I’m jealous of the far-right’s uniformity.  James Dobson, founder of the conservative megalith Focus on the Family raved in the New York Times about the good ol’ conformist time had by all who attended a secretive meeting of more than 50 self-described “pro-family leaders” in Utah recently.  I couldn’t help but envy the ease with which the group reached their vehemently anti-abortion declaration, despite all evidence that the far right is desperately in need of family therapy. 

According to Dobson, after a mere two hours of deliberation, presumably including coffee and bathroom breaks, these anonymous leaders were near unanimous in supporting an anti-abortion ultimatum.  They agreed to back a spoiler candidate if the Republican (or Democratic) presidential nominee was not sufficiently in conservative lockstep with the far right definition of support for the “sanctity of human life.”  Of course, one has to factor in peer or pastor pressure in this vote which had participants standing up in support of the sanctity of human life.  Who wants to sit down for choice under the gimlet-eye of one’s values-invoking peers?

The real purpose of the vote was to send a signal to the slew of Republican candidates that they need to step up their far right rhetoric.  Tellingly, Dobson notes that the group did not support creating a third party of their own.  Such a third party model invokes memories of the defrocked New York State Right to Life Party which literally “put the baby on the ballot” with its fetal logo, but failed to achieve actual electoral success.

Rather, the far right is confronted with a Giuliani, Romney, maybe-Thompson problem: these frontrunners have all shifted gears away from their earlier politically expedient pro-choice positions in a quest for the White House.  Now the far-right fears these men are not to be trusted to provide for them the way the Bush administration has.  After seven glorious years of far-right spoils -- including an abortion ban, stem cell research blockades, abstinence-only funding windfalls, and a faith-based funding bonanza -- presidential change indeed must be a frightening prospect. 

Dobson strongly pronounces that the far-right façade is not cracked.  But the gentleman doth protest too much.  Numerous recent scandals involving far-right figures, and the death of Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell, as well as a shift in federal focus to the war, the economy, and family-valued affordable health care, have made the far right’s rigid abortion hymn seem out of touch. 

Such single-issue proclamations, which neglect real values issues -- poverty, health care, social justice and the environment to name a few -- give the appearance of conservative uniformity, but ultimately reveal how narrow and extreme these groups really are. 

To these conservative leaders’ dramatic yet flimsy election year proclamation, I can only say, spoil away.