When Rick Perry told a reporter in June 2005 that gay and lesbian veterans returning home from Iraq could move somewhere else if they didn’t like the new constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, “amens” could be heard emanating from churches all across Texas.
When Perry-“Governor Goodhair” as the late Molly Ivins dubbed him-told a group of religious supporters last November that non-Christians (read: Muslims) were going to hell, his remarks were received with applause.
When the governor signed an executive order last week bypassing the state legislature and sidestepping public hearings requiring mandatory vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) for sixth-grade girls, the response from his conservative religious base was a collective “holy crap!”
To say that conservative Christians aren’t happy would be an understatement. They are already making their displeasure known. What’s not being said, however, is more important than what is being said-on both sides of the debate.
“I am absolutely opposed that Merck and the state government are planning to inject young girls with a cancer-causing virus,” said Cathie Adams of the Texas Eagle Forum, a conservative family-values group that endorsed Rick Perry in November. No mention of the thousands of lives that will be saved by the “cancer-causing virus.”
“The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer,” Perry said in a prepared statement. No mention of the billions of dollars Merck stands to make as a result of his order, or that his former chief of staff now works for Merck as a lobbyist.
The official line from the religious right is that the vaccine will turn virginal daughters into modern Jezebels-the same twisted logic it uses for opposing the morning-after pill to avoid unplanned pregnancies and condoms for stopping the spread of HIV.
For conservative Christians, the issue is black and white. For Perry, it’s green. For me, you might be surprised.
The Libertarian in me has a hard time accepting the government’s role in mandating the vaccine (government intrusion, Big Brother, mad scientists, etc.). The pragmatist in me understands the obvious benefits (saving lives, reducing cancer-related health-care costs, etc.).
The cynic in me sees the long reach of big pharmaceutical and wonders how it will next flex its economic muscle in other public policy issues. The sadist in me simply wants to sit back and watch it all play out.
So far, Perry isn’t flinching. And why should he? Like George Bush, Perry, who can’t run for reelection, has no reason to continue to pander to the religious right.
All the more reason why the religious right is pitching a good old-fashioned hissy fit.
It was bad enough that the fundamentalists’ savior, George W. Bush, who promised to overturn Roe v. Wade and outlaw gay marriage, didn’t mention even one of their issues in his recent State of the Union address.
Never mind the fact that Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice-President Dick Cheney, referred to her out-of-heterosexual-wedlock pregnancy with lesbian partner Heather Poe as a “blessing from God.”
To say nothing of the fact that Republican religious-right darling Marilyn Musgrave, who narrowly won re-election in November, has decided not to reintroduce the federal marriage amendment again this term.
If there were ever a reason to hold a tent revival, Chautauqua Assembly or Justice Sunday teleconference, this is it. In one stroke of the pen, Perry realized the religious right’s worst nightmare: godless heathens imposing their secret agenda to turn young girls into whores of Babylon.
Except the godless heathens were supposed to be liberals-not fellow conservatives. As for secret agendas, the only agenda is Merck’s rush to make an inside deal with as many states as possible before GlaxoSmithKline’s HPV vaccine receives final approval.
Governor Perry is no stranger to behind-the-scenes deals. Last August, it was revealed that Perry’s former legislative director was working for the Spanish company Cintra, which won the rights to develop the $7 billion Trans-Texas Corridor.
Then there’s the executive order Perry signed to fast-track permits that would allow TXU to build 11 coal-burning (read: pollution) power plants in Texas-the same day former TXU chairman Erle Nye donated $2000 to Perry’s campaign. That donation was soon followed by $5,000 from a TXU political action committee, then another $25,000 from Nye.
While both the Cintra and TXU deals were public knowledge before the November election, Perry was able to beat his Democratic opponent by ten percentage points, thanks in large part to conservative Christian voters who were more than willing to ignore a few shady deals provided Perry was willing to spew sufficient anti-gay hate speech to guarantee the passage of the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
As usual, most people are unable – or unwilling – to see beyond their own interests.
The issue isn’t whether the HPV vaccine is beneficial to public health. It is. Nor is it whether the vaccine will lead to promiscuity. No reliable study suggests that it will. It isn’t even whether Perry is dumping his base after he used them to get re-elected. He is.
The issue is whether Texas voters are comfortable with a governor who has a record of using his public office and the state’s resources to enrich a handful of well-connected people.
According to the word on the street, there’s a movement to draft Perry as the Republican vice-presidential candidate in 2008. If it’s true, just remember: you get what you pay for.
About the writer:
George Henson is a Spanish professor at SMU. He can be reached at [email protected].
