Recently, an acquaintance replied to a thread with this title by claiming that the left became morally bankrupt "long, long ago."
I was astounded that a Christian could make such a claim, but not surprised. I'm sure he was referring to the two pillars of the GOP religious-right manipulation campaign, homosexuality and abortion. If this friend really believes that the GOP champion these two issues which are often the litmus test of their truncated view of morality, then he ought to ask himself why the GOP hasn't eliminated abortions, and why they're waffling on things like civil unions. They don't care about those issues at all, apart from the entrenched religious-right votes--which are consistently driven by fear and myopic religious fervor.
Sure, if you believe that those two issues are pillars of right doctrine, then you can judge those you vote for by how they think about these issues. But to do so within a Christian context is woefully incomplete. These are ancillary issues of faith, not even discussed by Christ even once in his time on Earth.
It depends what you define as morality, but I have found that there are moral blind spots which are much more immoral on the right side of the fence. The religious right ignores the mandates of Christ himself to serve the poor and heal the sick by supporting the GOP agendas which marginalize more of the poor and eliminate the possibility for the sick to be healed. They espouse beliefs that people should earn these things, even though the central doctrine of their own salvation narrative is that salvation is a free gift which cannot be earned by merit.
The entire message of the christian faith, on whose backs the party has ridden for years without true allegiance, is undermined by the right's lack of compassion. The arrogance of the right is so intertwined with the politics of late that there is little morality to be found at all. The number one thing in Christ's message was love. It was the very reason which he became incarnate and died on the cross. It is what separated the message of Christianity from the pantheon of other world religions. But the small "c" christianity of the GOP undermines that message so that there is little difference, and that the message of salvation is completely individual, and a choice.
This fits with the skewed message of the right. They've pushed a hyper-individualistic message which champions personal responsibility and lacks any pity for those who lack the skills or the resources to make it within that sort of environment. They've pitted the rich versus the poor and given human rights to corporations, which are the most amoral (lately, mostly immoral) entities on Earth. The GOP has lost it's way. There are few Republicans who are doing more than fighting for their political lives right now. They cannot possibly believe that what they are doing is in any way "moral" or "right".
Then again, I guess I have much more hope that people actually take courageous moral inventories regularly of their own lives and values. The 12 steps have taught me, and many folks like me that without being able to hold one's self accountable, and having others to do the same, that we are likely to be moral train wrecks.
The individualism posing as patriotism of the right is the problem. It leads to sin, and hence, immorality. The GOP has lost it's way, and has become a more insidious evil--an angel of light foretold in the Bible as the utmost of evil.
The left is not free from sin and manipulation. They do politics too, but not with the same hatred of the right. The left often legitimately loves, even if imperfectly, and does put forth effort toward filling the gaps within society. They aren't tied to the same level of corporate greed because there's so much less profit to be made while serving the marginalized.
Sure, poverty can also be a big business. But they're often closer to the message of Christ than the right. Still, I think that Milwaukee Sewer Socialism trumps both of them in that category, despite the irrational fear and vinegar which has been spewed behind the term "socialism" in the past ten years. There's always been a strong socialist element as an offset within our U.S. political system, and to root it out now, amidst such a climate of brutal capitalism, would be the end of our great nation.
I mean it. I think that it will doom us to suffer a dismal end. Then again, have any of you noticed that there is no Eagle in the Revelation story? It has always perplexed me that we're not hinted at being part of Armageddon. We'll be the modern epitome of the Roman Empire, it seems. I hope that I do not live to see such things.
