I know this is very local, but I think it deserves our attention as this is happening all around the country.
The Democrat turned Republican Sheriff of Lake County, Illinois, now up for re-election, visited the tea party this past summer and talked about his views on God and Government. Take a look at the video below the fold.
This was all posted on my blog (Part 1, Part 2 and follow up) and the former chairman of the local republican party, ousted and replaced by a more religious chair, is defending the Sheriff and claiming the tea party is not about God and Government.
Here is part 1 of the video. Lake County Sheriff, Mark Curran, goes after secular America and Ted Kennedy of all people who never lived in Lake County, Illinois.
Here is part 2 wherein Sheriff Curran talks about the tea party being a "volunteer army":
I find this disturbing when you look at the ouster of the local Republican party chair for a member of the Republican Assembly, which looks more like a religious organization than a political party organization. Dan Venturi was replaced as county Republican chair by Bob Cook, a member of the Republican Assembly of Lake County. If you read the by-laws of that organization, you will see on page 2 that their "purpose" includes the political philosophy that "The highest priorities in life should be belief in God first, the traditional family, and the United States of America." If you scroll down to the Appendix of that document, you will find the organization's "Beliefs, Statement of Principles and Objectives. They claim the Constitution of the United States was written under the inspiration of God. They further claim that the founders never intended separation of church and state. That would have been news to the non-Christian deists among them and it's clear that no one in the RALC ever read any of the writings of Jefferson or Madison.
I am wondering if people here are seeing similar antics in their local Republican party organizations. I imagine so because this is what Markos is talking about in his book.