The hijacking of the Republican Party

By JEAN THOMAS

Many years ago, when I was a grade school librarian in a small town in Minnesota, a group of “concerned citizens” wanted me to remove from the shelves all the library books about dinosaurs.

I didn’t do it, of course. I thought, how could anyone not believe in dinosaurs? What did they think — that the curators at the Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. crafted all those dinosaur skeletons out of glue and papier-mâché?

This is just one small example of attempts by Christian fundamentalists to impose their narrow-minded viewpoint on others. That was just the beginning of the so-called “moral majority.” They have become much more forceful and determined since then.

Now they have huge organizations such as Focus on the Family; the Christian Coalition; the Traditional Values Coalition; the American Center for Law and Justice; the Christian Broadcasting Network; the Concerned Women of America; and the Family Research Council.

They seek to censor books in public schools, such as “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “The Wizard of Oz,” for promoting “unacceptable” religious beliefs. They would have us believe the American Civil Liberties Union is destroying our country as they work to protect and defend our constitutional rights.

Recently, the Family Research Council held a “Value Voters’ Summit” in Washington. The usual suspects were there courting the radical right vote, including George “Macaca” Allen, Bill Frist, Mitt Romney, and Sam Brownback. Anne Coulter, Newt Gingrich and Tony Snow, among others, were there to focus not on the endless war in Iraq, or Katrina, or terrorism, global jihad or genocide or the high cost of medical care. They didn’t dwell on poverty, health care, housing, hunger or corruption in Congress. Their message, in speech after speech, was the threat posed to America by two men getting married; that there is nothing more important to the survival of civilized society than preventing certain citizens from having families and raising children; and that homosexuality is the greatest threat to civilization.

Where were these holier-than-thou homophobic spokespersons for the radical religious right when Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida was hitting on young boys? Republican leaders in Congress knew for almost a year that Rep. Foley was making sexually explicit advances toward underage boys. What did they do? They allowed him to remain in charge of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus. The GOP is now in typical damage control mode, calling for an investigation. Who knew what, and when did they know it? I call that hypocrisy and moral dishonesty.

What else did the speakers at the “Value Voters’ Summit” have to say? Tony Snow, the puppet president’s puppet, alluded to the “miracle” of Bush’s appearance at Ground Zero on 9/14. He spoke of Bush’s deep humility as he gives “glory to the Creator.” (This is reminiscent of Jerry Falwell telling his parishioners that a vote against Bush was a vote against God).

The religious right has powerful allies in Congress who are attempting to enact legislation which will give them even more influence over our political system and our lives. If enacted, this legislation would nullify the constitutionally protected separation between church and state. It would allow churches to participate directly in political campaigns, endorse or oppose political candidates, and distribute partisan voter guides while still maintaining their non-profit, tax exempt status.

The Republican Party has been hi-jacked by neo-con gurus who believe they have been called by God to save America from homosexuals and abortionists, who seek to impose their narrow view of morality on our Constitution, who are working hard to create a theocracy in our country, at the expense of our democracy, and who really believe that George Bush was sent to them by God. They would force us to live in their idea of an ideal nation, governed by their idea of true religion.

We must challenge religious bigotry and defend religious freedom. The radical religious right doesn’t speak for me, how about you?

(Thomas lives in Yountville.)

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