Christian Right

Republican Party, 168 Years Old Today, Undermined By Competing Factions, Some Of Them Extremist In Nature

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The Republican Party was born on this day in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854, 168 years ago.

The future of the party is in danger, due to these massive splits.

Among the members of these six groups below are the following:

Trumpism—including House members Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz; Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz; and Governors Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and Kristi Noem.

Anti Trumpism—including House members Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Anthony Gonzalez; Senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse; and Governors Larry Hogan, Charlie Baker, and Phil Scott.

Christian Right—Mike Pence, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee

Libertarian conservatives—Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul; Congressman Thomas Massie

Neoconservatives—George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Bolton

Moderates—Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Charlie Baker, Larry Hogan, Phil Scott, Chris Sununu

The hope for the long range is that the Anti Trumpists and Moderates will prevail, as otherwise, the Republican Party is an authoritarian, Fascist oriented party, abandoning the principles of the party at its founding!

Would Mike Pence Help Donald Trump And Be An Asset? NO!

Ronald 4 Comments

Mike Pence is said to be Donald Trump’s choice for Vice President.

The Indiana Governor brings his comparative youth at age 57 compared to Trump who is 70.

He brings 12 years of Congressional experience and leadership of the Republican Conference for two years, as well as four years as Governor of a potential “Swing” State, which went to Barack Obama in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012.

He is a less dynamic person, not the type to seek controversy, and very different in that sense than Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich.

But his hard line social conservative views, which make him popular with the Christian Right, is not going to help Donald Trump win the Presidency.

Pence allowed the passage and signing of a bill that discriminated against gays and lesbians in public accommodations, and then had to ask for a revision of it, when corporations decided to oppose it and moved to stop expansion into the state, a blow to the Indiana economy. In backing off a bit, he alienated the most extreme social conservatives, who are anti abortion, anti gay rights and anti gay marriage, deny climate change, and work against women being equal in a family unit to their husbands.

We are not going back to the 1950s, or to a white supremacist America, where minorities have little input or concern, and where whites claim they are being discriminated against.

This election will be the 1950s white dominated America pre civil rights, pre woman;s rights, pre gay rights, pre environmental movement, pre immigration reform America against 21st century America with all of the advancements in human rights and science that have occurred in the past half century!

Decline Of Religiosity In America A Sign Of The Future In America

Ronald 13 Comments

In the past few decades, we have seen the deleterious influence of the Christian Right in America, promoted in the 1970s and 1980s and beyond by the likes of the late Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

They and other preachers have utilized their influence to attempt to dominate American politics, and promote a right wing agenda that promotes intolerance and hate.

This includes opposition to women’s rights to control their own bodies (misogyny); opposition to gay rights and gay marriage; the repudiation of science for the teachings of the Bible; the rewriting of American history to make it seem that the Founding Fathers wanted a national religion and a theocracy to govern us; advocacy of war overseas against Islamic civilization; promotion of nativism on the issue of immigration; belief that school prayer will somehow change America in their direction; and attempts to legislate morality limits through control of government.

Originally known as the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition, many of these preachers have become super rich and gained the following of millions who have stopped using their brains, and just accept the unethical, hypocritical utterances of charismatic figures.

Despite this, there is now evidence that more Americans, particularly the young and disaffected, have abandoned organized religion and its narrow minded tenets. The Pew Research Center describes this group as the “Nones”, and they are 22.8 percent of US adults, up from 16.7 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, those who identify as Christian have declined nationally from 78 to 71 percent, including not only evangelicals but also Catholics and mainline Protestants and Mormons. There has also been growing disillusionment with the Catholic Church, mainline Protestant sects, and the Mormon Church.

The “Nones” outnumber Catholics (20.8 percent) and mainline Protestants (14.7 percent), demonstrating a constant decline in adults who identify as being Christians. “Nones” include those who have no religious affiliation, as well as those who say they are Atheists and Agnostics.

Evangelical Protestants still are the largest group at 25.8 percent, but they have declined, and it is clear that the “Nones” will eventually surpass them in the adult population of America over the next couple of decades, as many of the Evangelicals are older and will die off over time, as young Americans reject their divisive ideology!

Jon Huntsman Withdraws From Presidential Campaign Of 2016 Before It Begins; Sees The Handwriting On The Wall!

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This blogger and author has, over the past few years, made clear his admiration for former Utah Governor, and former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, as an unusually good choice for the Republican Presidential nomination, both in 2012 and now in 2016.

Unlike every other potential nominee, Huntsman has a solid record in foreign policy, and along with Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, is one of the three potential Presidents fully experienced and qualified to deal with the world.

With his announced withdrawal from any consideration for the Presidency in 2016, now the only hope for a well experienced person to deal with foreign policy is either the Vice President or the former Secretary of State and First Lady!

The Republican Party has a dearth of decent, qualified candidates, with most of them far off to the Right, and many of them pure lunatic fringe!

So called Establishment Republicans have lost their own credibility, including 2012 Presidential nominee Mitt Romney; New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, all of whom have major shortcomings.

