The Deterioration of the Christian Right Is Imminent

[applegrove]

The Deterioration of the Christian Right Is Imminent

By Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig at the New Republic

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121777/deterioration-christian-right-imminent

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At National Review, David French explained the phenomenon unwittingly in a piece about "Why a Huckabee Loss Would Be a Win for Religious Conservatives": "When Mike Huckabee loses the Republican primary, he’ll be defeated by another pro-life, pro–religious liberty candidate — but one who probably has a stronger conservative economic record or better national-security credentials." In other words, it isn’t enough to be overtly Christian anymore, or to represent conservative Christian values. Every GOP candidate will pay the very same lip service to God and family that Huckabee will. Republicans will therefore base their choice of candidate not on Christian values, but on free market street cred. So why, French wonders, does it matter if Huckabee is unceremoniously abandoned thanks to his support for the status-quo in terms of Social Security and Medicare?

It matters because of what it reveals: that business-friendliness has now come into direct confrontation with Republicans’ much-vaunted Christian values, a phenomenon especially visible when it comes to gay marriage. At Slate, Will Saletan reported the parade of anti-business bloviating that issued from GOP candidates during their respective South Carolina tours last weekend:


They went after the GOP’s traditional ally, big business, for siding with the sodomites. Cruz blasted “big business” for joining Democrats “to say their commitment to mandatory gay marriage in all 50 states trumps any commitment to the First Amendment.” Jindal decried “the assault ... in Indiana and Arkansas,” in which “corporate America joined up with the radical left to bully those lawmakers” who had defended religious exemptions from laws against anti-gay discrimination. The audience cheered as Jindal declared, “I’ll also say this to these corporations that have already told me in Louisiana they don’t want us to pass our own bill protecting the rights of individuals and businesses who support the traditional view of marriage. Don’t even waste your breath trying to bully the governor of Louisiana.”

This rhetorical appeal to Christian conservatism is ramping up because the matter is out of politicians' hands, and all parties are aware that their upbraiding of businesses will not acutally pan out in policy. It is safe, in other words, for GOP candidates to rail against business, so long as their protests remain at the level of frustrated grumbling. What the conservative media machine’s destruction of Huckabee demonstrates is that the free-market, anti-egalitarian wing of the GOP establishment has less patience for the Christian wing than it used to, though Daniel Bell's 1976 book The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism serves as a reminder that these tensions have always existed. It has just taken this long for things to unravel.



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[Dont call me Shirley]

1. Not in my town, they keep putting up more and more of those money-bags "churches"

[betterdemsonly]

2. The Techies that run TNR are delusional

These states are becoming more and more reactionary particularly to women on issues of reproductive rights and to children on issues of creationism and american exceptionilsm in the schools.

TNR techies also think the internet makes up for right wing radio.

TNR techbros obviously don't pay attention to their losing elections badly in these states.