Come to the Sane Side

"Religion is hijacking people's spirituality for political purposes."

~ Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock may have taken too much LSD over the course of his nearly 60 years but he is relatively sane.  He has some unique opinions about religion and politics and I agree with this one.

The Religious Right has been lured by the Republican party for the last 30 years.  From the pulpit the majority of evangelical Christians were encouraged to vote for the Republican Party.  Christianity in America became a political statement.

In exchange the Republican Party gained an electorate that failed to notice the impact of the secular elements of the Republican agenda. Economists have declared trickle-down economics a failure, bank deregulation led to the Great Recession and Colin Powell admitted the evidence he presented to the UN when making the case for going to war in Iraq was false.  All of these issues cost tax payers trillions of dollars. Because the Republicans are pro-life, pro-gun and pro-God, the righteous right either didn't notice or didn't care.

In 2009, after President Obama was elected the Tea Party was formed as a segment of the Republican party.  In my opinion most Tea Party fundamentalists are voluntarily ignorant and guided by the principals written in the Bible; a book written by people who had auditory and visual hallucinations.  Those same people would be heavily medicated or committed in a hospital today.

The Republicans have gerrymandered the districts so Tea Party radicals can be elected, influence legislation and given a platform to throw their tantrums.  If they are unable to enact their legislation they are able to prevent legislation they do not want.  Any consequences are then blamed on President Obama's inability to lead them.

This electorate votes on same-sex marriage, abortion, Intelligent Design and gun control.  Fiscal conservatives surrounded themselves by a highly combustible, under-educated constituency who will push the secular issues right along with their passionate need to perpetuate Christianity and their limited world view.  

Do they understand the basics of taxes enough to know if or how they are impacted?  Do they understand if corporations pay less taxes it isn't their Earned Income Tax Credit that is affected?  It's their child's education or their grandmother's healthcare or the farm subsidies that keep food affordable.

So, what do we do to stop the madness?

What I see now is a shift in the Republican Party.  There are the evangelicals holding hands with the rich.  Then there are these poor moderate Republicans who have WTF expressions any time a loud mouth Tea Party representative says something that causes Rachel Maddow to fizz out.  Jeb Bush said the Republicans have crossed the line into crazy.  Okay I'm paraphrasing, but still, he thinks they've gone way too far to the right.

To those of you who voted Republican and wonder what the hell happened, it isn't too late.  Politics have shifted.  The nuts have taken your party over.  We will respect and accept you the way you are.  Why don't you come and play with us for a while?