Fundamentalists in the Political Nutcracker: Vote Occult Leader, Black Man or Neither

The largest fundamentalist protestant group in America is now undergoing what may be the religious ‘Waterloo’ of the 21st Century. This shocking direct assault on Fundamentalists’ basic Christian beliefs and Biblical standards is a direct challenge: Its latent and enduring post-Civil War Jim Crow racism is riled and it is confronted by a direct and relentless challenge form its strong rival, America’s largest home-grown, nativist sex & heretical, powerful occult cult - Mormonism.  

The Impossible Born-again Baptist Choice: Deny Christ of the Gospels or Vote for a Black.  

There Is No Way Out Except Not to Vote at All
A Southern Baptist wishing to vote in the November Presidential Election faces, what is for many, a completely illogical and unacceptable decision. It’s an ideological and religious deadlock. Vote for a cult that is aggressively challenging via its dominance and faith or vote for a Black President-who has been propagandized into a socialist and a leader (Read: FOX News, Christian Radio Networks) who does not represent America.

The slogan “Take Back America” is ringing in the angry Tea Partisan’s (Tea Party Republicans) ears and there is no logical or practical way out.

Lingering racism still remains the dominate dank ‘shadow’ of the culture of hotly religious, rural America both North and South, it has grown and flourished in what some are determined to call a “post racial” era. This is an ongoing ideological attempt/trick to say equality and race-based things are OK now, passé--Blacks have no further legitimate claim to discrimination, disenfranchisement or reprisals based on color—We’ve moved on... or so they claim.

America has indeed moved on. But the place to which it has moved is both dangerous and contemptible in its denials and its continued subscription to the old racial stereotypes and bigotry of the antebellum of the Old South.

The intense angst and anger, the grieving over the ascendency of a Black Man to the nation’s highest office and to the position of our Commander-in-chief has rekindled a dark and foreboding tide of irrational thought and dysfunction. Congress is deeply pitted in behaviors unbecoming our Constitution and the work of Abraham Lincoln to preserve and advance the Federal Union.  

Black or Occult: A Choice That is “No Choice” for America’s Fundamentalist White Male

Over 16 million Southern Baptist Convention regular church goes and others (aligned with Dr. Richard Land, SBC’s policies godfather) are pitted against the Mormon cultist (said to be the fastest growing religion in America) whose converts are coming substantially from the ranks of former nominally Christian ranks, including those of the once-dominate American religious faith, political, and cultural force- the Southern Baptists. Mormons claim worldwide membership of over 14 million.

 So what is a man who clings culturally to his religion, his pick-up, and his guns to do?

Not all that Ancient Rites on the American Right: Mitt Romney's Mormonism is causing major shifts in the rhetoric of the Religious Right-Wing (Mormon Ritual in the Temple 1890's)

 

The historic development of John Smith’s peculiar cultish blend of Protestant Christianity religion, the Jewish Kabbalah [Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection, by Lance S. Owens], Masonic rites, and other occult elements have worked into this religion which gives a Mormon man his religious basis for the domination and sexual freedom to have many female partners [both via Secret Mormon Endowment Ceremony] polygamy here on earth, pledged brides, and (for those “elites” who achieve “god-hood”) a planet to inhabit and populate with their offspring—an anti-Christian belief which is alluring and lustfully and carnally self-serving.

There is neither time or place to properly expand upon the tortuous route that John Smith’s cult as taken from its inception around 1830 until today’s historic clash of American voters in a Cultural War over the presidency.

Scholars find that Mormonism holds a theological “truth” that its head-living prophet represents God’s authority to revise and extend the Canon of the Christian New Testament into today.

Thus on many crucial and central tenets of Mormon belief there is an on-going fluidity and the ever present possibility of an abrupt sacred change vested in Mormonism’s present leader. It’s estimated that these changes the faith and secret and public practice of the Mormon ‘theology’ has already undergone 4,000 separate revisions, rewrites, and changes. Beginning, most notably with Joseph Smith himself.  

Mormonism Is Nimble
This cult’s nimble ability to morph faith and practice to fit the contemporary needs is totally inconceivable to the Fundamentalist Baptist who holds to the final warnings and cures of Revelation 22 ending God’s will and demands spelled out in inerrant scripture and precise behavioral practice of the God dictated and inspired New Testament are changeless and without error as written:  

Revelation 22: The New International Version

John, the Revelator and the Angel
6 The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”
7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.
9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”
10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near.
11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”

Epilogue: Invitation and Warning
12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you [a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

For the lay Christian the following article lays down the rule: the non-negotiable principle called Biblical Inerrancy:

Divine authority
For a believer in biblical inerrancy, Holy Scripture is the Word of God, and carries the full authority of God. Every single statement of the Bible calls for instant and unqualified acceptance.[42] Every doctrine of the Bible is the teaching of God and therefore requires full agreement.[43] Every promise of the Bible calls for unshakable trust in its fulfillment.[44] Every command of the Bible is the directive of God himself and therefore demands willing observance.[45]

Sufficiency
According to some believers, the Bible contains everything that they need to know in order to obtain salvation and to live a Christian life,[46] and there are no deficiencies in Scripture that need to be filled with by tradition, pronouncements of the Pope, new revelations, or present-day development of doctrine.[47] (Break) Many who believe in the Inspiration of scripture teach that it is infallible but not inerrant. Those who subscribe to infallibility believe that what the scriptures say regarding matters of faith and Christian practice are wholly useful and true.

Source: Biblical Inerrancy (from Wiki on scripture)

The “Nut” That Must Be Cracked  

Mitt Romney Must Not Be Elected President: He’s not Born-again

Well-Known Fundamentalist Author and real “Christian” Mover and shaker, Tim LaHaye (author of the Left Behind phenomena), takes a fundamentalist stance: Only A Born-again Christian Can Be President of the United States-- "Only Christians should hold high office.”

So what do the millions of “Values Voters”, members of the fundamentalist Southern Baptist Convention, the Pentecostals, conservative Roman Catholics, and hoards of Mega-Church believers do faced with Mitt Romney, the non-Christian leader of an anti-Evangelical, Sect-Mormonism, a non-Christian, and a 'Republican' who is asking for their vote as a “severely conservative” Republican?  

Internecine Battles: Fundamentalist v. Mainline
This sea change in America is an all-out-no-holds-barred attack upon the Methodists, Presbyterians, and other major Protestant denominations which are labeled "apostate" in the view of this militant army of Pentecostals, Fundamentalist Catholics, and Fundamentalist Independents. The Mainline Churches' "liberal" stances on human sexuality and the co-operation with the World Council of Churches are but two examples of this tradition’s gigantic "sins."

Nor is there likewise any real ultimate historical reverence or toleration of the Jewish and Muslim--Abrahamic faiths, or the Buddhists. Read their literature. The Fundamentalist Magazine, Tim LaHaye, "Only Christians should hold high office." (LaHaye's definition of "Christian" is on his own narrow terms and does not include many Mainline Christian believers with less Fundamentalist views than those of LaHaye).

Former Michigan Republican State Rep. Joanne Voorhees' simply stated conviction (quoted by the Grand Rapids Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 22, 2004) was Christians are the only folk she would endorse or support for public office. She explicitly trusts only her brand of Christians.

The general public, perhaps casually agreeing with her sentiments, fails to understand Voorhees' thinking, practice, and parlance. “Qualified Christians” according to Voorhees are very specific, narrowly defined believers. Society thinks of Christian as a broad, inclusive term. Voorhees defines/limits Christian to narrow, specific dogmas and exclusivity. Her "Christians" must adhere to exacting/specific religious demands.

 It's a problem. Voorhees, was, at the time, still an elected official who must do all the people's business: her approved "Christians," other Christians and faiths, as well as everyone else's business. She was, as an elected state legislator, was sworn to uphold a national constitution disallowing religious testing for public office. Yet, in practice, Voorhees espoused religious tests for public office--conflicting with the constitution and putting herself above it.

Voorhees' subsequent restatement: "Christian" includes the Jewish faith--awkwardly and inaccurately attempted to mitigate damage her candid expression of her "selective" Christians Only viewpoint had previously created (See ALSO this posting).  

Romney’s Mormonism is a Gigantic Fundamentalist Christian Obstacle  

Joseph Smith said he had a revelation where Jesus told him that all the religions at that time were an abomination in His sight. From a panel discussion at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary entitled “Baptist panel OK’s vote for a Mormon” on September 11, 2012. From the seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr:

"Throughout most of Christian history, folks haven't struggled with this question because they didn't have the luxury of struggling with it. ... The separation of the priestly role from government is something that has to happen in the minds of American evangelicals," Mohler said, warning against viewing government as an idol.

More from Russell D. Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary:

‘Moore agreed, saying U.S. Christians have been guilty of trying to Christianize American history. "So many evangelicals want to go back and claim Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and John Adams as orthodox, evangelical Christians," Moore said. "The problem with that [is that] Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were great men who did fantastic things for our country, but once you start claiming them as orthodox evangelical Christians, you're not elevating those men, you're downgrading the Gospel into something that fits whatever they happen to hold. And you wind up with [modern-day] politicians who learn the language of evangelical faith in order to use it, in order to manipulate people into supporting them." The four-member panel said Americans on multiple occasions have elected candidates who did not hold to evangelical beliefs. Among them were Unitarian William Howard Taft and Catholic John F. Kennedy.’

A Dialogue on “Mormonism & Christians” that appeared on WNET in PBS’s Mormons & Christians program led by reporter Lucky Severson featured commentary from the following guests: Stephen Davis a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College, Patrick Mason, Chair of Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate University and Richard Mouw, President and Professor of Christian philosophy at the Fuller School of Theology. From the program “Mormons & Christians”:

Professor Stephen Davis: “If the question is Mormonism a legitimate expression of Christianity, honestly I would have to say no. I think that legitimate expressions of Christianity can be found in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, virtually all the Protestant denominations, but not Mormonism, because too many of their doctrines and beliefs are non-Christian.” Patrick Mason: Mormons in a lot of ways are scarred from a long history of misrepresentation in what they see as false reports about the church or unfair treatment of the church, and this goes all the way back to the 1830s. [PBS Correspondent] Severson: That was when Joseph Smith said he had a revelation where Jesus told him that all the religions at that time were an abomination in his sight. From then on Mormons, who were seen by some as lower-class, superstitious dupes, were targets of ridicule and violence eventually leading to the assassination of Joseph Smith. In the 1860s, the government sent the army to Utah to keep an eye on the Mormons. The army established this fort overlooking Salt Lake City. The cannons that were here were aimed at the Mormons.

But the most vocal critics of Mormons have long been evangelicals. Richard Mouw, President and Professor of Christian philosophy at the Fuller School of Theology, says one reason is because Mormons have been such good proselytizers.

Richard Mouw: Mormonism began as this evangelistic program of going out and getting converts, and very often converts from the traditional denominations, and so evangelicals and Mormons have had an unusually hostile relationship over the years because they have been sort of competing proselytizing programs, but also they traded the rhetoric in very hostile terms. Patrick Mason: There’s a sense of them-against-us that in some ways gets inflated among the grassroots membership of the church. But there is no doubt that for many people (Mormons) they see evangelicals as the enemy, and they need to be converted.

Civil Rights Flip-flop of the Radical Right: Father George Romney marched with civil rights activist in the 1960's - The Son, Mitt Romney  chooses a different path - one paved with political expediency (Segregation Protest Sign, National Archives)

The question is not whether it is right for a Mormon or a Black man to run for the Presidency in 2012. Civil Rights for Blacks have been established. There is no constitutional basis for a “religious test for public office” but there remains the choice.

The question is what will this iron-clad “core” of the Tea Party Controlled, Fundamentalist infused “block” of Republican voters (largely in Southern States) do when it comes their turn to vote. A racial example from the fundamentalist school of thought:

Jon Hubbard, a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, has written a new book in which he says slavery was "a blessing" for African-Americans, among other questionable statements. Hubbard, a first term Republican from Jonesboro, Ark., makes a series of racially charged statements in the self-published book, including saying that integration of schools is hurting white students, that African slaves had better lives under slavery than in Africa, that blacks are not contributing to society.... Hubbard in his Book: “… the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.” (Pages 183-89)

Source: “Jon Hubbard, Arkansas Legislator, Says Slavery May 'Have Been A Blessing' In New Book” in the Huffington Post by John Celock on October 5, 2012.


A final anecdote from a Kos respondent:

"My very evangelical, Republican mother and I had a conversation about this last week. For reasons that defy logical explanation, she is very enthusiastic about Romney. She is one of the Republican dead-enders that loved Dubya all the way to the bitter end in 2008, so that ought to tell you something. As for Romney's Mormonism, she simply said that she would "just have to let God deal with that." Mmmmm-kay. You'll vote to impose your faith on everyone in every other way possible, but it's OK… Gotcha. I suspect to “let God deal with the fact that Romney is a Mormon”…that a lot of Southern evangelicals have this same mindset when it comes to Romney's Mormonism. What makes the hypocrisy even more amazing is that they are completely oblivious to it."

And then there’s this insight on Race & the GOP:

The issue here is whether the Republican Party has racism "baked into the cake", not whether racism is limited to the South. It is not a question of individualized, subjective racist intent, which is certainly ubiquitous as far as I can tell, but rather it is structural racism. Republicans adopted the "Southern Strategy" and thereby put racism into their very structure. 

Will they lay aside their racial prejudices and ancient discriminations and abuses or will they deny and betray the central tenet and core of their Fundamentalist Christian faith and endorse and support a Bishop from a rival occultist cult - Mormonism.  

The impossible choice, deny Christ of the Gospels or vote for a Black. Now is a historic moment of impossible decision: Whom will the Fundamentalist Choose?

UPDATE: AP Story "Evangelical leaders worry Romney's Mormonism could suppress conservative turnout"

CLIPS from the last night's October 9, 2012 AP Story:

"...what had been thought of as a hypothetical question for American evangelicals for years, Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler said recently, is now a reality with this election and is being tested in a contest that will likely be decided by slim margins.

(break)

"The fact is that Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and many of our people are very, very uncomfortable about voting for a Mormon, as I am. I supported somebody else in the primary. But, hey, we have no option," said Steve Strang, an influential Pentecostal publisher, in a conference call with pastors last week. Strang was speaking to participants in Pulpit Freedom Sunday, an annual challenge to IRS rules on churches' political activity.

(break)

Evangelicals make up about a third of voters who are registered or lean Republican. Some Republicans have estimated that a significant number of Christian conservatives have not been voting in presidential elections and have focused on getting them registered. But that effort has a new wrinkle this year: Romney is the first Mormon nominee for president from a major party.

(break)

Pastors are struggling to get that message across while still making clear that important doctrinal differences with Mormons remain. Conservative Christians believe they have a duty to point out beliefs they fear could lead others astray and risk their salvation.

As Strang was getting out the vote last month, the news editor of his best-known magazine, Charisma, wrote a column calling Mormonism "bizarre" and a "Christianesque cult." Another columnist called Mormon doctrines "creepy and (with apologies to Mitt Romney) demonic."

Mohler and other academics took up the issue in a discussion last month at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship training ground for future leaders of the nearly 16 million-member denomination. Called "The Mormon Moment? Religious Conviction and the 2012 Election," the speakers went to great lengths to emphasize that religion should not be a consideration when voting.

END of UPDATE

On the Reader:

Watch PBS Frontline "Election 2012" on Mitt Romney (and President Obama) and his history as a Bishop and leader in the Mormon church, see Romney artifacts or read more about the Southern Baptist Convention and Richard Land's (fundamentalists') dilemma in ""We Always Need a JESUS CANDIDATE"? - Just WhoWill be God's People's Choice for President in 2012” (January 2012).

Related Slates:

The Crushing Blow to Mitt’s Quix-Toxic Quest: ‘Good Samaritan’ or ‘Corporate Bandit’  (October 2012) - Middling Mitt Romney Not of His Fathers' SterlingCivic Michigan Mettle (Gaskell & George Romney) (June 2012) - Mitt Romney: America’s Nascent Holy “god” & PossiblePresident? (February 2012) - Welcome to Planet Willard: Michigan's Wayward Son MittRomney to Rule His Own World (January 2012)

Cross-posted by guest commentator Morton from the McGuffey Gazette to Kos.

The Crushing Blow to Mitt’s Quix-Toxic Quest: ‘Good Samaritan’ or ‘Corporate Bandit’

All secure behind closed doors we have seen and heard you Mitt, chumming with your choice of friendlies - ultra-rich supporters. You told us in Tampa you were a man of goodwill and great benevolence. We know the story of the Good Samaritan… However, now we know you, Mitt… You are not that kind of benefactor. You are the worst kind of Taker not a Giver. Some stories/parables from a Christian’s childhood Bible Stories are indelible and belief driving. The parable of the Good Samaritan is just exactly one of those powerful life teachings.

Good Acts and Civic Good – But Does It Pay? The Parable of the Good Samaritan shows even the ‘unbelievers’ have the capacity for economic-free empathy (Georg Pencz Engraving 1543)

Christ told this illusive story to draw out the real meaning of his ministry and God’s wishes for believers. The truth Christ said is that even a man who practices a “cult” religion (Samaritans were a labeled a “sect” for “unorthodox religious practices” during the time of Jesus and where therefore social outcasts)--is more compassion and understanding about human needs and poverty than the Pharisees and the Sadducees of Christ’s own orthodox Jewish practitioners and leaders at the time. The Good Samaritan parable arose out of a challenge given Jesus by a lawyer who confronted him about his ministry and unorthodox practices (such as eating with prostitutes and tax collectors).

Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind “[Deuteronomy 6:5]; and “your neighbor as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18]." He said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live." But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" — Luke 10:25–29, World English Bible

Given this challenge Jesus replied with this parable/teaching story:

Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, 'Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.' Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbour to him who fell among the robbers?" He said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Note who did not intervene or help out: A religious priest, and then a lawyer. However, a Samaritan (a heretic member of a religious sect and outcast in the eyes of Jews to whom Jesus was speaking) was “moved with compassion” and “took care of him.” A “Good Samaritan” cares deeply about “victims.”

Sermonizing some pastor Sunday may obtain or gain insight expanding upon this parable for our times. She or he might skip over to refer also to that other story that expounds upon the relationship of the rich to the poor, The Rich Man & Lazarus. (See McGuffey: "The Blind-eyed Marriage of the Conservative Churches to the Excessive & Corrupt Business Practices") Yet using the Good Samaritan as an anchor, the good pastor can illuminate the power of the parable - educated and able men pass by those who have fallen among thieves and pass along indifferent and unmoved by such, a victim.

Those thieves the pastor may chance to connect with the Koch Brothers. who have stolen the clean air and pure water from those who work in their life threatening and notorious, heavily EPA-fined dirty manufacturing and cancer-causing petro operations/leaking pipeline facilities slung across America, many inflicting death and suffering on both Koch workers and communities surrounding them.

Or the pastor could refer to those clever manipulators of corporatocracy (Corporatist Job Thieves) whose lobbying and bribery (ALEC) for loophole and financial friendly legislation seeks laws and regulations which allow them to “steal” the jobs, livelihoods, and local places of employment from working families in order for their own “harvesting” of such community wealth as Mitt has so successfully done in the name of “free enterprise.” (See the video from the 1980’s were Mitt actually uses the term “harvest” when exalting in his shrewd methodology to his backers). These men are the same cut as the “robbers” in Christ’s parable.

One indication of Romney’s involvement in untoward activity and collaboration in the building Bain Capital includes the following:

“After initially struggling to find investors, Romney traveled to Miami in 1983 to win pledges of $9 million, 40 percent of Bain’s start-up money. Some investors had extensive ties to the death squads responsible for the vast majority of the tens of thousands of deaths in El Salvador during the '80s. The investors include the Salaverria family, [whom] former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, Robert White, has previously accused of directly funding the Salvadoran paramilitaries. In his memoir, former Bain executive Harry Strachan writes Romney pushed aside his own misgivings about the investors to accept their backing. Strachan writes, quote, ‘These Latin American friends have loyally rolled over investments in succeeding funds, actively participated in Bain Capital's May investor meetings, and are still today one of the largest investor groups in Bain Capital.’"

Source: On Democracy Now the piece “Romney’s Death Squad Ties: Bain Launched with Millions from Oligarchs Behind Salvadoran Atrocities”, August 10, 2012.

Let us not forget that super rich cabal that in 1913 persuaded Woodrow Wilson to allow the federal banking system to be privatized and put into the Federal Reserve System. Those same wealthy manipulators did in fact pull or harvest their “takings” from the 1929 stock market crash just prior to The ‘29 Crash, thus using insider information and skills, protecting their wealth and holdings. But at what horrendous human cost and the sowing of the seeds of WW II, a time of high crime against the entire world.

Let’s return to the meaning found in the narrative of the “Good Samaritan”.

Seeing a badly injured man, the victim of a crime, along the roadside is one thing. But notice what Christ said. Look. See. Who was it that decided to observe and assess the man’s conditions of need and simply pass on indifferently?

The entire point of the GOP National Convention in Tampa would appear to be an attempt to “sell” Mitt Romney as a very generous man. Mitt: the benevolent Mormon Bishop. Mitt: the caring family man, etc. Then came Romney’s 47% damning Revelation:

“All right, there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what… These are people who pay no income tax. … [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” “There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what."

These, Romney’s closed door revelations, were so shocking that Dr. Gregory Prince, a Mormon Historian and powerful defender of his religion, was compelled to proclaim, “Mitt Romney is not the face of Mormonism.” Dr. Prince:

“The issue of Romney's Mormon faith has never gone away, although its presence has waxed and waned as other issues have come and gone. How -- or if -- he chooses to use his religion as part of his public biography is up to him, but the fact that he is the only Mormon ever to be the nominee for the Presidency of a major political party makes it inevitable that even if people do not judge him because of his religion, they will judge his religion because of him. Given the unfolding news of this week, I regret to say that Mitt Romney is not the face of Mormonism.” (Emphasis Added)

So in his Quixotic Campaign Mitt has now devastatingly failed to redeem his father and has, in-fact, brought irreparable damage to his own precious Mormonism tradition. He’s a disgrace; having lost face in his own America, a nation that has never fully understood his cult religion and its place in society.

 Is it any wonder Wife, Ann Romney, would reveal on CBS that she has become very anxious over Mitt’s mental and emotional abilities to carry out the burdens of office, if elected? A lot has been made over the fact that Mitt is clearly more “centered” and “himself” when he’s campaigning accompanied by Paul Ryan and/or Ann, his wife.

 It is more than abundantly clear Mitt is in a unrelenting bind. He cannot control the radical GOP Apparatchiks (Operatives) “not of grand plans, but of a hundred carefully executed details”] who are determined to elect him to act as a figurehead ready to cooperate with an extremist anti-government agenda. That is, they are determined to elect a Republican if only as a compliant “document signer” for their planned radical legislation ala the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC’s nationwide agenda and the checklist of the Tea Party’s anti-government blitzkrieg coup d'etat. Now the “Mormon Candidate”, Mitt Romney, once portrayed as a kind and compassionate “Good Samaritan, ” falls prey to his own greed and duplicity--the dangerous vicissitudes of vicious politics. This is a crushing blow to Romney, a man on a crusade to save and rebuild his beloved father’s broken legacy, elevate, and authenticate in the eyes of the nation and the world his own Mormon Faith and bolster his father’s honor as a political leader well-suited to have been elected U.S. President back in 1968. How personally tragic and very, very sad for Mitt! Ann Romney has every reason to worry over the mental well-being of her Mitt; this man has been on the road to the presidency for six long slogging years, far too long to survive without fissures and stress due to the contortions and reversals of personal beliefs/religious training, and ambitions that such a grueling task exacts from a man whose main purpose in life may well-be to find his own place out from under his father's political shadow and avenge his father’s tragic and ignominious rejection from the 1968 GOP Presidential Nomination.

George Romney Campaign Slogan in 1968 – “Great for 68”

Michigan’s Gov. George Romney was rudely ejected from the process ostensibly because of Gov. G.W.R’s statement that he had been “brainwashed” by military brass that were determined to take the nation further into that horrible Vietnam War. It was a war Gov. George Romney abjured as a high quality Mormon on basic Mormon principles and would have no doubt changed the military execution thereof and possibly withdrawn the U.S. from Vietnam as its Commander-in-Chief:

“Initially, (George) Romney supported the Vietnam War, but after a 1965 trip there, he began to question the mission, feeling he had been ‘brainwashed’ by military officials. In August 1967, he articulated his opposition to the war.”

Source: Wikipedia, George W. Romney Campaign 1968 Mormonism, as a religion, has a conflict with serving in the military writes one Mormon; war and killing:

“…(T)here has always been an uneasy alliance between Mormon attitudes about serving in the military and religious devotion. President Spencer W. Kimball famously taught: "We (Americans) are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel—ships, planes, missiles, fortifications—and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become anti-enemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” - (Matthew 5:44–45)" “For many there is a person who kills for country or a traitorous coward. There are no positive terms for a non-combat hometown warrior, peace soldier, or citizen diplomat.” (Emphasis Added)

The exposure of Mitt’s most intimate thoughts concerning and defining the 47% of Americans whose support he forfeits, which Romney identified in Boca Raton as never voting for his candidacy and, coupled with the insider knowledge that his “cult” status as a Mormon was, and is, blocking his hoped-for plurality in the Deep South. This presents an intransient obstacle to his election. From a Brooking Institution Study titled “Does Mitt Romney have a ‘Religious Problem” in May 2012:

“Decades of polling has shown that Mormon candidates face steep obstacles in the American electorate. Roughly one in five Americans say they would not vote for a generally well-qualified nominee for their party who happened to be a Mormon according to Gallop surveys going back to 1967.”] , where “white” Evangelicals [by wide margins according to the Brookings Study make sure “Things are worse in the South, a region with especially high shares of Evangelical Christians. Romney lost Evangelicals (in the 2012 primaries) by 35 points in Louisiana, 33 points in Georgia, 24 points in South Carolina, and 16 points in Tennessee, carrying none of these states).”

Apparently there is a big problem here for Mitt. Southern far-right-religious will not back Mitt and in protest against his “cultist” status –they may “sit this one out”, may refuse to vote for president all together, despite the efforts of the Southern Baptist Convention via Dr. Richard Land’s attempts to assuage his some sixteen million SBC members to see Mormonism as a noble Fourth Abrahamic Religion-not a unique and suspect American Nativist non-Christian Cult, and vote, not for Romney but, directly against a “Black” Barack Obama (believing they are “saving American Exceptionalism” from a Socialist). Actual context of Dr. Land’s Statement:

“As controversy over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith continues to stir among conservatives and other candidates ahead of tomorrow night’s debate, some have questioned whether Mormons can be considered true Christians. “According to Richard Land, President of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the answer is no. “Most Evangelical Protestants and most conservative Catholics would say no, it is not,’ Land told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, refuting the notion that Mormonism is a Christian faith. ‘It is another religion. It does not have an orthodox view of the Trinity and the full and complete deity of Jesus Christ.’” He continued: “Perhaps the best way to look at Mormonism is it is the fourth Abrahamic religion. Joseph Smith playing the role of Muhammad, and the Book of Mormon playing the role of the Quran.”

That rancorous old political street fighter and cultural warrior, Pat Buchanan, has weighed in the following manner, in direct reference to the role race plays in the Southern Baptist Convention and the nostalgic Deep South. Joan Walsh, on July 25, 2012 in Salon:

“Remember that Pat Buchanan has compared the Tea Partiers to “George Wallace voters,” and bragged that he won them over to Nixon. Buchanan and [FOX’s Roger] Ailes are trying to do it again, and having a black Democrat in the White House makes them think it will be even easier this time. “Honestly, it won’t be easier. There are too many people of every race who are genuinely not racist, or open to naked racial appeals. I truly believe the vast majority of American voters will judge Obama on his accomplishments or lack thereof in 2012, not the color of his skin. But older white voters scared by social change are a small but reliable base for [FOX’s] Ailes and Buchanan to rely on.”

In another Salon Piece on February 2, 2010, Joan Walsh reported this bit of background:

“I reminded Buchanan that I covered a local tea party last year and worked hard to acknowledge the economic populism and anti-corporate-bailout sentiment animating some of the demonstrators. Whatever. But my favorite part of the debate was when Buchanan bragged about capturing the George Wallace vote for his boss, Richard Nixon, and I called that the “racist” vote. (For the kids, George Wallace was the Alabama governor who preached “segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever” and stood in the doorway at the University of Alabama to prevent black students from entering in 1963. He ran for president as an independent in 1968 and won five Southern states; Nixon and Buchanan clawed many of his supporters back in 1972, after an assassination attempt put Wallace in a wheelchair.) “Calling the Wallace vote ‘racist’ enraged Buchanan too, and he countered that those racists had voted for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. I acknowledged many of them did: Johnson lost them when he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and he probably knew it at the time, famously remarking (although I can’t find a reliable source for the famous remark) that he’d delivered the South to the Republicans for a long time. Right about then Matthews called time on our segment. “You can dismiss this as dumb cable TV chatter, or ancient history, and that’s your right. But I would urge you not to do either. By bragging about his success in winning the racist Wallace vote for Nixon way back when, Buchanan is (perhaps unconsciously) admitting the through-line from that racist GOP segment through the birthers and extreme anti-Obama tea partiers of today. It’s a remarkable admission. We should pay attention to it.”

How exasperating and angering it must be for so many of those nativist Americans-who still hold racial prejudice and intolerance for Mormonism--a religion outside “born again” Christianity—who have only two major choices in their interpretation of the choices for president in November 2012: Vote for a Cultist or vote against a Black! Historic race between a “Sect-ist” Romney and a “Black” Barack Obama raises a very bifurcated dilemma for the Southern Evangelical American voter . Southern Baptists in particular can vote either against their settled doctrine condemning “sects” or express their “racism” by voting against America’s first black president. Again Brookings:

“Those supposedly anti-Romney voters are among the least supportive of the president. Only one in four, Evangelical Christians has favorable opinions of Obama. (FOX News-Roger Ailes-Racist) Indeed, among Republicans who do not think of Mormons as Christians—that is, the subgroup believed most predisposed against Romney—fully 92% have unfavorable opinions of Barack Obama.” *

*Note: This information is as of May 2012, some of that opposition to Pres. Obama may be changing due to the Romney/Ryan full-frontal attacks on Social Security.  

Guest commentary cross-posted with permission to Kos.

On the Reader:
See the VIDEO of Mitt Romney while at Bain Capital talking  about 'harvesting' profits or read the analysis from the Brookings Institution on Mitt Romney's religion and politics
“Does Mitt Romney have a ‘Religious Problem'”.

Related Slates:
Middling Mitt Romney Not of His Fathers' Sterling Civic Michigan Mettle (Gaskell & George Romney) (June 2012) - Mitt Romney: America’s Nascent Holy “god” & Possible President? (February 2012) - Welcome to Planet Willard: Michigan's Wayward Son Mitt Romney to Rule His Own World (January 2012) and more on Mitt Romney and his father George Romney on the Gazette.

De onversneden Filistijnen: Pernicious and Pugnacious Michigan Tea Party Philistines Assert a Self-Righteous Tsunami of Testosterone

There's a Southwest Michigan Dutch Hollander expression for the "enemy" unworthy of praise "De onversneden Filistijnen" meaning loosely in Dutch - the uncut Philistines - translation: "the uncircumcised" or out-group in moral and cultural terms-from whom the Hollanders actively separate and religiously abjure. The arch-conservative or "zwarte kousen"- the "black stocking" people of Southwest Michigan and environs use this foreign phrase to define their enemies. Zwarte Kousen, the radical religious extremists of Southwest Michigan, are not-at-all typical of the greater population of the Netherlands.

The Dutch Revolt - Decades of Battling for Religious Freedom (1568-1648): Dutch Protestants resisted the domination and perceived tyranny of the Spanish occupying Catholic Church (Engraving by Frederik Muller 1569)

The Dutch of Europe are:

"Long known as the bastion of liberalism and tolerance, the Netherlands has now been declared home to the least prejudiced people in Europe."

Unsavory Rogues: Well-Dressed Male Legislative Bullies & Bellicose Blockheads
A huge portion of the impulse and projection of overly zealous power of Michigan's TeaPublicans (Tea Party Republicans) arises from this unsavory group of male bullies and blockheads, men who find themselves in a super majority and cannot and/or will not limit themselves from over-boarding their perception of God's gift of power and influence is bestowed upon themselves: power and moral fitness make them "righteous." This group of men has dominated West Michigan politics and business for a long period.

These radical Republicans are sponsored in large part, and paid into politics: sustained, bought, and buoyed, by the nouveau riche Amway Clan -- the Richard M. (Rich) DeVos Sr. and Jay Van Andel families-at-large. These Amway scions, have been enriched by billions plucked from the "dead-end dreams" of suckers - (recruits churned into seeking a fortune from soap selling in a MLM/product-based pyramid scheme-where over 98% fail miserably and pay a heavy personal cost).

The Amwayites (founders of Amway/Alticor) believe themselves on a mission from God. They are the self-appointed members of the "hounds of Heaven" out to purge the state and its laws of all things offensive to their narrow and short-sighted tastes. (while enhancing in every way their grip on mega-wealth and the final say in all things business related.) As spokesperson Betsy DeVos put it, "We expect a return on our investment." Over the years the "returns" from shrewdly placed political investments has paid off for Amway, big time, they milk the game fully!

Now, amid this orgy of "rightness," the Tea Party faction in the Michigan GOP has placed US Representative Dave Agema in the top political post of the party, GOP National Committeeman. Agema will go on to "infect" the larger body politic with his special brand of self-importance and superiority. Nasty political snobbery will be his trademark and calling card.

Agema, a Frisian, is a member of a specific sub-culture originating in a ill-famous lowland province of the Netherlands. It's a Dutch sub-culture of which former Congressman Pete Hoekstra is also a prominent member-and more importantly-a direct child immigrant from that special area of Holland.

Frisians are known to members of the Michigan Dutch Community for their special characteristics which distinguish them as a sub-group (tribe): super-stubborn and opinionated, extremely hardheaded, specifically limited socially, hardly tolerant, and certainly not liberal in a religious or cultural sense.

The recent flareup against two members of the legislature who are ladies reflects a deeper and more pernicious affliction amongst this group of men, highly influenced by West Michigan's "black stocking" faction -- angst and mistrust. Theirs is an outright fear of women and female power to move agendas and influence decisions many of these "old world" / paternalistic-minded males (governing people in a fatherly manner, especially by providing for their needs without giving them rights or responsibilities.) They believe God gives them preemption over women, government is a realm left only to men.

The George Lakoff image of "strict father" - master disciplinary of his house - lay out the most appropriate and descriptive model for the TeaPublican talking-points approach to politics. "Harsh discipline" and "complete male-control morals" fits the present atmospherics in the Lansing Capitol to a "T," what with the on-going "V" revolt!

Michigan’s self-righteous tsunami of testosterone projects just the right set of overweening evil drives and vengeance on to destroy the quality of life in our state

Much of the ongoing theatrics and rudeness of behaviors in the torrent of conservative savage attacks on women and their status, their jobs, their retirement, and their health care (in larger terms) in the Michigan state legislature comes from the pre-New Testament concepts rooted in the Genesis account given in the Old Testament. This permission to override female judgment and opinion, the choices and goals of women, comes directly from the continuing belief (however quaint and mythical) that the "fall of man" comes directly from the fault of a woman (think St. Augustine).

Elaine Pagel in her book "Adam, Eve, and the Serpent" (New York: Random House, 1988) explained it for John R. Mabry, who writes:

"A recent study I did on St. Augustine of Hippo convinced me that the starting point for guilt as a staple of Christian life began with him. As Elaine Pagels points out in her marvelous book Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, what the Jews and early Christians had read for centuries as 'a story of human freedom became, in [Augustine's] hands, a story of human bondage.' Instead of being a story about the gift of moral freedom, as St. John Chrysostom proclaimed, Augustine taught that 'Adam's sin not only caused our mortality but cost us our moral freedom, irreversibly corrupted our experience of sexuality... and made us incapable of genuine political freedom.'"

(Emphasis Added)

Does this sound silly or unbelievable to you? And what place does this theological contrivance have in modern, legitimate civic affairs?

Mayhap you are not attuned with the deeper theolotics behind and invasive in the present fanaticism and outrage going on in many churches (Christian Dominionists, Michigan's Citizens for Traditional Values - a well-known member: State Representative Tom McMillin (R - Rochester, MI) and in the hidden corners of the Opus Dei Vatican and Michigan's Tom Monahan (Read “Tom Monaghan becomes national power broker for GOP Catholic candidates” that appeared in the Naples News in September 2008.

Testosterone Fear Runs Wild in Evangelical Circles
Things have grown so out of hand , so irreverent and absurd, that Christianity Today has a cover story entitled “Forever Young: The Juvenilization of the American Church, the inside story: When Are We Going to Grow Up? The Juvenilization of American Christianity” by Thomas Bergler.
Amazon Book Notes expands:

“(Thomas) Bergler shows too how this "juvenilization" of churches has led to widespread spiritual immaturity, consumerism, and self-centeredness, popularizing a feel-good faith with neither intergenerational community nor theological literacy.”

Meanwhile in the real world of pain and gain: Pernicious and Pugnacious Philistines are in complete control of the political direction of Michigan-Michissippi is on a tsunamic crest. 

Those the conservative Southwest Michigan Dutch Hollanders diss as the "De onversneden Filistijnen" they themselves have become "concubines," as it were, to another set of rogue Dutchmen: the Koch Brothers and their powerful lobby the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) - the Koch's effective and secret way to legislative directly into corporate advantage.

Those the conservative Southwest Michigan Dutch Hollanders may diss the "De onversneden Filistijnen" yet it is they themselves who have become the neo-Philistines playing Animal House - a consequence of their own overblown evil ambitions and greed.

On the Reader:
Read the book "Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity" by Elaine Pagels (Vintage 1989) or an interview with George Lakoff on language and 'reframing' in "Framing the issues: UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics" (Berkley News 2003).


Related Slates:
The Blind-eyed Marriage of the Conservative Churches to the Excessive & Corrupt Business Practices (April 2012) - Mitt Romney: America’s Nascent Holy “god” & Possible President?

More on theolitics or the role of religion in politics under "Christian Values" on the Gazette.

The Original Post was CENSORED and DELETED by the editorial staff at the Detroit News and Michigan View.

Mitt Romney: America’s Nascent Holy “god” & Possible President?

"For missionary and public relations purposes, the LDS may present Mormonism as an 'add-on,' a kind of Christianity-plus, but that is not the official narrative and doctrine." 

--Father Richard John Neuhaus

Father Neuhaus: Romney's Mormon Religion Holds The Catholic (Universal) Church a "Fraud"

Conservative theologian, the late Father Richard John Neuhaus stated :
Traditional Christian doctrine and beliefs as lined out in the Nicene Creed is a " Christianity that LDS teaching rejects and condemns as an abomination and fraud."

Article: Richard John Neuhaus, Is Mormonism Christian? A Respected Advocate for Interreligious Cooperation Responds,

The following points concerning Mormonism are those outlined by Father Richard John Neuhaus:

- Mormonism teaches that there is a plurality of gods.

- Mormons dislike the term "polytheism," preferring "henotheism," meaning that there is a head God who is worshiped as supreme.

- If Christian doctrine is summarized in, for instance, the Apostles' Creed as understood by historic Christianity, official LDS teaching adds to the creed, deviates from it, or starkly opposes it almost article by article.

- LDS TEACHING THAT BELIEVERS ARE ON THE WAY TO BECOMING GODS has, of course, interesting connections with early church fathers and their teaching on "theosis" or "deification (see footnote)," a teaching traditionally accented more in the Christianity of the East than of the West, but theologically affirmed by both. (emphasis added)

- Some Mormon thinkers have picked up on those connections and have even recruited, not very convincingly, C. S. Lewis in support of LDS doctrine. (Lewis simply offers rhetorical riffs on classical Christian teaching and in no way suggests an ontological equivalence between Creator and creature.)

- ...(O)ne must ask (Mormons) what it means to be Christian if one rejects the two thousand year history of what in fact is Christianity.

- Christianity is inescapably doctrinal but it is more than doctrines. Were it only a set of doctrines, Christianity would have become another school of philosophy, much like other philosophical schools of the Greco-Roman world.

- Christianity is the past and present reality of the society composed of the Christian people. As is said in the Nicene Creed, "We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." That reality encompasses doctrine, ministry, liturgy, and a rule of life.

- Christians disagree about precisely where that Church is to be located historically and at present, but almost all agree that it is to be identified with the Great Tradition defined by the apostolic era through at least the first four ecumenical councils, and continuing in diverse forms to the present day. That is the Christianity that LDS teaching rejects and condemns as an abomination and fraud.

What about the source of moral and religious authority in the Mormon Religion? How is it derived?

Father Neuhaus:

Today's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is, allegedly, in direct succession to Smith, and the First Presidency claims powers that would have made St. Peter, never mind most of his successors, blush.

The top leadership is composed, with few exceptions, of men experienced in business and with no formal training in theology or related disciplines.

The President (who is also a prophet, seer, and revelator) is the oldest apostle, which means he is sometimes very old indeed and far beyond his prime.

Decisions are made in the tightest secrecy, inevitably giving rise to suspicions and conspiracy theories among outsiders and a substantial number of members.

Revenues from tithes, investments, and Mormon enterprises have built what the Ostlings (Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, Richard N. Ostling) say "might be the most efficient churchly money machine on earth." They back up with carefully detailed research their "conservative" estimate that LDS assets are in the range of $25-30 billion.

Father Neuhaus: The sanitized story of Mormonism promoted by the LDS tries to hide so much that cannot be hidden.

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For those who are most intensely interested in nominating and campaigning for a Republican who is a "Christian" to oppose President Obama (whom many delusional GOP No Nothings believe Obama is a secret Muslim) and wanting intensely to defeat Obama, do so by turning to a Mormon bishop, Mitt Romney there is a serious problem with the facts.

Equating Mitts' cultish religion as equal to their historic Christian faith; holding and espousing Romney's beliefs and authority as valid is a denial of their own faith. Christian faith may not be the right's best choice, if the a Mormon is accepted and endorsed by those proclaiming that they are champions of historic Christianity-they will have sold out their treasured faith and the moral high ground they have held for decades in political discourse.

However, IF CHRISTIAN VALUES ARE NOT TO SUPERIOR MORMON BELIEFS, supporting Romney may be the right choice of all the candidates. Power-Trumps-Principle is an old path to follow.

------

If politics are more important than defending Christian Doctrine, and the real goal of the "Christian Right is simply defeating a Democrat president-seeking a second term, then politics is a higher value than championing the Catholic (church universal) faith and preserving its practices and doctrines.

None of this theological and fact-based examination presented by Father Neuhaus takes away from the Mormon practitioners their claim and right to assert their high life-preserving and family promoting life-style. In many ways the Mormon way of living puts to shame the average person professing in the Christian faith- one who does not practice the values in Christianity and keep its moral teachings.

Father Neuhaus:

- Mormonism gives a whole new meaning to being "pro-family." In Mormon belief, families are, quite literally, forever.

- widely and justly admired is the LDS welfare system, whereby the community takes care of its own when they get into economic or other difficulty. At present, in a time of economic prosperity, only about 5 percent require help from the welfare system

- a strong emphasis on chastity sharply reduces sexually transmitted diseases, while a tightly knit and supportive community makes homicide and suicide rare. Put it all together, and one concludes that Mormonism is good for your physical health. Whether it is good for your spiritual health is a disputed question. (It should also be noted that medical data on the strongly committed in other religious communities are comparable to the Mormon findings.)

- There is no denying that the prohibition of alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine has a payoff. Mormons live; on average, eight to eleven years longer than other Americans, and death rates from cancer and cardiovascular diseases are about half those of the general population.

- There is also the Church Educational System, which involves hundreds of thousands in continuing education programs here and around the world. Nor can the most severe critics deny the energy, enthusiasm, and organization of the LDS in its missionary zeal, and in its dramatic presentation of its colorful history, whether through the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or annual pageants reenacting the key episodes of its sacred stories.

- In a world that seems to be largely adrift, it is no little thing to be part of an organized crusade in which you and those who are closest to you view your life as crucial to the unfolding of the cosmic drama.

The critical decision remains: To vote for Romney, a Mormon, or not.

None-the-less, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Strict Catholic Christians, by endorsing Romney, put to shame their vociferous and "strong conviction" claims to superior beliefs and "higher morals," purer faith, and "stricter values" (than those of secular citizens or liberals) which they have been lobbying must be placed into law, for decades.

This charade of "values voting," if it endorses Romney, is but a weak imitation of former times when men's Christian principles/birthright were held inviolate and not thrown-over/traded for a cold "bowl of porridge" ladled out as a drive for power, profit and defeat of a political foe.

Father Richard John Neuhaus wrote a number of books, including The Naked Public Square. He was Editor-in-Chief of First Things - a Institute on Religion and Public Life magazine. These excerpts on Mormonism appeared in First Things, March 2000.

-----

Disclaimer: This posting is presented to draw a comparison between the starkly differing views of the Mormons and Neuhaus' cadre of hard-driving activism that has been so much in involved with and in support of the kind of Moral Majority-style ideology which has been polarizing American Politics.

Obviously, the Mormon religion has full rights to its place in America under the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the freedom of religion.

"There shall be no religious test for public office"
-- The United States Constitution in Article VI.

In the present circumstances surrounding the candidacy of Mitt Romney, and formerly of Gov. Huntsman, it behooves the public to delve into the issues and moral dilemma that an Evangelical, Pentecostal, or conservative/strict Catholic faces when choosing a "strong Christian convictions" person who meets their heretofore rigid standards [e.g. G.W. Bush-"born-again"] and a Mormon-whom Father Richard John Neuhaus characterized as an aggressive foe of Christianity-in his view.

Footnote: 

"In Christian theology, divinization, deification, making divine or theosis is the transforming effect of divine grace. This concept of salvation is historical and fundamental for Christian understanding that is prominent in the Eastern Orthodox Church and also in the Catholic Church, and is a doctrine of growing importance in certain Protestant denominations, being revived in Anglicanism in the mid-19th century."

-- Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article "deification".

Original.

St. Santorum Fails the Defender of Truth Test

Rick Santorum knows by heart the definition & meaning of "sin of omission." His failure to correct or rebut the angry, benighted cottonhead, who spewed vicious hate speech and bashing and libeling President Obama, is a gigantic fissure in his vaunted "values" image.

Is the distant possibility of the Presidency or the offer of the position of candidate for Vice President on a 2012 GOP ticket more important to Santorum than the chance he forfeited to be a courageous guardian of truth and decency?

Pragmatic omission has trumped Santorum's lengthy claim to the "moral high ground." With this one glaring omission and his milquetoast attempt to justify his grievous omission and error at the moment the incident occured will haunt Rick to the last days of his life.

Angry curmudgeon and hate-ranter woman in the audience:

"I never refer to Obama as President Obama because legally he is not. He constantly says that our constitution is passé, and he ignores it as you know and does what he darn well pleases. He is an avowed Muslim and my question is, why isn't something being done to get him out of government? He has no legal right to be calling himself president."

To make things worse. Santorum, by not rebutting the lying woman, built on the power and momentum of her assertion and cleverly joined in on her verbal thrust. Added immediately by Rick Santorum:

"Well look, I'm doing my best to get him out of the government right now.... And you're right about how he uniformly ignores the constitution. He did this with these appointments over the recess that was not a recess, and if I was in the United States Senate I would be drawing the line."

Were Santorum a genuine man of integrity and greater courage he would have reacted as did Sen. McCain during his 2008 campaign: Republican John McCain directly confronted an angry woman who at that time pejoratively described Mr. Obama as an "Arab" by saying:

"No, ma'am. He's a decent family man ... [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."

The weak courage displayed by Santorum's meek excuse for his omission of an instant "moral challenge" is highly revealing: "I don't feel it's my obligation every time someone says something I don't agree with to contradict them, and the President's a big boy, he can defend himself and his record..." In other words I chose to protect those of my supporters who agree with this angry woman, and I certainly don't want to offend them or lose their votes.

In other words, Santorum will shield his supporter(s), however malicious or in error. This he did in order to protect his media sound bite for the evening's news hour. He'd leave the world believing he didn't know the answer to the woman's assertion. Or did he choose to simply refuse to defend the President under sharp attack, thus giving the distinct impression, he Santorum (smiling) relished this savage attack on the President's character? Coupled with Santorum's reference to the President as a "big boy" Rick's demeaner smacks of a deeper and far more troubling subliminal, instantaneous, instinctive approving rejoinder; revealing a very dangerous biased interpretation from deep within Santorum.

How simple would it have been for Santorum to say he's our President and an honorable Christian man; then defend Obama's honor with the whole truth?

But "(r)ather than disagreeing with the questioner or correcting her assertion by reminding her that President Obama is in fact a Christian, Santorum ignored the more controversial parts of her question." Observed Lee Bailey's EuroWeb site.

St. Santorum, the "values" endorsee of the Texas Religious Right 150 Coalition, has failed the moral courage test. Give Santorum a solid F- !

SEE Also: Let the government be the government & Let the church be the church.

Original.

Selling out Jesus: When Politics Trump Eternal Truth

This is in response to an increasing number of Evangelical endorsements of Newt Gingrich.

The Failure of Rev. Dr. Bill Monroe, Florence, South Carolina Fails to Defend His Christian Faith's Moral Standards Against Newt's Sexual History of Repeated Sexual Indiscretions Is a Serious Denial of Fundamentalist Beliefs

South Carolina is home to 2,100 Southern Baptist Churches with 670,000 members. It has apparently lost its authority and hold on itself to the moral high ground.

The moral high ground (Character Counts) has been abandoned by one of the state's most well-known T.V. minister and denominational leader, Pastor Bill Monroe. Why?

-----

More and more Baptists/Evangelicals/Pentecostals are slipping out of the yoke of rigid fundamentalism and going for a new polity, a religion driven and based on a Marketplace, economic model, abandoning the prior commitment to the sterling principles found in the Holy Bible.

The Evidence of Change (God Hopping) is Everywhere
Their new churches look and act like humongous country clubs with clergy who aspire to become media celebrities. Many newly-erected buildings are festooned with boutique names to hide their actual doctrines and denominational affiliations. Now, more and more, these formerly Fundamentalist congregations are simply formed as non-denominational, inter-denominational, or free form.

Mega Churches are choreographed with hi-tech congregational karaoke-style singing "praise songs and choruses" steeped in adoration and praise, filled with scant theological content, infused with high calorie emotionalism and passion. Intimacy with Jesus, confession of personal failure, an outpouring of neediness, and a plaintive cries for comfort are palpable. It's a tough world out there!

Mega Churches play a role as platforms/stages for commercialism, business networking, hard-driving Entrepreneurs and MLM recruiters.

Millions of dollars of books, tapes, DVD's and other paraphernalia are hawked in the vestibules. Some churches publish a Christian Directory to their members to keep the flow of business inside the flock.

Attending church represents a ripe business opportunity!

So in Low Country a gigantic shift has eroded away the standards and faith of the forefathers of faith there. Doubtless, the rough ride taken having endorsed and backed "Cowboy Christian" G.W. Bush took much of the shine off the concept of Christian-in-chief once enthusiastically ascribed to W.

Foggy denial is a perfect place to hide from the momentous and terrible carnage and human suffering laid at the feet of a "war of choice" George W. Bush-the man who claimed God's blessing and guidance in his political debacles and warmongering.

The tragic consequences of the Bush failures and willful mayhem lie openly at the feet of South Carolinians who were the first block of "values voters" to propel Bush into the 2000 Presidential Race.

The "values voters" egregious mistake: Putting their full "righteous" faith and confidence behind George W. Bush, knowing his weaknesses, alcoholism, drug use, insincerity, intoxicated debauchery and loose/wild-living prior to his pronouncement of personal "salvation" succeeded in suckering many.

A good salvation/redemption story is always a big hit, especially if it is coupled with a celebrity. The mantra became, "He's 'born-again'- now he's one of us."

Christian South Carolinians this presidential primary season "seem more pragmatic about choosing a candidate than they have before." They are making an adjustment. TODAY, BEING 'BORN-AGAIN' TAKES BACK SEAT TO 'ELECTABLE.'

Beat Obama is more sacred than beat the Devil: Politics trumps "born again" salvation as the highest value.

They want a candidate who "will be best suited to defeat President Obama, fix the economy and promote Republican values according to interviews with dozens of voters, analysts , elected officials and religious leaders" interviewed and reported by Serge F. Kovaleski of the New York Times. 1.18.12.

Perhaps it is beginning to dawn on South Carolina; the impact their humongous mistake in endorsing G.W. Bush. Failure to carefully examine W morally and politically; Evangelicals thereby dismissed certain attributes and flaws that would have otherwise have been clear red flags for them as to the flawed quality of Bush's leadership abilities and his weak intellectual acumen. America and the whole world have paid an incalculable price for their omission!

-----

The use of the "born again" miracle, as a prime reason for a political endorsement, seems not to factor as much in their rush to embrace the sexually addicted Newt Gingrich here in 2012.

Some Fundamentalists seem to have chosen to accept the mode of redemption that Newt has adapted for his moral scrub-up.

Does Newt's use of the Roman Catholic system of long and expensive, legalized annulment(s) to enter the realm of the "redeemed" strike on authentic note with them? Newt's sins are now only "past history?" Newt's Catholic conversion, as described, is definitely not the Evangelical/Baptist equivalent of being "born again."

However, the compromise which "evangelicals" such as Dr. Bill Monroe have made by endorsing Newt, compounds their earlier compromised stance to overlook or ignore the glaring character flaws of W. Such sell-outs have now greased the rails, lowering the standards, to admit Gingrich to the place of religious acceptance and approval by "values voters" portends a tragic future and a nasty national election campaign and beyond. This process is taking a mighty toll on Fundamentalists' historic allegiance to the Bible and high moral standards.

"The Marketplace" has encroached upon the House of God and made it into a neo-pagan temple of commerce and politics.

The power and authority of the Ten Commandments has been abandoned - Commandment Number 7: Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.

Newt Gingrich's fancy footwork mitigating his sexual addictions and divorces has been brought to the forefront. Southern Baptists in the Evangelical block, e.g. 60% of South Carolina's GOP primary voters are Fundamentalist Christians. Voting for Gingrich in large numbers, they have abandoned truth and biblical principles based on literal truth found in the Bible. This is a serious lapse, a tell-tail indicator of coming problems for the denomination and "values" movement impacting its moral authority going forward.

Most "frequent church attendees" are apparently woefully ignorant of the basics of the Southern Baptist trademark: literal interpretation of the Ten Commandments and Scripture. Charge this up to the shift of its pastors and leadership, who have become more interested in single issues and winning at politics than doing the gospel work of encouraging and securing confessions of faith and teaching the unchanging Biblical laws for human behavior via helping people become "born again."

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How did the South Carolina Baptist leader Rev. Dr. Bill Monroe defend his endorsement for Gingrich?

1.) Pastor Monroe states "after meeting with Newt Gingrich, I believe he not only holds conservative values, but HE WILL FIGHT for them. His broad knowledge and experience in both foreign and domestic affairs give him a distinct edge over other conservatives and HE IS FAR AND AWAY THE BEST DEBATER which will be a critical factor in the upcoming Presidential debates. While I like Gov. Perry and Rick Santorum's conservative views, I BELIEVE NEWT GINGRICH IS THE ONLY CONSERVATIVE WHO CAN WIN. I WANT TO GIVE HIM MY UNQUALIFIED ENDORSEMENT." (emphasis added) 
-- PRESS RELEASE from: Newt 2012, 1.18.12

2.) "Though Monroe has endorsed Newt Gingrich in the Republican presidential primary, he says the endorsement is personal and individual and does not represent an endorsement by his church as a whole."
-- WBTW News13


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Disclaimer: This is in response to a number of recent evangelical endorsements of Newt Gingrich, and not meant to be an attack on Evangelicals or infringe on the right of any American to freely practice their own faith.

Welcome to Planet Willard: Michigan's Wayward Son Mitt Romney to Rule His Own World

Willard “Mitt” Romney is on his way to greatness, as a current Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) “saint” in good standing.

Whether he loses his bid to become president of the United States and the platform that provides to promote the cult of Mormon or not.  Even if Mitt should lose his some $250 million in his Bain-based assets, Mitt will still be, without doubt, the lord and godlike master of his own planet - Planet Willard - somewhere out there in the great Mormon created, fictional celestial beyond. 

So Don’t Cry for Romney, Righteous America...

“After death, a good Mormon man who has followed a few certain rules is catapulted to this same status and receives his own planet to populate and rule over."

To receive this honor, a man must be "married for eternity" in the Mormon temple. This special marriage is binding after death as well as until it.

“’Celestial’ marriage, as this eternal marriage is often called, is essential for Mormon women. Without being celestially married to a holder of the priesthood, a woman cannot be 'saved'.”

Source: Austin and Fife, Alta Saints of Sage and Saddle. Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press (1980)

“Mary Ettie Smith, a Mormon woman who left the church and Utah in 1856, said that ‘women do not amount to much in themselves,’ and that women in those times were often celestially married to men they had no intention of ever living with, so that they could have a man who would be able to get them into heaven."

Source: Green, N. W. Mormonism: Its Rise, Progress, and Present Condition, Embracing the Narrative of Mrs. Mary Ettie Smith. Hartford, Belknap & Bliss (1870)

So Mavens for Mitt, all you evangelical born-again Christian women for Romney, join up with the Latter Day Saints and get and wear your special Mormon underwear.  If you’re exceptionally lucky, you may spend unending eternity with your Lord and Master Mitt on his own far - off Planet Willard.

How divine? Seriously… How ludicrous and silly?  An orthodox Christian belief?

... Not on your eternal soul!

Disclaimer: This is in response to a number of recent evangelical endorsements of Mitt Romney, despite decades of attacks on Mormonism by the religious right, and not meant to be an attack on the LDS or infringe on the right of any American to freely practice their own faith.


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Obama is the Anti-Christ & Dead Jerry Falwell has sent urgent word from Paradise “Vote Gingrich”

Trouble amid the "Jesus told Us All" Texas secret conclave deciding on their chosen one for "holy anointment" for "God's choice" in the 2012 GOP Nomination process.

Needing to have a voice in the GOP in order to save their billion dollar Christian Broadcasting and allied businesses, a secret group of 150 Rad Religious Rightists met in Texas at the ranch home of the man who promoted the tsunamic change in the Southern Baptist Convention from religiously moderate to hard-shell extreme Fundamentalists,one Judge Paul Pressler.

The following monologue from MSNBC News is most enlightening:

"One very specific point of light in the religious right pantheon has made his own endorsement today.

"Do you remember old Tim LaHaye?

"Tim LaHaye - the author of all of those books about the rapture, Mr. Left Behind, the Obama is the anti-Christ guy...Tim LaHaye, Mr. Rapture - today endorsed Newt Gingrich for president. He sent a letter to South Carolina religious leaders urging them to unite behind Newt Gingrich`s candidacy. Mr. LaHaye describing Newt Gingrich as having the best chance of beating President Barack Obama.

(LaHaye's) letter said, quote, 'IF WE DO NOT CHANGE OUR LEADERS IN THE NEXT ELECTION, WE WILL END UP BEING LIKE THE GODLESS SOCIALIST COUNTRIES OF EUROPE THAT WILL SO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY IN FOUR YEARS, THAT MANY EXPERTS BELIEVE WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO RECLAIM IT FOR MORAL AND PHYSICAL SANITY.'

(We may ask) "who the experts are who say I agree with him. But, (we) should also note that Tim LaHaye in his letter also says that Jerry Falwell is endorsing Newt Gingrich from beyond the grave.

"Jerry Falwell, of course, is dead.

"But Tim LaHaye says in this letter that before Jerry Falwell died, he told Tim LaHaye that, quote, 'Speaker Newt Gingrich is the most qualified man in America to run as president of the United States.' Mr. Gingrich for his part said today that he was very happy to receive the endorsement of Tim LaHaye.

"Mr. Gingrich did not comment on whether or not he was happy to receive the endorsement of dead Jerry Falwell." 

(Adapted & Emboldened for emphasis)

See Also: "Tim LaHaye, 'Left Behind' Author, Endorses Gingrich, Says Jerry Falwell Backs Newt From Grave" on Huff Post January 13, 2012.


This Endorsement of Gingrich by LaHaye et.al. is Desperate
THE ONE CLEAR MESSAGE in all the falderol is: The Rad Religious Right are far more interested in winning the election by:

1.) Backing their choice of candidates (however flawed) based on "perceived electability",

2.) Keeping an inside track to the hundreds of millions of taxpayer/handout dollars going to their so-called "faith-based" projects and initiatives,

3.) Renewing/having the "inside track" to the Oval Office as the Rad Religious Rightists did under George W. Bush.

These items are more important to the Rad Religious Right than is elevating/protecting moral purity (which Gingrich has not/does not possess) and defending the moral "high ground" so revered and sacred to their faithful followers who regularly vote as "a body of one" at the polls.

One wonders how this all plays in Heaven?


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Let the government be the government & Let the church be the church.

This exactly the OPPOSITE of what the 16 million member Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land wants from the GOP. Land hopes this election helps RECOVER TO THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT the cozy relationship and power granted them under George W. Bush - the inside track and advantage.

Can Any Good Thing Come Out of the efforts of the Texas Religious Right's 150 meeting?

Often in America "policies are adopted, not because they generate more benefit for the body politic, but because THEY BENEFIT AN IMPORTANT SET OF PEOPLE," writes one economist and political observer.

How does the nation benefit from their elevation of Rick Santorum to be their "blessed" choice for GOP presidential candidate?

What is the actual economic and political impact of the cabal of 150 "secret" neo-moral majority participants in coronating a "righteous choice" for the GOP presidential candidacy - Sen. Rick Santorum?

We have endured a long dark, dangerous tunnel of heavy influence by Rad Right Religionists whose influence on legislation has been ubiquitous: The horrific midnight Terri Schiavo, congressional fiasco, the appointment of an overabundance of uber-conservative Roman Catholics to the U.S. Supreme Court, the steady march of pro-lifers stymieing a woman's right to choice in her own health and wellbeing at the state legislative level; and on other issues such as: the decertification of collective bargaining; along with the Koch Bros. use of a multiplicity of astroturf organizations to roll back environmental rules and regulations (EPA) in order to richly "bless" their monolithic gas and oil holdings, the support of Grover Norquist's "No New Taxes" vow, legislation that is anti-science, etc.

Contrast: The Purity of the Founders Opposition to the "Establishment of Religion"

"To hear the Religious Right tell it, men like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were 18th-century versions of Jerry Falwell in powdered wigs and stockings. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Unlike many of today's candidates, the founders didn't find it necessary to constantly wear religion on their sleeves. They considered faith a private affair. Contrast them to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (who says he wouldn't vote for an atheist for president because non-believers lack the proper moral grounding to guide the American ship of state), Texas Gov. Rick Perry (who hosted a prayer rally and issued an infamous ad accusing President Barack Obama of waging a "war on religion") and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum (whose uber-Catholicism leads him to oppose not just abortion but birth control)."

Source: Rob Benson of Americans United.

The Corrupt Practice of Marrying the Church to the State, as has been the thrust of the Rad Religious Right now for well over 30 years. Doing so has made a mockery of many of its own various doctrines, standards, and moral edicts. This "marriage" has made a circus out of the political ethical high ground to which these advocates publically and loudly aspire.

The Economists' term "Public Choice" is "Politics without romance"
Wishful thinking...presumes that participants in the political 'Public Choice' act in a beneficial manner.

"As (economist) James Buchanan has so artfully defined it, 'PUBLIC CHOICE' IS 'POLITICS WITHOUT ROMANCE.' The wishful thinking it displaced presumes that participants in the political sphere aspire to promote the common good. In the conventional 'public interest' view, public officials are portrayed as benevolent 'public servants' who faithfully carry out the "will of the people." IN TENDING TO THE PUBLIC'S BUSINESS, VOTERS, POLITICIANS, AND POLICYMAKERS ARE SUPPOSED SOMEHOW TO RISE ABOVE THEIR OWN PAROCHIAL CONCERNS."

Source: "Public Choice" by William F. Shughart II.

HOWEVER: Politicians are not glowing angles of virtue-Not even former Senator Santorum

"'Public choice' is the application of economic models of self-interest to political science. The central assumption is that politicians are not glowing angels of virtue but prone to the same self-interested behavior as we might expect from anyone else. Basically public choice is, in the words of James Buchanan, "politics without romance".

"Studying 'public choice' is vital because people are susceptible to misconceptions. The moment economists admit that the market is imperfect due to problems such as public goods provision or externalities there is mass zeal for corrective interventions such as subsidies and taxes. Yet, this may not always be a good idea. The more legitimate question to ask is not whether the market is perfect; but, whether the political process is better."

Source: "Wise as serpents" posted February 2, 2011.

In the quest for constructive economic answers, the so-called "values voters"-blind followers of Right Wing Religious leaders, such as the Texas 150-are lost sheep.

Religion as a motivation for running secular government, a very bad idea
The concept of the use of taxes to punish by withholding the revenues from things this group does not support, or by taxing things that this select group wishes to undermine or limit is an antique idea that still holds promise for some who believe themselves to be morally superior to American society.

The debate over Taxes serves many purposes - including ignorance

"Alfred Cecil Pigou was the father of the idea that taxes could be used to correct negative externalities. An idea that Bruce Yandle (Senior Fellow Bruce Yandle, Clemson Alumni Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus and Interim Dean of Clemson's College of Business & Behavioral Science) points out is gaining significant popularity in a myriad of arenas: taxes on soda (to curb obesity) and taxes on large banks (to curb risky behavior). But, EVEN PIGOU DID NOT BELIEVE THAT POLICY HAPPENED IN A VACUUM. He offered this valuable insight:

"[W]e cannot expect that any public authority will attain, or will even wholeheartedly seek, that ideal. Such authorities are liable alike to ignorance, to sectional pressure and to personal corruption by private interest. A loud-voice part of their constituents, if organized for votes, may easily outweigh the whole."

"In short, 'public choice' is worth studying because we need to understand: VOTES ARE TO POLITICIANS WHAT PROFITS ARE TO BUSINESSES.

"Sometimes policies are adopted, not because they generate more benefit for the body politic, but because they benefit an important set of people. Finally ---and this speaks to Pigou's statement that "authorities are liable alike to ignorance"--- even if politicians were well-intentioned, there is no single Great Mind that could calculate the social costs or benefits needed to arrive at a corresponding tax or subsidy."

Source: Economic and Compassion - Wise as Serpents February 2, 2011.

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The American people, if allowed to think for themselves outside the intense media and propaganda world of "spin," care intensely about themselves and their families. They even care about local community and their nation. However, if their emotions and personal sense of ethics can be sidetracked by promoters of single issues and raw emotional religious fervor and are counseled against raising taxes, then they won't "vote their pocketbooks" and the benefits to themselves and the nation will be dashed.

This the situation we face in the 2012 elections-during a time when not nearly enough attention is being placed on a satisfactory national recovery, all the while Congress acts in TeaPartisan gridlock. To suggest and recommend to the large block of "values voters" that Rick Santorum represents the best "values" choice for the American presidency masks the clear threat that Santorum's Opus Dei devotion to expanding Roman Catholic influence over the United States (Santorum's highest goal) remains a very serious threat to the nation's basic secular freedoms.

Voting the Texas 150's "values" and ignoring everyday economic reality spells disaster. Voting "values" and ignoring the threat that Santorum represents to the preservation of Jeffersonian separation of church and state is unconscionable.

Purposeful blindness to the condition of the economy
This is the situation we face in the up-coming 2012 elections. And that is exactly what a "pledged vote" and endorsement from the Religious Right delivered in year 2000, a disastrous outcome: A "right wing religious" block vote (based on its leadership's vetting and endorsement process) resulted in electing a clearly under-qualified, mentally confused and burned-out George W. Bush. This man endorsed by the "Christian" Religious Right as a "bornaganiner" brought down the nation: Bush's lack of proper presidential attention to known terrorist threats (as indicated in CIA presidential daily briefings) led directly to 9/11, failure to curb federal spending (scant vetoes of run-away deficits), a war of 'choice' not paid by foreign debit, also Bush's complete inability to sense and prevent widespread corruption (WorldCom, Enron, Abramhof/Reed) and catastrophic Wall Street, mortgage, and banking collapses.

Normal citizens consistently "vote their pocketbooks"-favor of their own "best interests"

"In modeling the behavior of individuals as driven by the goal of utility maximization-economics jargon for a personal sense of well-being-economists do not deny that people care about their families, friends, and community. But public choice, like the economic model of rational behavior on which it rests, assumes that people are guided chiefly by their own self-interests and, more important, that the motivations of people in the political process are no different from those of people in the steak, housing, or car market. They are the same human beings, after all. As such, voters "vote their pocketbooks," supporting candidates and ballot propositions they think will make them personally better off; bureaucrats strive to advance their own careers; and politicians seek election or reelection to office. Public choice, in other words, simply transfers the rational actor model of economic theory to the realm of politics." 

Source: Presentation on Decision Making: Theories & Concepts.


The problem of church rule over and against state secular sovereignty
The injection of religious sectarianism, proscribed human moral behaviors or acts, strict prohibitions on drug substances and alcohol, and advantage given to certain fundamentalist ideology moves the "rational actor model" of politics in a very particular direction: Religionist hoping to run or rule the public square and legislate intend to coerce (by government police powers under their control) certain "values" or "defined moral behaviors" in ways that skew and distort the public realm in many ways not in the greater public's present or future best interests, especially, economic well-being.

Seeing the huge advantage and loop hole created by this Evangelical/Pentecostal/Fundamentalistic/Opus Dei power grab; corporations and internationalists have moved in to logically and systematically work against the "economic and social well being" of these true believers and glean huge profits and relief from their release from onerous regulations and rules corporations constantly complain are the overreach of government; deregulation has become a basic goal (value) for the far right religious coalition.

If it were that the "true believers" were the only part of the population effected by this distortion, so be it. But such is not the case.

Why must the entire nation be forced, by a powerful and hell-fearing faction, to vote and work against their "own best interests"?

Again...Ask the secret Texas Religious Rightist 150.


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