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AROUND THE WEB
Working for Change
August 23, 2001
Bill Berkowitz
Conservative ideologue Marvin Olasky - the so-called "godfather of compassionate conservatism" - has revealed a duplicitous bait-and-switch political tactic employed by the Republican Bush White House to get its faith-based initiative off the ground.
Writing in the Christian magazine he edits called "World", Olasky called the dust-up over the Salvation Army's request to spend federal money in discriminatory ways a "feint":
"The biggest feint of all, according to one executive close to the White House, has been the entire debate over separating 'religious' and 'nonreligious' content [of the recipient agency's programs]. 'Let people fight over that. It's all a show,' he said. 'We kick and scream. We didn't roll over too easy on language, or else they'll think it's what you wanted.' What's truly important in the legislation, he said, is a 'stealth provision' about vouchers: 'Let people argue over grants, but get the vouchers passed.'"
According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Bush administration sources told Olasky that from the very beginning, they were confident that Department of Justice senior counsel Carl Esbeck who "is a master at writing vague language," would create an opening for proselytizing despite what appears to be restrictions against it.
And that came to pass. Folded into the House bill is a "stealth provision" using a system of vouchers to allow faith-based organizations to get around the no proselytizing restrictions. In "Vouchers, Faith-Based Initiative's Saving Grace," an article posted on the Web site of the Center for the Study of Compassionate Conservatism, Michael Barkey describes vouchers as the "Faith-Based Initiative's saving grace."
Barkey, president of the recently founded Center for which Olasky serves on its Board of Directors, describes the provision: "Like food stamps, vouchers can be issued directly to individuals who may then redeem them for goods and services at the qualifying institution of their choice. Vouchers maintain a wall of separation between the government and the service provider, reducing the likelihood of organizational dependency or regulatory creep. And the government doesn't support any particular religion through a voucher plan, only enable individuals to choose where to go for assistance."
Barkey also points out that the House bill allows for cabinet secretaries "to convert 'some or all of the funds' earmarked for social service spending under the charitable choice provision of the 1996 welfare reform law ($47 billion annually), into 'indirect assistance,' that is into vouchers."
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