It is always a simple matter to drag the people along…that is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” ~ Hermann Goehring, German politician, military leader and a leading member of the Nazi Party
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” ~ Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister
Think back over the last few weeks about the campaign strategies of the Republican Party. Why have they felt the need to be so negative? And how was Sarah Palin — whose religious views are so different from those of McCain 2000 — chosen as his vice president?
Former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein (who is endorsing Obama) offered this criticism of the McCain/Palin team: “I think it has very much undermined the whole question of John McCain’s judgment. You know what most Americans I think realized is that you don’t offer a job, let alone the vice presidency, to a person after one job interview. Even at McDonald’s, you’re interviewed three times before you get a job.” MSNBC, October 31, 2008
But what if McCain had very little to do with her choosing? What if through his ambition to win the presidency at all costs, he allowed Palin to be chosen for him? And if that’s how Palin — someone utterly unqualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency — found herself on a presidential ticket, who was responsible for putting her there?
Sarah Palin’s supporter, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, believes that the separation of church and state is unconstitutional. As stated on their website: “We believe that the Establishment Clause was intended to protect religious freedom and that the separation of church and state is an unconstitutional doctrine.” Focus on the Family
Dobson, whose daily radio broadcast is heard by 220 million people, had no intention of voting for McCain who, in 2000, called the religious right “agents of intolerance” for their “corrupting influence on politics and religion.”
Once Palin was part of the ticket, however, Dobson was fully on board, to the point of recently issuing a 16-page document called a “Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America” in an attempt to scare the “faithful” into voting for McCain/Palin.
Christian leaders across the country are condemning this hate- and fear-filled piece of fiction:
“Dobson’s letter yesterday is one more reminder that those who would impose their religious beliefs on every American citizen still seek to destroy our First Amendment, and tear down the wall that maintains the separate integrities of religion and government in our nation.” Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, Interfaith Alliance
“Dr. Dobson, you of course have the same right as every Christian and every American to vote your own convictions on the issues you most care about, but you have chosen to insult the convictions of millions of other Christians, whose own deeply held faith convictions might motivate them to vote differently than you.” Jim Wallis (public theologian, speaker, preacher, and international commentator on religion and public life, faith and politics)
There has been a huge outpouring of response to Dobson’s letter, with many respondents being Christian evangelicals who are justifiably outraged. You can read some of the responses here.
While some say it’s ridiculous to think that Dobson, Palin, Dominionists and other right wing “Christians” want to establish a theocracy in this country, there’s some evidence to support that this is precisely their agenda:
Palin’s Theological Outlook: Spiritual Warfare Waged from the White House?
Katherine Harris Was in Sarah Palin’s Spiritual Warfare Network
And to those who questioned my serious, serious concerns about Sarah Palin and what made me know that I could NOT even REMOTELY consider supporting a McCain/Palin ticket (beyond Palin’s religious beliefs)? While some of this is now being refuted, I’m sure there’s a measure of truth in this story that Fox News aired:
More from the interview on the Fox News program, The O’Reilly Factor:
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3178951&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/
Perhaps Obama was right on the mark when he said that it seemed like the Republican party had been “kidnapped by an incompetent, highly ideological subset of the Republican Party.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27464980/
If NOTHING else, this election has shown that the separation of church and state MUST be fortified and upheld. Political campaigns should focus on issues. Instead, the primary focus of this election has been on misrepresentations, distortions, and lies. Religion has been used as an excuse to slander and as a weapon with which to intimidate and manipulate Christian voters.
