the very worst of this country is on display right now at the Value Voters Conference

[cali]

I keep tuning in and out in horrified shock.

It's pretty much all about religion. Right now Rubio is up blasting dems for intolerance. He's blathering on about Jesus Christ and how Christians are under attack in this country.

Before that we were treated to Cruz and Rand who spewed the same shit- Christ, Christ Christ, entitlements bad, bad, bad. Cycle of dependency.

It's a tsunami of lies and hate.

[msanthrope]

1. Oh, I think we've got some on display right here, at DU. At least with the people at

Value Voters Summit, you know exactly where they stand....wrong and hateful, but they ain't pretending.

[nolabear]

2. Who's carrying it?

[cali]

3. here:

http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/

[benld74]

5. CSPAN3

http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/

[The Magistrate]

4. 'Vote For The Crook, Not The Kook --- It's Important!'

[cali]

6. lol. in a nutshell, yes.

[The Magistrate]

10. That was An Actual Bumper-Sticker, Ma'am

Edwards v. Duke for Governor of Louisiana, some years back....

[jsr]

15. And a famous one too

[jsr]

7. I'd rather watch a septic tank get emptied

[lonestarnot]

9. Me too!

[russspeakeasy]

12. or get filled.

[BarbaRosa]

13. From what little I could stand to watch,

this is why the septic tank needs emptying .

[mmonk]

18. And it doesn't smell as bad either.

[hamsterjill]

8. It's really frightening to me.

I live in Texas and see this every day. What's scary to me is that these people actually BUY whatever is put in front of them, without any desire to think it through for themselves.

Puppets.

And puppets have always scared me!

[cali]

11. It is frightening.

I live in Vermont where this just doesn't exist. I mean that literally.

[Swede Atlanta]

14. One has to ask oneself "what" values are they promoting?

They claim to be "moral" and gain guidance from the Bible. Most of them, if not all of them consider themselves "Christian".

If they are I wonder which book of the Bible they are using to guide them in their definition of "values". The Old Testament for Christians and the Torah for Jews, is the book of the Law. It is filled with stories of a vengeful God that sets out specific rules for human behavior. Any violation of those rules brings with it swift and painful consequences.

But Christians supposedly believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ. The "New" Testament begins with the story of his life and is informed by what Christians believe to have been his teachings.

My read of the New Testament find some striking differences with the read by the Value Voters crowd. I see the following themes in the New Testament - none of which are embraced VVs.

1. Humility
2. Limited respect and subservience to secular authority "Render unto Caesar's what is Caesar's"
3. Generosity
4. Wealth in material things is not a sign of God's grace nor will it buy you salvation
5. Poverty in material things may be a sign of God's grace and while it alone will not "buy" you salvation, it places you in a better position to achieve humility and generosity
6. Love one another as thyself - writ large this means take care of one another....we are all in this together so treat one another with respect, love, compassion, generosity, etc.
7. Judge not lest you be judged - writ large - mind your own business. You should focus on your own salvation and not worry about what others do provided they aren't harming you or others

[NuclearDem]

16. I typically don't prefer to aggressively demonize religious people, even though I'm an atheist

But the speakers, organizers, and attendees at the VVS can all go fuck themselves.

Those are some really sick values they're voting for.

[HappyMe]

17. I see I'm not missing anything.

I think that Value Voters sounds like an off, off, imported from hell, dubious line of grocery products.

[joeybee12]

19. I wish Dems and others would refer to this as The Ignorance and Bigotry Summitt...

Call it what it is.

[cali]

20. you are exactly right and that's what I'll do from now on.