Prevailing Winds "For the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom . . ." 2 Cor. 3:17, TNIV

February 3, 2010

Shame, If Only They Were Capable Of Feeling Any

Filed under: Uncategorized — keelyem @ 4:05 am

If I wore a hat, I’d be tipping it now — or tossing it joyfully into the air.

The Republican Party, circa 2010, has rallied around a common vision for the United States sure to ignite political and moral passion among a weary and worried electorate, unite a fractured and fearful nation, and at the same time incite rebellion against the corruption and greed, injustice and immorality, that has plagued the halls of power in the U.S. for the last century.

The example of the GOP — the commitment to righteousness and leadership currently ringing through the halls of Congress — is a profound testimony to the influence of Christian thought and practice on a secular political party whose base is largely evangelical, and through the efforts and platform of the GOP, the witness of the Gospel has been heightened even more than the nation has been bettered. Even Democrats have been encouraged by the respectful tone and commitment to integrity evinced by the Republicans, and the resulting bipartisanship is largely due to the steadfast efforts of GOP leadership and grassroots in their devotion to nothing more, but certainly nothing less, than the betterment of the people of the United States. Truly, my pride in the American political process has never been more profound.

And, oh, yeah — I’m tall, slim, and blonde. With a great tan and a six-minute mile.

I’m not any of those things, of course. And the reality is that the Republican Party has determined that it needs only one plank in its party platform, and that plank is simply “Hating Barack Obama.” This is the lens through which the GOP, the Faux News Faux Libertarians, the Tea Partyers and the Religious Right choose to govern, and it’s a testimony to the ignorance and immorality of the electorate, gorged into a stupor by media, that they’ve succeeded as much as they have. Below are two examples of GOP and conservative heroes who demonstrate as easily as they breathe air or tie their shoes their utter contempt for our nation’s President. I don’t know how else to introduce them, since I can’t provide vomit bags to each of my readers.

While it would be tempting to direct my disgust just toward Tom Tancredo or Glenn Beck, or even toward local pastors who spew bile in regard to Obama and his every plan with little or no evidence of analysis or understanding thereof, I’m afraid that the truth is that every religious conservative, Republican activist, Tea Party conventioneer and Opportunistic Libertarian who doesn’t directly, publicly, and specifically criticize these shatterers of whatever moral legitimacy the opposition party holds is absolutely guilty as well.

They are guilty not of disagreeing with the President — I disagree strongly with him in a lot of areas, and there’s nothing wrong with that. They’re guilty of fouling, perhaps forever, the waters of dialogue and crippling the efforts of Congress to try to lift us out of a recession economy, fight a war against an amorphous but committed enemy, find some common ground in fixing a broken healthcare system, and steer this nation toward safe, productive harbors once again. They are enemies of everything good and decent and just and fair, no matter their empty talk about “decency” and “values” and “righteousness” and “patriotism.”

Believe me, people like Tancredo and Beck — and Palin and Boehner and Bush and Beck — have done more damage to the United States of America than any terrorist will ever be able to, and it sickens me, as a Christ-follower, to see that their crusade is largely supported by those who, like me, worship Christ as Savior. Perhaps, God willing, my words will jolt some into re-thinking their positions and re-examining issues that beg for a legitimately Christian approach to their resolution. Until then, and with enormous heaviness in my heart, I offer Tom Tancredo and Glenn Beck:

“People who could not spell the word vote or say it in English put a
committed socialist ideologue in the White House. The name is Barack
Hussein Obama.” — Former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo at the National Tea Party Convention (February 4, 2010)

“He chose to use his name, Barack, for a reason. To identify, not with
America — you don’t take the name Barack to identify with America. You
take the name Barack to identify with what? Your heritage? The heritage,
maybe, of your father in Kenya, who is a radical? Really? Searching for
something to give him any kind of meaning, just as he was searching later
in life for religion.” — Glenn Beck (February 4, 2010)

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