Neocons and Christianists

For a long time now, the strange Republican alliance between a few largely secular, mainly Jewish intellectuals and millions of religious, mainly evangelical Southerners has held remarkably steady. On Israel, the two factions are as one, even if the Christianists believe that, before too long, non-repentant Jews will be massacred en masse by a returning bad-ass Jesus. On religion in public life, there's also agreement. Neocons think it's good for the masses to follow a God they don't themselves believe in; and Christianists see little reason to separate church from state. How else is government going to know what to do if not from the Bible? On gays, neocons squirm a little, but generally see no problem with hanging a minority out to dry, if that's the price to pay for Ohio. And so the coalition endures.

But on immigration and Iraq, you really do have a conflict of sorts. Neocons are tolerant, wordly types for the most part. They strongly identify with immigrants who may be culturally a little different than the norm, and that was indeed the case for many of their own ancestors in America. The strains of nativism and the rhetoric of race that have emerged in the immigration debate genuinely unsettle many neocons. Similarly, many neocons sincerely believe in the transformative power of democracy and can live with nation-building in Iraq even if it means a high cost in terms of resources and human lives. But Jacksonian Christianists are far more circumspect about a long-term commitment to help foreign people construct better societies. Too many people have predicted that this alliance is about to break up and been proven wrong, so I'm not predicting anything. I am saying there is a real and profound tension in the Republican coalition right now. And the course of events seems to be intensifying it.