Education spending had spiked over the past decades, without commensurate results, so some states have cut back due to budget restraints. Is this a sin? Perhaps some people believe that money isn’t the only answer to creating a better educational system. Maybe some people believe the real “sin” is stealing a poor parent’s ability to choose the school they can send their children to. Maybe they believe that condemning poor children to a lifetime of struggle to shield unions from culpability is the real sin. Maybe some people believe that the capitalism and energy that Lithwick finds so distasteful have created more wealth and opportunities for the underprivileged than all the programs she believes have God’s blessing. And maybe some people believe it’s a sin not to try and save a child from the scalpel in the 8th month of a pregnancy. Maybe they believe protecting life is the fundamental job of any government.
There are also many practical problems with the God-is-a-Democrat storyline. The Left’s attacks on religious freedom — not to mention the attacks on home-schooling and beliefs that have no bearing on policy – probably aren’t going to be helpful in Lithwick’s quest. Also, Republicans, not incidentally, happen to be more religious, more likely to go to church (more orthodox when they do), and more likely to think about God before they vote. The Republican Party reflects these cultural sensibilities. Democrats, on the other hand, are increasingly secular. These are concrete and often intractable difference in how groups view the moral life rather than a matter of dueling policy prescriptions.
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