Parker particularly spoke out on two issues within her own experience. One was education: After balking at a fifth abortion, she gave birth and by 1992 had a child in the sixth grade—"and her school was horrible." She became a strong advocate of education vouchers and soon was nationally known. The other issue was welfare reform: She and I were involved in that in 1995 and 1996, and I saw her epignosis—knowledge from personal experience—filling in the blanks for members of Congress who had previously moaned about costs without adding up the human toll.
We were both disappointed by the Bush administration's voucher-less education policy and its faith-based initiative: TeamBush used social service vouchers sparingly and dropped its early plan for poverty-fighting tax credits, while maintaining the Democratic system of bureaucratic grant-making to favored charities. Parker sees that in education, "Rich people can afford to send their kids to private schools, but poor people are forced to send their children to broken schools." Her clear prescription: "Money should follow the child."
Is her story part of the "only in America" stream? In part, yes, because in this country, as Parker says, "the rule of law and protection of private property" has allowed those with "a healthy family life and education" to break out of poverty. But her change is mainly an "only in Jesus" story, because her family life and early education were not healthy. Christ had to transform her.
Now, will she be able to transform the politics of the 37th District, which includes Compton, Carson, and the inland portion of Long Beach? The incumbent, Laura Richardson, co-wrote the bill to legalize same-sex marriage in California and has been a stalwart Democratic vote in Washington. She has defaulted six times on home loans, according to the Los Angeles Times.
For two decades no Republican has won more than 25 percent of the vote in California's 37th, and in 2006 and 2008 Republicans didn't even run a candidate. But by her own admission Parker has "a big mouth" and Richardson has big problems. If the GOP invests some big money in this year's race, it could be competitive.
Will Republicans compete in or concede poor districts? Will the Massachusetts miracle of January be the exception or the rule in November? California 37 will be a test.
Reprinted with permission of WORLD Magazine. To read more news and views from a Christian perspective, call 800-951-6397 or visit WORLDmag.com.