Gay Conservative

Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, is using his perceived clout with Christian conservatives to submarine the presidential hopes of several GOP aspirants.  He has notably poo-poo’d Rudy Giuliani, and now he has Fred Thompson squarely in his site.  Dobson is notable for his proclamation in March that Thompson, baptized into the Church of Christ, was not a true Christian.  Dobson apparently has special access to the Book of Life and a direct line to God himself.

Now comes the news that Dobson, in a personal email, challenged Thompson’s conviction to conservative positions and his desire to run. 

“Isn’t Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won’t talk at all about what he believes, and can’t speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?” Dobson wrote.

“He has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent ‘want to.’ And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!”

What Dobson fails to mention is that Fred Thompson believes that marriage, like abortion, is a matter that should be left to the discretion of the states.  A strong supporter of states’ rights, Fred firmly believes that, on many levels, the Federal government has overstepped its jurisdiction in matters that should be left to the states (read – the 10th Amendment to the Constitution).

Dobson and other Christian conservatives support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would bar gay marriage nationally. Thompson has said he would support a constitutional amendment that would prohibit states from imposing their gay marriage laws on other states, which falls well short of that.

Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for the Thompson campaign, said Wednesday in response to the Dobson e-mail: “Fred Thompson has a 100 percent pro-life voting record. He believes strongly in returning authority to the levels of government closest to families and communities, protecting states from intrusion by the federal government and activist judges.

I find it ironic that Dobson sees himself as a conservative when a true conservative is one who upholds the rights of states against the encroachment of an overbearing federal government.  Obviously, Dobson believes in that tenet only to the extent it doesn’t interfere with his agenda.  While I disagree with Thompson on his past support of McCain-Feingold, I have found Fred to be a solid conservative on most other positions near and dear to my heart.

I said it in March, and I’ll repeat my indictment against Dobson again.  Dr. James fancies himself a kingmaker in the GOP.  He wishes to have MoveOn.org-like power in order to affect GOP politics to his own benefit.  I often wonder how much of his rhetoric is based on principle and how much of it is based on his need to prop up his stature among his perceived power base.

This is not a slap at Christians (why would I slap my own personal beliefs?)  And, further, it is not a slap at evangelical Christians.  The evangelical movement is an integral part of the GOP’s base and underlying philosophy – the philosophy that embraces Judeo-Christian values.  This indictment is simply a reflection on James Dobson himself.  Dobson is to the evangelical movement what Jesse Jackson is to the civil rights movement – an outdated blowhard using his position for his own narcissitic purposes.

Again, I’ll call for Dr. Dobson to butt out if he has nothing constructive to add.  Large numbers of evangelicals and their leaders have already embraced Thompson, Giuliani and Romney based on their own principles and a lot of homework.  Dobson is merely an odd-man-out.  And I wish he would stay out.