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Republicans – Oust ReBiblicans & Save Your Party
“Dear Republicans, (and that doesn’t include you, ReBiblicans)”
If I were to write a letter to real republicans it would talk about the lessons that should be part of an action plan for American conservatives today as follows:
It really is that simple. They lost because their Party was steeple-jacked in the late 1980s by fake republicans replacing the moderates. This resulted in a complete infestation by religious zealots who brought a wave – some intentional, some not – of racists, sovereign citizens, paranoid doomsdayers, immigrant-phobic, homophobic and low-information people with them who vote and all this is happily funded and promoted by plutocrats with huge wallets.
As a result, we have seen the emergence of the Tea Party and a host of citizen militia groups explode into existence. We have a sizable demographic who claim exclusive rights to the definition of words like “patriot”, “real American” and “American exceptionalism” among others – all becoming dogwhistles to their base.
A growing number of mainstream Christians have been siphoned into the bible-based cult of Christian Dominionism and thoroughly indoctrinated. They have unknowingly been converted generally know as little about the Bible as they do about America’s real history and Civics 101. They have handily transformed the Republican Party into the ReBiblican Party.
Meanwhile, the pre-ReBiblican conservatives – the real Republicans – have either wandered off into a desert of embarrassment and confusion with some voting democrat while others have just walked away from the process altogether. This includes not only voters but candidate, spawning the new faces we see stepping up as political candidates under the skirt of the Republican Party. None of them openly announce that they are theocrats, rather they have re-branded the conservative movement and contrary to what media pundits on both sides will admit to – there is now an absolute religious litmus test in American conservative politics.
Do not mistake all this chaos within the Republican Party as simply a takeover by overly zealous Christians. Many of the faces now associated as Rs are not now, nor have they ever been, true republicans. Politicians such as Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Jim Inhofe, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, Rick Santorum, and literally hundreds more are actually theocrats which is why we have branded them as ReBiblicans so that there is a clear distinction. (See our summaries of over 300 ReBiblicans who ran for seats in 2012 alone on our interactive map). There is a false notion that there are just a few of them so no need to worry.
These people have been working feverishly behind the scenes for years creating alternatives to the Republican Party that has been far too liberal for their interests in search of a Party that reflects their true beliefs and ideologies. The most organized effort was formed in 1998 and is known as the Constitution Party. The first portion of their Preamble lays it out for all to see:
The Constitution Party gratefully acknowledges the blessing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as Creator, Preserver and Ruler of the Universe and of these United States. We hereby appeal to Him for mercy, aid, comfort, guidance and the protection of His Providence as we work to restore and preserve these United States.
This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions but on a foundation of Christian principles and values. For this very reason peoples of all faiths have been and are afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
The goal of the Constitution Party is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries.
The Constitution of the United States provides that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” The Constitution Party supports the original intent of this language. Therefore, the Constitution Party calls on all those who love liberty and value their inherent rights to join with us in the pursuit of these goals and in the restoration of these founding principles.
The U.S. Constitution established a Republic rooted in Biblical law, administered by representatives who are constitutionally elected by the citizens. In such a Republic all Life, Liberty and Property are protected because
law rules. [...]
And there is a great deal more where that came from. I encourage you to peruse their web site because we are about to see a lot more of these folks. They run as CP candidates and Virgil Goode was their presidential candidate for 2012 in several states. I am a big fan of visuals because it presents a picture of how widespread an event is, and they have conveniently provided us an interactive map of their own that allows you to hover and click over each state where you will find a thumbnail list of CP candidates across America who ran in 2012. This Party will balloon for 2014, and if they have it their way, replace the Republican Party as the main contender to the Democrats in 2016.
They also have state chapters where you can dig deeper and see that CP candidates are running for everything from congressional and legislative offices to State Auditor, Attorneys General and more such as this example of the Pennsylvania CP state chapter. Again, this is what Sarah Palin really is and years ago when she and Todd were exposed for belonging to the Alaska Independence Party – well, the AIP has long been a proud associate of the CP.
The Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) is a political party in the U.S. state of Alaska that advocates an in-state referendum which includes the option of Alaska becoming an independent country. The party also advocates positions similar to those of the Constitution Party and Libertarian Party, supporting gun rights, privatization, home schooling, and limited government. The national Constitution Party has listed the AIP as an Alaska affiliate in the past [...]
If these positions sound familiar it is because the lines are so profoundly blurred between these extreme Right groups and what we now see presented as the Republican Party. And remember just how close we were to having a CP aligned Vice President in 2008…way to close for my comfort!
This campaign was an embarrassment to traditional republicans. I know, I have spoken with many who winced with the emergence of each new potential presidential candidate who one after another staked claim that they have been uniquely selected by God to run for office. This campaign has been an embarrassment to traditional republicans as the listened to these candidates speak and watched the platform embrace one extreme position after another – having everything to do with theocratic law and little to nothing to do with leading our country and representing its citizens.
The Republican Party has one real chance at surviving – but to do that – they must remove biblical governance from their platform or they will never be able to regain respect, nor a large enough demographic, to remain a viable alternative for those American conservatives whose personal faith – while devout – understand that we are a secular nation where church and state is essential.
Already Christian Dominionist groups like the Family Research Council are back at it – whipping their Sheeples up into a frenzy of fear and paranoia not only because an African American won a second term as president, but their homophobic fixations are on hyper-warp today on the heels of huge wins in several states for marriage equality despite the millions of dollars they spent to buy theocracy. They are literally calling for an uprising of “Gideon’s Army”… (watch 2 minute video here)
Perkins claimed that same-sex marriage will never be morally acceptable or within the bounds of natural law whatever the voters in Maryland and elsewhere say, while McClusky said that “civil disobedience” will now be necessary thanks to marriage equality’s increasing victories.
Garlow, who prior to the election warned that an Obama second term will make America “unrecognizable” and “forever gone,” said that Christians should now expect immense persecution from the government, and Meadows called for Christians to emulate Gideon’s army and remember that “our God will not be mocked.”
*note* Garlowe used to work for Newt Gingrich as a staffer
Celebrity-types from yesteryear are getting space on HuffPo for tweeting remarks like this;
@vicjackshow
Victoria Jackson The Democrat Party voted God out and replaced Him with Romans 1. In the Good vs. Evil battle…today…Evil won.November 7, 2012 5:12 am via Facebook ReplyRetweet
From:xxvwa@svrsbld.comSubject: Jesus Will Destroy YouDate: November 7, 2012 9:15:12 AM MST
To: Information Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfr…>
the ni**er won and you kikes and you raghead islams and the homos you worship can celebrate in the damnation our Lord and savior will bring on your evil heads. Jesus will not be denied and the USA military will be Christs right arm. The End is coming and you and MFRR will be destroyed by the breath of Jesus mouth, demon mickey. (2 thessalonians 2:8).
Today’s ReBiblican influence has changed this pattern. Today there are claims that not only is it too costly to fill the pothole, but that private sector should do it and if they don’t then it is good for the tire business and if someone is hurt – it is God’s will – after all He put it there.”
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Eric Carrig
Nov. 9th, 2012 at 9:08 pm
Brilliant! Best of the day!
A Walkaway
Nov. 9th, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Gideon’s army… and if they take off, anyone who doesn’t look or think like them is fair game. Shit. This is the very thing I’ve been worried about. They didn’t win “fair and square” (using their usual dirty and unethical/immoral tricks), so they’ll try to win by force. I really REALLY hope they’re being watched – since they have gotten away with so much already I have my doubts.
I’d remind people that if you’ve ever opposed the dominionists, they probably remember you and have records. Look into the “Spiritual Mapping Project” and their computer records – last I heard kept in Colorado Springs (and there has been evidence they keep local “enemies lists”). If you ever attended a dominionist or dominionist-friendly church and stopped, even for only a couple of visits, but didn’t continue – you might even be in their records as an apostate – and they’ve declared the “Biblical” death sentence for apostasy. Most of us on this blog (exception being the trolls) are truly in danger from those extremists because we’re liberal. We cannot emphasize the danger enough.
