It is a given that the party out of power picks up seats in the off year election.

Why is that? The logic would seem simple. American voters have the patience and vision of a nearsighted 3 year old. Every two years after they have decided that they want a particular party to run the country, they conclude, “Where’s the unicorn I wanted?” and decide that the other party might have a better unicorn ranch…even though the very reason they elected the current party was their dissatisfaction with the delivery of unicorns by the party that was previously in power.

So, first we have to begin with the concept that no matter what the American electorate orders from the menu of Democracy, when it arrives, they always want to send it back and just get the nachos instead.

As disappointing as that principle of American Democracy may be, it creates a paradox that is inescapable.

a. If a party wants to have power, it must win elections.

b. Once a party wins an election, it is held to an unrealistic standard by an impatient public.

c. The party in power, not being able to meet unrealistic expectations is eventually viewed negatively by the public.

d. In the following election, Americans vote for the party they last voted out because, since they are not currently in power, they provide an alternative to the party in power that has failed to meet unrealistic expectations.

e. Rinse and repeat.

What is kind of depressing is that Americans seem unable to commit to long term goals, too reliant on short term gratification to solve profound issues and build long term successes. Can you imagine if the American electorate was a building contractor? Every other month it would tear down the work that had been done all month and replace all the workers because it wanted the perfect house built in a month and that didn’t happen. This is the Sisyphus School of Construction.

This paradox does however necessarily trip up all that participate in it.

The Republicans, after having handed a near Depression to Obama, have executed a Party of No campaign since he was elected. Thanks to our thriving public education system and a fair and balanced MSM , the American Public instead blames Obama and the Dems for what the GOP has wrought. So, just one and a half years after recognizing how destructive the policies of the GOP are, their bi-annual amnesia has kicked in and they’re ready to proclaim to the Party of Destruction, “Thank you sir, may I have another?”

The Republicans will win many seats in Congress, perhaps enough to take over the House. What will that mean?

Well, Michelle Bachman and Darryl Issa have boasted loudly about spending the next two years in a Clinton-style witch hunt against Obama, times 100. Joe Barton, who apologized to BP for their being asked to compensate people for ruining their lives will be in charge of energy policy. And John Boehner who declared that HCR would bring the Apocolypse will be Majority Leader in the House.

Is there a way to give the American electorate an IQ test or at the very least, a consultation with a mental health professional?

But wait, remember the cycle described above? The silver lining to the Repubs possibly taking over the House is that…they will be in power. So now the unrealistic expectations will be projected on them by the Public. In 2012 they won’t be able to run as they are this year, as the outsiders who had no control over the last two years. Uh-oh!!! Yes, they will BS about how, “If only we had all the power in DC, we could bring you the unicorns you want!” but that’s a bit more complicated than just being able to say, “Blame them, we’re not in power, nothing’s our fault!”

And as we learned from a Repub House impeaching Clinton, not to mention the 8 years of Bush and 6 years of Repub control in Congress, give them a little power and they’ll hang themselves with it.

We should work as hard as we can this year to fend off Repub control of the House but if despite all of our best efforts, they win…it could be the big motivator for Dems to get out in 2012 and re-elect Obama and a Dem majority in Congress. We may have to give up two crucial years of gridlock for at least two more years of progress but that might be the best deal we can get.

It is nearly impossible for Obama and Dems to get credit for what they prevented from happening. If we had a President McCain, I think we would have plunged into a massive depression that would have set this nation back twenty years or more from where it is today (giving tax cuts to the wealthy instead of the stimulus spending would have been the nail in the coffin). But that concept is not concrete enough for many out there to appreciate. Nor are all of the other strides Obama has made.

And don’t get me started on the Purist Dems attacking Obama, I imagine many of them smugly watching Repubs win this year, pleased at how it harms Obama’s presidency. If there was a way to give a Wedgie of Mass Discomfort to all of them, I gladly would.

Ultimately, the pendulum that passes for the mass mindset of American Voters will have a chance to swing back to sanity by 2012 and while we can’t give an inch this year, if Repubs win back the House, I think there will be a silver lining to that sulfurous cloud that could descend on DC after this November.

During last Friday’s Vox Populi, we were discussing how the GOP/Tea Party, assisted hugely by Fox, the MSM and corporations, has foisted this fraudulent series of racist and hateful “issues” on the nation and into our politics.

Pres. Obama, being a thoughtful man of reason, responds earnestly to accusations about mosques near Ground Zero, his being a secret Muslim, etc.

We arrived at a consensus that instead of this accomplishing anything, Obama’s responses merely validate and empower the GOP hate machine which is continuing to whip up more and more irrational fear and hatred against non-whites, non-Christians and any other group that can be portrayed as the evil “other”.

A legitimate concern is that such rabid, omnipresent and publicly sanctioned hate mongering is deteriorating social discourse and behavior as well as our democracy…not to mention increasing the likelihood of more terrible, hate-inspired incidents.

What Pres. Obama needs to do, in our opinion, is to bust this fraud wide open and expose the cynical greed for power behind it. Instead of playing defense in this rigged game, Obama needs to kick the board over.

We would like to see Pres. Obama make a speech from the White House to the American People, laying bare the racism and xenophobia being used to manipulate people to empower the GOP and corporate America. He needs to explain to the nation that the GOP’s blocking of everything that would help America recover from the GOP/Corporate-caused economic crash, purely for their political gain, is unAmerican.

By doing so, he could short circuit this dangerous scheme and turn the focus to where it belongs, on those who would betray the people for their own pursuit of power. Instead of standing by while the GOP propaganda machine continues spewing lies and hatreds that Obama needs to keep addressing, it’s time to put the GOP back on their heels and on the defensive for their ruthless and disgusting behavior.

And a bold, confrontational speech by Pres. Obama declaring that this campaign, by the GOP and the Corporations behind them, is about placing the greed for power above what’s best for the citizens of our nation would change the conversation profoundly from the manufactured accusations and divisive distractions from reality to the true reality we’re actually living in.

Such a speech could rally the nation.This country desperately needs to reverse the polarization and come together to confront and overcome the immense challenges facing us, not allow the GOP and Fox to increase the ongoing deterioration of this Union and its future because it’s to their own financial and political benefit.

So we came up with the idea of setting up a collaboration for folks here to offer their thoughts and suggestions on what Pres. Obama could say in such a speech and also what we should say to him in a cover letter to convince him to take such action.

Once we’ve had folks weigh in on this, we’ll draft a speech and a cover letter based on the comments below and post them so people can add their names (confidentially) as signatories to endorse them (and get the word out to try to gather as many people as we can to add their names). Then we will send the letter and speech to Pres. Obama for his consideration.

So please feel free to dive right in with any suggestions, please share your thoughts on what Pres. Obama should say in an address to the nation to defuse this mercenary campaign that seeks to further tear apart our nation and instead inspire people to come together for the common good.

In my various meanderings around the whole of existence and parts of New Jersey, I have had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of God, Satan and other well recognized talking heads.

It’s been my honor to share their blogs here at The Planet.

As Fate would have it (if you knew Fate as I do, you’d know how Fate always has to have things its own way or else you get the silent treatment), during my most recent hike along the Existential Trail (I didn’t run into Mark Sanford), I happened to come upon one of history’s most horrific human beings, Adolph Hitler. Well, actually it was his ghost…wearing ethereal lederhosen and a “Romney 2012″ button.

He had heard of my sharing the blogs of other famous and infamous bloggers at The Planet and, after awkwardly trying to convince me that he had come to enjoy eating at delis, asked if I would share his blog here.

So, purely in the interest of openness, free expression and shameless exploitation, here is Hitler’s Ghost’s blog:

Adolph’s Blog – 8-18-2010

If only I had a Reich Mark for every time my name is mentioned in American politics, I’d put my pals at Goldman Sachs to shame…if they had the capacity for it.

Actually, it’s been quite annoying. You spend your entire adult life demonizing other races and religions in your pursuit of consolidating power under yourself then see yourself totally ripped off by a low brow American political party. Where I am now, there’s no shortage of lawyers so I am considering my options, at a minimum, I’ve got the GOP on plagiarism and theft of trademark.

What I don’t get is that they are copying mein approach to seizing power and yet, instead of giving me credit, they fling my name as an insult at a black man who opposes what we stand for. Talk about embarrassing, George Wallace’s ghost won’t stop ragging on me and it’s getting on my nerves.

I mean, come on, either you think whipping up a nation to fear and hate minorities in a time of financial insecurity, in order to marshal a mindlessly hateful mob that will sweep you into power is cool or it’s not! You can’t adopt my strategy than use my name as a synonym for “Arschloch” on other people. And BTW, using my name and “communist” or “Marxist” on the same person? Really? Where did they get their education of history, from Texas school books?

