The Art of the Sour Deal

A lesser understood promise by Donald Trump and the Republican Party has to do with their pledge to repeal the so called “Johnson Amendment”.  Despite that it was included in the Republican Party platform, addressed by Trump in his acceptance speech, and introduced to the “thousands” of readers of this blog it still garners essentially no attention by anyone other than those who want to see it eliminated – evangelical Christian organizations.

It has become red meat on Fox News for those who believe that anyone who doesn’t actively support “patriotic” Conservatism has the singular desire to take away every gun in the Country and ban the words Merry Christmas from the American lexicon.

Part of the reason the subject is not embraced by those who are not evangelical Christians is that they, including the news media, don’t have a working understanding of what it is. If the topic arises in the news it is passed off as “the law that restricts Churches from engaging in politics” (that is verbatim).  No, no, no, no, NO!!!

This issue is an excellent example of what is wrong with the dissemination of information by news organizations.

Christian organizations, notably televangelist and religious colleges & universities, know exactly what it means.  However, when people like Jerry Falwell, Jr. (son of Jerry Falwell, leader of the Thomas Rhoads Baptist televangelist group, and president of Liberty University) speak on Fox News they fashion their rage as a government restriction of their freedom and an oppressive violation of their First Amendment rights.

Such fits neatly into the Fox News basket.

What they are not confessing is that their desire to eliminate the “Johnson Amendment” really has to do with the most sacred aspect of their ministries – money.

There are NO government or legal restrictions that keep any church or university from pursuing any political issue or candidate that they want to. Do I need to repeat that?  The First Amendment protects such organizations as much as it does for any individual…another reason to be proud of this Country.

What the “Johnson Amendment” does is keep YOU from taking a tax deduction if YOU give money to a charitable (501(c)3) organization that engages in such political activity. That’s it. It does this by requiring the IRS to revoke the organization’s 501(c)3 status if they so engage. It does NOT mean that such church, University, or other charitable organization would have to start paying taxes nor does it restrict them from engaging in any political activity, as long as it's not their primary activity.

Why is this law important and why are evangelical churches and universities so zealous in their desire to eliminate it?  The answers to both are interwoven.

Far from ethical questions regarding free speech, the motivation for Jerry Falwell Jr. and his ilk is free money and lots of it.  If they were allowed to actively engage in partisan politics and still retain their charitable tax status they would become magnets for political contributions.

If I am David Koch with a few million dollars to drop on a issue or candidate, which is my better choice: a  PAC or Liberty University that would accomplish the same as the PAC only I’m able to get a 40% tax deduction?

A million dollar contribution, in that case, would only cost David $600,000. The remaining $400,000 is nicely picked up by the American Taxpayer (in lost tax revenue). It’d be a sweet deal for the Kochster, an even sweeter deal for Liberty University, and Trump (about as religious as Genghis Khan) gets the votes of the Christian devout. It's a sour deal for everyone else.

The ramifications of this effort to change our tax law to benefit the wealthy and concentrate wealth with America’s extreme voices are appalling.  It would be the biggest undermining of American Democracy since the Citizen’s United judgment.  Not only would there be a free-for-all of Charities entering the political process and the creation of phony “churches” with doctrines that are solely political, but it would further blur the secular nature of American government, abandoning the foundation on which this Nation was created.

Imagine, if you will, every political candidate having his/her own “church” or “churches” campaigning on their behalf and, by necessity, integrating their religion with their politics.

This Johnson Amendment, so named after Lyndon Johnson who as a Senator from Texas in the 1950s fought for its passage, is very important to the American people.  The charitable deduction, created in 1917, is nearly as old as the modern income tax itself.  It has evolved and survived primarily as an incentive to donors to assist charitable organizations with their beneficial purposes.

To combine the consolidation of political power within those purposes serves neither the Nation’s wellbeing nor its charitable spirit. It is just another reason why today’s Republican Party needs to be rejected and reborn.