Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect.
In his article, "An
attack on American tolerance"
Kuttner says, "What is uniquely alarming in the
United States today, among all the democracies and in our own history,
is that a president of the United States is explicitly
on the side of antimodernism. Never before has an American chief
executive worked deliberately to foment a fundamentalist
absolutism that is ultimately tribal, theocratic, antiscientific,
and incompatible with pluralist democracy."
Bush has resisted scientific study involving
stem cell research, professed belief that his decision to make war with
Iraq is
a divinely sanctioned crusade and embraced religious
leaders who encourage intolerance, dogmatism and absolutism.
Many Bush supporters on the religious right seem
to think morals and values are almost entirely about sexual behavior
and interpret the Bible in a way that justifies
their prejudices against homosexuality.
In his article, "Embattled
faith needs enemies for focus" reporter Gene Lyons says, "Apart
from the timeless topic
of Other People's Sex Lives, nothing gets fundamentalist
Christianity's spiritual entrepreneurs going like vengeful Old Testament
tribalism. The basic con is to insist upon
the literal, historical and scientific accuracy of every syllable in the
Bible while focusing
selectively on passages confirming pre-existing
phobias. Hence, they rarely are more dogmatic than when they are
ignoring,
if not actively contradicting, the essence of
Christ's teachings."
Lyons continues, "Yes, Leviticus calls homosexuality
an abomination. Also wearing garments of two fabrics, eating pork
and shellfish, and planting two crops in one
field. It recommends stoning to death anybody who works on the Sabbath.
Exodus stipulates how to sell your daughters
into slavery."
While the religious right's morals and values
center on sexual behavior, liberal morals and values historically center
on
actively loving other people, working to uplift
the poor, reducing human suffering by (for example) opposing unjust wars,
striving for equality and fair treatment for
diverse ethnic groups and others, enhancing civil liberties, using good
reasoning
skills and staying informed and involved as citizens.
Liberalism is represented in Franklin D. Roosevelt's
New Deal, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and the successful social
movements of the 1960's including the civil rights
and women's movements. American liberalism is also defined by the
millions
of ordinary people who have worked as activists
throughout history, including those involved in various antiwar movements,
the labor movement and abolitionism.
Liberalism is reflected in our country's literature
- in Mark Twain's "The War Prayer;" Henry David Thoreau's
"Civil Disobedience;" W. E. B. DuBois' "The Gift
of Black Folk;" and many other works. (Conservatives in some parts
of the country have banned some of these writers'
books from public schools.)
In "Song of Myself," the poet Walt Whitman wrote
about the pluralism and tolerance for diversity first advocated by the
nation's founders. The "I" of the poem
doesn't solely represent the poet himself but symbolizes all Americans:
-------
"I am of old and young, of the foolish as much
as the wise,
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well
as a man…
I believe in the flesh and the appetites,
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each
part and tag of me
is a miracle.
Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever
I touch or
am touched from…
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
-------
Making room for "multitudes," embracing ambiguity
and contradiction are characteristic of liberalism. Jefferson and
other
Enlightenment thinkers also tolerated diverse
"multitudes" and allowed for ambiguity, and this kind of thinking has been
an
integral part of our nation's character and of
liberal thought since our beginnings. However, Bush and many of his
supporters
seem intolerant of this way of thinking, instead
insisting on a rigid either-or view of the world. For example, Bush
stated,
"When it comes to the war on terrorism, you're
either with us or you're with the terrorists."
We need Democrats who will strongly oppose Bush's
most egregious policies. Though strategists from the Democratic
National Committee or the Democratic Leadership
Council might suggest the Democratic party needs a better gimmick
of one kind or another to win voters, what the
public most wants to see in the Democratic leadership is a genuine dynamic
passion for serving the public's interests.
For the Democratic Party to define itself and
clarify its own morals and values, it needs to review liberalism's history
and
integrate that historic identity into its current
collective personality. The party also needs to find a way to create
a larger
place for itself in the media and use radio and
TV talk shows and other outlets as a way to inform the American people
that liberalism is a positive alternative to
radical right politics.
In "Notes on the State of Virginia," Thomas Jefferson
wrote about the relationship between political leaders and a
self-governing public. He said, "Every
government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone.
The people
themselves are its only safe depositories."
If the Democratic Party reclaims its roots and becomes the party of the
people,
it has a chance to come alive and save itself
and maybe even revitalize democracy in the process.