Republican Losses Blamed on Departures From Conservative Agenda
by Ed Thomas and Jeff Johnson
November 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The chairman of a religious public policy group feels many evangelical voters who turned out on November 7 and helped place Democrats in office were looking for alternatives to Republicans who these voters felt were not fulfilling the conservative agenda.Clergyman Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) says there is an important fact that Republicans need to note as they look back on exit polls from Tuesday's elections. "It's very clear that one in three evangelical Christians voted for a Democrat in the Congress," he notes.
Sheldon believes many values voters chose pro-life or perceived pro-life Democrats like Indiana's Brad Ellsworth and Pennsylvania's Bob Casey, Jr., because of dissatisfaction with the 109th Congress's lack of action on conservative priorities like marriage, immigration, and sanctity-of-life issues. Also, the TVC spokesman points out, the war in Iraq was an issue for many voters.
"No question about it," Sheldon observes, "the war was a constant factor; but also, morality and moral standards were a factor." Ethical scandals involving Republican leaders and prominent conservatives made big news and added fuel to the disaffection of many voters.
"When those things happen," the pro-family activist notes, "it tends to spill over to races where it's not relevant, has no impact; but people -- in their thinking -- think maybe it's time for a change." However, he says it remains to be seen whether the strategy of electing a pro-life or conservative Democrat to the U.S. Legislature will actually work.
After all, several of the moderate Democrats elected, including future Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey Jr., have suspect pro-life records, Sheldon points out. He says Casey and others will have to be watched to see if they are truly going to represent pro-family Christian values on Capitol Hill. As fellow pro-family leader Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council pointed out on Friday, Democrats may have "successfully peddled principle, but [they] have no proven record of legislating on its behalf."
But while several post-election analysts, like Sheldon, are pointing to an abandonment of pro-family principles as a primary factor in several Republican candidates losses, Myron Ebell of the pro-business group Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has a different theory. He says many of the GOP candidates who lost big last week were those opposed to private property rights or were so-called "Green Republicans," who supported policies based on the theory of catastrophic global warning.
Ebell believes the November 7 elections demonstrated conservative's sharp repudiation of radical environmentalist policies. "A good example, I think, is that both Republican members from New Hampshire lost, Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley," the CEI official says. "Now, they led the fight in this Congress to stop the opening up of a small portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas production," he explains.
Republican incumbents espousing such anti-conservative policies have, for the most part, been replaced by moderate to conservative Democrats, Ebell contends. "In fact," he notes, "in several races it seems to me that the Democrat who defeated the Republican was at least trying to sound more conservative than his Republican incumbent opponent."
But even though those Republicans were, in many cases, replaced by liberal opponents who appear to be more moderate on environmental issues. The pro-business spokesman warns that these newly elected lawmakers may have little ability to affect their party's direction in Congress. "It's really hard to say whether these more moderate Democrats, as freshman, will be able to have any impact on what the Democratic agenda is," he says.
As Nancy Pelosi and others on the extreme left of the Democratic Party take over on Capitol Hill, Ebell suspects the more conservative Democrats recently elected may find their influence is limited. Their impact could be reduced, he says, because the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate are solidly behind the radical environmentalist agenda.
Ed Thomas and Jeff Johnson, regular contributors to AgapePress, are reporters for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
