Skyscraper Solidarity

Today, Barbara Ehrenreich posted a piece in The Nation about Hillary Clinton’s associations with “The Family”, a Beltway Christian organization that sounds more like a conservative cult than an organization for praise and worship.

I’ve been saying for quite some time now that the Clinton family ties are more deeply rooted in American Neoconservativism than anyone cares to acknowledge, but after reading the 2007 Mother Jones article Ehrenreich mentions, I wonder why I’ve never come across it before.

I’m gonna say it right now: I don’t trust Hillary Clinton. (Bold letters AND italics! Beat that!) I don’t trust her because she doesn’t have my best interests at heart. Not because she’s not Black, and not because she’s not from Chicago, but because if she had any Democrat’s best interest at heart, she would have dropped out of the race by now. The only way she can win at this stage is if she wins over a significant number of Superdelegates– Election 2008′s very ownhanging chad. Among these Superdelegates are high Democratic Party officials, including Hillary’s Husband/BFF/#1 Fan, Mr. President Clinton. Is she sticking in the race because she knows the unpledged delegates– among which she has considerably more clout than Obama– will scratch her back? It seems that this is the case, despite the fact that she’d have you believe that she just wants the people to choose the candidate for the job.

The Democratic Party is struggling, and it has been for as long as I can remember. I’m 22 years old and I’ve only been alive for one Democrat in office. For the first time ever, Obama is having a resounding impact on young voters and people of color– two constituencies on which the Democratic Party pride themselves on caring about the most. The Party could benefit strategically from following Obama’s lead and attempting to revitalize their politics to stimulate real systemic change, but instead it’s politics as usual as Obama is left not getting the support he deserves. It’s really sad to see him stranded, especially since his mantra of Change and Hope has had so much of a profound impact in this election cycle.

But I am straying from the point and getting on my Obama Soapbox.

This Family Organization is really troubling, primarily because of its Conservative affiliations. Take the founding principles, for instance:

The Family was founded in Seattle in 1935 by Abraham Vereide
[...]
He organized Christian prayer breakfasts for politicians and businessmen that included anti-Communism and anti-union discussions.
[...]
By 1942, the organization had moved headquarters to Washington, DC, where it helped create breakfast groups in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.

At the very least, doesn’t this make her appear to go against everything she claims to believe in, as both an individual and a Democrat? The connection between her religious affiliations and her legislation is what bothers me the most: For me, the main drawback is that it can be used to unite a little too much when called upon in less-than-desirable circumstances. In response to America’s past as a refuge from political persecution, religion remains the last frontier, the one subject that is too personal to criticize. Talk about Hillary’s policies, her ideas and her strategies, but discussing her religion and her affiliations is taboo, thus making religion the perfect cloak for political and personal gain.

In the past 15 years or so, neoconservatives have courted the Religious Right with a persistent fervor. We’ve seen elections centered on perceptions of morality more in the recent past than in any other time in American history. We’re being divided by race, class and who we worship. Alliances between church and state seem to be more visible and certainly more politically influential than ever before. If the media can question Obama’s pastor, why can’t they delve beneath Clinton’s cloaked-and-daggered steeple?