Both "Charitable Choice" and the Welfare Reform of which it was part have been the essence of bipartisan consensus, as you wrote yourself:
<blockquote>In an era where both parties have become worshipers of the market and are owned by investors and corporations, the matter has become bipartisan. Neo-liberal and Third Way politics both replace redistributive goals with a market approach catering to business class needs and both adopt the supply-side theory that the economy is burdened by overly-generous welfare provisions which give too much security to workers. Remember Former Democratic Governor Richard Lamm of Colorado said on McNeil Lehrer some years back "the New Deal is unsustainableŠSocial Security is obsolete Š Medicare is unsustainable." President Clinton explained his pro business agenda clearly when he said "the era of big government is over." His motto became "more empowerment, less entitlement" and his slogan "from welfare to work." (Marta Russell, "What's Wrong with 'Charitable Choice'? A Plenty," <http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2001-03/28russell.htm>, March 28, 2001)</blockquote>
<blockquote>Twenty governors - Democrat and Republican alike - have established faith-based outreach offices. Their efforts echo those of President Bush, who has strongly pushed for religious groups to have equal access to government funds and has established offices in several federal agencies. In 2003, $1.17 billion in grants from federal agencies were given to faith-based groups, according to an Associated Press tabulation that was confirmed by the White House.
Mr. Bush has used his administrative authority, through executive orders and rule changes, to reach beyond the initial scope of the "Charitable Choice" law that President Clinton signed in 1996 as part of the welfare reform act. It allows state governments to direct federal money to religious groups. Before 1996, religious groups could compete for funds only if they set up separate secular, nonprofit entities. (Erin Madigan, "More States Reach Out To Faith-Based Organizations," February 25, 2005, <http://www.azcapitoltimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=1747>)</blockquote>
People on the (broadly defined) left can't blame these political problems on conservative Christians and the GOP alone. The majority of people on the (broadly defined) left have made their choice of supporting the party that agrees with the GOP and conservative Christians on the Welfare Reform, "Charitable Choice," and a host of major domestic and foreign policy issues. It's time for leftists who support the Democratic Party to take responsibility for that political choice, whether to reaffirm it or to make a different choice. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>