You call them AntiChrists Republicans.
Just look at this mess over here (via Shaun Mullen at Moderate Voice):
...It did not seem to be in the same league as Kim Jong-un reneging on a peace deal or Vladimir Putin ordering the poisoning of a defector spy, but for Republicans it was enough to send House Chaplain Patrick J. Conroy packing.
It seems that in Republican eyes the right reverend had sinned when, in a prayer last November as the House took up the $1.5 trillion tax “reform” bill, he prayed for the bill’s chief advocate, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and other lawmakers to “guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans.”
Although it took awhile, Ryan has now fired Father Conroy because he prayed for the poor. And the hungry, the powerless, the jobless, the fearful, the disabled and the victims of prejudice...
You see, that Jesuit priest was preaching from the likes of Proverbs: you know, bits like "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will reward them for what they have done" (19:17) and "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern" (29:7).
If the priest wanted to stay on Ryan's good side, he needed to preach more from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: "...We have no laws in this valley, no rules, no formal organization of any kind...But we have certain customs, which we all observe, because they pertain to the things we need to rest from. So I'll warn you now that there is one word which is forbidden in this valley: the word give." (p.714)
Ryan likes to sell himself as a Catholic to impress the religious Evangelical base, but he's always been a fan of Rand's hatred of the undeserving masses "begging for handouts" from "the great industrialists who earned their wealth."
This is actually a serious problem for Republicans overall. They LOVE to say they walk with Jesus but when push comes to shove they shove Jesus off the cliff in order to shove all the poor and vulnerable as well. Back to Mullen:
...Despite the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state... Republicans in general and Evangelicals in particular have been trying to ram religion down our throats for years in demanding that public school prayer be legalized, faith-based political action groups be tax exempt and employers be permitted to hide behind their religion in refusing to pay for employee benefits that include reproductive health care.
But for God’s sake keep religion out of their own house . . . er, House.
The hypocrisy of their faithlessness - wrecking laws and norms that were set up to help those who needed and deserved such help - exposes Republicans as the self-serving greedheads they are.
These Republicans do not GIVE. They do not give Justice, they do not give Love, they do not give Forgiveness, they do not give Hope, they do not give Charity, they do not give Grace.
These Republicans TAKE. And they don't take anything of true value, they just take money and power and fame and everyone else's lives.
Never call them Christians. These Pharisees spit on everything Jesus represents.
1 comment:
If Jesus showed up this afternoon, Republicans would cheer them on as Fergus' DoJ threw him into Guantanamo.
What's even stupider about their Randian greed is that it doesn't sell well among their political base, who skew older, sicker, and more likely to support and collect benefits from Medicare and Social Security.
Ryan has skedaddled in what he believes to be just in time to avoid political responsibility for the damage he has done with his tax cut debacle, but I think it will come back later on and ruin his ambition.
We have to work to make that be what happens, but I think it will.
You have to be careful about what kind of fire you play with, politically, and they have been beating the "economic anxiety" drum really hard to provide a palatable alibi for the racism and social status anxiety that actually fueled Fergus' campaign.
When the effects of the tax cut debacle actually exacerbate the economic anxiety of red state America, who actually haven't recovered from the crash like the cities have, they will become ripe for exploiting in Fergus and his Republicans' ouster.
Why do we have a chaplain in congress to begin with? And who, exactly decided to hire a Jesuit for the job if they didn't want prayers about the poor? The Jesuits are sort of the social justice warrior wing of the Catholic church. And why does it fall to an atheist like me to explain that to them?
Oh, right: because they're Republicans.
-Doug in Oakland
Post a Comment