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Garnet SpyThere is a movement growing among Americans everywhere, but it has been especially been prevalent recently in a certain group of people known for allying with the neoconservative movement to advance its agenda.
For several decades now, especially since the 1970s, there has been an emergence of the “Religious Right” in America. We saw them come about after Roe v. Wade, we saw them during the Reagan years, and we have especially seen it characterized with its push and support of George W. Bush for at least the first six years of his presidency. It was never that a section of America suddenly became super-religious, it was that those in the neoconservative movement saw it as a way to gain power, since the New Left already had a hold on the poor and “hippy” culture.
The Christians on the Republican, neoconservative side of the line have been tricked into believing the biggest items on the agenda can only be cured by the federal government. Overturning Roe v. Wade is an important first step for the anti-abortion crew, but that isn’t all that they want to do, most want to go further and declare a national ban on abortion. They want the federal government to decide what is marriage and what isn’t. They want the federal government to save them from the horrible Democrats.
I think, though, they have begun to wake up after being disillusioned with George W. Bush. Since 2004 his big-spending habits and rejection of actually advancing the Christian Right agenda has caused many of them to question their government policies and interpretation of their religion.
Don’t get me wrong, many still buy what has been thrown at them, but many have realized that for decades their fears have been played on and that perhaps government is not the answer. I have personally noticed this reading stories about presidential candidate Ron Paul on some conservative websites such as WorldNetDaily, Free Republic, National Review, etc.. Articles by columnists as well as visitors leaving comments have been extremely hostile to Dr. Paul and his message. The strangest thing is, Paul is a Christian who believes largely what most of these people claim they believe, he just doesn’t think government is the answer to any problem.
This anti-government message has started to cause a split and fracture in the Republican party. Reading comments on these conservative sites you find that some people have kneejerk reactions and refuse to even listen to Paul. Comments on the Free Republic site have gathered a community that hates Ron Paul and calls him a whacko and his followers “Paulistinians”, an insult aimed at the Palestinians I suppose.
Recently James Dobson has called for a possible third party to split from the Republicans if someone like Thompson or Giuliani gets the nomination. Perhaps Dobson and those in his following have realized the neoconservatives only stick their own in the race for president? That the neoconservatives aren’t exactly nice, Christian people, but have only used Christian theology as an excuse to advance statism, control, wiretapping, war and spending? In doing so they’ve managed to convert some people over to their side permanently, but I think the majority who are politically active are beginning to question what they’ve believed for so long.
Editorials like these from Janet Folger, a woman with a voice in the ‘Religious Right’, show that they are not comfortable supporting any of the candidates. The excuses for supporting Mike Huckabee are few, yet they know Giuliani and Thompson are not good people. Why can they not break out of their mold and move to the Paul camp? Perhaps it is too radical for them after so many years of believing something. The truth hurts. Their excuse for Huckabee is pretty much “He was a pastor, he has to be good”. I hate to break it to them but that doesn’t mean a thing.
Over two hundred years ago Christians in America defied what some thought was a sin: to rebel against the government. Some of our Founding Fathers appealed in their prayers and speeches to God to forgive them if they were wrong in rebelling against Britain, but that it was necessary and they saw no way out of it. It was this type of person that put freedom and thought first and believed God must support it if he is just, he would not advocate tyranny if it was within grasp to stop it.
As I see the religious right look for other candidates, third parties, make up excuses to support Mike Huckabee, I see a slow but growing thought process moving through the minds of the neoconservative brainwashed base: “Are we really doing the right thing? Is this the only way to advance freedom and Christianity, through war, debt, restrictions of liberties?”.
It will take a while, but I am nearly convinced that the split is coming if this trend continues. The neoconservatives have played their game for too long and do not have any more cards up their sleeves.
Filed under: Politics, Religion, Republicans, Ron Paul | Tagged: christians, democrats, neoconservative, Religion, republicans, Ron Paul
They weren’t tricked. George Bush was their candidate. The Christian right played a major role not just in electing him and the Republican majority, but also in shaping the policies and practices of the current administration. They are just now beginning to wake up to how spectacularly unsuccessful those policies and practices have been.
How would questioning be possible among the brainwashed and obviously stupid? I have no problem with people disagreeing with me politically or religiously. I do take issue when they assume that I hold the beliefs I do because I am incapable of rational thought, individual thought, or reasonable thought.
For the record, not all of us Conservative Christians are Reagan Republicans. I consider myself a Crunchy Con, or (as I tell my Democrat Dad) a Teddy Roosevelt Republican.
I support Ron Paul for his ideas on the role of government, his anti-war stance, and his support of homeschoolers. He’s actually gained quite a bit of support among Conservatives who are increasingly frustrated with the fact that those currently in power don’t seem to be conservative about anything at all. Not fiscally, not governmentally, and not in regards to conserving our natural resources.
George Bush has been a disaster for this country, and I will never vote Republican because of him. I would love to see a third party just to keep the scoundrels honest, if at all possible.
Power doesn’t corrupt, it attracts the corruptible, and this presidency is the prime example of that aphorism.
The religious right is not libertarian. It is true that libertarians have some good ideas — much better than one typically sees from anyone affiliated with an entrenched party. However, Christ was not a civil rights kinda guy. He lived in a time of authoritarian rule, and his teachings were about personal conduct. Insofar as he addressed matters of government, it was only to encourage people to obey all laws their conscience would permit so that they would not antagonize public officials. He certainly would not have supported laws banning religious practice in strictly private contexts, but there is no way he would have complained about outright socialism, never mind the America’s plutocrat-friendly tax codes.
A large part of the “values voter” movement had nothing at all to do with limited government and everything to do with social conservatism. Social conservatism is about bigger government, including many of the items discussed in this post. It is politics at their stupidest and ugliest, but it skates by in part because political hate media attract larger audiences than any thoughtful discussion will and in part because it has comingled so strangely with economic conservatism. Economic conservatism is neither stupid nor ugly, so it provides an area of rational cover to conceal what is horrible about social conservatism.
The sooner real libertarians, including the Ron Paul set, recognize that they are half conservative and half liberal, the sooner a group of smart people can join that portion of the country already clearsighted enough to recognize that neither term is especially evil or especially good. I suppose part of the problem is that the media offers so much content, including special newspapers and even a special news-themed network, to cater specifically to full blown conservatives. On the other hand, libertarians lack such strong voices reaching across the nation in prominent venues.
For lack of organizational support to weave together and popularize coherent libertarian narratives, many find themselves falling back on coherent (if pretty consistently fraudulent) conservative narratives. It is not a healthy or productive association except to the degree that it provides comfort unavailable to those who will not compromise in the search for media content that tells them what they are predisposed to believe. Of course, the best thing anyone could do is scrap all attachment to labels of political identity, become open to the full diversity of information sources, and make some effort to exercise critical thinking skills. For many who take the time to read and comment online like this, that path is accessible and much more rewarding than any alternative. Yet for a majority afflicted with more apathy, and perhaps also less of a foundation in civics, firm attachment to labels and the hot-blooded comfort of being told you are right because people with an opposing label are evil and deserve your hatred is just as natural as rooting for a favored sports team . . . or engaging in the tribal warfare that no doubt dominated human events throughout prehistory.
[...] we have our New Leftian stranglehold “on the poor and “hippy” culture.” Let me put it this way, we tried to return “hippy culture” but we lost the receipt, and [...]
For what it’s worth, Demonweed, more and more of us in the “Ron Paul set” are realizing that we’re somewhere in the middle. We believe there should be as much distrust of big business as there is of big government. We believe that the government should serve the people of which it is comprised. And we believe that as much as possible government should leave us alone.
I’m still a Republican, and I won’t let George Bush ruin that for me. I’m going to remember which President started our National Parks, which President desegregated schools in the South, which President started the EPA, which President wrote the “Emancipation Proclamation”, and they were all Republicans.