The thought of an Ohio Republican, such as Governor John Kasich or Senator Rob Portman crosses one’s mind, but although Ohio is crucial, the odds of either man becoming the Presidential nominee are very low, and already it has been made clear that Portman, one of only four Republican Senators who has supported Gay Marriage, has no chance, as the GOP will NOT nominate a pro Gay Rights and Gay Marriage nominee, due to the deleterious effect of the Christian Right, which continues to promote hate and poisonous rhetoric on the subject.

So the fact that Huntsman realizes the odds are impossible for a decent, solid candidate like him to run, is a sign of the death knell of the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower!

The Presidential Election of 2016 will be a landslide Electoral College victory for the Democrats!

Two Different Directions: Wisconsin State Republican Party And Nevada State Republican Party

Ronald 6 Comments

The internal battle over the future of the Republican Party is in full swing, as we come up to the 160th anniversary of the Republican Party in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854, which actually took place on March 20. with a formal organization in Jackson, Michigan, on July 6.

For a long time, the Ripon Society has existed as an organization for “liberal,” mainstream Republicans, but of course, there is no such thing anymore known as “liberal” Republicanism. Even those who might consider themselves “liberal,” avoid use of that term like a plague!

The Wisconsin GOP, which once included “Mr. Progressive” Robert La Follette, Sr., and his brilliant sons Robert La Follette, Jr. and Philip La Follette, now, however, has become an extremist group on the far right, under Governor Scott Walker and Senator Ron Johnson, and the proposal is to add to their state party documents the concept of the right of the state to promote “secession’ if felt necessary, a sign of the old, ugly language that led to the Civil War and the loss of two thirds of a million men in combat, the greatest single tragedy in the nation’s history!

At the same time, the Nevada State Republican Party has made the decision to remove from its platform for 2014 two issues that the Christian Right has been promoting since their rise in the party apparatus nationwide since the late 1970s—abortion and gay rights and marriage. No longer will the party promote government intervention in the lives of women and their personal decisions about their bodies and reproductive rights. And no longer will they get in the way of a person’s happiness, as to his or her basic human rights, including marriage, and the right to one’s sexual orientation without any discrimination by government!

In the long run, what Nevada Republicans are doing will, if pursued elsewhere, lead to a long term revival of the GOP, while if Wisconsin is followed, it is the death knell and demise of the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike!

The Christian Right Loses Its Power And Influence In 2012 Elections

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The Christian Right, known in the past as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, was a very powerful force from the late 1970s until 2012, having an impact on the election of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and effectively hijacking the Republican Party, effectively promoting their biased agenda.

But now they have suffered a major defeat in 2012, and the influence over the party is waning. The Republican Party is well aware that if they allow the Christian Right to continue to wage war against women, immigrants, and gays, then they will disappear as an effective political opposition to the Democratic Party.

The majority of American women do NOT want anyone controlling their reproductive lives, and telling them that rape is not a reason for abortion.

The majority of immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, do not want minority groups to be profiled, have to fear the police, be told to leave the country with their children who are born in America, and have religious leaders display hate and prejudice toward them.

The vast majority of gays and lesbians, and their straight allies, want discrimination based on sexual orientation to be ended, and to have the same legal rights to basic civil rights, including the right to marry.

So those Christian pastors who preach hate, including those who rail against Barack Obama and wish him harm, are only undermining the legitimacy of their being ministers of Jesus Christ, who would, most certainly, be advocating the totally opposite view of all of these groups, and promoting love and tolerance, rather than hate!

It is a good thing that the Christian Right is declining in its influence, as the South and Great Plains decline in significance in population terms, and as older white males in particular, who refuse to understand the need for change and moving forward, grow older, and will soon pass on, as a bad memory of the ugliness of extremist religious values!

Separation of church and state needs to be reaffirmed! Theocracy is against what the Founding Fathers advocated!

Stock Market Dow Jones Industrial Average Doubles Under Obama!

Ronald 1 Comment

Today, briefly, the stock market Dow Jones Industrial Average went over 13,000 points, doubling the level it was at in March 2009, shortly after Barack Obama became President.

With 87 percent of people earning over $75,000 a year investing in the stock market in either IRAs or 401K Retirement Plans, that cannot make these people other than happy.

This is an amazing recovery, and makes it much more difficult for Republicans to use the economy against President Obama.

It also is a fact that Obama can now claim the FIFTH best stock market record of any President, only behind in order, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Bill Clinton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower!

As a result, we are having Republican candidates debating social issues instead of the economy, and in so doing, alienating independents who do not want social intrusion by government into their lives. One can be assured that when Rick Santorum, for instance, says Satan has his designs on the United States, that eyes are rolling all over America, as Rick shows more than ever with every utterance that he is a dangerous man, who only religious extremists on the Christian Right can cheer, but it is causing havoc for Mitt Romney as he must try to match Santorum to have a chance to survive for the nomination, although in so doing, Romney marginalizes himself for the Presidential election this November!

Rick Santorum On The Rampage: Attacking Public Education, The Environment, And Prenatal Care

Ronald 3 Comments

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is on the rampage, ranting and raving like a maniac, and making many mainstream Republicans roll their eyes as they see the chances of their party disintegrating for November.