Still, I do agree with the list of targets the GOP has been building and how they’ve been portraying them:

a. Blacks are racists who are working to turn America’s government into an African socialist society…and lop off the heads of white people along the way as a preemptive measure against the popular resurgence of polka music.

b. Gays are child molesters who want bestiality legalized and want to infect heterosexuals with The Gay. As thrice married Newt Gingrich has explained, they want to destroy marriage by first adopting it then driving it up to the country and letting it out of the car to fend for itself.

c. Latinos are all illegal immigrants, stealing jobs and white people’s tax money in the form of social services. The highly sought-after positions of Strawberry Collection Specialist, Leaf Wafting Technician and more have been greedily ripped from the hands of American workers champing at the bit to establish these careers for themselves.

d. Muslims belong to a despicable “cult” but America should be a place where there is freedom for all religions…except the ones we don’t belong to and/or are afraid of.

e. Educated and intellectual people are elitist wimps bent on destroying our country and transforming it into Communist Russia. Real leaders don’t “think” or “research” or “deliberate”, they are “Deciders” who think with their balls…or a friend’s balls if they have trouble locating their own tiny ones.

f. The weakest and most vulnerable in our society are threats to it. Lazy, unemployed workers are responsible for our economy not recovering by greedily taking a fraction of their salary from insurance they’ve paid for over the years. The poor don’t pay their fair share in taxes, instead living it up working 3 jobs or signing up for the military. The elderly with their “entitlements” are draining the government of money that could be going to give the wealthiest 1% tax cuts which, as the end of the Bush Years prove, lead to exactly the kind of booming economy Obama inherited.

Okay, am I leaving out anyone?

Add to this…so, the Reichstag is literally burned down and Republicans are rhetorically burning down the institution of government and the SCOTUS…excuse me but are my royalty checks in the mail? I thought not.

And yet, despite the current GOP being a tribute to my work, I’m the Boogy Man to whom they constantly compare their enemies. You know, you slave for your kids, give them everything they have and then one day they steal your car for a joyride with their friends, talking smack about you the whole time to announce what a jerk you are while throwing up all over your fine Corinthian leather.

It’s no fun being ahead of your time. If only I had known my philosophy would have conquered half of America’s political parties 70 years later…I might have taken Eva out of the bunker for a movie that night.

The GOP’s superficial message to Americans is, “Government is your enemy, trust us, we are the government, we should know.”

It is easy to boil down what their real motivations are, further siphoning tax money and public wealth into the hands of the wealthy and the only way to do that is to prevent it from being spent on or provided to the other 99.5% of the nation.

But this can be taken a step farther, to envision what the U.S. would be like if the GOP prevailed on everything they want. In such a country:

a. Taxes would be paid primarily by the vanishing middle class as they are diminished into more of an indentured  lower-middle class.

b.  Corporations would be unregulated and openly allowed to own our government.

c. Social Security would be privatized and when the next crash comes, seniors dependent on it will be left without any way to pay for their needs.

d. HCR would be repealed, Medicare would be ended and transferred to HC corporations, taking over all HC.

e. The internet would be controlled by corporations. Sites and content they viewed as favorable would be offered faster and wider access, sites and content not favored (especially any viewed as anti-corporate) could be blocked, have their traffic choked down to a trickle or have a toll booth attached that forces viewers to pay to even see it.

f. Spending on education would be slashed and public education would be shut down to turn it into being privatized, with private entities deciding what political and religious beliefs are substituted for facts, science and history.

g. Infrastructure spending would be slashed, highways and bridges would continue to disintegrate across the country.

h. Spending on an alternate fuels industry (that could revive the U.S. as a manufacturer of products that sell worldwide) would be killed in favor of financing more oil drilling, fracturing of the Earth’s crust for natural gas extraction and nuclear plants.

i. Unions would be disbanded, the minimum wage would be eliminated or hugely reduced to force wages down. An immigration policy would be passed that oppresses and terrorizes immigrants while exploiting them as ultra-low-paid workers for corporations.

j. The 14th Amendment would be repealed, people could be arrested if they don’t provide their residency/citizenship papers to law enforcement, abortion would be outlawed, an amendment outlawing gay marriage and rights would be passed.

And much more…

If the Dems want to have a strong showing in Nov, they should fight the Repubs on it being about what have the Dems done by focusing on what the Repubs would do.

A poll has finally come out which provides a bit of demographics on Tea Partiers. The MSM is spinning it as, “They’re actually not poor and ignorant, they’re better off than average Americans!” because of course, the contrary to what we’ve all witnessed is news and they want the conflict to continue by further legitimizing these nutballs. The truth is, they’re better off than most Americans BECAUSE most of them are retired and receiving Social Security and Medicare.

This is a case of, “Who are you going to believe, your lying eyes and ears or the MSM?” The core Tea Partiers are now verified in this poll to be older, hateful, prejudiced white males, many of whom are on Social Security and Medicare.

Here are details from the NYT article on the poll that the rest of the MSM will gloss over in their stampede to brand these loons mainstream:

The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.

And while most Republicans say they are “dissatisfied” with Washington, Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as “angry.”

…despite their push for smaller government, they think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost to taxpayers.

Of course they think SS and Medicare are good socialist programs the government should pay for, these hypocrites are getting both at the same time they wail about “socialism” and giving entitlements that other Americans who aren’t them might receive.

Tea Party supporters’ fierce animosity toward Washington, and the president in particular, is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich.

Yep, you read that correctly, these idiots think the real problem is that the government isn’t continuing to give everything to the wealthy!

More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor, and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public.

They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.

Wonder why they hate our president so much? Need anyone argue further about the racist mentality of Tea Partiers?

“The only way they will stop the spending is to have a revolt on their hands,” Elwin Thrasher, a 66-year-old semiretired lawyer in Florida, said in an interview after the poll. “I’m sick and tired of them wasting money and doing what our founders never intended to be done with the federal government.”

“I just feel he’s getting away from what America is,” said Kathy Mayhugh, 67, a retired medical transcriber in Jacksonville. “He’s a socialist. And to tell you the truth, I think he’s a Muslim and trying to head us in that direction, I don’t care what he says. He’s been in office over a year and can’t find a church to go to. That doesn’t say much for him.”

Note the ages of these people…they are retired and collecting SS and on Medicare, their mentality is, “Fuck everyone else, I got mine now and I don’t want money spent on other people…especially them black people!” And just as we might script her, the second old, white racist…er, “Christian”…displays her “Christian” values by attacking and hating and stereotyping a black man then nastily attacks his practices as a Christian…to infer that she is clearly a “real” Christian.

But while most Americans blame the Bush administration or Wall Street for the current state of the American economy, the greatest number of Tea Party supporters blame Congress.

They do not want a third party and say they usually or almost always vote Republican. The percentage holding a favorable opinion of former President George W. Bush, at 57 percent, almost exactly matches the percentage in the general public that holds an unfavorable view of him.

Uh…yep. They give Bush a 57% favorable. Here too, we can close the book on these idiots being anything other than unprincipled, hateful Republicans who are hiding behind “deficits” and “smaller government” to hate an American democracy that elected a black president. Bush destroyed the economy and the nation’s integrity but since he was white, Republican and patronized the Religious Right, his reckless tax-cutting, deficit spending and rape of the nation not only didn’t deserve Tea Party protests, he is seen by them as a great president. The question is answered, Tea Partiers are total frauds.

But in follow-up interviews, Tea Party supporters said they did not want to cut Medicare or Social Security — the biggest domestic programs, suggesting instead a focus on “waste.”

Some defended being on Social Security while fighting big government by saying that since they had paid into the system, they deserved the benefits.

Others could not explain the contradiction.

“That’s a conundrum, isn’t it?” asked Jodine White, 62, of Rocklin, Calif. “I don’t know what to say. Maybe I don’t want smaller government. I guess I want smaller government and my Social Security.” She added, “I didn’t look at it from the perspective of losing things I need. I think I’ve changed my mind.”

Hmm…they couldn’t find a Tea Partier who wasn’t even literally “White” and under the age of 62? And look at her idiocy. “Well, I’m supposed to say I want smaller government to mask my fear of black people and my selfishness…but being selfish, how can I stand on a principle of limited government when I want government giving me a lot? Hmm…maybe I should just say I’m for limited government for everyone who isn’t me! Yeah, even I can understand that!”

I hate to say it but the MSM continues to try and portray the Tea Partiers as “more normal than you think!”, helped immensely by the naked GOP propaganda machine, Fox News. We will continue to be told they speak for the average American, that they really just care about deficits and smaller government but these are flat out lies.

