"Politics -- A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles."
(Evan Esser, "Comic Dictionary)

ouse Republicans have begun an ambitious effort to energize their party's religious right base by resurrecting several key bills just in time for the upcoming midterm elections.

   Dubbed the "American Values Agenda," the legislation includes bills to outlaw same-sex marriage, protect "unborn children," ban cloning and even discourage legal challenges to violations of the First Amendment's establishment clause.

   Most of the measures were languishing in committee, and stood little chance of action until late last month when House Speaker Dennis Hastert unveiled the new program. Hastert told reporters that an upcoming series of votes would determine where legislators stood on "America's founding."

   "Radical courts have attempted to gut our religious freedom and redefine the value system on which America was built," Hastert declared. "We hope to restore some of those basic values through passing this legislative agenda and renewing our country's commitment to faith, freedom and life."

   Critics were quick to point out, though, that the "American Values Agenda" was more about using hot-button wedge issues designed to reassure disgruntled religious conservatives, and distract public attention from a scandal-ridden Congress and troubled U.S. foreign policy. Polls show Democrats on the verge of winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1994. Worse yet for the GOP have been signals from evangelical religious leaders including the influential James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, who say that Republicans have abandoned their social and cultural agenda.

   Hastert intends to change that. Despite all of the hoopla, however, the first legislative item, a proposed measure to prohibit federal courts from intervening in cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance, failed to make it out of the House Judiciary Committee on June 28 amidst a 15-15 vote. The bill was widely criticized as another effort aimed at "court stripping," removing certain practices -- usually those involving government sponsorship of religion in the public square -- from judicial oversight.

   Another AVA proposal, the Protection of Marriage Act failed in the Senate by one vote, but may be resurrected again in a similar bill.

   Several factors underpin the sudden announcement of this new GOP effort.

    ¶       Both parties but especially the Republicans have taken collateral damage from a series of Capitol Hill scandals including the one involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, once one of the most blustery advocates of "values" in Washington has now resigned due to sensational revelations of impropriety. All of this could erode the Republican's current 231-201 advantage in the House come November.

    ¶       The religious right has become disgruntled over what is perceived as Republican laxity in promoting legislation concerning gay marriage, prayer and other culture war issues. A piece in today's Boston Globe by Harvard University divinity professor Harvey Cox described how religious conservatives like Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed and Jerry Falwell spent decades patiently forging links with the Republican party.

   "In recent years, however, the political alliance Falwell originally stitched together has been fraying," wrote Cox. "Republicans in office have not achieved the results on abortion, school prayer, marriage, and other culture-war issues that the religious right expected. In May of this year, speaking about support for Republican congressional leaders in the midterm elections, and possibly in 2008, James Dobson grumbled, 'I think there's going to be trouble down the road if they don't get on the ball.' "

    Economic uncertainty, weak spots in the Bush administration's handling of foreign policy, the FEMA bungling over Katrina and a host of other nuisance issues have steadily eroded the GOP's electoral edge. Making things worse, though, is the increasingly tarnished image of the religious right. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) praised the "American Values Agenda", insisting that "the American people want us to act on these issues they care ago." A Zogby International poll, however, shows that this may not be the case. Respondents ranked the economy, health care reform, terrorism and rising energy prices as the top domestic issues confronting the nation today.

   The deployment of the "American Values Agenda" may also be a sign of failing GOP efforts to repair relations with the evangelical right. While there are a host of religious power brokers with close ties to the Republican Party, James Dobson has been leading figure keeping the GOP leadership "in line" and focused on a "godly" political agenda.

   In 1999, for instance, House Republicans launched a campaign remarkably similar to the "American Values Agenda" that involved a flurry of legislative items crafted by Dobson's allies on Capitol Hill. Republican leaders formed a "Values Action Team" (VAT) which at that time operated from the offices of Tom DeLay. Today, Pennsylvania GOP Representative Joseph Pitts runs the VAT with the assistance of Rep. John Boehner and Majority Whip Roy Blunt.

   Earlier this year, the group held a "Values Summit" that in cooperation with Dobson picked the legislative items being pushed in the current "American Values Agenda" campaign.

   VAT was founded to "coordinate legislative strategy with conservative groups that included the Christian Coalition, Family Research Council and the National Right to Life Committee" according to a piece in the Boston Globe newspaper. Its genesis came at the behest of James Dobson, who in 1998 began a carefully orchestrated campaign of scolding then supporting Republicans in order to promote an agenda targeting "filth, blasphemy, pornography, homosexuality and partial-birth abortion."

   Several more bills in the "American Values Agenda" laundry list are likely to be introduced in the next three weeks prior to the August congressional recess and the November elections. They include:

    ¶       HR 356, the Unborn Child Awareness Act. Introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, the legislation would require doctors performing late-term abortions to lecture women seeking abortion of the alleged medical evidence that a fetus senses pain. Should the woman choose to continue with the procedure, she is to given the option of choosing anesthesia for the fetus so that the pain is, presumably, less severe.

    ¶       HR 1357, Rep. D. Weldon. The measure bans human cloning and the use of stem cells derived from such a procedure.

    ¶       HR 4411. The Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act would amend an earlier statute, the Interstate Wire Act, to prohibit gambling through internet and other new technologies and penalize financial institutions that allow credit cards, checks, fund transfers and other payment systems for such purposes. The measure is sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA.) and Rep. James Leach (R-Iowa). Debate is expected this week in the House over the measure. Suspiciously, the bill includes an exemption for betting on horse racing.

    ¶       HR 2679 is perhaps the most disturbing and controversial measure found in the "American Values Agenda." The proposal would amend the U.S. Code and eliminate attorney fees in cases connected with legal cases challenging practices under the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

   Other provisions in the AVA include measures not directly tied to the separation of church and state, and focus on gun ownership restrictions, reform of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) and tax relief. The core legislative items, though, are "red meat" for religious conservatives. Getting lawmakers "on the record" can provide valuable campaign fodder in the November, 2006 elections and beyond. They may play the role that same-sex marriage referendums in nearly a dozen states did in the 2004 election when religious evangelicals turned out in record numbers, and supported President Bush in the process.

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