Puritanism

18 Months Of Donald Trump Presidency, And Crisis Atmosphere Grows

Ronald 3 Comments

Today marks 18 months of the Donald Trump Presidency.

It has been 18 months of horrors, nightmares, disgrace to the office of the Presidency.

It has seen more corruption and abuse of power than any President in the past, including Richard Nixon.

It has put America into a massive foreign policy crisis, now marked by Trump’s invitation to Vladimir Putin of Russia to come to the White House this fall.

It has put America into a massive domestic policy crisis, as the the New Deal, Great Society, and everything good that Barack Obama did in eight years in office, is being systematically destroyed.

It has created the conditions for a potential Great Depression, with the imposition of tariffs about to explode into inflation of prices, loss of jobs and income, and alienation of all of our major trade partners with his crazy economic policies.

It has created the end of the post World War II alliance system of NATO that won the Cold War, but now the Russian government has declared a cyber World War on America, with a President whose loyalty is clearly with our rivals and enemies.

It has caused disarray among the two major political parties that have been our system since 1854, and now are in danger of total destruction, at least with the Republican Party.

It has demonstrated that the people who are elected and those who are appointed put their own jobs and wealth ahead of the interests of the vast majority of the American people.

It has shown us that our system of government, which allows a Supreme Court for life. It is guaranteed to create social and economic turmoil that will insure the danger of civil war, as the younger generation rebels against the future right wing extremist judicial system, packed with justices and judges who want to take us back to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, and wipe out the 20th century social safety network that has made us great.

It has divided Americans, with many, including this author and blogger no longer communicating with former associates and friends, when we have discovered how disgraceful these people are. This also includes family members, relatives, who make one realize the old saying, that you can pick your friends, but not your relatives.

Donald Trump is clearly out to destroy the United States as we know it, determined to keep his ethical and moral issues, and his violations of the law a secret that only Vladimir Putin knows, and holds over the head of the 45th President.

The danger of a violent civil war, as we had in the 1860s, is becoming more a reality unless somehow we can turn the tide and excise the cancer of Donald Trump. But sadly, Mike Pence is, in many ways, even worse, with his right wing religious crusade in a nation that was based on separation of church and state, precisely because of the religious extremism of Puritanism in our colonial history. The threat of racial and ethnic and even gender conflict is real, and the power of the National Rifle Association, now shown to be allied with the forces of Vladimir Putin, can bring about violence in the name of profits.

It is hard NOT to have despair as to how this nation survives long term, without major damage to the republic!

GOP Virginia Gubernatorial Nominee Ken Cuccinelli: Puritanism Revived!

Ronald 16 Comments

Republican Virginia gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli is a nightmare in the making, as he is a 21st century extremist Puritan, wishing to control the private social and sexual behavior of adults, as if one can do that!

Already shown to be extremely prudish, and constantly promoting theocracy in government as Virginia Attorney General, he has now made it clear that he wants to declare oral and anal sex of consenting adults to be illegal and prosecutable, along with stating total condemnation of gays and lesbians as having no souls and being self destructive in their behavior, and not being entitled to workplace protection against discrimination because of their sexual orientation!

Cuccinelli ordered the covering up of the Virginia state seal, which shows a bared breast of a Roman goddess, and claims natural law, which is in his mind Christian Biblical law, should govern all relationships between people, including in the privacy of their own bedrooms!

This man is very sick and totalitarian in his desire to control people’s private lives, while denouncing ObamaCare as intrusion in the lives of Americans!

So government is not designed to deal with real problems such as health care, according to Cuccinelli, but should have police break into bedrooms or other private places to control the sex lives of adults!

What could be more tyrannical or dictatorial action by government at any level than such a belief in the right of the state to control the most basic rights and freedoms of all people than this?

This man is a menace, and hopefully, the state of Virginia will have the common and good sense to send him packing into private life! And do not be surprised if, in the future, we will find that he is a typical “religious”, Puritanical hypocrite who says one thing, and does another! And realize that Cuccinelli has already been implicated as taking money from the same company that has been connected to outgoing Governor Bob McDonnell, who faces the threat of being removed from office before his term ends at the close of 2013.

The Virginia GOP is in tatters, and the good name of the state of Virginia requires that the party be repudiated as a party of not only corruption, but also of religious hypocrisy and totalitarian bent over the private love lives of all Virginians!

Rick Santorum Reveals His True Self: Moral, Religious Zealot Out To Promote Social Controls!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has now thrown down the gauntlet, and only dimwitted Americans, or those who totally agree with him, could back him for President.

Santorum has now said he does not wish to deal with the issue of jobs, inflation, gasoline prices, and other economic issues!

Why? Because, according to him, the issue is morality, overcoming contraception, abortion, gay rights, and pornography!

Rick wants to control the social, private lives of all of us, and force Puritanical standards on all Americans, all through his devoutly Catholic religious beliefs, and with the backing of evangelical Christians who only care about Santorum’s “social agenda”!

