The recent battles over religious liberty in Indiana and Arkansas demonstrate an ironic truth: that we are actually debating whether or not you can be forced to violate your faith in a country originally settled by people looking for the freedom to practice their faith.
Let that soak in for a minute.
The hysteria was truly something to behold. Liberals descended on Indiana and its politicians like flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz. Protesters stormed the state capital. Reporters ambushed flat-footed politicians and business owners. Corporations pontificated. Democrats huffed and puffed. Social media melted.
The source of all the fuss was passage of state-level versions of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, simply mandating that government must have a “compelling interest” to infringe on religion (a higher legal standard), and that it must use the “least restrictive” means possible whenever it does.
The federal version was probably the most bi-partisan, (nearly) unanimously passed law in modern American history (435-0 in the House and 97-3 in the Senate) and signed by Bill Clinton no less in 1993. Congress can’t generate that much bipartisan support for a resolution declaring water to be wet, but there it is, in all of its “hate mongering” glory.
The liberal claim is that such laws are just a tool to discriminate against gays, but the unavoidable fact is that allowing people of faith to decline to participate in something that violates their faith (like a gay wedding) in a country whose First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion is NOT discrimination. (And just how do you “discriminate” against an activity?)
As usual, the liberal hypocrisy was delicious. Democrat Governor Dan Malloy of Connecticut jumped to criticize and join a “boycott Indiana” movement despite having the same law in his own state. Many of the corporations who jeered the loudest do business in countries that not only lack religious freedom, but where women and homosexuals have NO rights whatsoever.
The Forces of Intolerance
Of course the media knew this, but chose to ignore it. Scalps had to be taken. The forces of “tolerance” now demand that government enforce their views on everyone else, and they eagerly engage in the public-relations lynching of anyone who disagrees. They have no “tolerance” for unconformity.
As Pat Buchanan put it years ago, “If we’re going to have tolerance in this country, then there has to be tolerance for the views of the majority”. But it’s truly amazing how far and how quickly things have degenerated. On the issue of gay marriage, we have gone from “just civil unions”, to so-called “marriage equality”, to “you WILL celebrate and serve” and “You will NOT publicly object”
Christian businesses are being sought out for legal retribution. Employees and even CEOs have lost their jobs simply because they contributed to referendums calling for the traditional definition of marriage. Individual supporters have even had their home addresses posted online to make organized harassment even easier.
It’s all straight out of Saul Alinksy’s “Rules for Radicals” liberal play-book: “Rule 12 – Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.”
Sound familiar? They’re working to isolate religious conservatives – particularly evangelical Christians – and marginalize them and make them toxic to others in order to chill public advocacy and philanthropy on their behalf. To make it difficult for them to live their faith and openly operate in polite society or even earn a living.
Republican Opportunities
You really have to wonder when Democrat leaders will get a little worried about their minions taking this whole anti-religion thing too far, considering the fact that religious Americans have been leaving their party for years (most recently including white Catholics). But if the party whose national delegates booed having a reference to God in their platform in 2012 wants to officially become the anti-religion party, Republicans should help them by reminding pro-faith Americans every chance they get.
The point is that religious liberty is an incredible political opportunity for Republicans, if we will learn how to make the most of it. Lesson one is to know how to talk about the issue. And lesson two is to actually talk about it. Often.
We need to recognize that liberals have won their major political battles by turning someone into a victim and winning the sympathy of Americans in the political mushy-middle. The media pounces, businesses cringe and politicians cave. It’s a familiar pattern. But now we have the opportunity to turn the tables and use the same tactic to great effect by framing the debate around our own victims.
Republicans should remember that polls show a clear majority (over 70% in the latest Rasmussen poll) favoring the rights of Christian business people to live out their faith in the course of their business and not be made to choose between their faith and their livelihood.
They should remember that tens of thousands of Americans responded with over $840,000 in less than 48 hours for a small pizzeria when it was threatened by the liberal grievance machine. How many politicians who trip over themselves to chase donors are paying attention?
They should remember that religious conservatives are their most loyal supporters, and that the estimated forty to fifty million unregistered and/or nonvoting evangelicals on the sidelines are the largest untapped reservoir in American politics. But they have to be engaged on an emotional level.