If there is such a thing left as a decent “old-fashioned” Republican, they need to get to work NOW. It’s been so long since I’ve met one – since I started voting in 76 the Republican party has always tried to cut all aid “because it causes dependency” and been the enemies of minorities and the poor, while supporting “Good Christians” (I remember Anita Bryant) and what we see today is in essence only those attitudes greatly amplified.
singhx
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 8:46 am
“…Look into the “Spiritual Mapping Project” and their computer records…”
Please, please provide a link.
Yes, it is a fact that fundamentalist ministries have “maps”, that they have indeed have projects where they walk around knocking on doors, or doing their batsh*t crazy Wesson oil witches circle around neighborhoods…However, you truly need to provide the actual links to these Dominionist projects. As an academic, you know this is essential to credibility.
We can talk all day about these cults, their lies and betrayals, former members testimonies, the soul murder commit as their “religious” daily ritual…but unless solid evidence is provided, it all sounds “unbelievable” to the average Americans who want to “believe” their neighbor has a right to their beliefs. Once the average American actually learns and see the evidence, their actual abusive, sometimes illegal BEHAVIOR, Americans will believe you…for example, providing links to Dominionist who writes books on how to beat your children so CPS can’t find marks…all of us universally agree, no belief based in abusive, illegal behavior trumps the human law.
A Walkaway
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 8:58 am
I don’t have the time to write a cited journal article, so I’ll just say that the evidence is at Talk2Action and other blogs. I’ll say the same thing I get almost every time when I ask for help or advice… start reading, I’m not going to do your work for you.
It’s one of the reasons I like about blogs. I don’t have to cite all the time (which is the biggest time-eating frustration you can find – it’s why I’m working 6-7 days a week 8-12 hours a day just trying to get the papers for my classes finished). I have to re-read and re-read every journal article every time I need to cite something, because while I remember the information I can never remember where I read it.
The evidence is there.
It sounds like you’re doubting it or denying the existence of such a project by the dominionists.
singhx
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 9:29 am
“…The evidence is there. It sounds like you’re doubting it or denying the existence of such a project by the dominionists…”
I have experience numerous post where you give complete historical reference and evidence to back your premise…but, pulling the cult trigger to sound the stressor alarm isn’t engaging people–it’s either scaring them away or turning them off.
Secondly, telling others to “do their own work” is withholding, not helping, Walkaway…nor do “weasel words” like “it sounds like” going to play well in your quest for allies. Both are excuses and I do not like to be attacked for asking anyone courteously for links.
Thirdly, you know perfectly well this is not an attack on your experience as a former member; actually, you are feigning an attacking my credibility. I’m a former cult member with over 10 years experience in helping former members via deprogramming and other educational outlets–I have prove track record…and, you are well aware of that fact. Enough said.
Leah L Burton
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
@Singhx, here is a link to a site that has some of the most comprehensive research information on Spiritual Mapping, door-to-door outreach and Dominionist activities of all kinds.
www.talk2action.org/
I highly recommend their work – especially that of my colleague, Bruce Wilson.
luciboo
Nov. 9th, 2012 at 10:36 pm
This is a powerful commentary. I would only hope the Republicans would heed this advice.
Janice I Falk
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 8:43 am
After watching their reactions to the election, I am not hopeful. I mean you don’t get sanity overnight. They are positively raging on camera (Grover, Rush and Karl), they are certainly in touch with their inner and outer child…
singhx
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 9:03 am
I agree…*
Leah’s is calling for these folks to wake up from their “Rumpelstiltskin” spell and look around as to where they are in 2012 (almost 2013)–it ain’t reality; their “white beard” and nose have to stop growing…
These particular WMD (white male demographic)will probably fade off into obscurity like William Jennings Bryant; washed up bitter old men that everyone hated and shunned in the end…but, they have a “machine” in place that is so lucrative, that greed drives them on every waking hour. Their inner child is rotting from their perverse core values to which they cling fervently, while, their “outer child” is spoiled rotten by the looks of their couch potato condition…
*I try not to post 2 comments on the same article, but I can’t help myself. I find Leah’s work here praise-worthy and deserving of lots of discussion.
j
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 9:05 am
I am so tired of republicans (and Fox) who keep saying Obama voters want stuff!
