The pledge, a prayer and then a vote - Rep. Caucus
Working in the world of education I am quite often surrounded by people that have similar political viewpoints. I had a school administrator fake faint when I told him that I was going to the Republican Caucus and all of my coworkers had dropped jaws when I told them that as well. Having been a staunch DFL backer all of my life, my wife was also quite surprised at my choice to go to the Republican Caucus.
I chose to participate in the Rep. Caucus because I need to better understand the other viewpoint. Since barely over 50 percent of the American people vote Rep. then I figured that it was my duty to better understand their perspective. Below was my experience at this event.
What started as only about 80 people at the beginning turned into about 200+ people at the end. Similar to many Democratic Caucus sites that I had read about, this Rep. voting site was overflowing. Not really knowing what to do at first I kept to myself and observed the Republican contingency from the 1st ring suburb of Columbia Heights.
The city of Columbia Heights has a substantial East African, Hispanic, and African American population, with the majority being primarily Caucasian. The diversity of this community was not represented at the Rep. Caucus that I attended. I saw maybe 7 African Americans and about 4 East Africans at this event. Not quite the representation that I thought that I’d see from the party that celebrates the fact that they freed the slaves in 1863.
I was also taken aback by how this caucus began. It started with a small speech about the importance of the Pledge of Allegiance followed by everyone participating in the pledge. Next they invited a local Lutheran pastor to say a prayer at the event. This prayer included a statement about voting for your values and morals and ended with a “Thank You Jesus”. While I am a spiritual person and believe that Jesus is God I found it hard to be a part of this activity. At times I almost felt physically unsafe being at this meeting. Between the everyone should have a gun propaganda and the strict Christian principals being practiced I felt unsafe, and I am a white christian male. This left me curious about how the 7 African American and 4 East African voters felt at the event.
Despite the above account I also found the caucus to be very friendly to their peers and highly charged for political change. The Republicans are equally as hungry for victory as the Democrats and this is going to be a dirty campaign year.
By attending this event I had hoped to get a greater perspective about who represents the Republican party in Columbia Heights, MN as well as what are some of their core beliefs. I, unfortunately, left with a harsh taste of Republican propaganda and no greater understanding of the party’s platform then before. I don’t look forward to participating in another caucus due to the highly unorganized nature of the event but will continue to do so out of patriotic duty. I’m thankful that this was a requirement for our class otherwise I would have probably never had this experience.
Bryan
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Bryan,
It was great to read your entry. I too considered going to the caucus for the major party I am least likely to support. Like you, I thought it might be an effective method to gain understanding and broaden my horizons. Unlike you though, I decided that my first caucus experience should be spent with the major party I have voted for, and aligned myself with for most of my life. I am glad that I did it the way I did as I now have become involved as a delegate and will get an opportunity to further explore this process.
I found your observations interesting. I strongly believe that the founding fathers intended there to be a separation of church and state. I am dismayed by recent attempts to mix Christianity with American democracy. Recent statements about America being a Christian state, and Mike Huckabee's desire to amend the constitution to reflect Christian values, display to me a gross contradiction of what America was meant to be. I would have been offended had a politicized prayer been offered at my caucus.
Regarding the gun issue I would have been uncomfortable with that as well. I believe the right to bear arms applies to the need for a well regulated militia, not arming us all for our personal safety.
The main point I would have wanted to clarify by attending a republican caucus would be how the party and it's supporters square their anti-abortion stance (valuing the sanctity of life) with their ardent support of both the death penalty (convicted criminal's lives are no longer valued?), and using war as a first choice to settle disputes. Are the lives of Iraqi citizens and coalition soldiers any less valuable than the republican leaders who have contributed to so much death and suffering?
It sounds like your experience, and mine as well, gave each of us a small glimpse of what we were looking for. I doubt that my quest for deeper understanding of republican thought would have been addressed.
In retrospect I am glad I attended the caucus I did and came away merely frustrated by the procedure of the meeting while feeling largely pleased with the content of the gathering. I will, thanks to you sharing your experience, follow your lead sometime in the future by attending a republican caucus. I will do so in an attempt to better understand the differences. I hope that understanding will lead to acceptance, tolerance, and cooperation.
Posted by: Todd Stroessner | February 10, 2008 06:38 PM
Just an FYI ....
I attended the Republican caucus in Dakota County...there was no pledge of allegiance, no prayers, no thank you Jesus, amens or hallelujahs.
And to the question of abortion...I have always wondered how does a person believe in mother's right to abortion of the unconsenting but not the death penalty for someone who has taken another life or lives? ( Some reps are pro-choice and for the death penalty) And how can you be pro-choice but not be pro gun or pro school choice? Does this really make any sense?
It is my understanding the essence of the Republican party is about personal responsibility and limited government. They view freedom, from my perspective, as being on your own and following through on choices you make. We have raised our children to be self-sufficient and to take pride in making decisions that benefit all, not just themselves. We believe people are good and generous and while we do not have many of the material things others have, that we are "rich" in many ways. We honor others rights and property and find great joy in the freedom we have in America.
To the question of war...that is a longer answer and I have a similar but spiritual view of that....if you want we can go there...
Thanks for listening...Bette Jo
Posted by: Bette Jo | February 10, 2008 08:01 PM
I think we are getting off the track here. Partisan politics, church-state, gun control, abortion rights. YIKES.
This may be personally interesting to some, but not the purpose of our course. Can we agree to focus our blogging entries on leadership, change and innovation?
There is just getting to be too much to sort through here, in my opinion. Thanks for giving this some consideration -- nan
Posted by: Nan Jahnke | February 11, 2008 10:37 AM
I admire Bryan for attending a Republican caucus as a lifelong Democrat. I'm not clear if you voted or not - I thought you were supposed to attend a caucus in good faith by caucusing for the party you intended to support in the upcoming election. Anyway, I think openmindedness is an important leadership quality, and I'm thoroughly impressed by any DFLer who would go a GOP caucus with the intention of understanding the other 50% of our community. Our politics have become much too divisive, and Bryan's initiative, I believe, says a great deal about finding ways of coming together vs. continuing to draw the lines that separate us.
Posted by: Jackie Starbird | February 11, 2008 10:36 PM