The Republican platform should continue to stand for traditional values and liberty, and grassroots conservatives should organize to reject the certain coming attempts to water down its support for the traditional definition of marriage. If that happens, we lose. Which is precisely why the liberal media will beat the drum for it next year
Elections are about math. They’re about addition and the leverage (or multiplication) you get when your base is fully engaged and truly energized. In 2008 and 2012 that wasn’t the case. The opportunity for Republicans in 2016 is clear. If religious liberty isn’t a political hill for Republicans to fight and win on, then no such hill exists.
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Let’s be clear, for people of faith, “religious liberty” is quickly becoming the “OK, take the culture and the country and just leave me alone” position. It’s the last stand. There’s really nothing else to lose after that. It’s the terms of our surrender in the culture war. The place where we hope to make a stand and then grow and regroup for the future.
In a way, it’s kind of the same position that the original American pilgrims had. They gave up trying to live their faith at home, so they left home and came here. And several hundred years later, here we are, but with no “new world” to go to.
The other side will never accommodate. It’s time to fight or else.
Republican Lessons for Election Integrity
Fortunately, here in South Carolina, we didn’t have the problems that other states had. Mainly because when Democrats brought their nationally orchestrated effort to try and sue their way to victory here, the South Carolina Republican Party (SCGOP) immediately fought back against those efforts in our state.
That’s the first lesson for Republicans: You need to be ready to defend election integrity immediately. No matter what — no matter who gets squeamish about it.
Within 24 hours of those suits being filed, we had a plan to intervene and fight back in court. Ultimately, the SCGOP fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and won a complete and total victory. As a direct result, our election laws were protected before votes were cast.
Unfortunately, other states didn’t do the same, and election laws were cast aside by judges or bureaucrats. In many cases, voting had already started when Republicans in other states began fighting back. That hesitancy cost them dearly.
But just because South Carolina didn’t have problems that other states did in 2020, doesn’t mean it couldn’t in the future. So, starting at the beginning of the legislative session after the 2020 election, the SCGOP began working with state legislators to help tighten South Carolina’s election laws to prevent what happened in other states.
That brings us to the second lesson: Use the energy that heightened awareness brings to make necessary changes. As a member of the Republican National Committee’s Election Integrity Committee, I had a firsthand account to what went right and what went wrong across the country in the 2020 election.
Using that information, we created a list of items the SCGOP wanted to see in an election integrity bill for South Carolina. Ultimately, a strong bill passed and was signed into law that included virtually every one of those items.
The new law is full of common-sense measures that make it easy to vote but hard to cheat by banning drop boxes, banning ballot harvesting, and banning third-party dark money, like so-called “Zuckerbucks” from Facebook, from being given to local election commissions.
Additionally, the law now requires the last four digits of a voter’s Social Security number to vote via absentee ballot, and requires a witness to sign, print their name, and provide their address to witness a mail-in absentee ballot. It also requires more thorough and frequent voter-roll cleanups, as well as requiring post-election audits be conducted before a statewide election can be certified.
Another critical provision from the law mandates uniformity among counties by placing local election commissions under the authority of the State Election Commission. Requiring uniformity ensures that every vote is being cast and counted under the exact same standards across the state.
But before these reforms were signed into law, the SCGOP was working to make them become reality, which brings us to the third lesson for Republicans: When you’re in charge, be in charge.
Supporters not only appreciate it, they expect it.
When the SCGOP unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Legislature to pass a bill with these reforms, we didn’t stop there. We worked with legislators on specific language, and then equipped our supporters to become grassroots lobbyists to help get it passed.
It’s another example of the rule that “elections have consequences.” By electing South Carolina’s biggest Republican majority in more than 140 years in 2020, we were able to pass what several organizations have deemed the most comprehensive and secure election law in the country.
Importantly, that’s something Republicans need to keep in mind as we look toward reaping an electoral harvest from a potential red tsunami this November. Our supporters will want us to be in charge and deliver results.
It’s one of the “consequences” of winning. We need to be ready and be bold — especially when it comes to defending our elections.