"Mobilizing America's Nonbelievers for Political Activism"
Electoral Activism
A recent action in Congress (HR 1261) would permit tax-supported faith-based organizations to make hiring and firing decisions based on employees' religion, reversing a steadily-evolving trend in American jurisprudence toward protection from arbitrary discrimination.
I'm certain every reader of this publication will agree that it's bad legislation, both in permitting religious discrimination in hiring and firing decisions, and in giving public funds to faith-based organizations in the first place.
I'm not here to convince you that it's bad legislation. I'm here to help develop an effective response.
We could write Congress. Half of us would receive a polite form letter explaining why it's good legislation, and half would receive a polite form letter saying it's a bad bill, but has too much momentum to oppose.
We could lobby Congress -- if we had several thousand dollars to buy access to each of the 535 members of Congress -- with no assurance of success.
We could give up in disgust, forget the whole thing and let it pass. Three years ago, I was there, my activist days apparently behind me and just about cynical enough to abandon voting altogether.
Imagine for a moment just how different the debate would be if even one elected representative stood up on the floor of Congress and demanded that Congress uphold the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
We need to put that representative there. And there's no better time to do so than right now. The inmates have seized control of the asylum and there's a lot of disgruntlement out there. The 2004 election is a wide-open opportunity for peace candidates, civil liberties candidates, and balanced-budget candidates.
A popular bumper sticker slogan says, "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." Well, guess what? It's not limited to stupid people. If you coalesce and unify in large groups, you will have power. The UAW derive their strength from being UNITED Auto Workers, not Loosely-Affiliated Collectives of Small Groups of Feuding, Bickering Auto Workers. We should learn from their example.
One of the advantages stupid people have is that they pull together and get right to work; they don't spend all day philosophizing about the profound and divisive differences between Humanists, Atheists, Agnostics, and Blasphemers.
Did I strike a nerve?
That's what I want to do. I want Humanathenogphemers to pull together and get right to work. Cooperate and coordinate with your natural allies. See the Big Picture instead of straining at gnats. Even as I speak today, there is a Godless Americans March on a state capitol, scheduled without contemplating that the Humanists' national convention occurs simultaneously, shutting out the hundreds of people here today who would otherwise participate in such a march. Such disorganization must stop if we want results.
My decision to drop out of activism was all but vindicated when I revisited Atheist activism last year and discovered that nothing had changed. Local Atheists were still trying the same tactics and still getting the same results: absolutely nothing. Individually urging elected representatives to support Constitutional church-state separation, or any other progressive issue, is completely ineffective; they just stonewall. If was as though I had fallen asleep in the cinema and awakened during a later showing of the same movie.
Then came the Godless Americans March on Washington. Different tactics, different results. We're in the public eye and gaining momentum, but we'll be yesterday's news if we rest there. We marched to within sight of the Capitol. It is now time to finish the march and take our proportionate seats in the House and Senate.
Fourteen per cent of Americans identify as Godless Americans. Now 14% of the electorate is often more than enough to win these low-turnout elections |
Particularly ranking to many Atheists are their unconventional tactics, one of the most common being stealth campaigns where the candidates never make public appearances or statements, instead organizing solely through their churches.
Fourteen per cent of Americans identify as Godless Americans. Now 14% of the electorate is often more than enough to win these low-turnout elections. Nineteen per cent of the electorate voting Republican was enough for a radical shift in Congress in 1994, ushering in Newt Gingrich and his reactionary Contract on America.
This seems like a no-brainer. We can sit back, watch evangelicals steer society back to the Dark Ages and privately complain in our feuding, bickering small groups; or we can unify, organize, assert our right to proportionate representation, take the helm ourselves, and steer a course toward a saner, more enlightened future. And, with any luck, invent our own unique election, but also rankle the evangelicals.
Many people say they "don't like" politics. Forgive me for speaking in parables, but this is like a shipwreck survivor bobbing in a rubber dinghy in the middle of the north Atlantic saying, "I don't like water." Well, maybe not. But it surrounds you; it has a major influence on your life, and paying attention to it, whether you like it or not, would probably be to your benefit.
