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By Larry Jones
Both of the main political parties offer bad news for the people of the world and we here at WCW don’t support either. Since the Obama inauguration there have been some excellent articles on this site analyzing the direction of Obama’s young presidency, the policies of occupation, war and torture begun under the Bush Regime and now continued and extended by Obama. But, how about their electoral opponents?
The recent gathering of the Republican’s Conservative Political Action Committee featured a procession of war mongering zealots crowing before a frenzied crowd of “USA, USA” chanting, flag waving right wingers. None drew a more enthusiastic response than the buffoonish but deadly serious clown, Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh’s attacks on Obama have drawn much attention in the main stream media. But this entire event and the political leaders it promoted demonstrate that a social force verging on fascism remains a virulent, aggressive, and dangerous component of the political scene in this country, with the backing and participation of powerful figures within the ruling power structure.
CPAC’S STRAW POLL
So who do you think the assembled conservatives wanted for their next presidential candidate? It was all over the field, but former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney came in number one with 20% of the votes, six percent more than runner-up Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Texas Congressman Ron Paul tied with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at 13%. Solid “values” fundamentalist Mike Huckabee received only 7%. There were some others with small numbers, but 9% were undecided.
It does show an identity problem when Palin ties with Paul. She is a fundamentalist whose background is steeped in theocratic beliefs and the bizarre “Third Wave”. The Third Wave is one of the largest movements in Dominionism, a group of theologies that promote taking "dominion" over the social and governmental functions of the U.S. and the world. Palin is a flag-waving war advocate and vigorous opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage. Paul calls himself an evangelical and is anti-abortion, but also has spoken against Bush’s preemptive strike doctrine. The main difference between them is that Paul wants the government out of the way and Palin wants it to do “god’s work.”
Many Republicans had their sights set on Bobby Jindal. That is until he gave the Republican response to President Obama’s speech to Congress. Jindals talk was trounced even by the conservatives who gave such responses as “nihilistic,” “amateurish,” “an earnest dork,” and, worst of all, “unlikely to expand the party base.” However Limbaugh loves him and called Jindal “brilliant” and “the real deal.”
But Piyush “Bobby” Jindal (“Bobby” is his self-adopted nickname), American-born of Indian ancestry, is already a tragedy on the political scene. He pushed for passage of The Louisiana Freedom Act of 2008, which calls for teaching intelligent design/creationism in the public schools, and when it passed he signed it into law.
He opposes same-sex marriage and in December he set up the Louisiana Commission on Marriage and Family, which includes such avid homophobes a Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Gene Mills of the Louisiana Family Forum. The National Right to Life Committee says he has a perfect voting record against abortion and he also opposes stem cell research which involves discarded embryos.
As bad as Jindal is, Sarah Palin is even worse. As I wrote here last September “Dig into Palin's religious associations and it appears that she will be running as a stealth candidate for the dominionists - those folks who want a form of theocracy in which harsh biblical law will rule. Her church, Juneau Christian Center, an Assemblies of God church, is connected to the Third Wave Movement popular in Neo-Pentecostal circles and linked to Joel's Army. People are trained in "Destiny" classes. "Destiny" became code for Joel's Army when it began to receive negative publicity for its alleged biblically violent language and its coercive tactics known to have caused serious psychological damage, according to victims who later left such groups.” (See http://dogemperor.newsvine.com/_news/2008/08/29/1803647-sarah- palin-dominionist-stalking-horse) The church is also a dominionist broadcast center with programs carried on numerous broadcast channels in Alaska.
SO WHAT ABOUT ROMNEY?
Mitt Romney has been pretty much of a flip-flopper on the hot button issues. He has leaned liberal on a number of issues, including being pro-choice and donating to Planned Parenthood. That was 1994, the year he ran against Ted Kennedy for senator and lost.
When Romney got serious about running for president in the 2008 race, he changed his tune and began leaning far to the right in order to please the conservative Republican base. On abortion he said he had learned the error of his ways and became avowedly anti-abortion. On the issue of same-sex marriage he tried to please both sides from the middle by saying that he is against same-sex marriage but is not anti-gay. It should be noted that such both-here-and-there wiggling is the same tack Obama took in his run up to the presidency.
Then, of course one would think that Romney’s Mormon religion would be a real target for conservatives, many of whom are avidly evangelical in their beliefs about the Bible. The Mormons believe that the Book of Mormon is a newer revelation from god and that the Bible of the evangelicals in not sufficient.
Sensible people, and those who believe in the Constitution, think that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” (Article VI, sec. 3.) It’s a real contradiction that so many Americans, mostly conservative Republicans, want to expunge that section from their beloved Constitution (from which they also want to expunge separation of church and state.) There are a number of things I think are wrong with the Constitution, but that part about religion not having anything to do with who should lead in public life makes a lot of sense to me.
If one doesn’t like CPAC’s choices, she could check out some of the betting sites, such as Superbook.com which gives odds on Palin of 3.5 to 1. Romney’s odds are 4-1, Huckabee is at 5-6, and Jindal is 6-1. I’m not the betting kind, so I’d just as soon ignore any of those odds.
EVOLUTION
George Bush at one point in his jaded career said that the jury was still out on evolution. Later he said that god created the world and that such belief is not in contradiction to evolution. Then he said both intelligent design/creationism and evolution should be taught in public school. In the numerous times he was questioned on this issue it became clear that he really is not interested in such things. Even his friends said that lack of intellectual curiosity was one of his weaknesses.
Mitt Romney in an interview said “I believe that God designed the universe and created the universe. And I believe evolution is most likely the process he used to create the human body.” This is the stand of a group of religious scientist known as theistic evolutionists. One can carry on intelligent dialog with such people, but most scientists wonder why theological trappings must be included.
Bobby Jindal is a Roman Catholic and his church accepts evolution, but Jindal supports teaching intelligent design alongside evolution. On Face the Nation last June, Jindal said: “I do think that God played a role in creating not only earth, but mankind. … I don't want any facts or theories or explanations to be withheld from them because of political correctness.”
Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee are both far right fundamentalists who believe the Bible and its creation myth are literally true. So that’s that ‘God said it, I believe it, end of discussion.’
ANY REAL CHOICES?
Not many choices, huh? If we wait for the politicians to being about what is truly good for us and for all humanity, we will wait forever. The solutions to the horrors that both parties put forth, including the extremely popular president now in office, won’t solve things. Their goal is to make American imperialism work better in order to keep its dominance over increasingly larger sections of the world.
The real solution lies with us. Are you down?
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