The Tea Party movement is hugely funded by FreedomWorks which is hugely funded by wealthy Republicans and despicable people like Koch. It is a fraud that roped in hateful and spiteful and racist people and cloaked them in contrived legitimacy. If you’ve ever seen interviews with Tea Partiers at protests, they don’t seem to have a clue about the economy, Obama’s actual policies or even basic facts about The Constitution and history.

The conclusion is simple. If someone is hateful but has no meaningful knowledge about the things they claim are the causes of their rage, they are Tea Partiers who haplessly hold up a mask to hide behind it their selfishness and racism.

When we last left The Man of Steele, he was cornered by Moral Outrage outside a lesbian bondage club in West Hollywood!

Using his Super Ignorance, The Man of Steele closed his eyes and ignored Moral Outrage, causing it to not exist for him and was able to escape its power.

The Man of Steele flew back to his Fortress of Ineptitude…on a private jet which he charged to the RNC at a cost of $12,000 but it included a pair of  socks.

There, he used his Super Tunnelvision to  keep a watch over the political landscape of America, ever vigilant, ever watchful for an opportunity to raise funds from the easily frightened or defeat his arch enemies with an expensed trip to Hawaii.

That’s when the Man of Steele came up with a brilliant idea. “The eternal struggle against evil and non-business-related expenses is too much for one man to handle by himself, even me. Batman has Robin, Rush Limbaugh has The Republican Party, what I need is a sidekick!”

The Man of Steele picked up his Hotline and made a collect call to Neil Alpert who, unknown to others was in fact The Green Embezzler.

“Neil, this is The Man of Steele. How would you like to team up and raise money to fight evil together?”

“Nice to hear from you, Man of Steele!  Actually, that sounds “super, I’m glad you trust me this much to work with you,” Neil replied. “And just so you know, I accepted the collect call as “Mooney McButtocks” so I’ll just dispute the charge anyway, no worries.”

The Man of Steele was pleased. He hopped into his chartered jet, engaged the masseuse for a neck rub at RNC expense then called to the pilots, “Up, up like my pay!” They all chuckled as the very,very expensive gold-plated jet soared off into the sky.

The Man of Steele’s jet landed on a secret airstrip near Nationals Stadium, home to the Washington Nationals baseball team.

The Man of Steele took of his Armani robe and stepped down into the darkness of the airstrip. “Green Embezzler? Are you there?”

There was terrible danger in the air which The Man of Steele sensed as “just peachy” using his Super-Oblivious-Vision.

The Green Embezzler suddenly stumbled out from around the corner of a building.

“There you are Green Embezzler! Hop on in the jet, I’ve just installed a business-related jacuzzi in it,” The Man of Steele smiled.

Sweat poured down the nervous face of The Green Embezzler, “Man of Steele…it’s…it’s…”

The Man of Steele hurried towards him quickly, “What?”

The Green Embezzler coughed up a Krugerrand then fell to the ground, “It’s…a…trap!”

Suddenly from all directions, the evil Liberal Media Gang flicked on the lights on their video cameras, blinding The Man of Steele!”

“Now we have you, Man of Steele,” they spoke in unison, “We will destroy you with our reporting and our love of salad! Heh-heh-heh!”

The Man of Steele was surrounded! They were approaching, bent on his destruction for no reason that his Rusted Steele Trap Of A Mind could figure out!

That’s when he remembered! He reached down to his utility belt (which he bought from the Neiman’s catalog for $1300 but used his Super-Expensing powers to classify it as Office Supplies), opened the secret compartment and pulled out a card that was all black! He brandished it at them and they backed off!

“Ha-ha! Stand back, evildoers! You chablis guzzling liberal media types can’t defend yourselves from the Black Kryptonite in my Race Card!”

To The Man of Steele’s surprise, The Liberal Media Gang was only backing away momentarily because The Green Embezzler had waved them over to announce that he would be doing commercials for Goldline.

The Media Gang turned back and closed in on The Man of Steele who was incredulous that his Race Card hadn’t worked on them! “Wait! I know! I forgot to charge my Race Card with Authenticity! Oh no! Now what?”

How will The Man of Steele escape this time?!

Tune in next time for Episode 24: “Where There’s a Bill, There’s a Way (to expense it)”.

The GOP appeals to the child in people (just look at the cartoonish characters representing it in the media and Congress).

The child they appeal to is the one that throws tantrums, beats up weaker kids for their milk money, is scared of people and things that are different, lies to escape responsibility for its actions and solipsistically believes that the most important thing in the world is what it personally wants, fears, hates, thinks and feels.

So should anyone be surprised that the current strategy of the GOP for dealing with the ramifications of their whipping up hatred and racism in society, their hypocritical sex scandals and financial improprieties is to turn to Democrats and sneer, “I know you are but what am I?”

The discourse in politics from the GOP hasn’t degraded as much as it has regressed. It is elementary school. Except 6 year olds know the difference between a lie and the truth, they get along with classmates of all races and they feel guilt when they get caught doing something wrong. It is kind of sad that one of the two major political parties in this nation is less mature and responsible than 1st graders.

The problem for the Dems in this is that there is a reason that the “lowest common denominator” is called “lowest”. The more crass and simplistic comments are the best understood by the widest amount of people. I mean, think about Reagan and Bush with their “Evil Empire” and “Axis of Evil”. I’m sure to the most devout GOPers they thought Bush was saying, “The Axes of Evil” and Evil would be coming to attack like the killers in a slasher movie.

Remember, under Bush we were going to defeat evil? Huh? Like Evil is hiding out in an abandoned warehouse in Gotham City? I’m surprised Bush never declared war on Bad Feelings too.

The unfortunate fact is that as good hearted and considerate as many Americans are, far too many are just not mature. They may have an adult body but inside resides a child working the levers. And as most are aware, children will believe almost anything their parents or an authority figure tells them. Especially if it’s stated as absolute fact. Or if it’s really scary.

Tell a roomful of children that if they get slapped on their back while crossing their eyes, their eyes will stick forever like that and some will fearfully accept that as fact. Tell a nation of adults that a health care reform bill actually has death panels to kill granny and some will fearfully accept that as fact.

American society, that is, American capitalist/corporatist society, has been conditioning generations to have a delayed adulthood, to remain “kids” even after they grow up.

Years ago and in many societies around the world, even more primitive ones, there was definition between childhood and adulthood. When you became an adult, you put away childish things. In civilized society, a boy would trade in his short pants for trousers when he became a man. In primitive societies, children would go through a scarification ritual to forever alter and change from a boy to a man.

The ritualization of becoming an adult is missing in today’s society and so many do not make any transition. Yes, there are Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs, Sweet Sixteens and Quinceaneras but they seem to be more symbolic than transformative today. Now, this is not an attempt to create a new interest group demanding the return of scarification or short pants. It is merely an observation that there doesn’t seem to be a division anymore between children and adults.

As any commercial for Dave and Busters demonstrates (in case you haven’t seen, it’s a Chuck E Cheese’s for adults).

Years ago, kids and especially girls were restricted from wearing jeans at school (in some schools, girls were barred from wearing pants and had to wear dresses or skirts). Today, parents can and some do wear the same style pants and shirts as their kids. They play Wii as much as or sometimes more than their kids. They get annual passes to theme parks. Adults eat kid food which corporate America has renamed “comfort food” so adults will feel good about it. Adults watch “comedies” which use endlessly recycled immaturity-based humor such as getting smacked in the groin, cruelty to animals and pee and poop jokes to get laughs.

Hey, I like a bite of mac and cheese while playing the latest Super Mario on my Wii after watching cartoons (er, I mean “animation”) on my huge plasma TV (one of my many “toys”) after picking up a Starbucks Mocha Frap (“milkshake”) on my way from the mall where I bought a bunch of new clothes that look just like what the kids are wearing and after I got my hip new haircut that looks just like Robert Pattinson’s because I’ve read the Twilight books and have seen both movies as I did with Harry Potter. And if my daughter ever questions me, I remind her who the adult is…after doing substantial research to verify.

Here’s the thing, if we can stipulate that child-like thinking is the easiest to manipulate and dominate, is not erasing the line between childhood and adulthood a boon to those who would most like to influence society? Does the unending childhood of Americans, the corporate and GOP political mantra impressed on the public of “Don’t worry about being selfish and self-indulgent, you can have it all, you deserve it!” not only appeal to the children in everyone but validate giving in to it?

As kids with credit cards (or home equity lines of credit), this nation swarmed the candy and toy stores, happily gratifying themselves with little thought of a bill ever coming and the same banks that lured them into doing so were actually financially entrapping them and stealing everything else that wasn’t nailed down. Was this a coincidence, that the banks fostered people acting irresponsibly like children so they would be burdened with debt and distracted while the nation’s wealth was robbed?

