Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) gave a speech on the last night
of the Republican National Convention. The GOP loves him because he is one of those
relatively rare Latino politicians who call the GOP home. He of course
rigorously supports GOP policies, except when it comes to illegal immigration.
On that one, if you listen carefully, he takes no position, except that
whatever President Obama has done (and he has presided over the deportation of
more undocumented aliens [mainly Latinos] than any other President) is wrong.
Another little problem for Rubio has been that for years we were told that his
parents were "defectors" (otherwise known as "emigrants") from "Castro's Cuba,"
until it was discovered that they actually left the US-supported dictator
Batista's Cuba four years before the Cuban Revolution.
At any rate, there was one particular paragraph in
Rubio's speech that caught many ears. It came when he was talking about the US
people, and what is "special" about us:
"We are
special because we've been united not by a common race or ethnicity. We're
bound together by common values. That family is the most important
institution in society. That almighty God is the source of all we have. . .
. Our national motto is "In God we Trust,' reminding us that faith in
our Creator is the most important American value of all [emphasis added]."
Fascinating stuff, especially for someone
who was born Catholic, who as a teenager, when his family was living in Las
Vegas, converted to Mormonism, and then converted back to Catholicism upon
their return to Florida (1). Presumably, he made some changes-in-values on that
trip. Nevertheless, let's see just what might be the "common values" he referred
to in his speech.
It's certainly true that we are not united
by "race or ethnicity." The European settlers virtually eliminated the original
inhabitants of what became the United States, enslaved members of another
ethnic group brought here against their will, some of the descendants of those
European settlers still practice discrimination against both, and some of the
same have added Latinos, both those whose ancestors were here long before the
Euros arrived and more recent arrivals, to that list. So in that he is quite
correct.
Now what about "common values" by which we
might be "bound together?" Well, I for one, for example, don't share any of,
for example, the most basic values held by Mitt Romany (2). As for family,
while mine is central in my life, there are plenty of people who either A)
don't have one with which they relate much at all or B) can't stand theirs if
they do.
But then we come to the "God" thing. First
of all, there are plenty of us who don't believe that there is a deity or even
a group of them. (An increasing number of us secular humanists are "coming out
of the closet" on this one; as for me, coming from a secular household [born in
1936] I've been out of it for as long as I can remember.) Second of all, as for
the "In God we Trust" thing, that slogan, hardly a "national motto" adhered to
by all of us, was adopted by Congress in 1952, at the height of McCarthyism and
the domestic/international campaign against "godless Communism."
Just for Sen. Rubio's information (and he
should know this; having been to law school he presumably has read the
Constitution, and maybe even studied it in a Constitutional Law course), the
word "God" does not appear anywhere in that one document that could be
considered to establish the common values for our nation and our people. In its
only references to religion, in Article VI and Amendment I, the Constitution
prohibits the establishment of any religious qualifications for elected office,
and ensconces the principle of the separation of church and state in our national
polity.
Finally, Senator, "faith in our Creator"
is hardly the most important value of all, for many U.S. citizens. Among other
things, it is a pretty undefined term, even for those of the theistic
persuasion. Let's see what that kind of policies taking that position can lead
to. Why in your party it leads to the religion-based homophobia, misogyny, and
religious authoritarianism on abortion rights that now dominate your platform
and political agenda.
"God" itself is a pretty undefined
concept. A personal God, who is in one's life at all times? A general guider of
things? A force that established the world and then left it to its own devices,
the concept at the center of the Deism adhered to by many of the founders? Or
perhaps there is more than one, as the Hindus hold. A being with whom one can
have conversations, as the Presidential nominee of your party apparently thinks
that he does (2)?
And then we can get to a banner seen
outside the RNC (selected elements): " Why do you love the devil?
Homos, Feminists, Mormons, Buddhists, Catholics, Atheists, Democrats,
Environmentalists, Racists, Scientologists, Muslims, Loud Mouth Women,
Liberals, Sophisticated Swine, and Sports Nuts (Hey, I'm one of those; how did
we get included?): Repent and Believe in Jesus."
This is not, of course, (current) GOP policy. But criminalizing
abortion on religious grounds wasn't either, until Reagan decided to add the
"Religious Right Strategy" to Nixon's "Southern Strategy." European Christians slaughtered each in the
hundreds of thousands in the 16th and 17th centuries over
disputes about who "really believed in Jesus" and who was, or was not
"repentant" (disagreeing too over what that word meant). "Jesus?" Just who's Jesus is the creator of the above-quoted banner
talking about? The Catholics'? The Mormons'? The Presbyterians? (To say nothing
of the Jews' or the Muslims'.) Very dangerous territory is being approached
here.
Rubio talked about "God" and "faith." But
his concept of "God" is, for example, one that would sanction the
criminalization of any religious belief about when life begins other
than his. Yes indeed, if this kind of thinking is allowed to spread, indeed if
it allowed taking over our country, look out, everyone. Indeed, a modern
version of religious war, much more lethal even than its historical
predecessors, could well be just around the corner.
One observer recently put it very well: " The Founding Fathers knew the only way to insure religious freedom and
to maintain democracy is to keep religion and government separate. We cannot
allow our government to endorse religion even slightly for it's a thin line
from endorse to enforce" (3). Mark Marco
and his party well on this one, my friends. Mark them well.
References :
1. Avlon, J., "Who is Marco Rubio?' http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/18/who-is-marco-rubio-life-story-revealed-in-manuel-roig-franzia-s-biography.html
2. Jonas, S., " Mitt Romney's Core Values," BuzzFlash@Truthout
on Thu, 07/19/2012, URL: http://www.buzzflash.org/node/13613
3. Cottle, B., "Myths and Truths About
Atheism," http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20120902/OPINION04/309030008/Myths-truths-about-atheism?nclick_check=1
