Armey, Dobson and Major Barbara

Ryan Sager posts an important email from Dick Armey criticizing the religious right and the temptation of power. Read the whole thing but this paragraph stood out as emblematic:

Today, the national Christian Coalition has joined forces with MoveOn.org in another government grab of private property dealing specifically with ownership of the Internet. They are wrong on the specifics of the issue, and they are wrong to associate with and comfort radical liberals who have demonstrated nothing but disdain for conservative values. Armey’s Axiom: Make a deal with the Devil, and you are the junior partner.

This brings into focus something that I have been concerned about from the very begining of this blog: during the Clinton years many Republicans were making a lot of good points about conservative principles but now that they have gained power, not so much. I was dismayed at Gary Bauer's meltdown during the 2000 primary but I chalked it up to his own inexperience with political thinking. But now I begin to wonder if the Christian right as a whole is unprepared for serious political discourse. I have to do a bit more thinking about this before I can make a coherent comment, but my initial reaction is that this goes a long way toward explaining something I have had a hard time putting my finger on.