Secularism

Fareed Zakaria CNN Special From May 2021 Updated: “A Radical Rebellion: The Transformation Of The GOP”

The Welfare State–Secularism—changing racial situation.

Fareed Zakaria on a CNN Special today, updated from May 2021, entitled “A Radical Rebellion: The Transformation of the GOP”, presented an analysis of the disaster that the Republican Party has become:

in an era of conservatism attacking the concept of the Franklin D. Roosevelt New Deal and the Lyndon B. Johnson Great Society;

allowing Right Wing evangelical Christianity and theocracy to take over the party in the name of God;

and working against the reality that the white majority face a future in America of minority racial groups together being a majority of the population in about 2040-2045.

He covers from the John Birch Society in the 1950s;
to William F. Buckley, Jr and the National Review;
to Barry Goldwater and the conservative takeover in 1964, leading to massive victory of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society;
to Richard Nixon and the “Southern Strategy”in 1968;
to Jerry Falwell and the “Christian Coalition” and the “Moral Majority” in the late 1970s and early 1980s;
to Ronald Reagan and the “Reagan Coalition” in the 1980s;
to Pat Buchanan’s challenge of George H W Bush in 1992;
to Newt Gingrich and the “Republican Revolution” of 1994 and after;
to the promotion of right wing propaganda and lies by Fox News Channel starting in 1996;
to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the 2000s;
to the Tea Party Movement rise under Barack Obama’s Presidency;
to the rise of Donald Trump in 2015-2016;
to the “Big Lie” about the Presidential Election of 2020;
to the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection;
to the present extremism in the Congressional and State Republican parties in 2021;
to the constant threat to women’s rights, including abortion;
to the right wing rejection of Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney as not conservative enough;
and the growing racism, nativism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, and homophobia that have become alarming realities for the future of American politics!

The Problem Of Religion For Mitt Romney, And How He Deals With It: In A Demagogic Manner!

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has many problems on the road to the Republican Presidential nomination, and despite his wins tonight in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Wisconsin, his path to the Presidency is complicated, and it turns out, religion remains a major barrier.

Mitt Romney is a Mormon, a faith regarded by many Christian groups as a religious cult.

Mitt Romney was testy when asked a question yesterday about the tenets of his faith, regarding interracial sexual relations. He said he did not wish to discuss religion, but that is not going to make that issue go away.

When one looks at Gallup polls about how people feel about different religions, we discover that 7 percent say they would not vote for a Baptist; an equal 7 percent would not vote for a Catholic; 9 percent would not vote for a Jew; while 22 percent would not vote for a Mormon!

Only two groups rate higher in voter reluctance to vote for a candidate of that religion: 46 percent would not vote for a Muslim; and 49 percent would not vote for an atheist.

So what has Romney decided to do? Instead of arguing, as many demagogues of his party and in talk radio have done, that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, Romney goes one better.

Romney is now claiming that Obama is promoting “secularism”, in other words, “atheism”, that Obama does not really believe in God!

How despicable and demagogic Romney has become, trying to label Obama as an atheist, due to the fact that the percentage who would not vote for an atheist is double and more that of those who would not vote for a Mormon!

Romney is exploiting religious prejudice and hatred, at a time when he has a religious problem of his own!

What could be more unprincipled? And it is clear that it will not work, and Romney, by bringing it up, deserves a walloping repudiation in November!

Rick Santorum Critical Of Public Education And Higher Education As Promoting Indoctrination

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has now criticized public education and higher education as promoting indoctrination in what he considers liberal, secular, humanistic thought and learning.

Santorum touted the advantages of home schooling, which all of his children have experienced, as the way to counteract public education and promote parental values.

He complains that higher education institutions advocate challenges to religious values, and are out to propagandize liberal, secular values and concepts.

It is clear that Santorum does not see organized religion as indoctrination, promoting obedience and acceptance without open analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. He is disturbed that many young people move away from organized religion as they get older, and blames it on the secular humanism which challenges men and women to THINK, to come to conclusions, to JUDGE, to refuse to accept dogma, whether religious, political, or any other type of learning.

Santorum would rather have people accept religion without challenge, reject a worldly view, accept authority of all kinds without question, and keep women in a subservient role, as all religions promote.

The answer is that IF someone wishes to follow what Santorum advocates, then send your children to religiously based schools and universities, or keep them engaged in home schooling below the college level. But if one chooses to isolate his or her children from contact with others of a different religion, race, or ethnicity, those children are losing a valuable opportunity to learn about the real world out there. And if they do not learn to think, to evaluate, to analyze, to interpret information and challenge established institutions, then they are not able to accept the responsibilities of adulthood in a full sense!

Above all, separation of church and state, when it comes to public schools and public colleges and universities, must be maintained, as we are not a theocracy.

Religion is appropriate in churches and synagogues, but not in public education, and religion should not be taught in public schools or forced at the college and university level, unless one chooses independently to study it as a subject of inquiry.

This does not mean that religion as part of history should not be introduced and taught, but no indoctrination or advocacy can be allowed, despite the desires and wishes of Rick Santorum!

Newt Gingrich Being Totally Irresponsible And A Demagogue!

Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, always considered very intelligent and knowledgeable, but also seen as very confrontational and divisive in his years in the House of Representatives, has been, as Richard Cohen of the Washington Post wrote recently, on a “tear” lately in his vicious attacks on the Obama Administration.

Considered a likely candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2012, even though he has been out of elective office since 1998, Gingrich has used the words “socialism” and “secularism” very loosely and attacked what he calls “Cultural Elites”!

The problem is that he, himself, is part of the “Cultural Elites”, as he is a former college professor with a Ph. D. in History who speaks in such a way that most “ordinary” people would have trouble understanding his intellectual bent!

Gingrich promotes religion and “family values”, but he has been married three times, divorced twice, admitted to an extramarital affair, and served his first wife with divorce papers while she lay in the hospital after cancer surgery! 🙁

As Richard Cohen points out, Gingrich lives in a very wealthy suburb of Washington, DC. He has never been in the military, but always promotes them as if he was a war veteran himself! He has never worked in the business world, but acts as if government is evil, even though his whole career has been one of being in government or being paid to comment on government! 🙂

But he revels in calling Barack Obama “socialist”, when, as any reasonable person would have to admit, Obama is FAR from being a Socialist, even on National Health reform (no public option)!

As Cohen states, Gingrich lives off controversy and provocation! He promotes trouble and mischief! Cohen concludes: “He is good at being bad. He is just not any good at being good.”

To this, I say “Amen” without invoking religion! LOL 🙂