Letters to the Editor
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One Nation Under Mammon?
I know what you're saying with this, Mr. Leonard...
The GOP long ago made its bed with Jesus Christ. But there's nothing in the Bible that equates belief in the savior with a belief in small government and tax cuts for the rich.
...but the two sentences reveal the fissure at the heart of GOP religiosity. They're not in bed with Jesus -- at least not with Christian practice and ethical teaching (which would far more closely resemble something more like the Amish, a kind of Christian Communism, than Christ-as-Capitalist). Rather, the GOP cynically manipulated people's worst instincts under the aegis of Christian religiosity to mobilize votes.
They're much more fire-and-brimstone smite-the-wicked Old Testament than they are feed-the-poor help-the-weak New Testament. More Wrath of God than Love Thy Neighbor.
The Bible was more of a shield for the avatars of ineffective government and tax cuts for the rich than a roadmap for a new kind of politics, theocratic or otherwise. The GOP thought it could unify Caesar and Christ, but such a byzantine shotgun marriage was doomed to fail eventually.
At some point, even the most ethically-challenged have to choose whether they want more wealth to the rich, or care for the poor, the weak, and the old -- it's a no-brainer which one Jesus would choose, and it's revealing who the GOP have sided with. Note to GOP: you can't serve God and Mammon both. You really can't -- so, either you have authentic Christians upending your bogus religiosity, or else you have a corrupt and empty faith in the Almighty Dollar running your show.
The paint's peeling on their bogus temple, their ersatz dream of One Nation Under God(tm), their union of Church and State, and their endless thirst for wealth. I think it'll be amusing to watch Huckabee rattle their gilded cage a bit. The GOP as we know it can only shake itself to bits over this contradiction.
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Wow, Progressive Independents and Democrats Rejoice, Our Savior Has Come!!!!
First of all, I'm an Atheist, and I am head over heels for Huckabee, because I am am environmentalist, crusader for social justice and community/joint responsibility, and a pragmatist.
Huckabee is a Democrat in Republican Clothing! I think a lot of people will defer concerns about abortion and improving the rights for Homosexuals to get someone who can take care of the environment, health care, infrastructure, and so forth!
We win no matter which party wins, as long as Huckabee is the Republican winner, if the Repubs win!
Woooo Woooo!
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Mutually Assured Mass Economic Destruction
To paraphrase Bob Novak, early in the Bush tenure, "We need to run this economy for the benefit of the business community, and not to satisfy a bunch of liberal stockpickers." Bush didn't follow that advice, or any established Conservative wisdom. Lately there is a lingering criticism of Bob Rubin, and the Clinton policies, which laid the foundation for the bubble economy, the global trade imbalances, and economic equivalent of MADD. The Democrats will be running away from their record before this is over.
Huckabee is a juggler, capable of finding disparate threads and weaving them together. He is also capable of tailoring a message. Most people who voted for Bush feel betrayed. If Huckabee starts talking out of all three sides of his mouth at the same time, his star will fade.
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Yeah but
If his plan comes off the GOP shelf it's basically give money to the rich in order to screw the middle class and give that to the poor. I don't care if he is the second coming. I am not signing up for that.
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Suffer, Hypocrites, Suffer!
WWJD Indeed! Jesud would not invade Iraq, nor Afghanistan either. Jesus would not lie to his people. Jesus would not abandon the poor to 'the market', nor would he facilitate ruining his Father's handiwork, the Earth.
Now the war between the true Christians and the ones who call themselves Christians but really use Church and God-Talk as the social/political netwok tool to facilitate their worship of the Almighty Dollar and keep down those they don't like.
The grand strategists such as Karl Rove and those before him have painted the GOP into a corner...hoist by thier own petard!
Eat it, phony fools!
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Huckabee and Saturday's WSJ of him as a Euro Christian Democrat...
This is the coming apart of the Reagan Coalition... The fundamentalists have been duped by over 20 years by the Republicans... You have two groups, one of which will leave, and both could conceivably...
The first group is the vast majority of the "practicing religious" white Christians (Practicing Blacks & Jews have stayed with the Democrats) and they are very much in play... the antecedents of this group were the "Reagan Democrats" and the Carter vote in 1976 (and Carter kept more of it than people realize in 1980)most of these While the most hard core fundamentalists might not leave,
The second group is the corporate business groups... These are the ones that are not uncomfortable with government... recognize that market failure is a real issue... that good fiscal & environmental stewardship is critical... these are the Teddy Roosevelt through Eisenhower/Nixon/Ford Republicans...
The funny thing was Saturday's WSJ equated Huckabee with European Christian Democratic Parties... attacking their record when in reality they ahve historically praised Kohl, Merkel, et al and I would characterize the French Government of the past 10 years as being more CD than Social Democrat... What is amusing is that their definition of Christian Democrats - distrust of both true socialism and free market libertarianism - sounds a lot like the New Deal Coalition...
Me... I like Huckabee as a person, but his policies are not that "liberal"... I will vote for Edwards, Obama & Clinton over any Republican Candidate...
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Is Huck the new Reverse Gov. Moonbeam?
Would that be bad? Huck may be, maybe, a social conservative + fiscal liberal. Back in the day, Linda Ronstadt's boyfriend was the only social liberal + fiscal conservative.
Huck seems to dislike homos and he seems to oppose choice. But he seems like a human being, too. He seems nuanced, and maybe his nuances will go right over the heads of the fundamentalists, and they still will vote for him. And maybe also, his nuances and humanness will make him a rational, reasonable president.
We need to judge, as this thing progresses. I hated what Huck said about gays, in a Salon column a couple weeks ago. It sounded like standard fundamentalist intolerance. But, let's see what he really thinks. Let's ask him.