Godless Democrats

Senator Richard Durbin reacted angrily yesterday when asked why Democrats had deleted all reference to God in their party platform. He accused the questioner of insinuating that his was a godless party. But it was a fair question. It is a fact that the platform no longer mentioned God, for the first in history for either party. It is reasonable to infer that the omission underscores the party's increasing distance from the social values of main stream America. I should note that the party restored the reference today in an ugly scene on the convention floor.

I have friends who tend to vote Democratic because they think they better represent the teaching of the church on issues of social justice. They struggle with the abortion issue but are not single issue voters and tend to side with Democrats on most everything else. I don't see it. I think my friends are wrong.

Let's start with abortion. Everybody knows the Catholic Church teaches it is an intrinsic evil, always wrong. Democrats have adopted a position opposing any restrictions, approving even late term and partial birth abortion. President Obama as a state senator voted against requiring medical care for babies who survive abortion. Those babies typically have immature lungs and are often allowed to die of asphyxiation. Those are extreme positions that would be opposed by most Americans.

Abortion isn't the only intrinsic evil. Racism is another. For many years Barack Obama attended a Chicago Church founded on Black Liberation Theology. He didn't see anything particularly controversial in the hate speech coming from Reverend Jeremiah Wright until it became a campaign issue. The President's reflexive racism surfaced again in his condemnation of Cambridge police for arresting black Harvard Professor Henry Gates, and more recently in pre-judging George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Williams. Many Americans discount bigotry when it comes from black people but there is no place for it in a President of any color.

How about school choice? Access to a basic education is a fundamental human right. Many American children are trapped in failing schools, especially in the inner city. Among the most notorious bad schools are those in Washington D.C. The current administration was no sooner in office than Education Secretary Arne Duncan moved to cancel a voucher program that allowed a few children to attend private schools, including the school attended by the President's daughters. The program was reinstated largely through the efforts of House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican. School choice programs have proved effective in many places where they have been tried but are routinely opposed by teachers unions and Democrats. This is social justice?

Let's talk about unions. Few would dispute that workers have a right to join a union, though there are those who argue that public sector unions should not have collective bargaining rights. And Democrats are unquestionably the party of organized labor. But don't unions have responsibilities as well as rights? Aren't they morally obliged to work for the common good as well as their own, just like the rest of us? Can anyone argue seriously that unions have historically done that? Democrats last year tried to pass the Card Check bill which would have abolished the secret ballot in union elections and allowed organizers to intimidate workers. Some justice that!

My friends would argue that, as Mario Cuomo once said of Ronald Reagan, Republicans just want to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and the middle class. My response is that what most of the poor and the middle class really need is a better job, or any job.

And why did Democrats take God out of their platform?