Let’s complete the circle now. Economically and politically, the most ideal population to be manipulated is one that thinks and acts like a child. Critical thinking is something that’s acquired with time and growing up. Principles that one lives one’s life by and stand by are also acquired by growing up. So, an adult who is just a grown up child is not much better equipped to avoid being manipulated than an actual child.

And I think this is what we’ve seen in quite a visible way in our society recently. The Teabaggers are tantrum throwing brats and bullies, beyond reason and reality. They have been given permission to hate or vent their fears impulsively just as children would. They are easily convinced of the most ridiculous and outrageous lies by the authority figures they trust, just as children would be. They don’t have the intellectual tools for self-awareness to see how they are perceived nor to question what really is the truth.

And my experience with Repubs has mostly been like talking to stubborn, grown up children who are more often than not, self-centered. “I don’t want to pay MY money for taxes, I want MY country back, I don’t want MY money paying for other people’s health insurance, I want MY religion as the law of the land, if MY candidate doesn’t win then the winner is not MY president, if you’re not just like ME then you’re MY enemy.”

It seems intuitive that the more of a child one is, the more one should connect with the corporate and GOP mindsets (which also collaborate on the constant and publicly broadcast delusion, “Just like every other American, YOU will be a millionaire one day!”). They pander and encourage child-like behavior and thinking in the public and benefit greatly from it.

Yelling, spitting, breaking things, threatening, throwing tantrums, whining about how no one listens to you or does what you want…that is today’s GOP.

So, if the GOP gets in trouble for something they’ve done, of course they’ll sneer, “I know you are, what am I?” If people with different color skin get what these people want for themselves, of course they’ll say, “No fair, that doesn’t count! You cheated!”.

This should not be a surprise. What is disappointing is how many adults in America see Peter Pan as a role model.

Come November, the Republican Party may need to change their mascot from the elephant to the lemming.

In the aftermath of Scott Brown’s upset election in January, the GOP redoubled their bets on the failure of Health Care Reform. As they had for the last year, they showed no hesitation or remorse in spouting outrageous lies to frighten the public, incite hatred and caricature Pres. Obama as a socialist who is bent on destroying America by turning it into the USSR…and is also Hitler, the Antichrist, Dr. Evil and an arugula farmer all rolled into one.

It was and continues to be a scorched earth campaign to destroy Americans’ belief in their democracy, their government and the concept of doing what’s right for our entire society  instead of “me”. But this strategy may already be backfiring once their Sherman’s March across the soul of America ran into the month of March.

Sen. DeMint was the first to connect “Waterloo” with trying to pass HCR, towards Pres. Obama of course. It would be ironic if it did indeed turn out to be the GOP’s Waterloo. Negative campaigning has historically proven to  be effective in the short term but can boomerang in the long run. The public can be stirred into fear, resentment and/or hatred far too easily as a kneejerk reaction to negative campaigning. Emotion trumps reason for many in the immediacy of the moment. However, as time passes, emotion wanes. The public which has been whipped up to feel negative emotions by politicians…can start to associate those feelings with the source of them and feel greater distaste towards those politicians  than their targets.

Aiding this is the debunking of the terrible, trumped up accusations that the passage of time can expose. When the sky doesn’t fall and we don’t have our guns taken away on our way to government work camps after being taught our new official language of Russian…at least some will begin to recognize that they’ve been a sheep in lemming’s clothing.

Let’s take a look at where public opinion is today, after passage of HCR per Gallup:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/126959/Majority-Poor-Young-Uninsured-Back-Healthcare-Bill.aspx

Hmm…what was the hue and cry of Republicans over the last week? Listen to the majority and follow their wishes or you undermine our democracy. So, now that a greater number favor HCR, does that mean we can expect John Boehner to start crying in regret at opposing HCR? I wouldn’t bet my tanning bed on it.

What’s interesting about the above poll is that the main demographic that is opposed to HCR is that of Senior Citizens. This seems to be very intuitive. No offense to Granny but she is likely still trembling a bit about that death panel that’s coming for her. It is well established that Seniors are the biggest target for scammers, they are naturally easier to scare, intimidate, convince and manipulate.  So,  it would seem that the above poll is actually good news for Pres. Obama and Dems and bad news for the GOP.

At a time when they’ve thrown all the fear and hatred they could at HCR, most favor it. And the biggest demo opposing it who we know can be easier to convince, will soon get $250 checks, drug payment donut holes closed and health care guaranteed for all of their grandchildren and in 4 years, all of their children too. They’re going to vote in November for Repubs who want to take that away from them?

By the time November rolls around, will the emotions and the lies surrounding HCR  still be as resonant with the majority of the public or will they have moved on? With the short attention span of today’s MSM and society, will an 8 month old bill be on the front burner still? Nothing else like the economy, jobs or anything that pops up in the meantime might get the focus? And in the end, might not people simply come to accept and appreciate HCR even more once they personally experience the benefits and protections and/or the lack of terrible things that the GOP insisted would occur?

Yes, the GOP will keep beating that nasty drum from now until then but instead of marching to the beat, might not Seniors just begin to complain about all that racket? Especially after buying that new box of hard candy they can afford since they are saving a fortune with the donut hole being mostly closed.

And where will that leave the GOP, the party of “hell” and “no”? As is typical, the party out of power is likely to pick up some seats in Nov. The GOP will doubtlessly claim a landslide mandate no matter how common the number of the pickup is. In truth though, given a near-depression, rampant home foreclosures and job losses and a dishonestly vicious campaign against the Dems and Pres. Obama, if the Repubs’ pickup is unremarkable for an off year election, will they not have lost hugely?

After all that’s transpired, if the best the GOP can do in Nov is perform typically, they will have sacrificed their identity and whatever moderates would have considered them worthy of leading the nation in a futile, self-destructive (and intended to be destructive to the nation and or democracy) campaign.

Instead of this mutated GOP succeeding in a scorched earth campaign, they may instead be marching like flaming lemmings right off the edge of the political cliff.

As I began this section, The Players and Their Organizations, I realized they could not be covered in one post.  So what I will do is touch on The Family here and do a more detailed post on them next. Then in the last post I will consolidate Impact and Consequences of their influence and what we can do into one post.  I think it is better that way as  The Family seems to be the most extensive, although, from my research I have found that these groups are all interchangeable.  For instance, Rick Warren while he may seem like a docile, although right leaning pastor, had as his mentor  in Seminary and for his thesis, C Peter Wagoner, a member of the 7 Mountains.  Or you have the Chalcedon Institute that may claim to be a think tank but is funded by Howard Ahmanson a seriously wealthy Southern Californian who has funded the Religious Right at every turn.  He now claims because of Republicans runaway tax schemes he is now a Democrat.  Lordy deliver us from Religious Right converts.  These people can be lay people, politians or other religious people.  I started a spreadsheet to try to make sense of them all, but I don’t think that would work here so I will do the best that I can.  What I decided to do is to list the different groups I found at the end of this post and will provide connections for them as well as can be figured out.

There are what I would call majority groups, more than likely to feed the egos of the heads of those groups, then there are many smaller groups that target different areas of our culture but that would fall into the mainstream of one or more of the major groups.  There are also what I would call “laymen” who while not necessarily belonging to a particular group, support that group(s) through the back door.  I know I was surprised at some of these laymen, but after reading their histories, not all that surprised anymore.

Another note, since one of Jesus’ main teachings was, “‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”,  you would think their organizations would be targeting social issues and resolutions to these issues, but Brother, you better think again.  Read and make your own decisions.  I will cover the most well known groups, or I guess you could call them “umbrella corporations” for clarity.  I have listed The Moral Majority for historical reasons.  These groups are:

Focus on the Family(FOF)was founded by James Dobson in March 1977 and was incorporated as a non-profit organization with a staff of one in June of that same year.  The main focus at that time was a weekly broadcast, Let’s Get Acquainted, that aired as a family advice program.  Since that time, their “Focus” has increased to include people all over the world.    Today they reach more than 220 million people in 155 nations.  They claim they are dedicated to serving, strenghtening and defending families worldwide.  Recently James Dobson left, whether of his own accord or not, remains to be seen.  The new leader for the organization is CEO and President, Tim Daly.  He has said that he hopes to cultivate a “kinder, gentler message” from FOF.

