The Anatomy of a Huckabee Win

Background:

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson launched the “War on Poverty.” The political landscape was eternally shifted. From that time on, impoverished minorities and poverty stricken Americans have overwhelmingly supported democrats. Welfare spending and other social programs were created and trillions (yes, with a “T”) have been spent; 8.3 Trillion was spent from 1990 to 2000. After 40 years of “war,” poverty is mostly unchanged. As a matter of fact, the states that have spent the least on poverty have seen greater reductions than those who spend the most. Incredibly, even after the abysmal failure of the “War on Poverty,” impoverished Americans still vote democrat overwhelmingly.

In 1979, Jerry Falwell formed a political organization called the Moral Majority designed to give evangelical Christian voters a voice in American politics. In 1980, the Moral Majority is credited for playing a major role in Reagan’s win. The Largest issue on the platform for the MM was abortion; made legal just a few years earlier by mandate of the courts. In 1984, evangelicals came to the poles and re-elected Reagan. In 1988, they held their nose and helped Bush 41. In 1994 evangelicals (The MM dissolved temporarily in 89) helped elect a republican congress, and in 2000 and 2004, Bush 43 was completely reliant on evangelicals.

What do evangelicals, and impoverished minorities have in common? Among other things, we have overwhelmingly supported political party systems that have made promises, but done very little to correct the problem. Abortion on Demand has murdered over 46 million innocent lives, Christ has been removed from schools and public places, marriage is under attack everywhere, and evangelicals have seen moral corruption from the very people we helped elect to make moral changes.

The Revolution:

Mike Huckabee won the Iowa Caucus yesterday. Though the biggest platform issues in the Republican Party, supposedly, are immigration and government spending, Huckabee handily won the caucus even though his opponents effectively portrayed him as soft on those issues.

Old guard Republicans are reeling over this win. Up until now, the evangelical vote has been counted on just like the democrats take the impoverished minority vote for granted. The old guard could simply pay lip service to social issues, and once in office, return to the important work of tax cutting. Something dramatic has happened.

Karl Rove understood the importance of the evangelical vote, and he used marriage to get evangelicals to the polls who would have ordinarily stayed home in 2000 and 2004. Little did he, or the old guard, realize that they started a revolution. In 2006, evangelicals withheld their votes and the democrats regained control of congress.

The Bottom Line:

Evangelicals are in control of the Republican Party because we are the most consistent voting block. Without us they will win very few local elections and even fewer nationally. We proved that in Iowa. While the old guard talk about their disappointment with the current selection of Republican candidates, evangelicals are getting more resolved to elect a man that said, “God created the heavens and the earth, “ and “the Bible is the ultimate measure of truth on this planet.” We have never heard anyone talk like this on a national political platform.

Just as Barry Goldwater changed the Republican Party in the late 60’s with his rhetoric and ideology based on limited government and individual accountability, Mike Huckabee, win or lose, has started a new direction in the Republican Party. We cannot continue to allow 1/3 of pregnancies to end in abortion. We must protect religious freedom in this country or lose it. Evangelicals have read the signs, and we know by the Spirit of God Almighty we must redirect our efforts lest we stand before Him one day and account for our complacency.