Obama To Expand Faith Based Programs

[Darth Wong]

Ha ha, if this really will lead to government regulation of "faith-based charities", that could be a good thing. Under Bush, these "faith-based charities" got to have their cake and eat it too: accept government funding while ignoring government regulations.

[SirNitram]

As proposed, this is the old standards of charity work through government grants, with a new, shinier name which will peel off a few religious voters who would otherwise go Republican.

So basically, masterful politicing.

[sketerpot]

Let's be clear here: he only supports the ability to discriminate based on faith for the activities of these organizations that aren't getting government funding. I'm not sure how he plans to enforce this -- I don't trust chuches at all -- but it's an improvement over what Bush has been pushing for.

Actually, this whole thing sounds like a politically viable improvement. He probably wouldn't have the political capital to shoot down the office of faith-based initiatives altogether, but he can redirect the money away from the big evangelical groups that Bush was paying to support him politically, and funnel it toward smaller churches that are too local and fragmented to do much in politics.

Also, side note: isn't it suspicious how a smart, educated guy like Obama, who was not raised religious, suddenly found Jesus at about the same time that he got involved with politics? And how, even while talking about his faith, he manages to sneak in atheist talking points about the importance of secularism and the appalling immorality of the old testament. And somehow he gets religious people to applaud such statements, through very clever wording. This guy is a slick bastard, and I'm glad he's on my side most of the time.

[Justforfun000]

I was originally rolling my eyes thinking "Oh great....here we go"...but as it unfolded I am quite relieved. He really is managing to sail the waters of opposing partisanship. You simply CAN'T be a hard-ass lefty in the States and expect to win the presidency. You have no choice but to present a centrist based approach. I'm actually even more impressed at his masterful compromises as I read the above proposals.

Thankfully this man actually has a brain unlike the current POTUS. I think I'll be celebrating as cheerily as my fellow American admirers when/if the man becomes president with a nice bottle of champagne and an expecation of at minimum 4 years of decent govenment leading the world's major superpower.

[Vendetta]

Does it occur to you that Obama will not be president forever? And that when he leaves, these programs will still be in place for the next president to do whatever they want with, including expanding them to give aid directly to the dominionists?

Faith based programs are already in place. It's not a brand new thing Obama is proposing, just restructuring what Bush has already put in place. There's nothing to stop a future president abusing it, but there's nothing to stop them abusing the ones that already exist, or creating their own new faith based initiative either.

[Ender]

Does it occur to you that Obama will not be president forever? And that when he leaves, these programs will still be in place for the next president to do whatever they want with, including expanding them to give aid directly to the dominionists?

Faith based programs are already in place. It's not a brand new thing Obama is proposing, just restructuring what Bush has already put in place. There's nothing to stop a future president abusing it, but there's nothing to stop them abusing the ones that already exist, or creating their own new faith based initiative either.

No fucking shit, I am well aware they are already in place - hence my comments about getting more money. You know what stops them from abusing it? Killing the fucking program. It is far harder to stat something new then expanding a government program already in place. That it isn't politically feasible is a bunch of crap - the Congressional scientific advisory office (the exact name escapes me now) was praised the world over and copied by other governments because of how well it did it's job. Yet it was immediately killed when the Contract With America came out. If you can kill that, killing a program being investigated by congress for massive corruption charges is easy.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Haha, you assume that Americans care more about science than religiosity/non-governmental handouts for the poor.