(cross-posted at Blue Commonwealth)
"This above all: to thine own self be true." - William Shakespeare, Hamlet
George Allen's unsuccessful 2006 re-election campaign was an extraordinary event in Virginia political history. The man unraveled before our eyes - politically and personally - for one simple reason: he was exposed as a fraud. A political leader sold to us as a Virginia gentleman, Southern-born and bred, turned out to be none of the above.
Sunday began a similar process of peeling away the façade that Virginia's Republican candidate for governor, Bob McDonnell, has built up around himself. The Washington Post's in-depth article about McDonnell's 1989 Regent University law school thesis (and posting of the thesis itself here) drove a gaping hole into the heart of Bobby McSlick's strategy of playing down his right-wing, born again beliefs and projecting himself as just another moderate guy concerned about the traffic.
McDonnell would be foolish not to abandon that strategy at this point, for the simple reason that anyone can now go the Internet and read ninety-three pages of his own words expressing his honest, if extreme, opinions about the threat our government poses to the traditional family and his plan to overcome that threat through a career in government - which he launched only two years after completing his thesis.
As I read that thesis, I'm struck by the straightforward, heartfelt and articulate manner in which he expresses what he believes. Many of those beliefs are repugnant to me. To take a random example: "...the civil ruler is a minister of God to execute judgment and encourage good," with a "limited delegation of authority from God." (Uh, didn't that theory go out with the Middle Ages?)
At the same time, I actually agree with at least some of the goals that McDonnell articulates. Yes, the family is an important institution worth protecting. Yes, we should protect children against pornography and perversion. To be sure, we disagree mightily about how these goals can and should be achieved.
The great thing about democracy in a country that protects freedom of speech is that we are entitled to have such debates, in which we state where we agree or disagree with others' viewpoints, explain why, and defend our positions. But that only works when people forthrightly express what they believe. If you hide your true feelings under a false front in order to maintain your political viability, I cannot have an honest and open debate with you. And in a campaign, that means that the voters are denied the opportunity to make a clear and well-informed choice.
And so, today I make this simple plea to Bob McDonnell - please, tear down that phony façade and show your real self. If you find homosexuals repugnant to civilization, say so. If you think that women working and having child care paid for by the state undermines the family, come right out and tell it to us straight. If you think that schools and parents should have the right to beat children in order to maintain discipline and order, don't hide your opinions. Virginians needs to know how you really feel about all of these issues in order to know enough to decide whether to elect you as our next governor.
Please, Bob, it's time to be yourself. You are a born again, religious right politician in the mold of Pat Robertson, the patron saint of your law school. But let me be clear: in a free society, you are entitled to your opinions. They deserve the right to compete in the so-called "marketplace of ideas" with every other ideology and creed.
But you are not entitled to hide your true feelings from the people you strive to represent. You do not have the right to attempt to be elected governor based on false pretenses. It is not appropriate for you to campaign as a moderate if you are actually an extreme conservative who will likely govern as such if elected.
It's not too late to save yourself from the indignities that George Allen suffered when he persisted in presenting himself as something he was not. Please let us see the real Bob McDonnell so that we may judge you for ourselves, on your own terms, warts and all.