Depends on what is meant by “leftists.”
Derrick Van Orden, 53, a former Navy SEAL, likely will be elected to Congress from Wisconsin this fall.
He’s running for an open seat that leans Republican in current polls; the incumbent, Ron Kind (D-WI), is retiring.
Van Orden stirred controversy last week when he said at a prayer breakfast that “leftists can’t be Christians” (read story here).
Expanding on this, he added, “There are many God-fearing Christians who are Democrats, there’s not a single God fearing Christian that is a leftist, because those two things are incompatible,” so it appears he’s distinguishing between “Democrats” and “leftists,” a distinction Republicans usually don’t admit to.
Drilling even deeper, Van Orden said, “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality,” and cited the Communist Manifesto. So it appears he’s equating “leftists” with communism.
If he’s saying communists aren’t Christians, I agree with him. As a political system, communism is totalitarian, violent, and murderous; and no one would argue those characteristics are compatible with Christian teachings or values.
I don’t see it as a problem in the U.S., though. The Communist Party USA has only about 5,000 members, according to Wikipedia (here), and no communists hold public offices in our country, nor do they have any realistic chance of getting elected. The only major communist governments still in existence are China and North Korea. It’s a failed political and economic system, and extremely unpopular in America, with no chance of catching on here.
So why is a GOP candidate for Congress talking about communism? Probably because it’s a tired old GOP smear, and Republicans lack the imagination to think of new ones. And Van Orden wasn’t subtle about smearing his Democratic opponent as a communist. After equating “radical leftists” with communism, he called state Sen. Brad Pfaff a “radical leftist” online.
Mudslinging isn’t the only reason Wisconsin voters shouldn’t vote for him. He’s also an election denier who participated in the Capitol riot, although he hasn’t been charged (see story here).
But there’s another reason not to vote for him. If you’re a Christian believer, that is.
Van Orden and his party simply don’t represent Christianity or Christian values. They endorse lying, political violence, intolerance, racism and bigotry, and have anti-democratic values. They aren’t communists, but in practice they bear a much closer resemblance to communism than their Democratic competitors do.
So, if you live in Wisconsin’s 3rd district, and don’t like communism, vote for the Democrat.