Darwin's Wasp

In a year in which many of us celebrate both Charles Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th birthday of the "Origin of Species," it is apropos to use what some have called "Darwin's wasp"—the Ichneumonidae—to make a point about the state of the Republican Party.

The parasitic wasp, which lays its eggs inside a caterpillar so that its larvae can feed on it, carefully guides its sting into each ganglion of the prey's central nervous system, not to kill it, but to paralyze it, so that its offspring will have fresh meat to eat. The victim is literally devoured alive from the inside out.

Darwin found this situation incompatible with his religious beliefs. He wrote,

I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars.

The Republican Party, like the unfortunate caterpillar, is being devoured from the inside out.

Caustic conservative chatterers, from Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity to Glenn Beck, along with some extremist politicians like Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Joe Wilson, have attached themselves to the party and are, issue by issue, rant by rant, consuming its electoral life. They have effectively banished from the party moderates and patriots like Colin Powell, reasonable, moderately conservative writers like David Brooks or Sam Tanenhaus, and virtually anyone who dares to croon slightly off key in what has become a choir of fear, singing a menacing mantra: We hate Barack Hussein Obama.

Thus, the party of Lincoln is fast becoming a parochial, nationally irrelevant party.

In 1980 Ronald Reagan—in an electoral landslide—received 55% of the white vote. In 2008 John McCain—who lost by nearly 10 million votes—also received 55% of the white vote. What was the difference? The percentage of the overall electorate for white voters dropped from 88% in 1980 to 74% in 2008. So, while Republicans maintained their hold on white voters, the political clout of those voters had declined.

Understandably, Barack Obama had overwhelming support among African-Americans (95%) in 2008, but Republicans have otherwise struggled to attract more than 10% of black voters since Reagan's 14% showing in 1980. Since then the percentage of black voters among the overall electorate has increased from 10% to 13%.

But the real tale is told by the Hispanic vote.

In 1980 Hispanics comprised only 2% of the electorate, and Jimmy Carter received 54% of their votes compared with 36% for Reagan. In 2008, Hispanics had grown to 9% of the electorate (a 450% increase), and John McCain—having forsaken his moderate position on immigration reform in favor of the hard-line conservative stance—received only 31%. Obama won 67% of the Hispanic vote.

Add to this that Asian-Americans are now 2% of the electorate (the same as Hispanics in 1980) and that Obama managed to garner 62% of their votes, and the picture becomes very clear.

No matter what Republicans may think about these trends, they cannot be ignored with impunity. It may be that conservatives these days are incapable of embracing a philosophy adjusted to fit the reality of changing demographics. Certainly, a staunch adherence to purist conservative doctrine plays well in places like Jasper and Newton counties in Southwest Missouri, or in the Old South, but it is a doomed strategy for long-term national Republican success, even if the party manages to make modest inroads in 2010.

Rather than acknowledge this reality and adjust their positions on the various issues accordingly, most Republican “leaders” are content to prostrate themselves before Rush Limbaugh's Attila the Hun chair, and in one sycophantic spasm after another confirm that they are content with a regional appeal.

Joe Scarborough, the popular conservative host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," has written a book urging conservative Republicans to heed the advice of the founder of conservatism, Edmund Burke, who "had contempt for rigid ideologues of all stripes." So far, such advice goes unheeded.

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal—the scourge of contemporary conservatism—came to pass largely because of the alignment of otherwise disparate groups that ignored important, but comparatively marginal, differences in favor of gaining political power sufficient to win elections. From 1932 through 1964, this coalition of "big city" political machines, labor unions, minorities, progressives, and Southern whites, won seven of nine presidential elections, losing only to WW II hero, Dwight Eisenhower.

If Republicans hope to continue as a national party, they have to shout down the strident voices of conservative ideologues and submit to demographic reality. It is difficult to understand why there isn’t one leader in the party who will take on the obviously unhinged Glenn Beck, just to name one glaring example. But so far, none has assumed the mantle of leadership necessary to save the party from irrelevance.

In the early days of the 20th century conservative movement, William F. Buckley, a conservative and a Republican, gave the left foot of fellowship to the John Birch Society, who, he surmised, would ultimately prove lethal to the conservative cause. He did the same thing to the Objectivists, most especially Ayn Rand. Mr. Buckley much later had to call out conservatives like Pat Buchanan and Joseph Sobran, when they expressed opinions that appeared to embrace an anti-Semitic philosophy. In that regard, Buckley acted like a true father of the movement, an adult who had to call out phony or wayward conservatives in the name of preserving the conservative family and by extension the Republican Party.

