Compasionate Conservatives . . . think again.

publictheologian.com :: A Response to Dignan: This is a great take on how "compasionate conservativism" is failing the poor. Well worth reading the entire entry.

"So while I don't think that conservatives hate the poor, I also don't think that they are doing what they can to make things better for the poor. Motives, in the end, are notoriously slippery to judge. But conservatives saying that they are concerned about the poor seems quite strange when the policies that the same people are supporting are throwing more people into poverty. To me the simple question is this: If they care so much, then why are they using their political power to make the rich even richer and matters worse for the poor? How many million more people will have to fall below the poverty line before Christian conservatives who care about the poor will be willing to change their policies and raise taxes, for example? Would one million people do it? Two? Five? Is there any point at which the Republican orthodoxy of lower taxes and less government would be jettisoned by Christians in the Republican Party? Or how many million more Americans will have to lose their health insurance before Christian conservatives would be willing to share their health care dollars so that their neighbor could have some coverage too? I think that party orthodoxy has to give way to genuinely serving the poor in the face of the mounting evidence that what Bush is doing is not working. The plight of the poor has to be central to the ethics of Christians of every stripe if the scripture is to be taken seriously, but while I hear an acknowledgement of this, I don't see one coming from my conservative brothers and sisters."