For my personal primary vote - crunch time is at hand. Tuesday is THE day for me. I am going to vote proudly for Mitt Romney. Not much of a shocker there, really, but people must remember that I did not start this blog to support Mitt Romney. Lowell can express his own motivations if he wants to, but when this all started, I was less than enthusiastic about Mitt Romney.

On Friday, Rick Santorum appeared on Hugh Hewitt, endorsing Romney. He said, in essence, that as the campaign has worn on Romney has genuinely moved from a conservative “ticket-puncher” to the real deal. That in nutshell explains my vote this week.

The conservative voice in the Republican party is at stake - everybody agrees on that, and Evangelicals are the energy, motivator, and banner carrier for that voice. . . . The current electoral calculus is such that a vote for Mitt Romney is the only way to preserve that voice.

But if I have not been a Romney supporter from the beginning, why have I labored this hard (and believe me, you have no idea how hard this really is) for nearly two years? The answer is very straightforward. When I was first introduced the the idea via Hugh Hewitt and Robert Novak that Evangelicals would not vote for Romney because of his faith, one thought ran through my mind: “political suicide.” Only one thing could result from such a bias and that was the Evangelical political voice being cast to the side. I wanted to protect that voice. Thus my half of this blog was born.

As is almost always true in politics, the journey has been quite different than I expected, but I truly believe that the Evangelical political voice is now at stake. If Mitt Romney loses - far from a foregone conclusion - his religion will be but one of many factors in that event, and while important, I do not think it will have been determinative.

However, as the race has narrowed down to two and the spoiler, the conservative voice in the Republican party is at stake - everybody agrees on that, and Evangelicals are the energy, motivator, and banner carrier for that voice. Conservatives lose and Evangelicals are on the bench, if they are in the stadium at all. In other words, we stand on the precipice I feared from the beginning. The current electoral calculus is such that a vote for Mitt Romney is the only way to preserve that voice.

As E.J. Dionne said Friday, a McCain victory:

. . . signals the end of the Reagan-Bush era and the beginning of something quite different.

Because this turn of events has been by a very different path than expected, I am going to slowly lay out my case. This is going to be long, but it must be said.

The Basics

Politics Matter

At the very first convention of “Godbloggers,” I moderated the keynote panel discussion. I had one applause line - “If we truly evangelized the entire nation, abortion would cease with Roe v Wade in place.” That is very true. True religious conversion would eliminate the desire for abortion, regardless of its legality. Many people interpret such statements to mean that as Christians we should pour our efforts solely into evangelism and ignore politics, since politics are not the ultimate answer.

Well, as someone who has visited, extensively, nations where religion was suppressed (the Soviet Union — not Russia, the real live communist Soviet Union — and The People’s Republic of China) I can assure you that a certain political climate is necessary for religion to thrive, and therefore be able to do the job of destroying the desire for the immoral, yet legal.

For that freedom of religion to remain in this nation, religion must have a strong active voice in the political process. That is what Mitt Romney meant, in what we have come to call here “The Speech,” when he talked about religion and freedom being necessary companions. This by the way is true for atheistic religion as well as theistic religion.

Thus it behooves religious people to participate actively and energetically in politics. As a group, we religious folk are numerous enough and diverse enough that we can leave the evangelism to the people that are really good at it, and likewise the politics - with this provision, WE ALL VOTE, so we have to use those votes wisely, and in support of people that will allow our ideas and concerns a place at the table.

Party Politics Matter

There is much discussion in this cycle by evangelicals of feeling like they are “taken for granted” by the Republican establishment. There is some truth to that, but there are two vitally important points I want to make.

The first point is - grow up. It is politics, not church. This is not about making friends and feeling good about yourself. It is about gathering enough support, meaning people, to your particular cause, concern, or issue. That is definitionally about “using” people. Once you have secured someone’s support, you have to move on to the next someone. Is that taking you for granted? In a way, it is, but no more so than your employer that fits you in a spot on the assembly line. And if you quit your job because you think your employer takes you for granted, all you really lose is a paycheck. Best have someplace else to go before you make that move, I don’t care how “hurt” you “feel.”

A brief personal aside on this point. Through the course of things it has been my privilege to meet Mitt Romney on multiple occasions. I have had extensive and personal conversations with some of his family. Over the years, I have met presidents of this country in intimate settings, and I have met presidents and potentates of many other nations. Almost all of these people have referred to me as their “friend.” When I was young, I thought that meant we were going to start hanging out and having beers together - yeah, right. But when Mitt Romney called me his friend, I knew that if time allowed, there might not be beer involved, but we could enjoy some conviviality. Simply put, the man is as genuine in his connection to the people he meets as the circumstances can possibly allow - more so than any individual of such position, and higher, that I have ever met. I can assure you, Evangelicals could never be “taken for granted” by Mitt Romney. They might get less attention than they think they deserve, but that is their problem, not his.

