Alan Wolfe is a TNR contributing editor and director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College.
When John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate, he was
thinking only of short-term advantage. In reality, his pick not only increases
the chances that he will lose the 2008 presidential election, it also threatens
to split American conservatism in half for the foreseeable
future.
The conservative triumph
in this country is frequently attributed to "fusionism," the ability of a
politicians such as Ronald Reagan to bring together traditionalists,
libertarians, and cold warriors into one movement. The cold warriors went the
way of the cold war, and even if they had not, the neoconservative impetus to
which it gave birth has lost all intellectual credibility. Now Sarah Palin's
life has already begun to render asunder the remaining two elements of the
coalition.
It may seem like ages ago
but during the Clinton administration, conservative
traditionalists were everywhere. The nuclear family is sacrosanct. Women
should shun the workforce and become full-time moms. Kids should obey their
parents and, if they choose not to, discipline, including harsh measures, ought
to be applied. Sex outside of marriage is strictly forbidden. Our culture is
spinning wildly out of control, and sexual liberation, the worst byproduct of
the God-awful 1960s, is the cause. And, by the way, abortion is murder and
should be forbidden.
All that is left, if the
Palin controversy is any indication, is abortion. Palin's defenders, far from
being traditionalists, are moral relativists. We should not rush to judgment. It is important to understand the pressures that families face. Love is all you
need. Forgive in order to forget. People are entitled to their privacy, even,
if not especially, in the bedroom. The state should not be in the business of
telling people what to do. It sounds like the language of the left, but it has
also had long resonance on the libertarian right. When the McCain campaign said
that Bristol Palin had a choice, it was correct. These days we all have
choices. The fact that we do has always bothered conservative
traditionalists.
Sarah Palin's nomination
is a public service. No longer will we hear lectures from the likes of Newt
Gingrich telling poor women on welfare how to conduct their sex lives. Focus on
the Family will have to focus on a different kind of family. William Bennett
has no virtues left to write about. At long last our national nightmare over
sexual hypocrisy has come to an end, and we can all thank John McCain for
that.
And that is not all. In
rushing to Sarah Palin's defense, the leaders of the Christian right have made
it abundantly clear how they define a Christian. We don't care if you sin. We
are not bothered if you put your ambition ahead of the needs of your children. If you have lied or broken the law, we will look the other way. It all comes
down to your stand on guns and fetuses. Vote the right way, and you have our
blessing. If any proof were needed that James Dobson is a political operative
rather than a spiritual leader, his jumping on the Palin bandwagon offers
it.
I blogged in this space
last week that Palin represented the libertarian wing of the evangelical
movement rather than the punitive wing. (In doing so, I pointed out that she
had named her children after witches; I was wrong to do so, as was the source
upon which I relied, and I apologize for my mistake). Now we are learning that
the split between libertarians and moral regulators involves far more than a
religious movement. It goes to the heart of what once passed for conservatism
in the United
States. John McCain has shown that he has a
wrecking crew approach to politics. Among the things he is wrecking is the
movement and ideology that brought him to his station in
life.
--Alan Wolfe