Santorum comes the closest to being a theocrat of any modern Presidential candidate, with the closest to him being William Jennings Bryan, who ran as the Democratic nominee in 1896, 1900, and 1908. But even Bryan, although a convinced evangelical Christian, advocated political, social and economic reforms that became the Progressive movement, ushering in ideas that became part of the agenda of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt over time.

Santorum has no such desires, as he wants government out of our lives, EXCEPT for social and privacy areas.

Santorum wants to shape all of us in the name of his brand of morality and religious fanaticism!

This makes Santorum a very dangerous man, a totalitarian minded person, who would interfere with the personal rights of those who disagree with him, putting the heavy hand of government on the people, even though he condemns big government in theory.

Santorum makes other Republicans cringe, as well as Democrats, and every effort must be made to prevent his nomination, as one can never be certain if times get difficult in the next seven months, that this moral censor might not be elected President in November!

Rick Santorum And Barry Goldwater Would NOT Be Friends!

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Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater was the MOST right wing nominee for President we have ever had, and lost in a massive landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Barry Goldwater was an economic conservative, who was against the New Deal, wishing Robert Taft, the earlier conservative Republican leader, had become President, because he wished to repeal the New Deal, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower institutionalized the New Deal as the first Republican President since Herbert Hoover. Goldwater wished to make Social Security voluntary, rather than required as part of the tax collection, which it had been for a quarter century.

Barry Goldwater was also a foreign policy conservative, who believed in ultimate confrontation with the Soviet Union and any foreign enemy, including potential use of nuclear weapons.

Barry Goldwater appealed to states rights advocates, and although supportive of the broad concept of civil rights for African Americans, he criticized the civil rights movement and its leaders, and accepted the backing of Southern segregationists.

BUT with all of his faults, one thing Barry Goldwater was NOT–a social conservative a la former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Barry Goldwater was NOT a believer in the role of religion in government, and was a major critic in later years of the Christian Coalition, and the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and other evangelical Christian ministers.

Barry Goldwater never believed it was the business of government to interfere in private life of individuals and their families, so did not support the Pro Life Movement against abortion rights for women.

Barry Goldwater never believed it was anyone’s business to condemn or vilify people because of their sexual orientation, and so supported the rights of gay men and women.

Barry Goldwater believed that all Americans should be allowed to serve in the military, so was against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” interfering with the right of gay men and women to serve our nation, asserting that he did not care what one’s sexual orientation was, as long as he or she could “shoot straight!”

Barry Goldwater would have been mortified to see a candidate who condemned sexual relations except for procreation purposes, and to observe a candidate speak out against the use of contraception by couples for their family planning and the health and welfare of women.

It is clear that were Barry Goldwater alive and active today, he would repudiate Rick Santorum as a social totalitarian, an extremist, a dangerous man to give power to, as there is nothing worse than a “Puritan” trying to promote morality by force!

Conclusion: Barry Goldwater and Rick Santorum would NOT be friends!

Barry Goldwater came across as whacky, extreme, untrustworthy to be our President, and he often “shot from the lip”, getting himself into major troubles that could be exploited by Democrats and President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. IF Rick Santorum ends up as the GOP nominee in 2012, the same weaknesses will get him in major troubles that could be exploited by the Democrats and President Barack Obama!

Rick Santorum: Angry, Pessimistic, Intrusive Into Personal Lives, And No Ronald Reagan!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum represents angry, pessimistic Tea Party mentality; hating government; hating educated people; hating the world outside America; wishing to dominate women’s lives;wanting to promote hard line Christian theology on Americans; trying to enforce a Puritan standard on personal behavior; rejecting privacy rights on social matters; invoking Satan as no other Presidential candidate ever has.

All of the above is said to be continuing the heritage and tradition and example of Ronald Reagan, but that is a total lie, as Ronald Reagan was optimistic; had a sunny disposition; avoided social conservatism except in rhetoric; hardly ever attended church; understood the need for government and taxation despite his rhetoric; knew how to work with the opposition, as for instance, Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill on Social Security reform; and worked to promote the end of nuclear weapons despite an earlier hawkish viewpoint of foreign policy.

Rick Santorum could not ever be as presidential as Ronald Reagan, with all of his faults recognized. Ronald Reagan was a comparative giant, while Rick Santorum could not stand in his shoes.

Rick Santorum has no respect for the office of the Presidency, with his sharp attacks on a revered President, John F. Kennedy, who understood the sensitivity of being Catholic, and advocated separation of church and state, instead of promoting theocracy as Rick Santorum does.

What kind of President would condemn parents who would wish their children to attend college, when the unemployment rate for educated people is half of what it is for those who have not attended college or some kind of community college or training program? Should not President Barack Obama want to promote that? What is wrong with Rick Santorum?

Any sane person would have to wonder whether Rick Santorum is having a mental breakdown, as NEVER has there been any candidate for the Presidency so negative, so destructive in his assertions, in living memory. Rick Santorum is a good argument for psychological testing of all Presidential candidates, as we can ill afford to have a mentally deranged person in the White House!