The second point is a far more important one. Party politics is how you get things done in this nation. In those rare instances where independents manage to get themselves elected, they are relegated to the role “the speech everyone sits through politely” or the “class clown” a la Jesse Ventura. Accomplishing things in government requires rounding up enough of the right people - yeah, it’s social networking. Political parties are the infrastructure necessary to build that network.

Political parties thrive on loyalty. If they cannot, at least from time-to-time, take you for granted, they have to move on to people and groups that they can depend on so that they can accomplish their goals. It is a simple exchange. You give the party your dependable loyalty and in return they give you the means necessary to make your voice heard.

It Is A Journey

Evangelicals are frustrated - I know I am - that we have not achieved our political aims. But we are on a journey towards those aims. Sadly, there is no simple airplane to catch and arrive a few hours later at our destination. This is more like a journey across the Great Plains. If we abandon our covered wagon and our wagon train thinking we can do better on our own, we are going to end up Indian captives or dead. We have to keep moving towards the destination, with the companions we have chosen - anything else and we will not get there at all.

So, Where Are We Today?

Identity Politics

As things have turned out, Evangelicals have not refused, so much, to vote for Mitt Romney because he is Mormon, they have instead chosen to vote for Mike Huckabee because he is “one of us.” How much a role suspicion and bias against Mormonism has played in that somewhat more positive-appearing choice is a determination that will ultimately be up to pollsters and psychologists in the years after the election to determine. And while it may not be “bigotry” it is identity politics, and they are as suicidal as pure bigotry.

No identity group is sufficiently large to carry a presidential election. A coalition is required. What Mike Huckabee has done is peel off one section of the traditional conservative coalition, Evangelicals, and claimed it for himself. With the coalition split, neither Evangelicals or the greater conservative coalition can win.

The presidential candidate for a party leads that party. That leader is going to pay attention to and drive the agenda of the coalition that got him there. Not only are Evangelicals not part of the coalition that has gotten John McCain this far, McCain has in the past loudly and actively found Evangelicals distasteful. Today, at best, he finds us unimportant:

“It’s not social issues I care about.”

And so, if we Evangelicals want to participate in the greater discussion, we have to join the winning coalition in the Republican party. McCain does not want us, oh, he may act like it now, he would have to have us to win the general election, but let’s be real here - talk about being “used.”

So, our real choices are Romney and Huckabee, but please note I said “winning” coalition - Huckabee cannot win, he lacks the money, the organization and the numbers. He can whine all he wants, but reality is reality. Politics is not where dreams somehow become reality - it is an activity, like any other, shaped by realities and facts. Among the candidates, I started getting information from and about Mike Huckabee before any other. Like any good Evangelical, I felt a little initial giddiness about the prospect of an actual pastor running. Then I started talking to my friends - the genuine political insiders and professionals. Attractive as Huck appeared, he just did not have what it takes to pull this off organizationally and financially - momentum arguments notwithstanding. Huck had all the momentum in political history in the wake of Iowa and yet today he is flying commercial, carrying his own bags, barely on TV, and his staff is not getting paid. Momentum helps if you have pre-planted resources in the path of the wave, but he lacked the resources for even that much organization. Huck was a non-starter. His limited success to date is a testament to some extraordinary political gifts, but far more than just those gifts is required to be the President of the United States.

Romney can win, but only if the traditional conservative coalition is put back together. Today, now, Evangelicals have no choice but to vote for Mitt Romney. If they don’t, McCain won’t care what they think and Huckabee will have carried them away into the land of the unimportant. Only Mitt Romney is still standing and able to put the conservative coalition, starring Evangelicals, back together.

Why else would the Evangelical leadership, which has prevaricated and hedged through this whole thing, suddenly start making decidedly positive, while stopping short of endorsement, noises towards Romney. The Voters Guide put out by the Dobson organization practically works overtime to carve a path for Romney with Evangelicals and on Friday Dobson reemphasized that he would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances.

So What Huckabee Has Accomplished . . .

. . . is to bring Evangelicals to the edge of irrelevance. Exactly what I feared when I began with this blog is staring me starkly in the face. While we have not gotten here through the kind of bigoted anti-speak, at least most of us, that I expected, we still stand here. And we have the candidate that is most like us, the one with whom we most closely identify, to thank for it.

And so, I repudiate Mike Huckabee. Nice guy, I am sure, but the way he has played this game has not been in a fashion that would help the goals and concerns I have for participating in the political discussion. In fact, his tactics threaten to take those goals and concerns off the table altogether,

Mitt Romney is the only next step in the journey available to me that moves me closer to the goals and concerns I have. And I know those goals and concerns are shared by most Evangelicals.

Yes, the candidacy of Mitt Romney is at stake, but far more importantly - so is the voice of Evangelicals for at least the next presidential term. We can take our ball and run home to Huck; it may be comfortable, but it will be lonely and boring and things will go on around us without any possibility of our affecting them. Or we can bear down and play hard, and win - and at this point, that means voting for Mitt Romney.

I do so gladly.
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Posted in Candidate Qualifications, Doctrinal Obedience, Electability, Political Strategy, Religious Bigotry, Understanding Religion | 3 Comments » |  Print this post |  Email This Post

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