The Power of Redemption

In talking about his faith on this Sunday's Meet the Press, Arkansas Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said "none of us are perfect, we all need redemption."  (Watch the video)

It's an interesting choice of words.  Huckabee used it as a segue into talking about the role of faith in public policy, and the need to support better education policy and to be betters stewards of the earth. 

Here at The Opportunity Agenda, Redemption applies to a much broader range of topics including criminal justice and social justice.  In our criminal justice system, many Americans - either wrongly imprisoned or over-incarcerated for petty offenses - are denied redemption in the face of a punitive legal system concerned more with doling out punishment than in rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders into society.  Frequently these offenders would be better dealt with through treatment and rehabilitation programs.  Even when many are finally free of our justice system, we continue to withhold the right to vote and participate in our democracy.  A healthy dose of Redemption would be a good thing to see in our justice system.

And down in the gulf, thousands of Katrina victims are still struggling to rebuild their lives, frequently without adequate assistance from municipal, state, or federal government.  These people, too, deserve redemption - the chance to start over when things go wrong, but our government is failing them.

I don't know about Huckabee's personal policies as the Governor of Arkansas, or what a Huckabee administration would do based on his personal conception of redemption, but clearly Redemption is a powerful frame that might be able to build bridges across the isle and between conservative Americans of faith and those of us in the social justice world who strive to create positive change in America.