The 7 Mountains was started in 1975 when Bill Bright and Loren Cunningham each had a vision the night before a lunch meeting.  They say that God revealed to them that night(separately) that the transformation of society will come through 7 mountains of culture, Business, Government, Family, Education, Church, Media & Entertainment and they were to influence these areas for God.  When you look at all the different groups and see names repeated over and over you will understand how they are connected and you will see some people who have served at top levels in our government.  These people are what is determined as “third wave” christians.  This phrase was coined by C Peter Wagoner to describe what he believed as the historical periods of activity for the Holy Spirit in the 20th century and beyond.  The first wave occurred at the beginning of the 20th century during the rise of the Pentacostal movement with the Azusa Street Revival.  The second wave occurred during the 60′s with the rise of the Charismatic movement in some Pentacostal denominations as well as the Roman Catholic Church.  The third wave occurred in the 80′s and is identified as a resurgence of church planting and a new committment to signs and wonders in evangelism.  As far as I can tell, he seems to be the “father” of this wave of christians.  Many who identify with the New Apostolic Reformation and the Toronto Blessing are also third wave.  As opposed to the previous waves, the third wave will tend to identify “baptism of the spirit” with conversion.  The first and second will identify this baptism as receiving the gift of “speaking in tongues” more than likely after conversion, although the second wave will use the term “usually” with that belief.  Third wave would prefer to emphasize the ongoing nature of the experience of the spirit but speaking in tongue is not a standard part of their religious service experience.  Sarah Palin is connected with these people.  A common theme with this group and the Family is secrecy.  They will openly tell their people to go in the back door.  Get involved politically but do not let on you are from a religious group.  That way you can ask questions and make suggestions that will not be looked upon as “Christian or Religious” and effect change from the inside that will ultimately reflect our values and beliefs.

The Moral Majority was founded in the 70′s by Jerry Falwell as a christian political lobbying group.  It was disbanded in the late 80′s.  The Moral Majority’s financial base seriously eroded when it became part of the Liberty Federation and financial difficulties ultimately were a major factor to disband the organization.  Falwell gave a different reason,  “Our goal has been achieved…The religious right is solidly in place and…religious conservatives in America are now in for the duration.”  After the Moral Majority was disbanded, elements of the organization were transferred to the Christian Coalition network.  However Liberty Federation and Liberty University lives on.

The Christian Coalition was founded in 1988 by Pat Robertson as a result of his unsuccessful run for the Presidency as a voter mobilization effort, much like the Moral Majority. In the 90′s he brought in Ralph Reed Jr. as Executive Director. In talking about his faith, Reed says he was at Bullfeathers, an upscale pub in Capitol Hill, when the Holy Spirit demanded he come to Jesus. He says he left the pub and went to a phone booth and found a church which he went to the next day and was “born again”. After stepping down from the leadership of the CC, Reed and his wife founded the Faith and Freedom Coalitionin June 2009. According to People for the American Way(A right wing watchgroup), “Reeds real focus seems to be on merging Christian conservatives and Tea Party activists as he reports that he is personal friends with national Tea Party national leaders and has several Tea Party organizers who are also active in his coalition. They say he has personally participated in several high profile Tea Party events. Whoa, he founded this group just in time to cash in on the Tea Party movement, what a great big coinkydink(as Rachel Maddow would say). It is impossible to say what long-term effect this group will have so I am not covering them alone. Below is a link to Right Wing Watch’s website.

The Familywas originally founded as the Fellowship Foundation, AKA International Prayer Breakfast in 1935 by Dr. Abraham Vereide in Seattle Washington and was incorporated in Chicago Illinois. But we all are now aware that the group is much more than that. Participants and members include ranking government officials, corporate executives, heads of religious and humanitarian aid organizations and ambassadors from around the world. It has been described as one of the most well-connected ministries in the U.S. and I would say around the world. The groups typically practice confidentiality about the names of the group participants and urges its members to be considerate of one another and avoid gossip.  Former Senator William Armstrong has been credited with saying the group has made a “fetish of being invisible”.

Focus on the Family

Adventures in Odyssey - They say it presents entertainment that brings moral and biblical principles to life.

Be A Voice- Pro-life advocavy in the community, campuses and friends and family

Boundless – For singles.  Offers answers on faith and friendship, dating and entertainment, career and more.

Church Family - Serves local churches by training leaders who will help strengthen marriages and family.

Citizen Link – Provides a biblical link on National and Local news.  Targets judicial tyranny, the homosexual agenda, pornography and gambling among other national and local issues.  Advises how to make Christian voices heard in the public square.

Clubhouse Magazine -  Website for kids that reinforces traditional values and family closeness.

Enfoque a la Familia – The Spanish version of FOF – directed at Spanish speaking churches and families.

Focus Leadership Institute – Exists to provide and train Christian educational community of leaders.

HeartLink -  For Pregnancy Resource Directors for training on the Option Ultrasound Program, provide statistics and info on abortion and contraception.

JellyTelly - Gives churches and parents a way to entertain today’s tech-savvy kids.

I Care About Orphans -  Provides families info on adopting/ways to support orphans.

The Parsonage - Directed at ministers and their families.

Plugged In – Movie and video game reviews

Pure Intimacy – For adults struggling with intimacy, sexuality, addictions and homosexuality

Christian Book – Books adapted to Radio for broadcast to members

Thriving Family – Helps families to further their Christian walk in life

True Tolerance- This is a good one.  Helps respond to pro-gay advocacyby providing fact-based counterpoints to one-sided messages gay groups promote and to balance our the biased information school officials are getting.

My Truth Project – How to live out a Christian Worldview every day.

Family Research Council: Founded by James Dobson in 1981. Their mission is to provide educational materials in defense of marriage and supposed family values, with an emphasis on Divorce and Abortion and a dose of anit-Homosexuality thrown in.  The current leader is Tony Perkins who has appeared and arranged many protests against GLBT and Abortion.  Max Blumenthal reported in 2005 that Perkins, as Woody Jenkins campaign manager, bought a mailing list from David Duke in 1996 after Jenkins defeated Duke in the Louisiana Senate primary, which Perkins vehemently denied saying he did not know of the Duke connection until 1999.  Unfortunately Perkins check to Duke was exposed by the Federal Elections Commission when Jenkins contested the state election against Mary Landrieu.  The FEC fined Jenkins for trying to cover it up.   Gary Bauer(policy advisor to Ronald Reagan), Edgar Prince(Father of Eric Prince of Z or Blackwater) and William Bennett, Education Secretary under Reagan who espoused opening the teaching profession to knowledgeable individuals who have not graduated from “schools of education” and supports parents choice for schools, have all been involved in FRC at one time or another.  Tony Perkins is a graduate of Liberty University and was a signer of the Manhattan Declaration.

Value Voters Summit:  Is sponsored each year in DC by the Family Research Council.  We have all seen what comes out of that summit.  They even offer “scholarships” to youth who are pro-family(not sure how they prove that).  This is also the summit that had available for sale, Obama Waffles.  Here is an allstar cast that spoke at the 2008 summit.

http://www.frcaction.org/get.cfm?i=PG09B02&load=WX08B06

The People: This is not in any way an all-inclusive list.  James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer, Edgar Prince, Tim Daly and they have nationwide and worldwide penetration.  Many evangelical churches base their beliefs and standards on Focus and the Family and will participate and distribute FOF materials.

The 7 Mountains

New Apostolic Reformation:  The New Apostolic Reformation started from Pentecostal and Charismatic originas and thus belief in the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit in a believer, the performance of miracles, prophecy and the revelationof Christ within a believer.  Although the movement regards the Church as the true body of believers, it maintains the need for Church offices and submission to Church leaders.  These leaders are ordained by God, given power and authority by God to lead. As such, they believe in the 5-fold offices of the Church first popularized in Charismatic groups; of which the prophet and apostle has been absent from the Church for the last 2000 years, and are now being restored.  Pretty good job, if you can get it and a job C Peter Wagner and other leaders in this movement have given to themselves.

Transformations Nation Alliance: This is a worldwide effort.  They have made claims that they can go into an area and that area can be transformed from blight/poverty/eco-disaster to a haven for it’s residents.  You can go out to U-Tube and watch videos where these people make these claims and supposedly show you before and after.

Marketplace Leaders: This is run by O S Hillman and is a group that teaches business people to take the Christian faith into the workplace and proselytize.  They also teach people how to dominate in the workplace for Christ and take that business for Christ.

Alliance Defense Fund: A legal defense group that helps attorneys learn how to make changes in the legal field and the laws to effect Christian values in every aspect of our legal system.

Campus Crusade for Christ:  Founded by Bill Bright in 1956 is on campuses nationwide with a staff of 25,000.  They also have Christian Embassy whose Washington DC office is geared toward embassy personnel, president’s staff, congressional staffers and Pentagon workers.  They also have Military Ministeries which has garnered media critical of the level of involvement they have in proselytizing within the military.

