Guest AuthorJeb Bush gave a speech last week that should have received more attention that it did in the 24-7 news cycle.
Bush incorporated two important tenets in his message that can unite divergent voters to vote Republican in 2016: the preservation of basic religious freedom within the traditional conservative argument against big government.
The former Florida governor and yet-to-be declared presidential candidate delivered the commencement speech to 34,000 at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University last Saturday.
In the address, Bush smartly delivered a message within a framework of the First Amendment argument of protecting religious freedom and reducing the overreach of the federal government that both embraces the Christian right and the big tent strategy to attract Democrats and independent voters that President Ronald Reagan defined and exploited in his win of the White House.
Here’s the new argument, which all Republicans should embrace as the party’s major talking point: Bush accused the Obama administration of “supporting the use of coercive federal power” in enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that many employers offer contraceptives in their insurance plans.
“Fashionable ideas and opinions – which these days can be a religion all by itself – have got a problem with Christians and their right of conscience. …That makes it our problem, and the proper response is a forthright defense of the first freedom in our Constitution,” said Bush.
“The progressive political agenda is ready for its next great leap forward, and religious people or churches are getting in the way. Our friends on the left like to view themselves as the agents of change and reform, and you and I are supposed to just get with the program,” said Bush.
In covering the speech, some reports dwelled on the fact that Bush did not talk enough about abortion and same sex marriage and that he “lacked the fiery rhetoric favored by some potential rivals for the GOP nomination.”
But Bush was able to effectively appeal to the Christian right with a new argument that steers away from more divisive Christian issues. He redefined the playing field against stronger pro-Christian candidates like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz.
In order to win the White House, the GOP is faced with a daunting task of trying to avoid once again the social acrimony (and loss of votes) caused by focusing on the traditional issues of abortion and gay marriage that distracted both Sen. John McCain and former Gov. Mitt Romney from more important economic issues and lost them support particularly among women voters.
Bush obviously gets it, and chose to instead a new message praising the liberating influence of a “Christian conscience” that should be the foundation in the fight not against immoral social behavior, but against overreaching government.
Turning the tables on the far left, which up to now has portrayed the Christian right as intolerant in their pursuit of their religious values, Bush adopted a stance that defined the pursuit of universal health care as a constitutional attack on basic American liberties.
“What should be easy calls in favor of religious freedom have instead become an aggressive stance against it,” Mr. Bush, draped in a dark commencement gown, told the thousands of graduates and their families. “Somebody here is being small-minded and intolerant, and it sure isn’t the nuns, ministers and laymen and women who ask only to live and practice their faith.’’
That message plays well not only to Christians, but also to major Catholic blocs of voters in blue states that the GOP needs to win, such as New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
If Bush continues to redefine traditional conservative arguments within the framework of 2016 issues, he stands to become unbeatable by the time the Iowa caucuses take place.
Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly’s Kommentary (stevenkurlander.com) and writes for Context Florida and The Huffington Post and can be found on Twitter @Kurlykomments. He lives in Monticello, N.Y. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
