The Gulf Between Classic Conservatives and the Neocon/Religious Right is Widening

As a pastor, I visit with a lot of folks here in the reddest part of the red state of Ohio. I rarely bring up politics with people. But sometimes, as the news of the day comes up in conversation, my predominantly Republican neighbors share their opinions.

That's why I found this David Broder article so interesting. The sentiments it reports among long-time conservative Republican activists reflect many of the comments that my conservative Republican neighbors are making these days.

Most of the evidence is just anecdotal, of course. But it appears to me that the Republican coalition is at risk of cracking at its seams.

One bit of emprical evidence for this suspicion may be what's happening in Ohio's gubernatorial election. Republicans have enjoyed something like one-party rule in Ohio for nearly two decades. But polls show that Democratic guberatorial nominee Ted Strickland is up by twenty points over the Republican Ken Blackwell as we head for the November election.

There are no doubt many reasons behind this: Strickland's proven vote-getting ability among Republicans and independents, suspicions over Blackwell's handling of elections in his role as Secretary of State, and the single-digit approval rating for the current Republican Governor.

But down below the surface, one sees that it's because Blackwell hasn't won over his fellow Republicans that he's in trouble here. While Strickland enjoys support from 81% of his fellow Dems, Blackwell has 61% of Republicans in his corner.

One possible explanation for Blackwell's failure to excite his base is his close identification with the Religious Right. He's been known to carry Bibles to political rallies, he's countenanced questionable political fund-raising in churches, and he gives stump speeches during worship services.

Many Christians, including me, don't like the second or third activities enumerated above at all. No matter how authentic Blackwell's faith may be, using the church to advance one's political career leaves a bad taste in the mouths of even conservative Bible-believing Christians.

The winning Republican coalition knit together over the past twenty years and exploited most recently by George Bush and Karl Rove to gain squeaker wins in two consecutive presidential elections, has included classic conservatives and the Religious Right.

The conservatives could stand being with the RR so long as conservatism held sway in the resulting governmental policies. But now, it seems that the agenda of the Religious Right has overtaken the Republican Party and that leaves conservatives dismayed.

Of course, Democrats, being Democrats, are likely to find ways to muff the opportunities for midterm election gains that Republican divisions have given them in 2006.

And here in Ohio, the same poll showing Strickland's twenty-point lead over Blackwell also shows that 26% of the electorate remains undecided about the gubernatorial race.

Interestingly though, in this year when the tide seems to be running against Republicans, Senator Mike DeWine, a classic conservative, is only eight points behind his challenger, Sherrod Brown, with 18 percent of those polled undecided.

Nonetheless, it appears that the gulf between conventional conservative Republicans, with their beliefs in small government, frugal spending, unobtrusive policies, and foreign policy realism, on the one hand, and the allies of the Bush Administration, with its robust neoconservative policies, on the other, appears to be widening.

[Thanks to Ruminating Pilgrim for linking to this post.]

[My friend Rob Asghar has linked to this post, perhaps with a bit of relish.]

[Thanks to Article 6 Blog for linking to this post.]