Please folks, do a search and find out who the states are that get most federal dollars, they are mostly republican states and the south takes more food stamps and medicaid money than blue states.
Leah L Burton
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
You make an excellent and very important point! As you indicate, the anti-government proponents the screech the loudest (and screech is appropriate here) Sarah Palin is the biggest hypocrite. Alaska receives more federal funds and returns the least amount back into the very system that she calls for an end to. Refer to this site for a great visual map: visualeconomics.creditloa...
Part of their hyperbolic bellowing stems from teh very real knowledge that the federal teet that they milk will never really dry up – but it appeals to their base of paranoid survivalist sovereign citizen types.
Thank you for bringing that up.
Roger Massey
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 9:32 am
1964 GOP Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater warned that the preachers were trying to take over the party and, if they did, would ruin it. Should have listened to him then.
Tom Wieliczka
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 11:33 am
The religious zealots are doing more than TRYING to take over The Republican Party.
They ARE the Republican Party!!
Leah L Burton
Nov. 11th, 2012 at 3:09 am
You are right, this infestation took on new meaning post-Reagan and the Religious Right. They resoundingly steeple-jacked the GOP in 1992…and it has been a slide toward theocracy ever since.
BUT…we can change this. They are a minority…a loud minority, granted…but we can change this. It will take more than 49.9% of the registered voters to actually show up to do that (which is the current estimate of those who voted in 2012).
Leah L Burton
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
It is one of my favorite quotes:
Johnee
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 9:56 am
Wow Leah, another great article. I tend to compare the steeplejacking of the Republican party to a cancer; it spread very quickly but now it is killing the host. We will see if they cut it out or it destroys them.
Like yourself, I know Republicans that are disgusted with the Faustian bargain that their party made with these very dangerous people (dominionists)in the late 80′s and early 90′s. The problem is that these people aren’t vocal enough about, and are deluded into believing that they should maintain some type of phantom loyalty.
I remember watching a program several years ago that interviewed a senior advisor (wish I could remember his name) to Bush Sr’s. campaign: He said it was like a revelation when they realized that they “could win an election with the religious right alone”. It seems the allure was to much for them.
Leah L Burton
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Agree…some of these leaders who are really the ReBiblicans that I refer to, are drunk with a brazen sense of divine right and invincibility! They will not stop and the destruction of the GOP is fine with them. That holds them back anyway.
Part of my effort is the goal to reach the real Republicans and implore them to take their Party back. There are moderate Rs like Christine Todd Whitman who are speaking up and out about the radical extremism in the GOP. www.amazon.com/Its-My-Par...
That gives me hope and encouragement.
Anne
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 10:06 am
People like Megan McCain and Michael Steele manage to sound reasonable some of the time, but until they can accept the fact that it’s not just the Tea Partiers but also the stale, outdated GOP ideology that is problematic, the GOP will eventually be marginalized if not extinct. Last night, Michael Steele was running off at the mouth about the election results of 2010, which he said underscored the diversity of the electorate that brought so many GOP victories. That shows they are living in an alternate reality, because the fact is that many Democrats didn’t get out and vote like they should have. We need to keep from making the same mistake in 2014 or in any other mid-term years, because who we send to Congress or elect to state positions is every bit as crucial.
Johnee
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 11:11 am
Exactly!! Joe Scarborough can have this rational appeal. I find myself many times nodding along and agreeing with Joe on a number of issues…. and then he jolts me back to reality by his denial, apologist stance, and stubborn loyalty to the Republican party.