Ralph Nader says it best: If you don't turn on to politics, politics will simply turn on you." Indeed, it was Nader's messages -- at the Magic Stick theater in Detroit on Labor Day, 2000 -- which turn me on to activism again.
Some of the messages were esoteric, like the importance of repealing the Taft-Hartley act of 1947 -- which the Democrats, despite the popular delusion that they're supporters of the working class, have somehow neglected to include in their agenda for the past half century.
Ralph Nader says it best: "If you don't turn on to politics, politics will surely turn on you." |
Some were just common sense: That ordinary folks can and should participate in their government, not leave governing to a professional political class. That a huge difference in government behavior would stem from just one full-time Congress Watcher in every district. That the cost of participatory democracy isn't high -- just 100 hours and 100 dollars annually from every citizen would be a monumental force, and that the cost of not participating is staggering.
Suddenly, after being a turned-off activist for several years, I was turned back on again. I had an epiphany on the road, suddenly realizing that it would be easier to replace our elected officials than persuade them. I became active with the Green Party.
Make no mistake: The Green Party is not an Atheist party. It is a party willing to nominate an Atheist for Governor, a Pagan for Lieutenant Governor, and a Humanist-Agnostic for President, but it's also a party who'd be equally willing to nominate a Jesuit, Sunni, Unitarian, or anyone else whose personal values are consistent with the party's Key Values.
There is some debate among Atheist election activists whether to run openly as an Atheist or as a "stealth" candidate, hiding your Atheism in the closet.
I oppose running stealth for two reasons: Fist, it's dishonest. Second, we lose the opportunity to diminish the pejorative value of the word "Atheist" by running stealth. If we're open, the buzz around the water cooler will be, "Yes he/she's an Atheist, but what I heard about [some campaign issue] really resonated." Of course, this applies equally to all walks of life, not just political candidates. Running stealth reinforces the idea that Atheism is something that ought to be hidden, something to be ashamed of. I, for one, am not ashamed.
In my case, I could only run openly. I've been an open and out Atheist and an occasional Atheist activist since I was a sophomore, twenty-plus years ago. Had I tried to run stealth, there would no doubt be file photos surfacing of me meeting the O'Hairs, with Rob & Ricky Sherman, old transcripts of testimony before a state legislative committee, or the like. Integrity is a valuable commodity, and I'm not about to fritter away mine.
In 1960, being Roman Catholic stigmatized you. In 2000, being an Orthodox Jew and Zionist stigmatized you. In 2004, being an Atheist will probably stigmatize you, but maybe it will draw no more attention in 2040 than being Roman Catholic does today -- IF we're out, open and public, and people have the opportunity to see that we're normal, decent, and intelligent.
Or maybe it's already the case. In my campaign, Atheism was simply never an issue. Every stock-format biography published -- dozens throughout the state -- listed my religion [sic] as "Atheist" or "not affiliated," and that's the last I ever heard of it. It simply never came up, save from one cranky curmudgeon who'd have me proclaim my Atheism in every document and at every appearance. The abolition of Daylight Savings Time received more attention than the possibility that Michigan's next Governor might be an Atheist. I'm sure that evangelicals voted against me, but even more sure that they voted against my positions on church-state separation issues such as vouchers, closing property tax loopholes, absolute support for women's rights, abortion rights, sex education and contraception, or other issues -- which is precisely how elections should be decided.
My final message is personal: You can do it.
I did, and there's nothing special about me. I studied engineering, not political science, economics or law. I'm not wealthy, politically connected or widely known, nor is my family. I'm neither handsome or charming. And yet, in the space of fifteen months, I went from wondering whether I was insane for even filing, to receiving a standing ovation from three hundred of the Michigan Education Association, addressing thousands from the foot of Capitol Hill and thousands more on C-SPAN, having dozens of people urge me to run for President of the United States, and receiving enough votes on Election Day to place third for the highest elected office in Michigan.
You can, too. Stand up and do it.
Douglas Campbell is a political activist, writer, and registered professional engineer in Ferndale, Michigan, and was the Green Party's first candidate for Governor in 2002. This article is adapted from the text of a speech he presented 10 May 2003 to the national meeting of the American Humanist Association (and reprinted from the Autumn 2003 issue of The American Atheist). His will requests that he be buried in Chicago, so he can continue voting and remain politically active.