Fall of the GOP: Fear and Loathing in Conservative America

[Galraedia]

It’s an age-old story of power, and who wants it. Throughout history, it has been repeated time and time again. It has been proven without fail that the best way to control a populace is through fear and faith. Scare people into believing that the enemy is evil, that your solutions are the only way, and then set those ideas into stone by pushing them through religion. All over the world this method of gaining power is being practiced. You can see it in the power structure of the Middle East, and you can see it in the power struggle here in the United States.

The Republican party is no longer the party of freedom and liberty as they claim to be. They are no longer the pragmatic thinkers at the table, offering solution-based methods of compromise and action. They are no longer the party that thinks with their head and their pocketbook. That party disappeared a long time ago. The Republican party that we see today, and have seen for the past several decades is one of fear and faith, then finding ways to gather votes to gain power based upon those two principles.

The ironic part about the Republican party using faith is that they do not practice what they preach. Many in the GOP are intolerant, and boast bigoted legislation to inhibit the rights of many minorities including women, LGBT individuals, people of color, and those of varying faiths (or lack there of). If they practiced what their theistic book of choice (the Bible) taught, they would know that it is not their job to judge or legislate morality. If they practiced what their party used to represent they would allow for individual freedom.

The Republican party has become a party of strict theological dialogue. They will speak of being “Constitutional Conservatives,” however they violate the very principles so ingrained in our heritage as Americans. It directly violates the Constitution to legislate via Biblical principles. In the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution it says, ”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” What this means is that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. They wrote it as clear as a sunny day after a rainstorm. You can’t legislate via faith, but you can worship as you choose on your own time. The founders were very smart men who knew their history, and actually came to this new land to create a new form of government free from the theocratic laws of their past. If modern-day Republicans want to be “Constitutional Conservatives” they need to first read and understand the Constitution.

Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/03/09/fall-of-the-gop-fear-and-loathing-in-conservative-america/

[socialindependocrat]

1. Discrimination and hate crimes

Many in the GOP are intolerant, and boast bigoted legislation to inhibit the rights of many minorities including women, LGBT individuals, people of color, and those of varying faiths (or lack there of).

What about the rash of polling laws that obviously discriminate against students and the elderly?

What about all the laws focused on forcing women, against their concent to submit to invasive medical procedures that have no medical purpose?

Why aren't these proposals catagorically thrown out by the congressional leadership.
At least go thru some sort of system that identifies these discriminatory proposals
before congress wasts a lot of time arguing about them. Why isn't discrimination
considered a hate crime?

The defence I continue to hear from the right is that the liberals are trying to force things on the conservatives when, in actuality, they are trying to make sure that all people have the ability to choose. We are not forceing any religious group to participate in anything they choose not to. We are making sure that those people who want to participate have the option to do so.

Have we voted a bunch of idiots in to office?

[jerseyjack]

2. Get "The Power of Nightmares" from Netflix.

It explains the use of fear to control Americans. It was a BBC documentary.

[dtom67]

3. Follow the Lady...

The GOP really only cares about Economics. All their other " Values " ( anti-abortion, gun rights , anti-gay rights, etc..) are just window dressing. In order for them to get elected, they must identify issues that people are irrational about and exploit that irrationality in order to get people to vote against their own economic interests. They could never win any election by just saying " Vote for me! I'll lower your standard of living and turn the USA into a third world country ! ".
That's why they never do anything about these issues; If they made abortions illegal, how would they continue to get those people to vote for their own fiscal detriment??

[underpants]

4. Very well put. As Thomas Frank points out in his great "What's the Matter with Kansas?"

abortion is an endless issue. It will never end and it paints them as the party of righteousness and GOD. The odd part is that now in Virginia they are actually acting on these nonsense talking points and it has provided a cringe-worthy reaction from the public.