Persistent Success
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Conservative evangelicalism spent much of the 20th century on the political
sidelines and at the margins of religious respectability. Now the movement
and its political expression, the Christian Right, is contending for
power within the mainstream of American culture and political life, and
a generation has come of age that has no memory of what life was like
before there was a Christian Right. Over the past 25 years, the Christian
Right has matured, built durable institutions, and demonstrated both
staying power and capacity for growth. It has also generated a large
class of Christian Right professionals who serve as managers, public
policy strategists, lobbyists, and campaign managers, among other movement
jobs. The Christian Right has nurtured politicians who have been elected
to office at all levels of government, especially at the state level.
These politicians in turn have groomed a stable of specialists in policy
and administration.1 Once
largely taken for granted by GOP leaders, the Christian Right now controls
the party apparatus in a number of states-including George Bush's home
state of Texas-and routinely vies for control in others. Its leaders
are rarely labeled as "extremist" anymore in mainstream discourse.
The Christian Right is now able to expect and compel the appointment
of key leaders to major governmental posts.
Further evidence of the Christian Right's success is the prominence
in the Bush Administration's social policy of the theme of "compassionate
conservatism," a slogan that embodies Bush's ostensible commitment
to conservative Christianity. This notion, generally credited to Christian
Right theorist Marvin Olasky, represents a shift in conservative doctrine.
Secular rightists have supported defunding of social programs-a laissez
faire approach to social problems in which the free market is seen as
the key to meeting social needs. Reflecting the growing influence and
clout of the Christian Right, the Bush Administration's "compassionate
conservatism" directly acknowledges and supports the role of "faith
based" organizations in providing government services, directing
government funds to these organizations. 2
As Governor of Texas, Bush had an alliance, albeit a sometimes-uneasy
one, with the Christian Right. For example, on the Texas State Board
of Education in the late 1990s, Bush-allied Republicans coalesced with
Democrats on most issues, while the Christian Right functioned as the de
facto opposition party. Beginning in 1994, Christian Right candidates,
largely bankrolled by business advocates of school privatization schemes,
mounted primary challenges to more moderate Republicans in an ultimately
unsuccessful effort to gain control of the state board.3 While
Bush won his races for governor with the support of the Christian Right,
he did not attend the Christian Right-dominated 2000 GOP Texas convention.
Bush did extend an olive branch, among other things, by backing state
charters for religious schools and by establishing the first-ever state-sponsored
Christian prison ministry in a Texas prison.
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