Youth with a Mission: Youth With A Mission was conceived by Loren Cunningham who tells how in 1956, while a 20-year-old student in the Assemblies of God College, he was traveling in the Bahamas when he had a vision of waves breaking over the Earth. He says when he looked closer the waves appeared to become young people taking the news of Jesus into all the nations of the world. He envisioned a movement that would send young people out after high school to gain a sense of purpose when going to college, and would welcome Christians of all denominations.  He sure has alot of visions, he also had one to form the 7 Mountains with Bill Bright and the exact same year Bright founded Campus Crusade.

Kids on Fire Ministry: The subject of the film: Jesus Camp, founded and run by Becky Fischer and the subject of a film that showed the military like atmosphere of the camp and the cardboard of George Bush with the children outstretched hands toward him.  Ms. Fischer has said she wants “to see young people as committed to Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam”.  In his book, Republican Gommorah, Max Blumenthal reports she has told ministers to “indoctrinate an army of spiritual suicide bombers to seize control of the country”.

Promise Keepers: Founded by Bill McCartney in 1990, the promise keepers hold rallies where they pledge themselves to the 7 promises of a promise keeper.  It is basically about purity in all forms of relationships..  Ted Haggard was a member of Promise Keepers.  Wonder if he still is after his tour around the “male prostitute” world a few years ago.

Disciples Nations Alliance: This is part of the Samaritan Strategies Africa in Uganda.  Their vision?  A Uganda discipled and transformed to embrace biblical principles.

The People: OS Hillman, C Peter Wagner, Sarah Palin, Pastor Mutha(of Kenya), Loren Cunningham, Bill Bright, Rick Joyner, Becky Fischer, Mary Glacier, Tim “Dutch” Sheets, Charles Colson, Johnny Enlow, Lance Walineu, Rick Warren(again he will deny it), Bill Johnson.  You can google any of these names and find (horror) stories about their involvement and activities.

Miscellaneous:

American Family Association:  Tim Wildmon runs this group.  The promote Christian Family values and have boycotted companies who carry Playboy and Penthouse, however they lobby against the Employee Free Choice Act.  So no Playboy magazines and no rights for employees.  Jesus must be so pleased.  They promote a biblical America and their primary focus is on TV and Media.  Oh and yes, they do lobby but call themselves a 501(c)(3) entity.

American Values- Gary Bauer is the head of this organizzation.  this is what they will do for Americans.  They will ‘”unite Americans around the vision of our founding fathers who proclaimed to the world our “self-evident truths”.  They want the truth in America, that is all.  The truth of conservative principles of course and they will bring these truths to our elected officials so they will vote for what is right and good(in their narrow world anyway).  They want to help “people” to stand against liberal education and cultural forces.  “The Grand Evil”, liberalism.  So, not for all Americans, just conservative Americans.

Liberty Council- Gary Staver founded this legal entity.  Liberty Council describes it practices as a First Amendment practice, focused on religious liberties, church/state issues in public schools and in the public square and freedom of speech.  However the LC also devotes its time to anti-abortion matters and fighting against same sex marriage, civil unions and against adoption by homosexuals.  Liberty Council also provides information, research and expertise to affect legislation and public policy at the local, state and national level.  Liberty Council operates the Liberty Center for Law and Police, which monitors and drafts proposed legislation.  What a scary thought, their goals revolve around influencing policy and providing courts with the legal rationale to develop precedent favorable to their mission.  Their goal is to educate their members and public officials in the role of religion in public life.

The Heritage Foundation: A conservative think tank first led by Paul Weyrich, a conservative Religious Right leader.  Their mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policy based on prinicples of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedoms, traditional American values and a strong national defense.

Family Life Network: Believed to be behind the Ugandan legislation on homosexuality.  David Bahati, a Ugandan politician, has been linked to The Family.

Century Strategies: Founded by Tim Phillips and Ralph Reed Jr.(Christian Coalition) and at one time consultants to Enron.  Reed has now founded Faith and Freedom Coalition(Tea Party involvement) and Tim Phillips is with Americans for Prosperity, also aligned or should I say the “grassroots” of the Tea Party.

Morningstar Ministries: Rick Joyner, Fort Mill SC.  He purchased the land and buildings from Jim and Tammy Bakker formally known as Heritage USA and PTL.  He renamed it to Heritage International Ministries.  He was also involved in the Lakeland Outpouring which featured Todd Bentley, a Canadian minister.  Todd Bentley spices up his preaching by hitting people in the audience, however he claims he always asks for permission.  He says the spirit tells him when to do this.  He has been involved in criminal activity, drug abuse and adultry.  His new ministry is Fresh Fire Ministry with the object of his adultry(he has since married her and is recovering from his addictions under the guiding hand of Bill Johnson and Rick Joyner).  Beni and Bill Johnson of Bethel Ministeries(CA) are also involved in this group.  They have a School of Supernatural Evangelism.

There are so many of these organizations it can make you dizzy.  It does not really matter so much whose umbrella you put them under as they are all after the same thing, a Biblical America, ruled by biblical law.  They have had more than their fair share of scandals, yet they always find an excuse for whoever is involved.  They circle the wagons and pass out the talking points and that is supposed to take care of it all.  It is more like walking through a “shop of horrors” to see what these people “do as I say, not as I do” in their fanatacism to change America into a Godly nation.  Somehow I think God is looking down and just shaking his head, maybe he will let us know in another blog here at the Planet.  But, it would be a grave mistake for the rest of us to ignore these people.  Think about the Texas School Board decision on curiculum this past week.  How do you think those people gained their power, this is not special to Texas, similar activities have taken place across this country.  But if you just take that area of Texas and spread it around the country, surely you can see how these people are operating in the shadows.

Some suggested reading Material”

Max Blumenthal – Republican Gomorrah(I found this to be an easier read than The Family and covers most of these people)

Randall Balmer – Thy Kingdom Come

Chris Hedges – American Fascists The Christian Right and the War on America

ttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/groups/faith-and-freedom-coalition 

My first goal in this series is to define the Christian Right and provide some of their history.  The Christian Right has been insinuating themselves into public discourse since the late 70′s.  By the end of the 80′s it was generally assumed that the Christian Right consisted entirely of evangelical Protestants, however, many members of the Christian Right were not evangelical Protestants and many evangelical Protestants were not members of the Christian Right. The Christian Right drew support from politically conservative Catholics, Jews, Mormons and sometimes secularists. While some people may generalize that all evangelicals were grouped in with the Christian Right, that is not the case. In fact, there are many evangelical Protestants that have showed little interest in the Christian Right’s political goals. At this point I bet you are becoming a bit confused, but I promise I will clear it all up as I go along.

In my research I ran across a paper written by Harvey Wacker, Professor of the History of Religion in America at the Duke University Divinity School.  I found his detailed description to be fairly hard to follow but I will try to translate. In the simplest way possible think of two circles over lapped.  On one side you have Evangelicals on the other side non-Evangelicals, in the middle that intersects the two circles you have the Christian Right.  For the most part the Evangelicals do share the religious views, but not necessarily the political views of the Christian Right.  On the other side you have the non-Evangelicals who do not share the political or religious views of the Christian Right.  However on both sides you have individuals who are more stringent in their moral views or have decided they no longer share the political views of their group and align themselves with the Christian Right.  Some famous examples of these non-Evangelical members are Joe Lieberman and Bart Stupack.  Their political party, while Independant and Democrat respectively, does not mean they share all the party political views and in some cases they more closely align themselves with the Religious Right/GOP.  In the past 25 years or so Evangelicals have flocked in large numbers to the mega churches of the Christian Right, however I have found no research to imply that Catholics have converted as well.  The Catholic church has a group that label themselves “Charasmatic” and they could conceivably be the people who align themselves with the Christian Right(see link below).  In the 1990′s the Christian Right’s numerical strength leveled off but it’s influence in grass roots, national, state and local elections, or in setting political policies has remained in the forefront.  With the election of Barack Obama, their numbers seem to have increased again, however I found this interesting report in The Telegraph from almost a year ago.  It states that the Christian Right conceded defeat when Obama was elected.  I would be skeptical of such an admission being entirely truthful from the Christian Right but it is worth a read.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal

