Toward Theocracy
In his 2006 budget, Bush is proposing to increase funding for anti-poverty programs run by faith-based organizations, while at the same time cutting funding for their secular brethren.
Bush’s 2006 budget proposed slashing public housing subsidies, food stamps, energy assistance, community development, social services and community services block grants — programs that for decades have constituted the federal anti-poverty fight …
At the same time, Bush’s budget proposal for next year contemplates adding $385 million in new religion-based programs to this year’s eventual total. The federal government awarded more than $2 billion in such grants in 2004 — nearly double the amount awarded in 2003.
Now, to be clear, I have absolutely no problem with pumping more cash into the coffers of churches who want to help the poor and desperate climb out of their poverty and desperation. I’ve often railed against the basic intolerance built into Christianity, and the dangerous absolutism of Christian dogma, but there’s a beauty to the faith, too, a gentle love of humanity that stems directly from the teachings of Jesus. The church has its tyrants, to be sure, but they’re far outnumbered by the people down at the grass roots who daily extend their hands to the needy out of nothing but friendship and love and a genuine desire to help the less fortunate.
But why de-emphasize the role of secular organizations? Why is their work less deserving of the government’s support? Bush says it’s because churches can do the work more efficiently, but I think we can safely assume he’s pulling that one out of his ass. What he really wants is to assert the primacy of religious life in the day-to-day affairs of this country. He wants to bring it out of its place in the nation’s spiritual consciousness, and give it a seat at the table of government.
Why he wants to do this is a little muddy, to me. He certainly talks a lot about his faith, so this might be the product of a sincere belief that the world would be better off if God’s lieutenants ran the show. But I can’t help believing that at least part of his motivation comes from the need to pander to the faithful on the far right wing of his party, who have done so much to ensure his continued reign. The Republicans have a gold mine of support in this segment of the population, which is willing to blithely ignore Bush’s demonstratively ruinous tenure over the last four years as long as he stays on the “right” side of certain hot-button social issues, floated by party apparatchiks at opportune moment during the election cycle.
He’s playing a dangerous game. Theocracy has a long history of spiritual, mental, and physical brutality, one the Founders were well aware of when they cut church off from state. This may not be what Bush wants, but it’s what he’s setting in motion.
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