The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #76214 Message #1347991
Posted By: GUEST
05-Dec-04 - 10:54 AM
Thread Name: BS: Sorry I'm Republican and Christian
Subject: RE: BS: Sorry I'm Republican and Christian
If Republicans and Christian Republicans are fine with Democrats, why didn't a single Republican, including the current Senate majority leader, show up to wish Tom Daschle all the best recently when he was recognized for his years of service on the floor of the US Senate?
I mean, that in itself is about as petty, mean, and insulting as it gets, is it not?
When the leaders of the Republican party act thus, why should we expect anything different from their followers who vote for them and defend them and their bad behavior vociferously?
One more thing I'd like to straighten out here, along the lines of what Bobert and artbrooks said. And that is, the majority of Republicans DO NOT DESCRIBE THEMSELVES AS CHRISTIAN OR AS MORAL VALUES VOTERS. That is but a 25% minority of the 50% of voters who voted for Bush. And only roughly half of all eligible voters actually voted in November.
So Bush no more has a mandate than Clinton did.
That's right folks. When you actually look at the numbers (and the "final" numbers are just now coming out on the election) it is a very small minority indeed who would describe themselves as Christian Republicans or moral values voters.
Which means that the vast majority of Republicans aren't really interested in having religion injected into politics. This administration has quite a few of them to serve as examples of Republican politicians exploiting the religious right in the same way Republican politicians have exploited the racist south. There is actually quite a bit of overlap between fundamentalist Christians and white racists in the south, though very few people will come right out and say. But that is what the Republican Party's Southern Strategy has been all about since Nixon.
The majority of Republicans are no longer just in the South, or are rural voters. The majority of Republicans nowadays are ex-urban whites, fled to the suburbs in their SUVs, to raise their children in wealthier "good" schools away from "those people" in the cities. If they pay organized religion any attention at all, it is merely lip service for protective coloration in their business clubs, like the Rotarians, or to make suburban society connections in their local brand spanking new suburban super churches.
Christianity isn't a deeply held belief system or moral values system to them. It is a means to their greedy, money slumming, social climbing ends.