US Religious Right Concedes Defeat

The Christian Right emerged from both long-range and short-range changes in American life. The long-range lay in the growth of biblical higher criticism in the seminaries, the teaching of human evolution in public schools, and, after World War II, the real or perceived threat of Communism, and when Communisim no longer became a critical issue, the GLBT community. The more immediate beginnings of the Christian Right lay in the enormous cultural changes of the 1960s—civil rights, Vietnam protests, the alternative youth culture, the women’s liberation movement, the sexual revolution, and the rise of ancient religions from obscurity.  On the subject of obscure religions, I like to think an enlightened generation became more open to customs that in the past were foreign to us, we began to question authority and that certainly did not fit in with the Christian Right’s doctrine.  These transformations seemed to play out in the Supreme Court decisions that banned official prayer and Bible readings in the schools, legalized first trimester abortion,  and regulated government involvement in private Christian academies.  The Christian Right responsed quickly to counter these developments led by figures like Jerry Fallwell, Pat Robertson, Phyllis Schlafly and Pat Dobson. The intention of these leaders was to defend their traditional Christian values. These values were; authority of the Bible in all areas of life, faith in Jesus Christ and the “born again” experience and biblical values in sexual and marital arrangements.. What differentiated these Christian Right leaders from other Christian leaders was their linking of traditional Christian values with a simpler small-town life, a life they felt was being pushed in to the past. The Christian Right proved so successful in translating its concerns to a wider audience that in 1976 the founder of the Gallup Poll pronounced that year the “year of the evangelical”.  National magazines(Time and Newsweek) ran cover articles on the insurgence of Evangelical Protestant Christianity, and even though many evangelicals did not share the goals of the Christian Right, as is usually the case with the national media they failed to note that distinction.

Then in 1979 Jerry Falwell established this major group of U.S. Christians into a political sledgehammer. As founding pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., Falwell had been meeting with theologians and lawmakers to plan how Christians could fight back. What were they going to base their fight against?  Liberals, Abortionists, the ACLU, Feminists, gay rights activists and the non-believing American population( In recent years what they term as “radical Islam” was added to this list).  In that year, Jerry Fallwell and his allies launched the Moral Majority. Falwell not only drew preachers from behind their pulpits into the world of electoral campaigns, but he also brought conservative politics into the church. He helped persuade thousands of pastors nationwide to conduct voter-registration drives in their congregations, contributing to a flood of new voters on the GOP rolls.  Sermons in his own church included instructions to his flock on how to spend their Sunday afternoons, campaigning against the Liberal Left.  He literally had his members going door to door with an anti-liberal pro-Republican message.  The Moral Majority platform mixed traditional Christian values with a strongly conservative world view:  They advocated for prayer in public school and more money for national defense.

After years of planning and consolidation the Christian Right helped Ronald Reagan win the 1980 presidential race, Falwell credited the Moral Majority and became the mouthpiece for these newly empowered Americans.  Up to this point they had felt their beliefs were disrespected and Falwell’s moral majority empowered them to rise up as activists.  However, they soon learned the limits of their political might, abortion remained legal and gay couples were continuing to gain greater acceptance, the ACLU was still strong, women continued to make strides in the fight for equality and Liberals did not fade away into that “dark night”.

In the late 1980′s, activists began to question Falwell’s ability to focus on politics and not fundraising for his religious work.  Critics to his right, who advocated old-style isolation from the broader culture, attacked him.  In the late 1980′s Fallwell disbanded the Moral Majority and concentrated his energies on Liberty University which he founded.  He did not completely disappear, and GOP political candidates continued to seek his backing and treated him as an elder statesman in the party.  And he opened the door for the Christian Coalition and others to take up where he had left off, continuing the political activism he started.  Liberty University may be the single most important contribution to the Christian Right movement.  With a reported 7,700 students, his Liberty University curriculum reflects the minister’s classic fundamentalist beliefs in an inerrant Bible and the imminent return of Jesus Christ(The Rapture) following seven years of tribulation to establish a 1,000-year kingdom. The school annually turns out young Christians who go on to become active in politics.

With all of this going on, the mainline Protestant establishment and the secular media were surprised by this conservative Christian insurgence and were asking who were these people and what were their ultimate goals?  To answer these questions, you need to understand the world-view of the Christian Right. As close as I could come, the following are four principles by which they operate, I found this description in the paper referenced above by Harvey Wacker, Professor of the History of Religion in America at the Duke University Divinity School:

The assumption that moral absolutes exist as surely as mathematical or geological absolutes constitutes the first. These moral absolutes include many of the oldest and deepest assumptions of Western culture, including the fixity of sexual identities and gender roles, the preferability of capitalism, the importance of hard work, and the sanctity of unborn life. More importantly, not only do moral absolutes exist, they are clearly discernible to any who wish honestly to see them.

The assumption that metaphysics, morals, politics, and mundane customs stand on a continuum constitutes the second cornerstone of the Christian Right’s world-view. Specifically, ideas about big things like the nature of the universe inevitably affect little things, such as how individuals choose to act in the details of daily life. And the reverse. What one thinks about the nature of God, for example, inevitably influences one’s decision to feed—or not to feed—the parking meter after the cops have gone home. Contrary to the facile assumption of mainline Protestants, influenced by the Enlightenment, it is not possible for the Christian Right to draw easy lines between the public and the private spheres of life. (There is evidence that the Christian Right abandoned Jimmy Carter at precisely this point—when he announced that abortion should be legally protected in the public sphere, although he would not countenance it in the private sphere of his own family.)

The Christian Right further assumes—this is the third cornerstone—that government’s proper role is to cultivate virtue, not to interfere with the natural operations of the marketplace or the workplace. The Christian Right remains baffled by the secular culture’s apparent unwillingness, on one hand, to offer schoolchildren firm moral guidance in matters of sexuality, truthfulness, honesty, and patriotism while, on the other hand, proving ever-so-eager to engineer the smallest details of the economy. Why should conscientious, hardworking law-abiding citizens be penalized by mazes of government regulations? Why should the irresponsible, the lazy, and the unpatriotic be rewarded by those same public institutions?

Finally, the assumption that all successful societies need to operate within a framework of common assumptions constitutes the fourth cornerstone. Since the Western Jewish-Christian tradition has provided an eminently workable premise for the United States for the better part of four centuries, it makes no sense to undermine these premises by legitimating alien ones. The key issue is not so much what would be permitted as what would be legitimated. Many, perhaps most members of the Christian Right feel that it is one thing to permit dissidents to live in peace, quite another to say that any set of values is just as good, or just as functional, as any other set.

With the election of George Bush, the Religious Right surged again.  When you look at their principles and then evaluate the Presidency of  George Bush you can see the hand of the Religious Right guiding his decisions.  They felt that without their support, he would not be in the position he was in, they were ready and waiting for their just reward and reward them he did.  Bush appointed staff throughout his administration that were fresh off the Christian Right farm.  Most notably interns and such from Liberty University.  But he did not stop there, John Ashcroft, AG was a very devout “born again” Christian.  We all know how he covered certain statues at the DOJ.  Donald Rumsfeld, SOD had no problem adding religious cover sheets on his war memos to the President and many Christian Right believers were assigned to the newly instituted Office of Faith Based Iniatives in the government, a result of an executive order by then President Bush.  And they took full advantage giving preference to like-minded believers.  In her book “Kingdom Coming,” Michelle Goldberg devotes a chapter to her research on the Faith-Based program. While she confirms many positive outcomes with clients, she concludes that there were myriad abuses in the program.  The chapter is entitled “The Faith-Based Gravy Train.” Her evaluation concluded that the federal government has become a major funder for the recruitment programs of the Christian Right.

Professor Wacker describes the Christian Right in this way:

The Christian Right has developed this sense that they are constantly under siege and are always defending their civilization from outside attack. Perils posed by the “mainstream media”, public schools, enemies of traditional family values are particularly sinister. They feel they are attacked constantly by the media and they especially object to the “perceived” way their children are treated in our schools. Their children are manipulated with the teachings of evolution, while “creationism” is not a part of the public school ciriculum, they are not allowed to pray in school, unless they do so privately. They claim the old-fashioned academic standards have been watered down and schools do not “clarify values” but rather teach students that their parent’s ideals are replaceable at will. They feel the traditional family is beseiged on all fronts, the media, schools and the government whose policies encourage abortion. They also believe that the ERA encourages divorce and fatherless families as it denies security to woman and corrodes the tether that has kept men bound to responsibilities of home and family.

In Glenn Greenwald’s book, A Tragic Legacy he addresses this mentality in terms of George Bush and his declining popularity:

The same people who had previously been writing books praising his greatness as a leader were denouncing him as a weak and stubborn failure, claiming his was a “closet liberal”.  This so-called conservative movement is also not responsible for the destruction brought on by the Bush White House and republican congress.  They claim the conservative movement is actually a victim because it’s lofty principles were betrayed and repudiated by the President and Congress from 2001 through 2007.  This, from the same Conservatives who were cheerleading the Bush administration and their ideas and policies until the wheels fell off and their ideas were repudiated.  Then they became the victims of their own actions.  They acted as though they stood by helplessly while Congress and Bush destroyed the country while the whole time they were anything but passive.

