The 90’s was a great decade for me. I was in my late teens and early 20’s making good money as a DJ, bartender and then Tech Support. I have nothing but fond memories from that decade. There are some things however that should have stayed in that decade. One is the issue of school prayer.
In 91/92 Papa Bush was in trouble politically. The economy was stagnant and his poll ratings were dropping. Instead of trying to improve the economy through Conservative economic policies, he governed as a Rockefeller Republican. To cover up his Liberal policies, Papa Bush began to use social issues to trick Conservatives into supporting him. He made the issue of School Prayer part of his re-election campaign. The result was that it gave the GOP an image of a bunch of grouchy theocrats and the party lost support in the suburbs as a result. It was a failure as a issue. In fact in high school we made fun of Papa Bush over the School Prayer issue. We were like, “we all pray when we are about to take a test”. Comedians roasted the issue and turned it into a joke.
The other day I saw a Rick Perry commercial that gave me bad memories. He was pushing school prayer. I was like, come on, this is back now? Then I read that Rick Perry supports a Constitutional Amendment to require school prayer. I was stunned. We have real unemployment at about 15%, declining wages, increasing poverty and Europe on the verge of a meltdown. Is school prayer really such a dire issue that we need a Constitution Amendment?
Look, I support the right for students to be able to pray. But these are local issues, not one requiring a Constitutional Amendment. I have seen no polling data showing school prayer as a major issue for voters. Why is this being pushed again? The GOP should focus on the Economy and Fiscal issues, which is what America’s concerns are. Papa Bush cynically ran in 92 on family values, culture wars, school prayer and attacking Murphy Brown. The result was he lost, since Economic Conservatives went to Ross Perot and the GOP lost many suburban districts they never gained back. It created the image of Republicans as a bunch of grouchy cranks. This is an image they still have not shaken off.
I would like to know why school prayer is such an important issue? With America’s declining living standard, why does school prayer take precedence over economic concerns? I am really curious and want a civil discussion about school prayer. I just haven’t seen any polling data or heard people demanding School Prayer.
