It is the accepted fact that in the most segregated hour of the week is the Sunday worship hour. The Republicans to whom Harsh Right Radio and James Dobson are trying to reach out and rally are hard at it again. It's a repeat of what they have done during the two elections where their votes were the narrow but deciding margin for George W. Bush. They know how to get out the vote!
Dobson's mantra to the faithful:
* Ignore the polls
* Do what you do best, get out to vote and get out those who agree
with you to vote.
* Do not despair, we can make this vote close, if not win it.
Timed for maximum effect, James Dobson’s last minute fear and loathing epistle is landing in mailboxes or is being seen and downloaded off his Focus on the Family Action website:
http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/...
Continued below the fold...
Dobson's crusade is intended to supplement the push polling, the robo calls, the pleas and begs of on Christian Radio, and the church-centered lit drop that culminates this Sunday around the nation with the voter guides and palm cards.
This Sunday many, many preachers and priests will make it abundantly clear what the parishioner/voter should do: Get out to vote, and vote Palin and McCain to save the values represented by the Right-to-tell-you-how-to-run-your-life organization and the free market fundamentalists.
Couple this activity with the fact that those in attendance at this highly segregated worship hour are predominately white and you understand why the subtext here is still race. Don’t ever forget that the KKK was and is a para-religious organization. They present a flaming cross in their rituals don’t they?
So much of the ranting from the religious right arises out of their sense of a collapsing hold on a good job, few opportunities for their children, the imploding state of a battered military far over-stretched, fear of immigration, rejection of current culture, and an overweening sense of doom and the end of the world. These folks are fear driven and fearful. Being so full of angst and terror they are rife with opportunities for manipulation and control. This is exactly where Dobson takes the pulpit.
As Moses raised the brass serpent in the wilderness, Dobson raises his brazen epistle filled with scorching words of fear. Dobson proclaims a powerful fear of the "others" the "strangers," making them enemies and terrorists to be feared and against whom the Cultural and Religious War Pat Buchanan proclaimed in Houston 1992 must be fought.
This war of values is a very dangerous scenario and must not be tolerated or allowed to go unanswered. Fear must be rejected.
This election is a major tipping point in the future of the nation. Bill Moyers Journal aired a segment 10/31/08 on the kinds of ads and self-made fliers which are cropping up: Jim Crow images and videos morphing the image of Obama with the image of Mohamed Atta. This is the subtext we must reject.
In Texas, conservative Christians in substantial percentages stubbornly continue believe Obama is a secret Muslim; Any guess as to how these xenophobes will vote? Do you suppose hundreds of ministers will mount their pulpits to correct the record
If the decision is based on race, as it appears it may be, then the work of Dobson--communicating as he is directly with this highly segregated constituency--using fear of the "other" as a the core of his appeal--may once more make the dark side of American history the winner to our shame and disgrace.
Any inclination to be overconfident or boastful about the potential of an Obama win is foolish.
Work hard, work long, work others, work until Obama wins.