The Religious Right would have us believe that while they touted their direct access to a president who appointed people from their organizations up and down the White House staff that they had nothing to do with the utter failure of the Bush administration.

I wonder if many of these Christian Right leaders are now lamenting, “if only we had had more time”.  When I think of all the damage done to our country in 8 short years, I shudder to think what could happen if they come in to power again.

If we let our guard down and let these people slip under the radar, they will be back at it again in 2012.  They will use all their influence on the right to establish another candidate like George Bush.  All I can say is I will be waiting, watching and speaking out when that happens.

The second part of this series, The Mindset of the Religious Right will be posted on March 15, 2010.

Suggested Reading:

Glenn Greenwald – A Tragic Legacy – How A Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency

Michelle Goldberg – Kingdom Coming

Dr. Robin Meyers – Why The Christian Right is Wrong

Chris Hedges – American Fascists – The Christian Right and the War on America

I was originally going to write this series of articles in tandem with a partner however I have decided to  move ahead on my own.  I hope I am up to the challenge.   What I will attempt to do is provide some history to understand the Religious Rights beliefs and behavior, but will concentrate more on current activities of the people and organizations of the Religious Right so that you will be able to identify them and their players.  I have found this to be extremely beneficial when watching various newscasts.  It is amazing how many people who have a hidden agenda in any given subject are brought in to the discussions as “subject matter experts”.

It is my hope that when I have finished, I will have shown you a comprehensive picture of all the different factions and how they are ultimately connected.  I will give you a bit of history because that is important in understanding their beliefs and practices but will also help to unravel the secretness of their current day plans.

Their plans really started to gel back in the 70′s with the Moral Majority and The Christian Coalition and their push to insinuate themselves seriously into the political arena.  While The Family has worked the political scene for over 60 years, the religious right is fairly new to the scene in comparison.  While they came on to the scene at different times, their beliefs and intentions are one and the same.  At best, there is a very blurry line between them, but make no mistake they are working in conjunction to dominate the world at large.

What I plan to do is to break it down in to several mini articles, and these articles will be:

The History of the Christian Right

The Mindset of Christian Evangelicals

The Players, Their Organizations

How these Organizations Impact America and the International Community

The Consequences of their Influence/Reference Material

Wish me luck as I try to relay to you all I have learned through months of research and clicking on link after link to dig deeper in hopes of uncovering the truth.  And that truth is that these people are insinuated into every facet of our lives with a mindset of Dominionism and forcing their brand of religion on ultimately the Global community at large.  My first article of the series will be out this coming Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

I also want to give a big thanks to Adlib for helping me to name the series.  I am not having problems with content but was stuck on what to name the series.  Anyway, thank you Adlib, I knew your creative mind would come through for me.

Due to the work of dogged investigative reporting, it has been uncovered that the GOP is actually a scripted “reality” show for the Fox network.

The tipoffs were all there, if you used Morse code to decrypt all of Sarah Palin’s winks, you would have gotten the messages, “Hi Mom!”, “I buried John McCain.” and “I’m not this dumb in real life, really.”

What a colorful array of characters they cast:

• The preening always-tan Senator who can never tell the truth.
• The gruff, bumbling, forgetful old codger from AZ
• The Charlie-Brown-Teacher voiced ex-Gov of Alaska who’s a pit bull with lipstick
• The chinless and jowled Minority Leader always warning that the sky is always falling
• The bumbling black party leader who awkwardly tries to “jive talk” the people they hate into joining them.
• The obese drug addict radio host who’s proudly racist
• The ego-mad tv host who weeps and laughs maniacally at paranoid delusions.

You can’t make this stuff up.

I do have to say that Fox is great at marketing, everyone’s tuning into this show to see what they say and do next, lots of people can repeat each episode word for word but I think the writing has gotten a bit weak.

Like always having every character lying, that’s getting so old. And it’s very hackneyed to claim that everything they don’t like is  “going to destroy our nation”. So played out, how about something new for a change, please?

They do always seem to throw a curve when things start to get predictable, like the Powerpoint presentation that was “leaked”, dissing their own donors as fearful and egotistical. Very funny, I wouldn’t have thought of that.

I’d have to say that my favorite character in the show is that female ex-governor from Alaska, she cracks me up! I think she’s being written by some of The Simpsons writers at Fox (the ones who write Mr. Burns?), her dialog and what she does is so cartoonish, you know? The way she’s so seemingly oblivious to how attention and power hungry she is and how ridiculously greedy, you know? Telling her clueless fans that she’s just a poor rural gal while she rakes in millions from books and appearances and grabs armfuls of loot from Oscar gift rooms.

She’s so funny! That death panel thing was hilarious! And her writing on her hand when she was attacking reading off teleprompters? Classic!

What gets a bit annoying though are the amount of reruns. If I have to see those episodes over and over again where they call Obama “a socialist” or claim the country is about to be nuked if the Senate uses a democratic, majority vote to pass legislation, I’m going to quit Tivoing it for a while.

However, I must admit that I am looking forward to next season when they play “Survivor” to see who gets to run for president. They’ve got some wild characters in the wings who will be joining the show then, there’s that two-faced, slick-as-a-used-car-salesman ex-Gov from MA and the conspiracy theory wingnut from TX with his cult following.

One question though, when is Fox ever going to take credit for this show and let people know it’s their “Blair Witch” faux-reality hoax? I mean, some people think it’s real!

Dear Sarah,

Thank you for pointing out the basic offensiveness of our decision to change GOP to SOP.

However, since being politically correct, politically intelligent, politically relevant or politically astute seems to no longer be a prerequisite for actually being a member of the Republican Party – we feel that our decision is the correct one.

After careful consideration, we could no longer find an argument or even any reason for the “Grand” in Grand Old Party. Nonetheless, we were encouraged to keep at least some of the moniker – mostly because of brand recognition.

Therefore, the change from GOP to SOP will remain and we are sorry that your feelings have been hurt by this change. However, we can assure you that Special Olympics Party (SOP) is the right choice.

Yours Truly,

America

This morning the office of Senator Evan Bayh, D-IN, announced that he will not run for re-election this November. There’s more than one way to react to this news. Since Bayh is a Democrat, the gut reaction might be to fear that we’re going to lose another seat — like we did in Massachusetts. Bayh is, after all, a conservative Dem in a conservative state.

But what about looking at this resignation as an opportunity? Bayh’s father, Birch Bayh, was a true Liberal Dem, a champion of Liberal causes, and a hero. He proved that a strong Liberal can win in Indiana.

Birch Bayh was defeated in 1980 by Dan Quayle during the successful demonization of the term “liberal” by the GOP. It was just another war of words — a PR campaign that had nothing to do with governance or responding to what the people need. It was the empty and shallow game that the GOP plays so well and that Democrats play so badly.

As a result, when Evan Bayh decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, he did so as a conservative. But who can say whether Evan’s politics could ever have gotten him into the governor’s mansion or to the senate without his father’s Liberal legacy.

Now that Bayh is resigning, will Democrats have the organization and skill to put forth a Liberal Dem as a candidate and defend the Liberal label? This is a true opportunity to talk about serving the people — bringing jobs back home, getting health care coverage to people who need it, starting a green energy economy, making peace.

These are the Liberal ideals that most Americans support. But they have poor advocates in the democratic pundits and spokespeople. Liberal ideals have no advocacy at all in the media.

Progressives should decide right now — not waste a moment in this critical election year — how they feel about this open seat, and what we’re going to do about it.

UPDATE (15 Feb, 8:45 pm)

Candidates — Republicans and Democrats — only have until Tuesday, February 16, 2010, to gather 4,500 signatures and file for inclusion on the Democratic primary ballot. The Democratic Party, however, has plenty of time to nominate its own candidate — until June. The timing of this decision couldn’t have been worse for independent- and progressive-minded candidates who want to push back against the status quo of the Democratic Party.

Bayh cites the partisanship in congress as reason for his departure. But how will walking away — or potentially reducing the number of Democrats in the Senate — improve that situation?

UPDATE (16 Feb, 12:10 pm)

Evan Bayh made a phone call last night to the Indiana Democratic Committee to say it’s good that Indiana won’t have a primary.

Bayh Calls Lack Of Primary To Replace Him A Good Thing On Call With Dems

Because, you know, you can’t trust those damn voters anyway (my words, not his).

And another interesting wrinkle: FEC Rules Give Bayh Room To Decide What To Do With His $13 Million War Chest