Criminal Republicanism

Okay, try to read without instantly throwing the wall in front of your mental acuity; I will endeavor to be clear even if caustic.

Republicanism as I mean it here is a general attitude, of which I have spoken in earlier posts. Not all Republicans (as flesh-and-blood humans) act criminally, in my estimation. There are individual Republicans I can confess to loving even if I sometimes am repulsed by their harsh comments.

Watching news that reveals the widespread general attitude of oppression of the masses (because if the vast base of our society are the have-nots, they must be guilty of laziness or something worse), I am struck by the evidence that the most criminally oppressive Republicans are those who claim godliness.

If you have read any of my previous writings you are probably (maybe painfully) aware of my strong statements regarding religion. My own constructed axiom is: "Nothing else is so limiting to the human mind as is religion." Sidestepping here my usual progression into discussion of the most egregious criminality of religion itself - horrible events from history that underscore my strong statements - I want to focus on that slippery little thing called "Christian giving." [ You may want to Google the idea; there are studies on how to do this religious requirement. ]

What bothers me so fundamentally is the fact that "good Christians" (!) will study on how to give to the poor and will often dutifully support The Salvation Army and many other charities; they may even give to someone on a face-to-face, personal level when they see the needy up close. But given the chance to vote on some policy in government, almost as a block the Christians among us will choose to limit what is available to those same poor or disenfranchised citizens. In fact, they often help mightily in such miserably misguided states such as Texas, to do the disenfranchising. (It appears that Texas voter rights are essentially now limited to those above the poverty line.) Christians are the most faithful minions of Republican radicals; today's "Tea Party" is the best evidence of such radicalism. That group of hard-line control freaks could not exist were it not for the wholesale underwriting of Christians who consider themselves to be "good" God-fearing members of society.

And therein lies the problem! These folks FEAR a supreme being they have grown up believing is actually there and actually telling them what to do if they hope to ever attain a heaven or afterlife of any kind. (And even though the only mention of human government in scripture is instruction to stay out of it because "My kingdom is not of this world," still most Christians seem determined to go against such instruction from their "savior" and joyfully vote to restrict their neighbors' personal freedoms.) It's the same drive that directs Muslims who want their paradise above anything temporal or worldly. Hence they all, Christians, Muslims - people of any belief base that promises something better to be desired after this life - err on the side of catering to phantoms when it would be more deeply rewarding to be sincerely involved in real giving. It must be that humans just don't deserve the real giving of which religious people might be capable, because the true drummer for believers is out in some nebulous place telling them to follow something "greater." They convince themselves that the greater good is to hold fast to that traditional belief and hope for eternity; damn the human poor who are always there to be needy. Maybe the needy poor can be helped in the future from the new godly home where the formerly human "good Christian" will reside. [ This is not some weird slant I have concocted; it was what I believed and taught as a young, fundamentalist Christian pastor! ]

Laws enacted by the faithful votes of "good Christians" keep women in Texas (along with other states) from getting help with all kinds of medical care, including abortions if they are needed. Why? Because Christians are convinced that abortion is wrong! Okay, if religious people feel something is wrong, the only godly requirement upon them is to NOT DO that something. Yet they en masse will vote into law a prohibition against that something, when the law is detrimental to many other people holding many different (and some the same) beliefs.

From the many years I devoutly studied the Christian Bible, the act of being meddlesome did not seem to be promoted there, except long after the purported life of Jesus when an opportunist who spoke several languages began writing his letters and telling women (in particular) what they had to do. That control freak, Saul of Tarsus, would be a major player in today's Republican Party and would surely run the Tea Party entirely. His chief deacon could be Ted of Texas!

It truly is sad that so many folks in our society who consider themselves good (except on the surface they naturally have to say they don't) are entirely in the automatic votes column for "conservative" political candidates. While the true Republican Party is all about money and power, the Christian segment of it is there only because of misguided beliefs that good people should control their neighbors to protect them from themselves and from the fires of hell.

Republicanism is guilty of any number of crimes against humanity; it's too bad that unsuspecting "good Christians" have so blindly assisted in the criminal acts against the poor and downtrodden whom they truly believe they are helping.