Let Justice Rain Down

We’ve already let the Republicans define words like, "morals" and “values” on

their terms. Let’s not let them do the same with "justice."

Back in November 2004, when the media spun stories about how
President Bush had successfully wooed the “values voter,” many people
concluded
that he had won the election because of his stance on gay marriage and
abortion. I was one of those people, as evidenced by my frustrated
op-eds explaining why Christians, of all people, should be voting
Democrat because of
the party’s commitment to help the poor. I just couldn’t understand why
so many
Christians could read the Bible, see 3000 verses on poverty, but get so
blinded by the GOP’s rhetoric about two issues that
they would vote for the party that blatantly neglected the poor. But in
hindsight, I realized that it wasn’t quite so simple.

In my post-election soul-searching, I often listened to
music, and my favorite genre of music happens to be one listened to by a lot of
GOP voters: country. I’ve always been bothered by the lyrics of one of my
favorite songs:

“Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we’ll sing a victory tune
We'll all meet back at the local saloon
We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces…” (Toby Keith and Willie
Nelson)

While I can understand the frustration with “too many gangsters,
doing dirty deeds,” or that somebody got away after they “blew up a building,”
I would not, like the authors of these lyrics, start getting nostalgic for the
good ole days when the valiant men of Texas would, “Find a tall oak tree, round
up all of them bad boys, hang them high in the street.” But this nostalgia for a time when wrongdoers were punished,
when crimes were avenged, and when justice was executed – persists, and it is
helping Republicans win elections.

Ever since the Vietnam War, Democrats have been viewed as
weak when it came to foreign policy. Richard Paarlberg, a visiting professor
who taught “American Foreign Policy,” at Harvard argued that the “dovish”
stance of the Democratic Party after the war led to former Democrats leaving
party and becoming Republicans. The stereotype of Republicans as being the
strong, tough party persisted into this century, as evidenced by the 2002 and
2004 elections. An article in the September 2-8 2006 Economist goes as
far to say that September 11 “drove both victories,” for the Republicans. Indeed,
terrorism ranked high among concerns for voters three years after September 11,
and more voters trusted the Republican Party to keep America strong than the
Democratic Party.

The lesson for Democrats to learn from 2004 is not just to
reach out to the values voter, to show them how our party strives to uphold the
teachings of Jesus, to help the poor and love our neighbors. Those things are
important, but if we want to be assured solid victories in 2008, Democrats must
also show that this party is willing to stand up for what is right. The need
for justice, to act decisively in the name of what is right, is not a theme
unique to country lyrics – it appears in the Bible tens, perhaps hundreds of
times and is understandably a desirable characteristic in one’s leaders.

This does not mean that Democrats should support the Iraq war, or expend
taxpayer dollars on future nation-building catastrophes. But it does mean
taking a threat like terrorism seriously, and preparing for future attacks. It
means appearing strong and decisive in the face of foreign threats, and being
willing to use force when necessary to defend the country. And if we want to
take this concept of justice seriously, it means standing up against the most
egregious of human rights violations, such as the genocide in Darfur.
We’ve already let the Republicans define words like, “morals” and “values” on
their terms. Let’s not let them do the same with “justice.”