Dear Mr. President:
We are grateful for your faith-based initiative and the way this approach is strengthening the ability of faith-based organizations to bring their unique gifts and passion to the task of overcoming social brokenness and poverty. We are also grateful for the way your administration has expanded the American contribution to economic development and the battle against AIDS in Africa and other developing countries through the Millennium Challenge Account and the AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Initiative. Thank you also for your moral leadership in the fight against human trafficking, your commitment to rebuild the U.S. refugee program, and your sustained efforts to end decades of war in Sudan.
That faith based initiative was essentially dropped, was it not? After John Dilulio quit? And the battle against AIDS in Africa? Was that ever funded or was it more talk. I also must have missed the "sustained efforts" in Sudan.
Tragically, however, both at home and abroad, the number of people in poverty remains unacceptably high.
Poverty in our own nation has increased in the last several years and millions more working poor lack health insurance.
We agree with you that there is a poverty of the soul and a poverty of the wallet and that government should not try to solve the first. We pledge to you to strengthen the armies of compassion in order to do more through our faith-based organizations to overcome the poverty of the soul.
But our faith-based social service agencies cannot by themselves solve the problem of poverty of the wallet. As you have often said, government can and should help solve this problem. Tragically, millions of Americans today work full time and still fall below the poverty level. The moral values that shape our lives tell us this is wrong. We believe our rich nation should agree that everyone who works full time responsibly will be able to earn enough to rise above the poverty level and enjoy health insurance.
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This policy would strengthen the family, discourage divorce, reduce out-of-wedlock births and strengthen moral values in our nation. If the Bible teaches us anything clearly on this issue, it is, as the recent declaration of the National Association of Evangelicals said, that “God measures societies by how they treat the people at the bottom.”
A dramatic reduction in poverty, both here and abroad, would honor our Lord who called us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. It would also be a wonderful legacy for you to leave with the American people and indeed the world. Such an outcome is clearly within the reach of the richest nation in history. The moral values you share with us demand no less.
I like the sentiment in this letter though it clearly gives Bush way more credit than he deserves on this issue. I have yet to see where his faith has translated into action--action that is not political. Speaking of that, an interesting story from Kevin Drum over at Wash Monthly. Actually, it is from Lanny Davis (democrat) who was a classmate of Bush's at Yale. The story is as follows:
The Washington Monthly: "One of my most vivid memories is this: A few of us were in the common room one night. It was 1965, I believe — my junior year, his sophomore. We were making our usual sarcastic commentaries on those who walked by us. A little nasty perhaps, but always with a touch of humor. On this occasion, however, someone we all believed to be gay walked by, although the word we used in those days was 'queer.' Someone, I'm sorry to say, snidely used that word as he walked by.
George heard it and, most uncharacteristically, snapped: 'Shut up.' Then he said, in words I can remember almost verbatim: 'Why don't you try walking in his shoes for a while and see how it feels before you make a comment like that?'
Remember, this was the 1960s — pre-Stonewall, before gay rights became a cause many of us (especially male college students) had thought much about."
As Drum points out, this is certainly possible and it might explain why he has pulled back from this issue after the election. What does it say about his principles v. politics, though?
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