David Ian Miller of SFGate recently had an
interview with Bill Moyers, one of my favorite people. Moyers is so adept at finding and appropriately responding to things like this.
South Dakota is merely trying to overturn a Supreme Court decision, but Texas Republicans would like to overturn the Constitution entirely, and they're not afraid to say so:
MILLER: I've seen a theme in much of your writings and speeches over the past year or so -- the idea that believing the Bible and the Koran are literally true and 100-percent applicable to today's world is causing real damage on many levels. Is that a fair assessment of what you believe?
MOYERS: Yes, true believers brook no dissent, seek no debate, accept no compromise. American politics is polarized today because the base of the Republican Party is composed of true believers: "My way or the highway."
When you have time, read the platform adopted at the recent convention of Texas Republicans. It declares, "America is a Christian nation." The delegates pledged "to exert our influence toward a return to the original intent of the First Amendment and dispel the myth of the separation of church and state."
A scholar I greatly respect, John Green, who studies church-state issues at the University of Akron, sums it up better than I can. He says: "The GOP has defined itself against Democrats by making religion, particularly issues such as abortion and gay marriage, part of its politics. This is not a political disagreement. This is a religious disagreement."
A shudder runs down my spine. Religious zealots don't want compromise, which is why they loathe democracy.
I wanted to do a Jon Stewart eye-rub when I read that. Is that right? Let's go see...
Found this in the Dallas Morning News. It includes Moyers' text verbatim, but also this look at the heart and soul of Texas Republicans:
At Saturday morning's prayer meeting, ministers delivered prayers, gospel singers sang, and the Rev. Dale Young, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Laredo, picked up the convention's dominant theme of immigration.
"Lord, your words tell us there's a sign that this nation is under a curse, when the alien who lives among us grows higher and higher and we grow lower and lower," he preached.
The night before, East Texas evangelist Rick Scarborough exhorted Christians at a "values rally" to get involved in elections: "We must do more than pray. We also must put sweat to our tears."
Delegates sought him out, taking snapshots and having him sign his book Liberalism Kills Kids.
Houston activist Bobby Eberle, a candidate for party vice chairman, organized the Friday evening rally. Taking the stage, he took aim at "the ACLU, liberal Hollywood, Democrats and these left-wingers" who have bedeviled the GOP.
"We need to continue to fight, whether for the pro-life movement or for decency in programming," said Mr. Eberle, whose Internet enterprise had its own recent dust-up over decency.
Talon News, a conservative Web site owned by Mr. Eberle, employed Jeff Gannon as a White House correspondent until publicity a year ago over Mr. Gannon's appearance on gay prostitution Web sites.
Note: The platform "Christian nation" quote was included in a diary once before, June 22, by jefffromthenjdc, but he did it after 1 A.M. ET, and it seems to have slipped by the radar here. I certainly never saw anything about this. I don't mean to steal Jeff's thunder, so hand out some 4's to the man if you see him. I hope I've included other interesting stuff that has made this worth your reading time.