"if conservatives want...a battle over...Obama’s next Supreme Court nominee, let them bring it on"

[ProSense]

Urgent: A TDS Strategy Memo on the Supreme Court

The Republican right has a deeply disturbing covert extremist agenda for the Supreme Court – end the separation of church and state, undermine the legality of Social Security and Medicare and give individuals the right to ignore any laws they choose.

Does this sound like a wildly hysterical exaggeration?

It certainly does. But unfortunately, it also happens to be true.

<...>

Taken together, these three ideas actually amount to a covert three-pronged agenda to radically transform the American constitution:

1. To redefine America as a Christian Nation and treat Christianity as a state-favored religion

2. To create a legal doctrine that could justify the voiding of all social programs enacted since 1933.

3. To establish the right of individuals or states to ignore and disobey any laws that they happen to interpret as impinging on their freedom or natural rights.

<...>

Democrats should not let them get away with this deception. A substantial part of the Republican base deeply and sincerely believes in the three-pronged extremist agenda described above and will consider any attempt by the Republican leadership to shy away from those views as a betrayal tantamount to treason. If Democrats firmly and consistently demand that Republican leaders honestly say where they stand on these issues, the Republican coalition will become deeply fractured.

So if conservatives want to make a battle over Barack Obama’s next Supreme Court nominee, let them bring it on.

• Let them bring it on with all the rhetoric Tea Party folk and other radicalized conservatives have been using about Obama's "socialism" and the Nazi-like tyranny of universal health coverage.

• Let them bring it on with all the segregation-era legal strategies of succession and nullification.

• Let them bring it on with arguments that programs like social security and medicare are illegal and unconstitutional

• Let them bring it on with all the attempts to write Thomas Jefferson and the separation of church and state out of American history

The truth is that Democrats don’t want an ugly ideological battle over the next Supreme Court nominee. They would much rather focus on important economic issues like financial reform.

But if the Republicans insist on a fight, let’s stand ready to give them a battle they’ll wish they never started.

Edited title.

[sakabatou]

1. This is nothing new. They've been doing this for a while.

[RandomThoughts]

2. The Christian support is Machiavellian not belief in my view.

I doubt it is about the teachings of the religion, and more about the teachings of other people that say religion should be used by people that do not believe in them to sway public support.

[mediaman007]

3. Jesse Ventura: Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded

[Overseas]

4. K&R. Sometimes I forget the intense agenda of the encroaching Republican Theocracy.

I agree that the Christian Obedience Movement seems to be engineered by those who need the Undeserving People God Has Chosen To Be Poor to willingly give up all their taxes to sustain the perpetual war machinery. To support the lifestyles of the Good Christians God Has Chosen To Favor With Great Wealth. Their intent is to help the long suffering to accept their fate as poor miserable sinners by imbuing them with faith by any means necessary.

And the thing is--

We could be having so much more fun than all that. We face some daunting challenges as a nation, which we could be addressing and solving with green democratic creativity.

I'm so sad that we allowed our mass media to be taken over by a right wing echo chamber, and all we have are our few token liberal news shows and progressive radio hosts to keep us going. Any more balanced media would have tired of the right wing lying by now.

And I was just wondering if the GOP was laying it on so thickly this time because it is so apparent to so many more of us now that we really need a refreshing change of course, not more of the same.