The Most Blatant of Political Moves

In the waning days of last year, it became clear to many observers that the Republican Party had lost it. They ended up arguing, essentially that exercising our rights in this democracy was tantamount to treason. Worse, they put in practice programs to disenfranchise people again. The election came down to this: one party supports representative government and one really doesn't.

We lost a year ago. The country is now a little bit older and a little bit wiser. We wouldn't lose that election again today. But we are still living with the results. And the party in power still believes that it is a priority to stack the deck so fundamentally in their own favor so as to create a structural majority, not through popular support, but by design.

And they are demonstrating it clearly through an assault on the political rights of one sector of non-profits that work closely with the poor while also working to broaden the freedoms of non-profits that work closely with their base.

Right now, under federal law, religious, educational, and charitable organizations are prohibited from using funds in any partisan political manner. That includes churches, hospitals, private schools, and many, many non-profit organizations.

The reason for this is clear. Donations to these organizations are tax-deductible. And, frankly, while we all realize that big money influences politics, I don't think anyone wants to see undisclosed $1,000,000 checks being used to spread a message of "Vote Bush" or "Vote Kerry."

Yet the Republican Party, for years, has been pushing legislation that would allow churches to endorse candidates. Ironically, the sponsor of the bill attempted to moderate it so that those endorsements would be in-house only. Conservatives balked. They want the ability for churches, temples, and mosques to be PACs and to run mail, media, and internet operations actively on behalf of candidates.

It is hard to think of anything more destructive to a house of God than to be turned into a two-bit player in a Jack Abramoff scheme, but that seems to be what these people are actively seeking.

On the other side, the House just yesterday passed an amendment that slaps a gag order on non-profits that participate in a federal housing fund. This program is designed to help low-income people and the Republican Congress is actively working to prohibit these non-profits that would be working with low-income people from taking any action to register them to vote or turn them out to the polls.

This prohibition doesn't apply to efforts undertaken with federal funds. Such actions are already illegal. And tax law already prohibits these organizations from spending their money to advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate or even to engage in partisan voter education.

In other words, modern-day "conservatives" are advocating for turning our churches into political committees and would force those who work with the poor into silence. One of these "conservatives" is none other than my own Representative Dennis Rehberg. Rehberg has been a shill and a tool for years, so this doesn't surprise me.

He also fits well into the party of Abramoff and DeLay. If you want to get through to him, it looks like your best is to throw down $1,500 to go to a Lenny Kravitz concert with him in DC, all arranged, of course, by a lobbyist.

It's time for these crooks to go.

--Matt Singer

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