GOP: First Religious Party

This frankly deserves a lot more attention than what I can give it here in this quick post that am writing just before going to bed — this subject is certainly worth revisiting at length, which I certainly hope to do.

Kevin Phillips, author of American Dynasty, among other books, has recently published American Theocracy, which takes a close look at the relationship between the Republican Party and the religious fundamentalists right in America. Kevin Phillips goes even further than merely describing the relationship, however. In fact, he suggests that the Republican Party is now the first religious party in American history and that it is this phenomenon that has influenced the Bush Administration’s total lack of a policy apparatus — essentially, the Bush White House has given up on formulating a governing policy and, in stead, has catered to the demands of this extremely influential constituency within the Republican Party by using the White House as a political tool to consolidate control over the religious right.

Now, Kevin Phillips is not some media pundit writing about the Republican Party from the outside, as he’s been an inside player of the Republican Party as a member of Nixon’s White House team. It was during that time, in the early to mid 1970s, that Kevin Phillips began to observe the inroads that the religious fundamentalist right was making within the Republican Party — just around the time that Nixon was launching the Southern Strategy to courtship Southern Whites unhappy with the progress of the Civil Rights movement. Today, of course, the Republican Party is apologizing for its use of race as a wedge issue to courtship the bigot vote in the South; never mind that they continue to use race and other social wedge issues to divide the public, and to attract the bigoted and close minded elements to the Republican Party come election day.

All right, back to Kevin Phillips. As I mentioned above, with American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips does more than merely describe the nexus of religious fundamentalism and the Republican Party. He goes on to describe how the erosion of the manufacturing base, and the transformation of our economy to a finance centric one, are colluding to destroy the social and economic security that America’s middle class enjoyed for much of the twentieth century. This is how NPR’s Fresh Air, the program on which I heard about American Theocracy, describes the author and his book:

Kevin Phillips rose to prominence on the heels of Richard Nixon’s political triumphs. His 1969 book The Emerging Republican Majority was hailed as a visionary work of political analysis. But his new book, American Theocracy, argues that the Republican Party — and the country — is headed for disaster.

Subtitled "The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century," American Theocracy puts the trials of modern America into the context of other great historical powers. From Rome to Great Britain, Phillips identifies the keys to their decline — and draws parallels to modern America.

Phillips wrote a 2004 bestseller, American Dynasty, about the Bush family. American Theocracy is a harsh criticism of the current Bush administration and the Republican Party. Phillips, a senior strategist for Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential bid, registered himself as a political independent in 2002.

I encourage every one to hear Kevin Phillips’ radio interview with Terry Gross, of Fresh Air. At one point during the interview Terry Gross asks the author to describe whether he’s now a Republican or Democrat, and he simply answers that he’s an independent. He then goes on to lament about how the Republican Party has been totally taken over by the religious right, and how the Dominionists’ apocalyptic end-of-days vision of the world has rendered that party incapable of dealing with the economic issues that he raises in American Theocracy. At this point Kevin Phillips, as if thinking out loud, offers that Democrats are equally incapable of addressing the same economic concerns, though for obviously different reasons. Now, here’s the part that intrigues me and, by the way, I have to agree with Kevin Phillips when he says that: Democrats are incapable of dealing with the economic issues, because they too receive big time money (though not the same amount as Republicans) from the financing centers that are pushing our economy away from manufacturing and into a finance centric one (an economic model that benefits multinational corporations at the expense of virtually everyone else).

So, where do we go from here? Now, I know that in the short term the goal is one chamber of Congress — hopefully both chambers. And then, there’s 2008, for sure. But both of these goals are easy by comparison to the more monumental task of creating one party — just one party — that’s responsive to average voters and, too, a party that’s not beholden to the big money interests that fill the election year coffers of our politicians.

This American Life: Habeas Schmaebeas

Just finished listening to a very moving radio piece from This American Life — an amazing public radio show that every week brings the sort of stories to its audience that informs, moves and presents the world as if one were seeing it for the first time. This week This American Life brought us the stories of some Guantanamo Prison detainees. These are men so dangerous, so monstrous that the Bush Administration had to build a prison camp 90 miles outside of the US, so that these men, err, terrorists, could not harm American citizens… well, at least that’s what Administration tells us.

