To the Editor:

Wilfred M. McClay correctly identifies George W. Bush’s “religious fervor”—and, even more, the sincerity of belief animating that fervor—as what liberals loathe most about the President [“Bush’s Calling,” June]. Bush’s undaunted embrace of the Gospel message appeals not only to millions of evangelicals and conservative people of faith but also to many “non-believers” who, while not sharing the President’s religiosity, appreciate the values of freedom and personal responsibility at the heart of it.

I participated in the December 1999 presidential primary debate in Des Moines, Iowa, and well remember the hush that came over the room when Bush identified Christ—as I did—as his favorite philosopher, explaining simply, “because He changed my heart.” This answer is the key to understanding not only the President’s interior spirituality but his governing philosophy as well. After spending many years “on the road to nowhere” (as Mr. McClay writes), Bush suddenly recognized the need to reform his life and take responsibility for his actions.

Mr. McClay points out that “the animating ideal of evangelicalism is the freely choosing individual.” But, as he also acknowledges, freedom’s necessary companion is restraint. The President understands what authentic freedom means; it is the foundation of his governing philosophy—the true Bush Doctrine.

Mr. McClay also states that elements of Bush’s agenda—from his program to fight AIDS in Africa to his faith-based initiative—have made the President “something of a progressive.” American conservatism has experienced a similar awakening, whereby progress—the “territory long claimed by liberals as their exclusive property” —has come to be more closely associated with the Republican party. From the pursuit of democracy abroad to creating an “ownership society” and defending human dignity at home, Republicans, as Karl Rove recently asserted, “have seized the mantle of idealism and reform from the Democrats.” This perhaps is Mr. McClay’s most important point: liberals also despise the President because his approach to governance “picks up where they left off.”

Bush is proof positive that faith is a force for good in politics, because the values and principles necessary for living a mature and responsible faith are the same ones required for mature and responsible governance.

Gary L. Bauer

American Values

Arlington, Virginia

Wilfred M. McClay writes:

I am grateful to Gary L. Bauer for his generous response to my article. Since he and I both share the President’s faith, I think it is especially important to stress that, although the sources of Bush’s ideas are clearly religious, they do not depend on religious assent for their cogency and wide appeal, since they are so consonant with the broad mainstream of American history.

Unfortunately, I fear that it will take years, perhaps even decades, before the visceral disdain for this President felt in so many centers of influence subsides enough to allow the remarkable coherence in his vision to be fully visible. As Mr. Bauer well knows, it would not be the first time in recent American history that an energetic conservative President has been so treated—shabbily by his most vocal contemporaries, and then quite differently by history.