For those of you not happy with the Democratic or Republican Party presidential candidates for 2008, it looks like you might have another party to choose from. That's right, check this out:
Alarmed at the chance that the Republican party might pick Rudolph Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate in an attempt to stop him.The group making the threat, which came together Saturday in Salt Lake City during a break-away gathering during a meeting of the secretive Council for National Policy, includes Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who is perhaps the most influential of the group, as well as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, the direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie and dozens of other politically-oriented conservative Christians, participants said. Almost everyone present expressed support for a written resolution that "if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third party candidate."
The only thing I don't understand is why this didn't happen earlier. I mean, it's not like Republican Party leaders have respected the Christian conservative grassroots "foot soldiers in their party or done anything for them. In fact, according to David Kuo (deputy director of the White House office of faith-based and community initiatives), the White House sneered at the Christian right as "'nuts' and 'goofy' while buttering them up in public."
More broadly, I've always struggled to understand how the bizarre Republican coalition -- social extremists (down with gays, evolution, and scientific research), libertarians (no government except for the military and police), neocons (let's remake the world in our image - at the point of a gun!) and the corporate welfare crowd (more handouts for Archer Daniels Midland and ExxonMobil, please) -- has held together as long as it has. Well, that might not be the case for much longer if the Theocratic Party gets up and running. While they're at it, maybe they can run Pat Buchanan for U.S. Senate in Virginia next year? Just a thought.
P.S. Guess who's a member of the "Council for National Policy." That's right, Republican Del. Jeff Frederick from the 52nd district. Maybe Frederick could switch to the Theocratic Party as well, along with Bob Marshall, Ken Cuccinelli, Nick Rerras, and a few others? Just a thought.
Watkins Abbitt
Clay Athey
Rob Bell
Kathy Byron
Ben Cline
Mark Cole
John Cosgrove
Kirk Cox
Allen Dudley
William Fralin
Jeff Frederick
Todd Gilbert
Bill Howell
Robert Hurt
Sal Iaquinto
Steven Landes
Matt Lohr
Danny Marshall
Bob Marshall
Steve Martin
Michele McQuigg
Jackson Miller
Steve Newman
Sam Nixon
John O'Bannon
Glenn Oder
Bobby Orrock
Chris Peace
Melanie Rapp
Chris Saxman
Ed Scott
Beverly Sherwood
Bob Tata
John Welch
Robert Wittman
Tommy Wright
And a few more possibilities:
Dave Albo (95)
Tim Hugo (94)
Ken Cuccinelli (92)
Tom Rust (89)
Jay O'Brien (85)
Nick Rerras (82)
The good news is that several of these people will be free to change to the Theocratic party while out of office after November 6th (yippea) - because we don't want them no matter which party backs them.
I am very excited after this past weekend.
It was a very good political weekend for me.
The Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy at Cornell University considers the Council for National Policy a leading force in the Dominionist movement. TheocracyWatch, a CRESP project, describes it as "an umbrella organization of right-wing leaders who gather regularly to plot strategy, share ideas and fund causes and candidates to advance the theocratic agenda."[4] Southeastern Louisiana University philosophy professor Barbara Forrest says of the Council for National Policy "The CNP membership also includes a sizeable segment of Christian Reconstructionists: "Reconstructionists espouse a radical theology that calls for trashing the U.S. Constitution and replacing it with the harsh legal code of the Old Testament. They advocate the death penalty for adulterers, blasphemers, incorrigible teen-agers, gay people, 'witches' and those who worship 'false gods'."
And no less than our VP saw fit to make an appearance at their event:
[From the Salt Lake Tribune 9/28/06] Vice President Dick Cheney has departed Salt Lake City today after making a quick speech before a super-secret conservative policy group.
...
The purpose of the trip - which is privately funded - was to speak to the Council for National Policy, a private group that permitted no press coverage. The four-day event that began Thursday is being held at a downtown Salt Lake City Hotel.
Here's an interesting eye-opener from wikipedia on the Constitution Restoration Act introduced by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) in 2005. Put simply it would seek to impeach judges who fail to acknowledge "God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government".
Wouldn't it be interesting if Guiliani did get nominated!
I would like to point out that there are legitimate issues of Christian concern in our politics that should not be dismissed as being merely right-wing nonsense. You talk about standing in the way of scientific research, but I and many others point out that scientific research cannot exist inside an ethical/moral vacuum, and such considerations need to be taken into account when facing new areas of research.
Matusleo
Ut Prosim
But then you quickly run into the issue of 'which do I use?', and that is a quagmire you will never climb out of.
And if we leave the ethics up to the personal morality of the scientists, we may as well not even have any ethical standards in scientific research.
I think in that respect we need to adhere to those ethical and moral qualities that have been the backbone of the development of western civilization, as they are the ones that most Americans are going to find most natural, and thus, most convincing/compelling.
Matusleo
Ut Prosim