{"id":1575,"date":"2007-12-21T15:32:49","date_gmt":"2007-12-21T20:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2007\/12\/21\/huckabee-and-christian-reconstruction\/"},"modified":"2017-04-19T22:45:13","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T03:45:13","slug":"huckabee-and-christian-reconstruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2007\/12\/21\/huckabee-and-christian-reconstruction\/","title":{"rendered":"Huckabee and “Christian Reconstruction”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Like many\u00a0political\u00a0conservatives \u2013 and, also, like more than a few political liberals <\/a>\u2014 I have, in recent weeks, found much to like about Gov. Huckabee.\u00a0 (Full disclosure:\u00a0 I support Fred Thompson for the GOP nomination.)\u00a0 I liked it, that is, that he seemed (for a while, anyway) not to endorse base anti-immigrant rhetoric; that, as Governor, he was willing to commute the sentences of, and pardon, convicted criminals; and that, for a while, he avoided Giuliani-esque over-the-top statements about how tough he is willing to be on detainees,\u00a0etc.\u00a0 (I have been bothered, though,\u00a0by his cosy relationship with the teacher unions, among other things.)\u00a0 I even gave him some money.<\/p>\n

This column<\/a>, by Robert Novak, leaves me very troubled.\u00a0 Now, to be clear, it is not (for me)\u00a0a reason to worry about Gov. Huckabee\u2019s candidacy that some Southern Baptist leaders are not endorsing him.\u00a0 What does bother me, though, is (what seems to be) Gov. Huckabee\u2019s close relationship with Steven Hotze,\u00a0Rick Scarborough, and Vision America.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been pretty clear, I think, about my disdain for the tedious and ignorant \u201cthe\u00a0theocrats are coming!\u201d\u00a0thing that\u00a0is so\u00a0popular in some circles.\u00a0\u00a0 (See\u00a0Ross Douthat\u2019s take-down of the genre here<\/a>.)\u00a0 But, as I see it, Hotze, Scarborough, and Vision America really do<\/em> have troubling and misguided views about\u00a0faith and the political order.\u00a0 We\u2019re not talking Fr. Neuhaus\u2019s critique of the naked public square here, or John Courtney Murray\u2019s We Hold These Truths.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m confident (should I be, though?) that Gov. Huckabee\u2019s own views are more thoughtful and sound than those of the\u00a0so-called Christian Reconstructionists.\u00a0 But, can anyone doubt that, were Huckabee to be the nominee, these people and their views (read this<\/a>, for example)\u00a0\u2014 which would be, I\u2019m confident, regarded as deeply creepy and troubling by most Americans \u2014 would be at the center of\u00a0the campaign?\u00a0 (It would be political malpractice for Huckabee\u2019s opponent, or opponents, not to exploit his connection with these people.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am, of course, pro-life and fairly conservative.\u00a0 I agree entirely with those who insist that religious faith has a role to play in\u00a0politics and policy.\u00a0 I don\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0see \u201ctheocracy\u201d looming behind efforts to, say, protect unborn children from partial-birth abortions.\u00a0 But, I do <\/em>worry about Vision America (not that they could actually achieve their aims, but that they will become associated in the public mind with *my* aims).<\/p>\n

Also troubling to me \u2013 and, I hope, to other Catholics \u2014 is the fact that Gov. Huckabee apparently has no difficulty appearing with, and preaching at the church of, Pastor John Hagee, a virulent and ignorant anti-Catholic polemecist who has, to put it mildly, not yet got the word about \u201cEvangelicals and Catholics Together.\u201d<\/p>\n

So:\u00a0 tell me, Vox Nova readers who support Gov. Huckabee, if you think I\u2019m overreacting here.\u00a0 Should I not worry about Huckabee\u2019s relationship with the attendees at the event described in the Novak column?\u00a0 About his date with Hagee?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like many\u00a0political\u00a0conservatives \u2013 and, also, like more than a few political liberals \u2014 I have, in recent weeks, found much to like about Gov. Huckabee.\u00a0 (Full disclosure:\u00a0 I support Fred Thompson for the GOP nomination.)\u00a0 I liked it, that is, that he seemed (for a while, anyway) not to endorse base anti-immigrant rhetoric; that, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2958,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHuckabee and "Christian Reconstruction"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Like many\u00a0political\u00a0conservatives - and, also, like more than a few political liberals -- I have, in recent weeks, found much to like about Gov.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2007\/12\/21\/huckabee-and-christian-reconstruction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Huckabee and "Christian Reconstruction"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like many\u00a0political\u00a0conservatives - 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