Jim Wallis, a leading voice of the religious left, had an awesome column in today's NYT. He instructs Dems deep in the Lakoff-induced frame-a-mania to not forget that we need actual new ideas to go along with our messaging.
Because the Republicans, with the help of the religious right, have captured the language of values and religion (narrowly conceived as only abortion and gay marriage), the Democrats have also been asking how to "take back the faith." But that means far more than throwing a few Bible verses into policy discussions, offering candidates some good lines from famous hymns, or teaching them how to clap at the right times in black churches. Democrats need to focus on the content of religious convictions and the values that underlie them.
He goes on to remind us that the issues progressives care about-- like poverty, the enviroment, and not killing thousands of innocent people- --have solid grounding the very bible thumped by our evagelical friends to the south and west.
Right on Jim, but this concept is nothing new. And, easy for him to say what the Dems should do when he doesn't have to contend with the paralayzing realities of Republican controlled Washington.
The question remains how we actually make this change happen. How do we get a government whose leaders and policies jive with our spiritual sense of what is good and just? As Jim says, it sure won't happen by pols quoting the Isaiah at a church function here and there.
One group that is on the right path is emerging out of Michael Lerner's Tikkun magazine/community in Berkeley, CA (of course): The Network of Spiritual Progressives. With a variety of tactics- such as convening a policy think tank, holding conference and working groups, and providing education for policy makers...NSJ is up to exciting work. They understand that an authentic religious/spiritual, progressive political philosophy goes way deeper seeing how many times the word values can be used in a single stump speech. It invovles changing the bottom line of how we evalute programs, policies and our lives.
NSJ is a group to watch...hopefully more and more of our political leaders will join their ranks, and more new leaders will emerge from this philosophy.