There is no one in the conservative movement with the stature William Buckley enjoyed (before he embraced late in life and inexplicably, Rush Limbaugh), and there certainly appears to be no adults in the Republican Party, but perhaps there is someone out there with sufficient courage who is willing to take on the conservative bullies. We can only hope.

Darwin lost at least part of his faith because he could not imagine that God could create the Ichneumonidae and its seemingly cruel method of survival. For him, such cruelty seemed incompatible with decency.

Today, the parasitic wasps in the Republican Party—those who are using the party only to advance their extremist ideological causes with little regard for the party’s survival—may not cause many to lose faith in God, but the tolerance of such people by party leaders causes many of us to doubt their decency.

And sadly, while there are many caterpillars in which Darwin’s wasp can lay its eggs, there is only one Grand Old Party.

Knowing Pains

Former 1980s sitcom star, Kirk Cameron, has said and done some goofy things since his conversion to radical Christianity. But he and his strange "partner," Ray Comfort, have gone too far, even for these two.

They plan to give away 50,000 copies of Darwin's Origin of Species with a "Special Introduction," written by Comfort. The introduction begins with a biography of Darwin and ends with an appeal to accept Jesus as Savior. In between is a blatant attack on evolution, complete with the obligatory reference to Hitler (he was an "evolutionist," therefore evolution is wrong).

Ray Comfort's come-to-Jesus logic, which he has used countless times, goes something like this:

Even if you have committed only one teeny weenie sin, like stealing a paper clip or telling your wife she isn't fat, you are a "lying thief," worthy of the deepest, darkest pits of hell. What's more, in God's eyes, your teeny weenie sin is the moral equivalent of the murder of a nine-year-old girl, who "had been kidnapped, brutally raped, and then buried alive." The little girl Comfort references is Jessica Lunsford, who he says, "was found tied up, in a kneeling position, clutching a stuffed toy."

Now, the moral of this story for Comfort is not the theologically stupid idea that God is apparently unable to differentiate between white lies and brutal murder; it is that God is vicious enough to send you straight to hell for the smallest of sins because...well, I'll let him explain it:

Many people believe that because God is good, He will forgive everyone, and let all sinners into Heaven. But they misunderstand His goodness. When Moses once asked to see God’s glory, God told him that he couldn’t see Him and live. Moses would instantly die if he looked upon God... The goodness of God would have killed Moses instantly because of his personal sinfulness.The fire of God’s goodness would have consumed him, like a cup of water dropped onto the surface of the sun....

These are extremely fearful thoughts, because the God we are speaking about is nothing like the commonly accepted image. He is not a benevolent Father-figure, who is happily smiling upon sinful humanity.

In the midst of these frightening thoughts, remember to let fear work for you. The fear of God is the healthiest fear you can have.

It is bad enough that this appalling theology is taught and believed by many church-going people Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday night after Wednesday night, right here in Southwest Missouri and elsewhere; but to include such trash in an edition of the one book that, maybe more than any other in history, has helped free human minds from superstition and fear, is simply unconscionable.

Kirk Cameron made a little video of his plan to deceive unsuspecting people with the phony edition of Origin of Species, but I prefer the following video, in which someone named Cristina rips Cameron a new orifice. [Beware of some mild profanity.]

A Fifth Column Of Insanity

"We have a village idiot in this country—it's called fundamentalist Christianity—and...until the Republican leadership has the guts to stand up and say it would be better not to have a Republican Party than have a party that caters to the village idiot, there's going to be no end in sight." – Frank Schaeffer

Months ago, I wrote a piece on Frank Schaeffer’s book, “Crazy for God.” Mr. Schaeffer, a former fundamentalist and evangelical writer and speaker, and son of the famous evangelicals Francis and Edith Schaeffer, subsequently sent me an email thanking me for the effort.

Last night, he appeared on Rachel Maddow’s show, and what he said was fascinating, something everyone should hear and consider. The context of the discussion involved the recent and to some (but not me) startling poll in which it was found that among conservatives in New Jersey more than 1/3 of them believe that Barack Obama is or might be the anti-Christ.

Mr. Schaeffer discussed the fact that the mainstream culture does not sufficiently understand the reality that there is a subculture of Christians who represent what he calls a “fifth column of insanity.” The rapturous theology of this group of Christians, he says,

…is the source of all these insanities that we see leveled at the president. One way or another they go back to this little evangelical subculture. It’s a disaster.

The segment is 6½ minutes long, but it is important to understand what role the disproportionately powerful Religious Right is playing in the “We Hate Obama Movement.” Please watch: