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Monday, April 03, 2006

Kevin Phillips argued in yesterday's Washington Post that the Republican party has become a party of religious zealots trying to create a theocracy.
Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history.

We have had small-scale theocracies in North America before -- in Puritan New England and later in Mormon Utah. Today, a leading power such as the United States approaches theocracy when it meets the conditions currently on display: an elected leader who believes himself to speak for the Almighty, a ruling political party that represents religious true believers, the certainty of many Republican voters that government should be guided by religion and, on top of it all, a White House that adopts agendas seemingly animated by biblical worldviews.
I happen to be one conservative who is not religious in the slightest, but I have the deepest respect for those who have a strong faith. I think Phillips' whole premise is hogwash. Certainly, there are conservatives whose political views are guided by their religious values. But I think that our history has always had people whose political beliefs were shaped by their faith. Read the founders on their writings about mankind's inalienable rights. Where do you think they thought those rights came from? Even Thomas Jefferson, held up as the oracle on separation of church and state, believed that those rights came from the Creator. Read the Declaration of Independence again.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
Some of the people most admired today for their work on reforming our country whether it was ending slavery or rights for women were religious people whose desire to help others stemmed from their faith. Has Kevin Phillips ever read about the relationship between the First Great Awakening and the American Revolution? Or the Second Great Awakening and the connection to abolitionism? Would Phillips be so ready to decry those new evangelists for mixing up their religious beliefs with their political causes? And doesn't he remember that Martin Luther King was a reverend? Did MLK's strong faith taint his fight to end segregation? This is the history of our country. Religion has always been a strong strain in our history.

If Phillips is so worried about the Republican Party becoming the religious party, perhaps the problem is not that religious people are becoming Republicans, but that they are not feeling welcome in the Democratic Party. This is a point that Hugh Hewitt makes very powerfully in his new book, Painting the Map Red. Let me just quote from page 94, but I recommend strongly that you get the book and read all he has to say.
The attempt to scare America into voting against Republicans because of the absurd charge that their followers want a "theocracy" may be the biggest electoral mistake of the past fifty years. It is simply impossible to persuade majorities of Americans that they and their neighbors want mullah-style government because they and theose neighbors oppose gay marriage or think that devout Catholics can make great great judges. The deep offense given to people of faith upon being charged with extremism and kinship with the Taliban and the Iranian mullahs is sinking deeper and deeper into the consciousness of the American electorate.

It is a slander with few parallels, and th erote denials of religious bigotry when confronted with the record can not undo the deserved reputation of the left, and especially leading pundits of the left, for religious bigotry.
Hugh could have read Kevin Phillips' mind.

UPDATE: John at Wizbang has some additional thoughts.

And Jacob Weisberg has a review of the book that Kevin Phillips is promoting with this op-ed.
The Phillips method is to begin a chapter with a boldly stated thesis: America invaded Iraq to seize its oil. Having gotten your attention, he departs on a pompous, pedantic history tour: tar in the Bible, medieval mineralogy, Italian olive oil, the Basque whaling trade, the British carve-up of the Middle East, the rise of the automobile, and so on. Thirty pages later, having presented no evidence and answered no objections (So, why did the oil companies oppose the Iraq war?), he restates his claim more hyperbolically: "During the first George W. Bush administration, that reliance [on automobiles] dictated an attempt to turn the Persian Gulf into an American filling station so as to maintain high energy consumption." At least Michael Moore tries to make us laugh when he says stuff like this.
Ouch. And this is from a liberal.

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:44 AM 0 comments

Comments:

Kevin Phillips argued in yesterday's Washington Post that the Republican party has become a party of religious zealots trying to create a theocracy.

Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history.

We have had small-scale theocracies in North America before -- in Puritan New England and later in Mormon Utah. Today, a leading power such as the United States approaches theocracy when it meets the conditions currently on display: an elected leader who believes himself to speak for the Almighty, a ruling political party that represents religious true believers, the certainty of many Republican voters that government should be guided by religion and, on top of it all, a White House that adopts agendas seemingly animated by biblical worldviews.

I happen to be one conservative who is not religious in the slightest, but I have the deepest respect for those who have a strong faith. I think Phillips' whole premise is hogwash. Certainly, there are conservatives whose political views are guided by their religious values. But I think that our history has always had people whose political beliefs were shaped by their faith. Read the founders on their writings about mankind's inalienable rights. Where do you think they thought those rights came from? Even Thomas Jefferson, held up as the oracle on separation of church and state, believed that those rights came from the Creator. Read the Declaration of Independence again.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Some of the people most admired today for their work on reforming our country whether it was ending slavery or rights for women were religious people whose desire to help others stemmed from their faith. Has Kevin Phillips ever read about the relationship between the First Great Awakening and the American Revolution? Or the Second Great Awakening and the connection to abolitionism? Would Phillips be so ready to decry those new evangelists for mixing up their religious beliefs with their political causes? And doesn't he remember that Martin Luther King was a reverend? Did MLK's strong faith taint his fight to end segregation? This is the history of our country. Religion has always been a strong strain in our history.

If Phillips is so worried about the Republican Party becoming the religious party, perhaps the problem is not that religious people are becoming Republicans, but that they are not feeling welcome in the Democratic Party. This is a point that Hugh Hewitt makes very powerfully in his new book, Painting the Map Red. Let me just quote from page 94, but I recommend strongly that you get the book and read all he has to say.

The attempt to scare America into voting against Republicans because of the absurd charge that their followers want a "theocracy" may be the biggest electoral mistake of the past fifty years. It is simply impossible to persuade majorities of Americans that they and their neighbors want mullah-style government because they and theose neighbors oppose gay marriage or think that devout Catholics can make great great judges. The deep offense given to people of faith upon being charged with extremism and kinship with the Taliban and the Iranian mullahs is sinking deeper and deeper into the consciousness of the American electorate.

It is a slander with few parallels, and th erote denials of religious bigotry when confronted with the record can not undo the deserved reputation of the left, and especially leading pundits of the left, for religious bigotry.

Hugh could have read Kevin Phillips' mind.

UPDATE: John at Wizbang has some additional thoughts.

And Jacob Weisberg has a review of the book that Kevin Phillips is promoting with this op-ed.

The Phillips method is to begin a chapter with a boldly stated thesis: America invaded Iraq to seize its oil. Having gotten your attention, he departs on a pompous, pedantic history tour: tar in the Bible, medieval mineralogy, Italian olive oil, the Basque whaling trade, the British carve-up of the Middle East, the rise of the automobile, and so on. Thirty pages later, having presented no evidence and answered no objections (So, why did the oil companies oppose the Iraq war?), he restates his claim more hyperbolically: "During the first George W. Bush administration, that reliance [on automobiles] dictated an attempt to turn the Persian Gulf into an American filling station so as to maintain high energy consumption." At least Michael Moore tries to make us laugh when he says stuff like this.

Ouch. And this is from a liberal.

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:44 AM 0 comments

Comments: Post a Comment

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Monday, April 03, 2006

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HOME Betsy neither necessarily uses, nor endorses, the products advertised on this site. The truth about Avesil Cheap Hosting Atlanta Bankruptcy Attorney Dallas Bankruptcy Attorney Wikio Get exclusive travel deals and book discount cheap flights Online Bachelors Degree Comments from an AP history and government teacher in Raleigh, NC. e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com Commissions earned from selling items through Amazon will go towards buying materials for my classes. Thank you. Site Feed		Monday, April 03, 2006 Kevin Phillips argued in yesterday's Washington Post that the Republican party has become a party of religious zealots trying to create a theocracy. Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history. We have had small-scale theocracies in North America before -- in Puritan New England and later in Mormon Utah. Today, a leading power such as the United States approaches theocracy when it meets the conditions currently on display: an elected leader who believes himself to speak for the Almighty, a ruling political party that represents religious true believers, the certainty of many Republican voters that government should be guided by religion and, on top of it all, a White House that adopts agendas seemingly animated by biblical worldviews. I happen to be one conservative who is not religious in the slightest, but I have the deepest respect for those who have a strong faith. I think Phillips' whole premise is hogwash. Certainly, there are conservatives whose political views are guided by their religious values. But I think that our history has always had people whose political beliefs were shaped by their faith. Read the founders on their writings about mankind's inalienable rights. Where do you think they thought those rights came from? Even Thomas Jefferson, held up as the oracle on separation of church and state, believed that those rights came from the Creator. Read the Declaration of Independence again. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness Some of the people most admired today for their work on reforming our country whether it was ending slavery or rights for women were religious people whose desire to help others stemmed from their faith. Has Kevin Phillips ever read about the relationship between the First Great Awakening and the American Revolution? Or the Second Great Awakening and the connection to abolitionism? Would Phillips be so ready to decry those new evangelists for mixing up their religious beliefs with their political causes? And doesn't he remember that Martin Luther King was a reverend? Did MLK's strong faith taint his fight to end segregation? This is the history of our country. Religion has always been a strong strain in our history. If Phillips is so worried about the Republican Party becoming the religious party, perhaps the problem is not that religious people are becoming Republicans, but that they are not feeling welcome in the Democratic Party. This is a point that Hugh Hewitt makes very powerfully in his new book, Painting the Map Red. Let me just quote from page 94, but I recommend strongly that you get the book and read all he has to say. The attempt to scare America into voting against Republicans because of the absurd charge that their followers want a "theocracy" may be the biggest electoral mistake of the past fifty years. It is simply impossible to persuade majorities of Americans that they and their neighbors want mullah-style government because they and theose neighbors oppose gay marriage or think that devout Catholics can make great great judges. The deep offense given to people of faith upon being charged with extremism and kinship with the Taliban and the Iranian mullahs is sinking deeper and deeper into the consciousness of the American electorate. It is a slander with few parallels, and th erote denials of religious bigotry when confronted with the record can not undo the deserved reputation of the left, and especially leading pundits of the left, for religious bigotry. Hugh could have read Kevin Phillips' mind. UPDATE: John at Wizbang has some additional thoughts. And Jacob Weisberg has a review of the book that Kevin Phillips is promoting with this op-ed. The Phillips method is to begin a chapter with a boldly stated thesis: America invaded Iraq to seize its oil. Having gotten your attention, he departs on a pompous, pedantic history tour: tar in the Bible, medieval mineralogy, Italian olive oil, the Basque whaling trade, the British carve-up of the Middle East, the rise of the automobile, and so on. Thirty pages later, having presented no evidence and answered no objections (So, why did the oil companies oppose the Iraq war?), he restates his claim more hyperbolically: "During the first George W. Bush administration, that reliance [on automobiles] dictated an attempt to turn the Persian Gulf into an American filling station so as to maintain high energy consumption." At least Michael Moore tries to make us laugh when he says stuff like this. Ouch. And this is from a liberal. posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:44 AM 0 comments Comments: Kevin Phillips argued in yesterday's Washington Post that the Republican party has become a party of religious zealots trying to create a theocracy. Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history. We have had small-scale theocracies in North America before -- in Puritan New England and later in Mormon Utah. Today, a leading power such as the United States approaches theocracy when it meets the conditions currently on display: an elected leader who believes himself to speak for the Almighty, a ruling political party that represents religious true believers, the certainty of many Republican voters that government should be guided by religion and, on top of it all, a White House that adopts agendas seemingly animated by biblical worldviews. I happen to be one conservative who is not religious in the slightest, but I have the deepest respect for those who have a strong faith. I think Phillips' whole premise is hogwash. Certainly, there are conservatives whose political views are guided by their religious values. But I think that our history has always had people whose political beliefs were shaped by their faith. Read the founders on their writings about mankind's inalienable rights. Where do you think they thought those rights came from? Even Thomas Jefferson, held up as the oracle on separation of church and state, believed that those rights came from the Creator. Read the Declaration of Independence again. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness Some of the people most admired today for their work on reforming our country whether it was ending slavery or rights for women were religious people whose desire to help others stemmed from their faith. Has Kevin Phillips ever read about the relationship between the First Great Awakening and the American Revolution? Or the Second Great Awakening and the connection to abolitionism? Would Phillips be so ready to decry those new evangelists for mixing up their religious beliefs with their political causes? And doesn't he remember that Martin Luther King was a reverend? Did MLK's strong faith taint his fight to end segregation? This is the history of our country. Religion has always been a strong strain in our history. If Phillips is so worried about the Republican Party becoming the religious party, perhaps the problem is not that religious people are becoming Republicans, but that they are not feeling welcome in the Democratic Party. This is a point that Hugh Hewitt makes very powerfully in his new book, Painting the Map Red. Let me just quote from page 94, but I recommend strongly that you get the book and read all he has to say. The attempt to scare America into voting against Republicans because of the absurd charge that their followers want a "theocracy" may be the biggest electoral mistake of the past fifty years. It is simply impossible to persuade majorities of Americans that they and their neighbors want mullah-style government because they and theose neighbors oppose gay marriage or think that devout Catholics can make great great judges. The deep offense given to people of faith upon being charged with extremism and kinship with the Taliban and the Iranian mullahs is sinking deeper and deeper into the consciousness of the American electorate. It is a slander with few parallels, and th erote denials of religious bigotry when confronted with the record can not undo the deserved reputation of the left, and especially leading pundits of the left, for religious bigotry. Hugh could have read Kevin Phillips' mind. UPDATE: John at Wizbang has some additional thoughts. And Jacob Weisberg has a review of the book that Kevin Phillips is promoting with this op-ed. The Phillips method is to begin a chapter with a boldly stated thesis: America invaded Iraq to seize its oil. Having gotten your attention, he departs on a pompous, pedantic history tour: tar in the Bible, medieval mineralogy, Italian olive oil, the Basque whaling trade, the British carve-up of the Middle East, the rise of the automobile, and so on. Thirty pages later, having presented no evidence and answered no objections (So, why did the oil companies oppose the Iraq war?), he restates his claim more hyperbolically: "During the first George W. Bush administration, that reliance [on automobiles] dictated an attempt to turn the Persian Gulf into an American filling station so as to maintain high energy consumption." At least Michael Moore tries to make us laugh when he says stuff like this. Ouch. And this is from a liberal. posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:44 AM 0 comments Comments: Post a Comment