Another Educational Political Campaign in Virginia James A. Davids J.D. Duke University School of Law President-Elect, Christian Legal Society Assistant Dean, Robertson School of Government, Regent University September 12, 2006

Politics in Virginia is certainly educational.  I’m from Chicago, where a near one-party system chooses its candidates and then assures their election through an illegal patronage system.  Because political races in Chicago are rarely contested with vigor, we rarely learn of such scintillating details as the candidates’ ancestral birthplaces in Ireland.

In contrast with Chicago political campaigns, I now have a much better glimpse of Senator Allen’s family tree, thanks to the recent Webb-Allen debate, the reporting of The Washington Post, and Senator Allen’s disclosure yesterday.  I now know that Mr. Allen’s maternal grandfather was jailed by the Nazis, that Mr. Allen’s mother is French-Italian with a little bit of Spanish blood, and that Mr. Allen’s maternal grandfather was a Jewish importer of wines and liquor in Tunis.  I have added this knowledge to the one new vocabulary word I have learned from this campaign.

When asked about his ancestral roots, Mr. Allen initially replied that he did not think the religion of his mother was relevant to the campaign.  I certainly agree with him.  The religion of Mother Allen has as much relevance to this campaign as the sexual habits of the debate interviewer’s maternal great-grandfather (the interviewer, Peggy Fox, after the debate disclosed that her great-grandfather was a Mormon polygamist).  The relevance of ancestral religion is best illustrated by the fact that both Mr. Allen’s grandfather and New York Senator Charles Schumer’s grandfather were Jewish.

Although I agree with Senator Allen that his mother’s religion has little relevance to the campaign, I disagree with Mr. Allen’s subsequent statement that his religion or his opponent’s religion is irrelevant to the campaign.  In fact, the candidate’s faith, and the strength of the candidate’s conviction in that faith, is highly relevant, since it constitutes in large part how the candidate views the world.

The worldview of a politician is very important for a voter to know and understand.  Worldview consists of the principles upon which the aspiring public official guides his or her actions and reactions.  Worldview, in other words, is the philosophy which underlies an office seeker’s thought and guides his or her opinions, and therefore decisions, on public policy issues.  It is the essence, the bedrock layer, of a person’s views on the major issues of life, and therefore of the world.  It is an honest predictor of future decisions, assuming that the politician holds steadfastly to his or her worldview.

The strength or weakness of an informed voter’s support for a candidate will depend in large part on the candidate’s worldview.  In Rhode Island, the current Republican Senator running for re-election does not agree with Senator Allen’s position on banning partial abortions, nor does the candidate agree with Senator Allen that marriage should be limited constitutionally to one man and one woman.  These positions signal to me that the Republican candidate in Rhode Island disagrees with my view that God made humans in God’s image, and that heterosexual marriage is a foundational institution in our society.  Because my worldview differs from the Rhode Island Republican candidate’s, my enthusiasm for this candidate is soft (I would not campaign door-to-door for him as I have for most Republican senatorial candidates in the past).  In fact, I might have failed to vote for any senatorial candidate on November 7 if I lived in Rhode Island. 

Contrary to Mr. Allen’s assertion, a candidate’s religion and his/her strength of conviction are fair game to reporters and highly relevant to voters.  My hope is that Senator Allen’s view on public policy issues and the power of government is driven by a biblical worldview which focuses on ordered liberty, individual responsibility, limited government with dispersed powers, and the inherent dignity of all humans because they are made in the image of God.  Articulating such a worldview would certainly inspire me to go door-to-door in Virginia this November.

757.226.4783; jdavids@regent.edu