of The American Conservative. They ground their ideas in rational thinking and (nonreligious) moral argument. And the conservative movement is crippling itself by leaning too heavily on religion to the exclusion of these temperamentally compatible allies.
The article ignited a firestorm that continues to sweep across conservative opinion journals and Web sites. Pundits including John Podhoretz, Ramesh Ponnuru and Jonah Goldberg have, to varying extents, made their disagreement plain. Philosophy professor (and Opus Dei member) Michael Pakaluk has complained that Ms. Mac Donalds mockery of common religious sensibilities is so unfeeling as to border on the inhuman.
Asked about the timing of her article, Ms. Mac Donald suggested that her exasperation with the religiosity of present-day conservatism had simply reached a boiling point.
Ive just been impatient over the last six years, she told The Observer. I dont remember anything like this current assumption that candidates should talk about their relationship with God. What is that supposed to tell citizens?
There is no suggestion that the Manhattan Institute fellow is doing Mr. Giulianis bidding in making the controversial case for secular conservatism. On the contrary, Ms. Mac Donalds argument is more likely to be met with consternation by allies of the former Mayor, for fear that it could dynamite the bridges to the religious right that they have been so assiduously trying to build.
Baruch College political-science professor Gerald De Maio, who teaches a course on religion and politics, believes that the debates about a Giuliani candidacyand about the issues raised by Ms. Mac Donalds articleare manifestations of the longstanding divide in the G.O.P. between social conservatives and libertarians.
The libertarian wing, he said, is muted. They count for much less than they used to. In many ways, Gerald Ford was the last President to represent that tendency. Now, one of the questions is: Could Rudy Giuliani get the nomination as a social liberal? I cant see how social conservatives in the heartland can back him.
Ms. Mac Donald admiringly told The Observer that the former Mayor never invoked God, but transformed this city in ways that couldnt have been imagined. But she insisted that her main concern wasnt electoral politics. She was, she said, more interested in the need for a sound philosophical basis for conservative argument.
That may sound like a nebulous aim. But it is also an honorable one.
When the President names Jesus Christ as his favorite political philosopher, uses a sly phrase like wonder-working power during a manifestly political occasion like a State of the Union address or invokes God in support of his decisions in Iraq, he seeks, at the minimum, to give his agenda a religious veneer.
The invocation of religion in support of political beliefs is, above all else, a dangerously effective tool for foreclosing debate, discouraging scrutiny and suggesting that ones opponents lack moral fiber.
The battle of ideas should be fought with the weapons of reason and logic alone.
That is not an intrinsically liberal idea. There is much to support in Ms. Mac Donalds contention that conservatism is strong enough to prosper without being propped up by the language of religious piety.
But as Mr. Giuliani already seems to have demonstrated by his actions, many conservatives will never see things that way.
Gerald Ford was a libe4rtarian? In what universe?
It's interesting how divisive the Rudy threads are. If he is the GOP standard-bearer in 2008, I expect the Constitution Party candidate will receive a significant bump in votes.
Yes, Rudy will not win. Amazing that he is completely soft on national security. Did you read where he wants a variety of services specially for illegal aliens? Not a man who will stand up for his country.
Gerald Ford a libertarian????
For well over 30 years all my votes have gone to a Republican candidate. Only once have I ever voted for a pro-choice candidate for POTUS. That was Gerald Ford in 1976. Back then Roe v Wade was only three years old and abortion rights wasn't a major political issue for the majority of Americans. Reagan changed all that in 1980. And since Reagan in 1980 every GOP candidate for Prez has been a pro-lifer.
As a conservative Republican, I've never voted for a true leftwing liberal politico in my life. As things stand today, I never will either.
As this thread shows if Rudy is nominated the relationship between the social right and the fiscal-libertarion/right may snap.
If Rudy wins in the general the dims could also split out of anger...one part a DNC repub lite the other an angry Move-on mob.
Maybe these splits are overdue and a good thing. We shall see.
One issue one belief.
We can win without you.
Maybe he'd like to relocate and run for Mayor of Houston, or something.
Speaking of "worst crisis in American history," U.S. Grant won the Civil War, was a personally virtuous man, supported the NRA, and had a swell beard ... but he was a rotten President!
Any candidate that is pro-choice, pro-civil unions, and pro-gun control may be a republican, but he's NOT a conservative.
I've got the interview. Giuliani did say we need to secure the borders. Giulaini also said to O'Reilly that he wanted to "regularize" illegals. Regularize is the latest buzz word, the newest code word for, amnesty. Giuliani doesn't support the Hosue enforcement ONLY bill, HR4437. Giuliani supports the Senate's amnesty bill, S.2611. Giuliani stands with Bush, McCain and Kennedy.
* RG: And then you have to have a way in which people can regularize themselves as well. I mean, you need to get people out from under the table.
* BOR: So you would give them a pathway to citizenship?
* RG: I would say -- this is a classic thing where you've got to do both, carrot and stick.
Mr. Giuliani, long viewed with suspicion by me because of of his pro-socialism positions.
Obviously Ruddy's supporters "don't get it"
Rudy is a typical lawyer candidate. That's it.
Being president is not the same as being qualified to be a mayor of NYC.
I bet many politicians are going to do this BS (non christian christianity) religion because they personally are anti-religion.
What in the world kind of name is Mac [space] Donald? Was her maden name Mac and she married a Donald? Where's the hyphen. Can you have two last names?
Maybe he'd like to relocate and run for Mayor of Houston, or something. >>
Like they say, "he's America's mayor" that's a good idea.
U.S. Grant was a rotten President! >>>
he sure was.
You maybe able to win without my single vote. Its the other 50+% of Republicans voters you'll have trouble winning without.
Well said, Sauropod.
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