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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
I wish "conservative Republicans" wanted to be left alone by their government. Instead, they wish to outlaw abortion and dictate end-of-life issues. Anyone who has seen their parents through to the end would likely agree these conversations are the last ones in which a family wants the heavy hand of government to have a place at the table. Add to that their inexplicable need to regulate sexual behavior and you have the makings of a theocracy which doesn't plan to leave anyone alone. How, exactly, do they define "liberty?"
Clearly it is time to remove the tax-exempt status of churches that insist on preaching a polical message. We tax payers should not be required to underwrite this violation of the constitution. The FBI should be required to investigate tax-exempt churches and their preachers for evidence of violations. When found, the IRS should immediately remove the tax-exempt status. I suspect the revenue would help pay down the debt on the Iraq War.
Please, God, let it be so. If Obama wins, his most impressive accomplishment will have been putting together a coalition that ended the domination of the political discourse by religious extremists. Time to send these "folks" and their antediluvian views packing.
How is it that liberals can be so worried that these silly, brain-dead Christians could actually turn America into a theocracy? How could silly brain dead people figure out how to do so--especially with all the brilliant, nuaned folks here at Salon and elsewhere on the left working to stop them?
Go ahead and stereotype. You thought Ronald Reagan and W were stupid and they beat your smart and nuanced guys. Just so, Christians do not mind being sterotyped because we are smart enough to know that you win some and lose some but that is not the end of the war.
Conservatives may lose the battle in 2008. But keep in mind that, even if Mr Obama gets over 50% of the vote, it means that there are 40+% who do not agree with the direction that Obama, Pelosi and Reid want to take this country. And they are gonna get really mad if the Dems see this election as a mandate for all things liberal.
So the political battles will continue and, with Bush and Cheney and Palin no longer on the scene, who are the people and the media gonna have to criticise?
O, P and R--and Chris Dodd and Barney Frank and Mr Rangel and Mr Jefferson and Mr Maloney and a whole host of Dems.
The fatal flaw of the left is that they lack the discipline that would keep them from feeding on their own. So it won't be just the conservatives and middle of the roaders criticising the left, it will be the left eating the left as well.
Let the party begin!
Yeah but Bush got 49% and declared it a MANDATE. So go fuck yourself.
And it is, of course, such a good thing that the 43rd president governed from such a center as he did. That's part of the reason he's been such a huge success as president.
If Obama is elected - and he serves four years or eight years - I hope that we will all meet again on this site to weigh the presidencies of both men. I'd be willing to bet Obama will be found to have been more centrist.
You are a decent and gentle man, and, yes, we are all His children, and very lucky to be here.
I think, however, you make excuses for demagogues. Demogagues are evil, and even though we are all the same in many ways, we can make choices, and they choose to take advantage of their authority and to stir up hatred. You are wrong in your perceptions of Wright and Farrakhan, who are strutting, evil full of themselves narcissists. We all have nuances. Mao, Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot had nuances too. They were HIS children too, and that does not excuse their evil and brutality
The religious left is far more complicit in this polarizatio than the religious right in my mind. I am not a Christian, but it seems to me that many of these so called fundamentalists do much good in their missionary work all over the world and in their other charitable endeavours.
The religious left has become arrogant and rather monolithic from the Reform Jews who can't differentiate 'Tikkim olum" from socialism to the Castro-backing, Isreal scapegoating National Council of churches.
As an Evangelical who more often than not votes Democratic, and certainly this year is voting so with relish and even joy, I am only moderately hopeful that the Republican/Evangelical marriage will end any time soon.
I've spent the past week or so writing laborous email responses to angry Christian friends who think I'm off the deep end for my blogged views ( http://bluechristian.blogspot.com ). Their reasons?
1. Obama cannot be trusted. (Sure. Like our Evangelical President today CAN be trusted?!? Obama's remarkable consistency in message and in character is a stunning contrast to his opponent's wobbling all over the place in both policy and presentation.)
2. It is a sin to vote for Obama. (I call this "playing the religious Ace," and it immediately earns the email a trip to my "junk" folder. One spam email forwarded by a friend was from a "Prophet" who took thousands of words to say he'd been warned by God to tell the Christian world that Obama was a Great Deceiver and a tool of Satan. Sigh.... Then there was Focus on the Family's / James Dobson's recent "prophetic" letter written by a fictitious character in 2012, describing the hellish America Barack Obama's election had caused... this letter is downright fascist stuff in my opinion.)
3. Obama is a baby-killer. (Uh...???? And the author of Roe v Wade was a Republican [Harry Blackmun], appointed by a Republican [Richard Nixon]. Ronald Reagan appointed two justices who *upheld* Roe v Wade when it came again before them -- as did Dubya's dad appoint one more who did the same in the Webster decision. In short, trying to end abortion on demand by electing Republican Presidents is a bit like trying to change a light bulb with a wrecking ball. I'm pro-life, but there's a whole lot we Evangelicals aren't willing to face about abortion -- starting with the fact that women are often oppressed within Evangelicalism itself. Before we can speak to abortion, I think we need to speak to feminism's legitimate critique of patriarchy. See http://cbeinternational.org for one great attempt at that project.)
4. Obama is a Muslim. (No, actually he's a self-professed born again Christian, and frankly as a Christian I'd say he's actually digested the bible and quotes it far more in context than I've heard others -- from Dubya to Bill Clinton -- do. Frankly, however, I'd like to see a faith lived so loudly that words weren't necessary... and on the political front, that's asking perhaps an impossibility. I'd also like Christians, and Americans, to stop demonizing Muslims everywhere for 9/11. It's stupid and xenophobic.)
5. Obama is a socialist. (Actually, no. Flippant response: So was Jesus. Longer response: Uh, after what the Bush administration just did re partially nationalizing our banks, you wanna talk socialism? Stop with the empty scare words.)
6. Obama is not one of us. (Who is "us" anyway? As a Christian who still -- despite everything -- believes he's in the Evangelical family, I do increasingly wonder what identity it is we Evangelicals see ourselves having. Too often, I think we are idolaters, having bought into an American mythology regarding a "sacred nation." I disbelieve in "America as God's Chosen People." That is, biblically speaking, a false paradigm. The People of God are not one and the same with any modern "nation-state," whether that nation be America or Israel.)
Conclusion: I have seen a hardening within Evangelical ranks against Obama. And it makes me very sad. Perhaps the Hispanic Evangelical movement, with a reported 60% going for Obama, will rescue us from ourselves. But I'm not confident about that. I think we're mean. And I'm sorry -- I apologize to all hurt here by my family, maybe even by me. If you're a praying sort, pray for us that we might reflect love instead of arrogance... for me, I see a scary similarity between George Bush and Evangelicalism itself.
Jon Trott/Chicago
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
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