God Resurrected in Democratic Party Platform

The Democrats have a lot to cheer about after a terrific convention in Charlotte. God, however, is shaking her head.

On Wednesday, Mitt Romney lambasted the Democrats for removing a reference to God in their party platform. The sanctimony was thick:

Our founding document the Declaration of Independence references God…Our national motto, ‘In God we trust.’ I mean this is part of our heritage. I think their having removed purposefully God from their platform suggests a party which is increasingly out of touch with the mainstream of American people. I think this party is veering further and further away into an extreme wing that Americans don’t recognize.

What assault on the existence of the Judeo-Christian deity was Mitt referring to? What move spurred Paul Ryan to claim that the Democrats were “purging” God? Four years ago, the Democratic platform had the following line: “we need a government that stands up for the hopes, values and interests of working people and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.” But for 2012, this sentence lost its religion, referring only to “the simple principle that in America, hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us.”

The Democrats might have laughed off Romney and Ryan’s attack as a cynical attempt to use religion as a wedge issue and to make Mt. Sinai out of a molehill. But the Dems capitulated, doubling down on the cynicism and holding a floor vote on whether to give God and Jerusalem new life in their platform. Reportedly, President Obama was behind the switch. The results are enough to make any Democrat blush:

So much for procedural justice. But never mind: God is back in. It took three votes, one perplexed and disingenuous convention chairman and a mythical two-thirds of the voting delegates to add a word to their platform that the U.S. Constitution wisely avoids mentioning.

If God exists, I can’t imagine she finds it a worshipful practice to use her name in a game of political tug-of-war over symbols that salivate the masses. A pox on both parties’ houses.

Follow Steven Mazie on Twitter: @stevenmazie

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