Leah L Burton
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
That is absolutely right! In fact, I am about to post the 2012 congressional and gubernatorial race results on my web site later today in a hover & click interactive map. Out of a total of 366 ReBiblican candidates that ran from all 50 states, 244 of them won. These are the names and faces that did not rise to national prominence such as the Todd Akin’s and Richard Mourdock’s – but adhere to the very same extreme Christian Dominionist goals.
I am also including the figures of “eligible voters”, “registered voters”, numbers of votes cast, and more.
It speaks precisely to your point and your warnings about mid-term elections need to be taken seriously. Steele and other more moderate Rs spew rhetoric…what else can they say short of defecting?
Anne
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
The fact that these state-level politicians as well as U.S. senators and representatives have a more direct, immediate, and daily effect on people’s lives makes it even more imperative to vote wisely during mid-term years. The Republican governors in states that have gone for Obama both times–like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida–have enacted legislation resulting in some serious consequences to voters such as attempted voter suppression, interference with women’s reproductive rights, and union-busting, among other things. I would not be surprised to find that some of those folks most severely impacted by these regressive policies have blamed the president, when it’s their own inability or unwillingness to vote strategically. In other words, each and every election is important.
Leah L Burton
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Anne, you are absolutely correct. The post I referred to which is nearly completed and will now be posted tomorrow on www.godsownparty.com reveals that out of the 435 U.S. House seats where every member is up for re-election, 366 of them qualified as ReBiblicans. We will be revealing the results of wins/losses in our map. I can tell you that the ReBiblicans won overwhelmingly across the country.
A Walkaway
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Good! I’ve been looking forward to that.
I haven’t kept up with who is who… except for a few around this area. (Too much on my plate.) I’ve been wondering how we did overall, and that should tell the story.
(I wish we’d done a lot better in Florida, but at least we got a couple!)
Leah L Burton
Nov. 11th, 2012 at 1:57 am
President Carter is a mainstream Christian. And there is no such thing as a “pro-abortion” stance. Those of us who believe in protecting a woman’s right to choose are “pro-choice” and that includes a women who have to make difficult decisions.
As far as the “ugly faces” plastered onto the Republican platform that include Jerry Falwell (deceased), Pat Robertson and far too many of their ilk…I couldn’t agree more.
Tomorrow I am posting the GOP ReBiblican Results and it was a landslide for them. Because only a few gained national attention i.e. Akin and Mourdock…it has been too easy for the infotainment world to overlook the huge wins they had. I assure you that the visual on my interactive map will be a kil-joy and I am sorry on the heels of such a great victory.
Frank
Nov. 12th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Yes, you’re right, of course–there is no “pro-abortion” stance.
I wrote that after an argument with a “pro-lifer,” and I guess his constant “pro-abortion” refrain stuck in my head.
As a former escort for Planned Parenthood, I know better and regret the error.
RobMajor
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 10:23 am
The voter registration card in my wallet says I am a Republican, but I didn’t vote for a single republican candidate or ballot initiate in this election. To use a physics analogy, the entire political spectrum has been “red-shifted” by its acceleration to the far right in the past 20 years. Where I stand has gone from red to blue and I haven’t moved an inch. This column, in many respects, explains why. When I registered to vote all those years ago, republicans were not anti-science theocratic homophobes bowing at the feet of an Ayn Rand statute. They were not interested in depriving women of access to contraception and in removing the social safety nets. They were not vulture capitalists pretending to be job creators. They did not subscribe to the idea that natural disasters are a sky-god’s judgment on the country for giving gay people the same rights as straight people. They did not seek to implement foreign policy in the middle east that is designed to bring about biblical armageddon and the second coming of a messiah. They considered evolution by natural selection to a settled scientific issue and didn’t try to re-cast Thomas Jefferson as an evangelical Christian. They were not trying to turn the US into a theocracy every bit as repressive as the government of Iran.