Santorum yesterday, while campaigning in Ohio, attacked public education, saying it is outmoded, and should not be controlled or operated by national or state governments, but instead privatized. The fact that we have had public schools since the 1820s is ignored, as he calls such an idea “antiquated” and “anachronistic”! He calls public schools “factories”, and says that local school boards and parents should control the educational system, even though the historical record does not show that to have been done very well in the past! The idea that parents, who in many cases have no knowledge or understanding of educational curriculum, should control what is taught, is as dangerous as to let patients tell doctors how to do their job, or clients to tall attorneys how to conduct cases in court! It is also a great way to distort history and science, teaching a distorted view of the past, and allowing religion to become part of science in relation to evolution and climate change, already being promoted in many states dominated by the Christian Right.

Santorum also attacked those he says are following a false theology, such as Barack Obama, who feel that the earth comes before human beings, and that radical environmentalists want to prevent mankind from utilizing the earth, and therefore endangering the future prosperity of America. Teddy Roosevelt would turn over in his grave at such an assertion!

Santorum also accused those who promote prenatal care, including amniocentesis, of setting out to abort disabled children, preventing their birth. There is no evidence of such a claim, but it is interesting that Rick Santorum, as with other Republicans, constantly calls for cuts in Medicaid, the major program to help the disabled with health care. So Santorum is totally hypocritical on this matter.

The man is displaying all of his instability, weirdness, craziness, and lunacy, which will destroy his ability to attract educated voters, women, independents, moderate Democrats, and those who believe that religion should not be part of government policy, who want separation of church and state.

The more he rants and raves, the more the Republican Party is on the road to total defeat in November, so keep it coming, Rick!

Texas Governor Rick Perry And The Christian Right: Reason To Oppose Him For the Presidency!

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Texas Governor Rick Perry has been flirting with running for the Presidency, and while the author has previously stated his belief that he will NOT run, there is certainly a very good reason to oppose him IF he indeed decides to run!

That reason, among others, is that the Christian Right is rallying to his support, and that is bad news for those who believe in separation of church and state, and an open minded attitude on the issue of abortion rights, gay rights, immigrant rights, and keeping religion out of government!

Among those supporting Perry if he runs are: Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; David Barton, the Texas self trained historian who has distorted American history, including inaccuracies on Thomas Jefferson’s views on religion, and opposition to deficit spending, a graduated income tax, minimum wage, and global warming; and San Antonio pastor John Hagee, whose hateful views caused John McCain to reject his endorsement in 2008.

The goal of an election for President is NOT to elect a Christian government, but rather a government that promotes the long held tradition of the separation of church and state!

Perry, who succeeded George W. Bush as President, has much the same swagger as Bush, but he is making Bush look more moderate by comparison, and although he would never have been Governor of Texas if Bush had not gone to the White House, he is actively separating himself from Bush and his family, who have never been thrilled by Perry as Governor of the Lone Star state.

Hard to believe, but in so many ways, Perry would actually be WORSE than George W. Bush, which shows just how far downhill the Republican Party has descended, if it is even slightly considering Perry for the Presidency!

Since this entry is about religion and Perry, let us finish this entry saying about his potential candidacy: God forbid!

Children Of Republican Leaders And Gay Rights! Setting The Trend Of the Future!

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The surprising news to many, and the shocking news to others, is that one of the twin daughters of President George W. Bush, Barbara Bush, has come out for gay marriage rights and has allowed herself to be part of a taped endorsement campaign for such rights in New York!

This development comes on the heels of Megan McCain, daughter of 2008 Presidential candidate and Senator John McCain of Arizona, also endorsing gay rights and marriage.

Additionally, the lesbian daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Mary Cheney, has also been a major figure in promoting the concept of gay marriage.

So a former President, a former Vice President, and a Presidential nominee have children who have come out for gay rights in the midst of right wing conservative Christian groups bitterly opposing any such concept, and boycotting the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference because a gay group has been invited to participate!

Realize also that former First Ladies Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush came out for abortion rights after their husbands left the Presidency, and that Laura Bush has already supported her daughter Barbara, before the fact, in an interview recently that included discussion of gay marriage and gay rights.

The fact that the family members of these top Republican leaders come out for the civil rights of women and gays makes one wonder if their husbands and fathers simply mouthed what they had to say to keep political backing when they were running for the Presidency, and the belief is that assumption is totally correct!

Every poll shows younger Americans have no problem with gay rights and gay marriage, and therefore, the Republican right wing is fighting a rear guard action that will, in the long run, isolate them, just as their vehement opposition to illegal immigrants gaining eventual rights of citizenship has alienated most Latinos and Hispanics from the party.

If the GOP allows the extreme right wing and Christian Right to control their destiny, they will see themselves disintegrate as a respectable and competitive political party for the long run of the American future!

Stop vilifying Latinos and Hispanics, and stop demonizing gays, or else you will be part of the dust bin of history! And keep religion out of government, where it belongs, as all that occurs when religion is allowed to control government decisions is the promotion of hate and intolerance, which ironically, Jesus Christ would not have approved were he here to observe what so called “devout” Christians claim are his teachings, a total distortion of his message of peace, love, and tolerance of others!