The religious right bothers me.

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It sometimes really bothers me that everyone seems to be placed in big tents. I don't want to be associated with the religious right. They scare me with their fanatical beliefs. I wish they would go away or form their own party not associated with Republicans.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 13 • Views: 2,408 • Replies: 22

@McGentrix,

I know. If it weren't for that, I might take a closer look at Bobby Jindal

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@McGentrix,

But I thought you had to be hardcore christian right to be a republican!

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

I wish they would go away or form their own party not associated with Republicans.

Aww, come on now...

Your heart may be saying that, but your head's saying something else, surely? Laughing

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It is an ugly reality of American politics that any group which wishes to get even a little political leverage has to be associated with either the Republican or the Democratic party. Forming a third or fourth party guarantees that the group will be politically marginalized. The Democratic party supports abortion, so there's nowhere else for the religious loonies to go. Personally, i don't see an ounce of difference between these two essentially conservative parties. But if the religious right struck out on its own, it would marginalize them, and might well torpedo the Republicans, too.

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@McGentrix,

Quote:

I don't want to be associated with the religious right. They scare me with their fanatical beliefs. I wish they would go away or form their own party not associated with Republicans.

The religious right doesn't frighten me...it's just that they remind me of religious lunatics; I feel so distressed with their politics, and when I see them coming one way I turn and go another. They do have a significant sway over the Republican Party which tend to cater to them since the GOP will grab every vote it can get. There's not enough of the Religious Right to form their own party because mainstream Americans are turned off by their extremism. Their greatest power is observed in the Bible Belt and channelled via the Republican Party to others; some of these fundamentalists are the biggest hypocrites ever.

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@Moment-in-Time,

Does't seem the case when voters made them the majority.
What gives?

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@McGentrix,

I think the issue is more that the Republicans moved themselves to capture the religious right and now find they are driving the conversation. It wasn't too long ago ('70s) that Christians were pretty much split between the parties. There is nothing inherent about either party that should drive religious affiliation. The Democratic positions on help for the poor and healthcare should be as appealing as the Republican positions on gay marriage and abortion. You don't hear much about the religious left, but you can find it in the inner cities and immigrant communities. Republican strategists decided to make hay out of gay rights and "family values" to drive a certain segment to vote for them and it worked too well. Now they are to big to ignore when they go off the deep end.

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@McGentrix,

I am admiring your candor in admitting to this.

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@engineer,

They're already off the deep end; more like they went over the cliff.

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though i respect their right to be such, the religious Left and Centre bother me as well

and don't get me started on the pantheists, agnostics and athiests

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As a party that is supposed to be for smaller government and more freedom for people, I find the religious right like to have it's nose up everyone's ass. Let's keep govt out of our personal lives and take care of the things it should be doing.

I was absolutely and completely dumbfounded that one of the first things the new congress did was try to get into the abortion thing again! So many things they need to fix and they chose that! Ugh.

I wish sometimes that we could have get some common sense and have a government that represented us.

Term limits for everyone.

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@McGentrix,

Yea, like one year: that'll essentially end their destructive behavior; power grab.

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

I wish sometimes that we could have get some common sense and have a government that represented us.

Congress represents their lobbyists because they pay for their re-election campaigns. The system is profoundly broken at the moment because money buys voters through media exposure.

I've posted the following before. It's long but it's worth watching. Lawrence Lessig lays out in detail exactly why congress is broken and the crazy system that feeds it.

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@rosborne979,

The fact of the matter is; money talks best - in the majority of cases.

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@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

Does't seem the case when voters made them the majority.
What gives?

Oh, that's an easy one. Likely voters more ideologically polarized than the Public overall showed up to vote. The Republican party doesn't stand a chance in the current atmosphere of winning the Presidency in 2016. Very few Americans bothered to vote in 2014, especially among the Dems. If the Dems had bothered to turn out in full force, there would not be a Republican majority in the Congress today. In 2016, when the majority of mainstream Americans turn out to vote, they will most likely take back the Congress.

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@Moment-in-Time,

I believe your observation is the correct one.

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It was Ronald Reagan that brought the libertarian right and the religious right together in the 80s.

After more than three decades this unlikely marriage looks like it's splitting at the seams.

The question is, where would that leave either wing and the Republican Party?

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@InfraBlue,

InfraBlue wrote:

It was Ronald Reagan that brought the libertarian right and the religious right together in the 80s.

After more than three decades this unlikely marriage looks like it's splitting at the seams.

Liberals keep saying that, but it won't happen.

Liberals also keep saying the people are going to "rise up" and destroy the plutocracy, but that won't happen either.

Quote:

The question is, where would that leave either wing and the Republican Party?

Out of government, which is why it isn't going to happen.

"The Pauls" just need to throw the religious right a bone every once in a while, and they'll keep somnambulating to the polls every two years to keep Koch, et al., in power.

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@Moment-in-Time,

Moment-in-Time wrote:

If the Dems had bothered to turn out in full force, there would not be a Republican majority in the Congress today. In 2016, when the majority of mainstream Americans turn out to vote, they will most likely take back the Congress.

We might have held the Senate, but GOP gerrymandering would still have allowed them to keep the House, and it will do so in 2016 as well.

1 Reply

The religious right bothers me.

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