Of course, given all that we’ve learned about this incompetent Republican Administration over the past five years, if one still believes what comes out of their press office, then one might as well still believe in the tooth fairy, that clouds are made of cotton and that the moon is composed of cheese — only children are excused for believing in such fantasies. As this week’s This American Life episode shows us, much — if not all — that the Bush Administration has told us of the men imprisoned at Guantanamo are plain lies. For instance, according to stats mentioned in the program, only 5% of the Guantanamo detainees were processed by US forces in the field of battle; instead, the vast majority of the prisoners were handed over by "bounty hunters" in Afghanistan and elsewhere, looking to cash in on the reported $5,000 to $10,000 per head that the US military was offering locals in exchange for Al Queda or Taliban fighters. Now, one can easily imagine that, in a lawless country, like Afghanistan was right after the US invasion, that some opportunistic men would take advantage of such a situation and collect what must be a tidy sum for that part of the world — and keep in mind how much more difficult it all must have been to sort things out in the middle of an armed conflict, with language barriers and all, where virtually anybody could be the enemy… well, these are the conditions that ensnared many unwitting and innocent young men, some of which are now in Guantanamo, where they can do no harm to American citizens — and, too, where the Bush Administration does not have to abide by habeas corpus.

The radio episode also asks some more substantive questions about our legal system and about whether the current Administration has violated the long held principled of habeas corpus — a principle that’s at the very heart of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence and, too, a principle that was at the center of our American Revolution. Now, it is unmistakably clear to me that, yes, the Bush Administration has lied to us about virtually everything that’s happened since 9/11, just as it is unmistakably clear to me that this Republican president has violated and soiled the founding principles of the American Revolution; yet, in spite of it all, the most harden of his supporters, the self-deluded morons that consider themselves uber-patriots, are complicit with the Bush Administration in betraying the spirit and legacy of our nation’s war for independence.

Here’s a synopsis of this week’s This American Life episode:

The right of habeas corpus has been a part of this country’s legal tradition longer than we’ve actually been a country. It means the government has to explain why it’s holding a person in custody. But now, the war on terror has nixed many of the rules we used to think of as fundamental. At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially claimed that the prisoners should not be covered by habeas – or even by the Geneva Conventions – because they’re the most fearsome terrorist enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of our mistakes?

And you can hear this week’s episode here — it’s a great show, as always.

Senator Dole Tells Me to Piss Off

Senator Dole, a former Republican presidential candidate no less, writes, “I’ll bet you are an extreme member of the left wing just like Terri Gross.”

Frankly, I was a little surprised to read what Senator Dole had written, on two counts: one, he actually responded to a letter I’d addressed to him and, two, I was surprised and disappointed at the schoolyard level of his missive — though, to his credit, he did stop short of calling my mom names.

Of course, continuing with the schoolyard tone of his response, that good ‘ol stand-by taunt is almost audible — So-and-So, Sitting in A tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G — as Senator Dole naturally concludes that Terri Gross and I “deserve each other.”

So, aside from that little blue pill, what could’ve possible gotten such a rise out of Senator Dole?

(That was a cheap shot, I know — but, come on, it was high and slow… I had to take a swing.)

On April 12 Senator Dole was on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” hawking his book “One Soldier’s Story : A Memoir.” The host, Terri Gross, was extremely accommodating and gave Senator Dole ample time to discuss the book and his life’s story; however, as a responsible journalist, the host asked Senator Dole to comment on some current events, specifically: the nuclear option and Rep. DeLay’s alleged ethics violations. Of course, as expected, Senator Dole immediately resorted to the partisan talking points on both issues; however, to my hear, the Senator went too far when he completely dismissed the allegations against Rep. DeLay as merely an attack by Democrats and their allies in the “liberal media” — including NPR. Now, I don’t have the transcript of the interview, so I cannot post the exact quote, but you can hear the interview here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4587202.

What was even more infuriating is that Terri Gross, of course, did not question Senator Dole’s unfounded accusations and simply let his ridiculous charges rest. Subsequently, Senator Dole insisted that he was on the program to talk about his book and was not there to discuss politics and, of course, Terri Gross acquiesced.

Well, right after I heard the radio interview with the Senator I shot off this letter to his Washington, DC, office:

Which motivated the Senator to respond with:

I like how the good Senator, a former representative and public servant, which at one point had hoped to represent all Americans as our president, basically told me — an American citizen that, to boot, has worn the nation’s uniform — to go piss off. Of course, all is forgiven, since the Senator does close by invoking god’s grace on America — now, as for the rest of the planet, if my reading between the lines is correct, it can simply go piss off.