Fortunately, they have slid so far to the right that they have now made themselves unelectable. And they didn’t see it coming. They are so enamored with the insular, mirrored echo-chamber in which they live that they had no idea they were going to lose, and rejected the polling evidence that was right in front of them, in favor of their “gut feeling” that the sky-god had pre-ordained the Romney victory. The supreme irony is that, rather than self-deport, all those Latinos instead decided to vote, and in so doing, they effectively defeated Karl Rove, Sheldon Adelson, the Koch brothers, Donald Trump, and all the other moneyed interests. And THAT, it seems to me, is what…
Johnee
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 11:15 am
Right! And one of the weirdest things is how they managed to combine theocracy with objectivism. Ayn Rand is spinning.
Leah L Burton
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
The Ayn Rand aspect is such a prime example of how they cherry pick. They cherry pick the Bible, the Constitution and gloss over the fact that Rand was an Atheist. remarkable mind control isn’t it?
Leah L Burton
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
You money is probably very safe. Their Devil’s bargain has made it virtually impossible to extricate themselves from the company they now keep. It has happened before as with the Wig Party that evaporated in 1860. History does indeed have a habit of repeating itself and the possibility is more likely than not in this case.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whi...
James Threadgill
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 10:41 am
The GOP has a decision to make regarding its fate: either they censure the extremism they courted—especially religious zealots and Tea Party militants—or they can join the list of failed US political parties and fade into history. My mone
y’s on fading into history; for they made a Devil’s bargain with every far right group they could find in order to foist W onto the American people and W failed by every measure, defense, foreign policy, the economy, social issues.
regressivewatch.org
Marissa Morningstaur
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
D. W. Skinner
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
The Republican party began committing slow motion suicide the minute they allowed the evangelicals into their party to dictate a policy of hate and ugliness. As they started to to try to shove their religious beliefs down the throat of a nation that is a melting pot of diversity, they had slipped the rope around their neck and kicked their own chair out from under themselves.
Frank
Nov. 10th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
Blame some of it on Jimmy Carter.
No, not really, but he does kind of fit in here tangentially.
Carter was very openly and publicly Christian, and his campaign didn’t run away from it or make excuses. This was only about four presidential elections after JFK’s Catholicism was a real issue in his campaign.
We all know Carter came almost literally out of nowhere and defeated Gerald Ford, and religious Southerners helped put him there.
From what I recall reading somewhere, the GOP took note of it and crafted part of Reagan’s 1980 campaign to appeal to that segment of the vote, along with Nixon’s “southern strategy.” They had already, as Goldwater warned, started moving that direction. And they got the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell to help out.
I’ve known some evangelicals who were disappointed in Carter, because he didn’t use any of the powers of the presidency to make any moves to establish a theocracy.
Carter didn’t, as I recall, often refer to the Bible in regards to public policy, but he came across in a way that seemed to reflect what had been considered Christian: he projected caring, compassion, empathy, and forgiveness.
But apparently, a lot of believers viewed him as a disappointment, and some of them even as a kind of “traitor.” Carter followed the Democratic Party line when it conflicted with evangelical beliefs: Carter didn’t oppose the party’s pro-abortion position, and upheld the separation of church and state, for example.
So when the Moral Majority came along, a lot of evangelicals were hot to sign on with a movement that wanted to inject Christianity into politics.
Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and the like put (really ugly) faces on the religious right, and next thing we know, here we are in 2012, and there’s a whole lot of uglier faces out there. You know who they are; Leah’s been writing great articles about them.
So it’s not about Jimmy Carter directly, but a little bit about the…
Leah L Burton
Nov. 11th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
I am working on another post for PUSA announcing the success of completing the interactive map I made revealing the overwhelming WINS by ReBiblican congressional candidates in this 2012 election that are not being reported or given much notice at all.
godsownparty.com/blog/201...
While I agree that the current make-up of the GOP that include many angry groups in addition to the “angry white guy”, and that they are in dire need of re-branding…I can tell you from our results that they are enjoying far too much quiet success to simply “go away”. We must help them along…
I have made this map as easy to use as possible…please share it. The results are eye-opening!
