http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0811-30.htmLouisiana Purchase: The Feds Recruit Culture War Cadets
by Sharon Lerner
Though by law it is supposed to focus only on promoting abstinence outside marriage, Louisiana’s program also connects young people to the broader conservative politics surrounding the abstinence-only movement. The strategy helps turn out the next generation of foot soldiers who can, in turn, provide the grassroots political support necessary to perpetuate such programs in the long term. “The right has done an extremely effective and aggressive job of trying to orient and train young people on their political goals, philosophy and techniques,” says Elliot Mincberg, vice president and legal director of People for the American Way. Rather than teach about religious beliefs, which many of the people drawn to Louisiana’s abstinence program already have, the governor’s program links those ideas to political action. Says Mincberg, “They’re suggesting you can’t be a good Christian unless you support this particular political point of view.
In addition to social support, GPA clubs “serve as training ground for young abstinence advocates,” according to the program’s own materials. The governor’s program holds a yearly legislative caucus that, like the April event, is held at the capitol. At it, teens sit in legislators’ seats and mull over mock legislation, learning, according to GPA materials, “how to debate and pass legislation and how to maneuver through parliamentary procedures.