Keeping the Faith

I am growing increasingly more disturbed by reports about the Bush camp's efforts to reach out to churches across the nation. Take a look at this story from the Miami Herald (mini-registration required). This story says that the Bush/Cheney campaign has requested a whole slew of personal information from parishes across the country. The reporter writes:

The Republican National Committee has asked Bush-backing Roman Catholics to provide copies of their parish directories to help register Catholics to vote in the November election, a use of personal information not necessarily condoned by dioceses around the country.

These parish directories contain names, family members, home addresses, and phone numbers of all parish members, the articles goes on to report. With this information, the Bush/Cheney team could, in effect, harass churchgoers at home.

So why I am so concerned about this? Well, it's just another example of the closing gap between church and state. For centuries, religion has always been in the background of American political life. Our country has been built on Judeo-Christian moralities, but church doctrine and church policy have always been intentionally kept out of the government. That is, until this year.

Now, Bush and Cheney are attempting to involve churches throughout the nation in their political campaigns, thus strengthening ties between church and state and also putting many churches across the country in danger of losing their tax-exempt status. The Bush/Cheney campaign understands that many Christians in this country will vote for Bush simply because he is a self-proclaimed born-again Christian. They admire him for his faith and blindly follow him because their priests tell them to so. As a Jewish, northeast liberal, it has always been difficult for me to wrap my mind around this concept, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is no way to select a president. These people don't realize that Bush is not looking out for their interests. Instead, he is pandering to them because he knows it will improve his chances of getting re-elected.

Luckily, it seems that cooler heads will prevail in this request. As The Herald article reports, Susan Gibbs, the spokesperson for the Archdiocese in D.C., said, ""Parish directories are for helping parishioners get to know each other better and are strictly for that purpose. They are not intended to be used for any outside commercial purpose, solicitations or anything else. Parish directories or priest directories are not given to outside groups even if it's for a good cause."

But that won't stop Bush and Co. from pursuing this strong vote wholeheartedly over the next few weeks. I can't help but think back to 2000 when Bush said he was a uniter and not a divider. As the 2004 election draws nearer, it seems clear to me that nothing was further from the truth than that statement.

Every Vote Counts

As kids growing up in elementary school, teachers are say that every vote counts in our American democracy. Then, when we get older, we learn that maybe every vote counts but some, such as those cast in the swing states, count more than others. Now, it seems, some votes count even more.

In today's Los Angeles Times, Chris Kraul writes about efforts by both parties to register expatriate Americans. In the article (mini-registration required), Kraul writes about how the Democrats have sent Diana Kerry, John's sister, out to expatriate hotbeds to register them to vote. Here's some of what Kraul had to say:

When John F. Kerry's sister, Diana, passed through Mexico City this week, she came not to visit the pyramids at Teotihuacán or the Frida Kahlo House, but to help register expatriate voters, a key and perhaps decisive source of electoral strength in this year's presidential election.

Motivated in part by Republican claims that ballots from abroad tipped the scales in Florida for George W. Bush in 2000, the Democrats are making a stronger push to register voters in foreign countries this year.

I find this to be really interesting. According to the story, there are as many as 7 million Americans living abroad. If the same 51.3 percent who vote in American send in absentee ballots, this country will be receiving over 3.5 million votes after Election Day. We could just end up with another situation like 2000 where we don't know who the president is until well after Election Day.

On a related note, Kraul writes in the article that the Republicans have sent Dan Quayle out to support their cause and register potential expatriate voters. If I were abroad, I would be much more impressed with a candidate's sister than with a former Vice President who turned into a national joke.

Politics on the Internet

So for a long time, I tried to stay out of this. There are so many political blogs that I didn't think another one would add to the debate. But then, I realized that blogging isn't really about making a contribution. To me, it's an exercise in writing and sifting through the tons of information we receive a day. That's what this blog is going to be about.

I already have one blog about baseball. You can find it here: Talking Baseball. I've had a lot of fun doing that blog, honing my writing about baseball while expanding my already vast knowledge about the sport. Now, it's time to do that in the political arena.

I'm a life-long Democrat, if that's possible at 21 years of age. I absolutely despise the current President and his administration, and over the next few weeks, I'll attemp to explain why I can't stand Bush and Co. by using current examples as they pop up in the news and previous examples of the abuses committed by the administration. So stick around, stay tuned, and be sure to check back for my posts.