MLouise
Nov. 12th, 2012 at 12:52 am
If one goes down to local level officials ~ school board members, township supervisors, county commissioners, etc. ~ the success rate for the ReBiblicans is even greater. They are the ones who will oppose anti-bullying programs in the schools, declare official “Days of Prayer,” and make sure that science teachers are afraid to mention evolution. They hold power in their own little fiefdoms, and they won’t go away soon.
On another topic, I tried the link to your interactive map, but it wouldn’t load in Internet Explorer 7. It works fine in Mozilla Firefox.
perplexed
Nov. 12th, 2012 at 11:58 am
Maybe they’ll destroy the GOP once and for all…god speed.
VJ
Nov. 13th, 2012 at 4:14 am
“Many of the faces now associated as Rs are not now, nor have they ever been, true republicans.”
The “No True Scotsman” fallacy, anyone?
“Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the ‘Brighton Sex Maniac Strikes Again.’ Hamish is shocked and declares that, ‘No Scotsman would do such a thing.’ The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again; and, this time, finds an article about an Aberdeen man whose brutal actions make the Brighton sex maniac seem almost gentlemanly. This fact shows that Hamish was wrong in his opinion but is he going to admit this? Not likely. This time he says, ‘No true Scotsman would do such a thing.’”
I agree with the article overall, but this is the new reality of what Republican means. I understand that it’s frustrating for old-fashioned, moderate, fiscal conservatives, but what a Republican was is not necessarily what a Republican is now. Very few people tow a party line to the letter, anyway, so it’s hard to nail down political ideology based on individuals.
If one took the “no true Republican” scenario you’ve espoused to its logical conclusion, you’d go back to the mid-1800s when the party was founded by abolitionists, and found them to be the tax-increasing, minority-loving liberals. (Never forget that Lincoln introduced the very first federal income tax.)
I think that if you want the Republican party to revert to sanity, you’ll have to first accept the direction it has taken as being, in reality, how it has evolved. You can’t hope to simply kick out such a large percentage, perhaps even a majority. Evolution does not involve lopping off diseased limbs.
A Walkaway
Nov. 13th, 2012 at 10:35 am
The difference between the Republicans of 20 years ago and now are striking, and while I now avoid them like the plague, I HAVE heard of “old-fashioned” Republicans who still talk about freedom of the individual and so on.
Around 20 years ago, I asked the Republican candidate for governor to please consider Native American issues and to look into and eliminate the laws meant to persecute our culture (e.g. the Florida feather laws). He listened politely, unlike what you’d get from one today, and made a response about freedom of the individual. (Jeb Bush of all people – turns out his family has a history of anti-American Indian bigotry.)
Now what you get are rants against “Those rascally Democrats forcing DEH GAY! on us!”. Or in our case “You want special privileges and your heathenness lifted up equal to Christianity!” (We aren’t heathen.)
Seriously, there are two clear types… the steeplejackers who are involved for ulterior reasons (convert or destroy and make the world into their idea of a “Christian Utopia”) and the old-fashioned ones, who were more economically conservative (which isn’t good either) but not quite as rabid as the Rebiblicans.
I watched as the dominionists, the REBIBLICANS took over that party. I saw the infiltration and subtle shifting of politics. FYI, the Assemblies of God – parent of dominionism of the NAR flavor, TRAINS people on how to infiltrate and take over other churches and organizations. I used to hang out with their “Ministry Students” being so trained, and knew all about it (and was so brainwashed I supported it).
I’ve also seen them trying to take over the Democrats. Very much the same M.O.. They believe they have to take over and rule the world in order to make Jesus return.
VJ
Nov. 13th, 2012 at 6:21 pm
I didn’t deny any of that. In fact I said implicitly that I agree with most of the article. What I said is that you can’t define a party based on what you want it to be or what it used to be. Yes, there absolutely are different types of Republicans, but you can’t legitimately claim some of them aren’t really Republicans just because they’re newer, or because the party has changed. They’re still Republicans, and what a Republican can be has evolved, and if you want to deal with the problem, you’ve got to deal with that fact.