The Three R’s: Religion, Racism, and Republicans
Posted: December 17, 2015 Filed under: Foreign Affairs, morning reads, Republican politics, U.S. Politics | Tags: Racism, religion, separation of church and state 18 Comments
Klansmen file into an Atlanta church in 1949 to attend Sunday evening services
Good Thursday Afternoon!!
Christmas is just a week away; and, I’ll be honest, I’ll be glad when it’s all over. Of course there’s still New Year’s to deal with, but then we can get back to “normal,” such as it is. But will life ever feel truly normal to me again?
This morning I was thinking back over the devolution of the Republican Party during my lifetime. The first president I remember was Dwight Eisenhower. He was boring and he led the way for future GOP leaders in bringing religion into the public sphere; he initiated the “national prayer breakfast,” added “under God” to the pledge of allegiance, and “In God We Trust” to our currency. He formed a close relationship with the Rev. Billy Graham, who served as an adviser to Eisenhower’s campaign and his administration. However, he did preside over a healthy economy and improvements in America’s infrastructure.
The next Republican president was Richard Nixon. Nixon was also close to Billy Graham and Graham was a regular in Nixon’s White House. He continued Eisenhower’s prayer breakfast “tradition.” He began the overtly racist “Southern strategy” in order to attract Dixiecrats to switch parties; and thus Nixon began the politics of resentment and hatred of “the other” that dominate the GOP today.
Gerald Ford was religious, but didn’t try to impose his beliefs on the rest of us, but his Democratic successor Jimmy Carter was a “born again Christian” whose public religiosity may have encouraged Republicans to continue linking politics and religion.
Ronald Reagan was apparently not deeply religious, but he attracted support from the growing religious right groups and often talked publicly about God and Christianity, especially after he was shot in 1981. Once again Billy Graham was a fixture in the White House and Reagan used religion as a political tool.
In 1982, Reagan supported a constitutional amendment to allow voluntary school prayer. A year later he awarded the Rev. Billy Graham the Presidential Medal of Freedom and proclaimed 1983 the “Year of the Bible.” He called on Americans to join him: “Let us take up the challenge to reawaken America’s religious and moral heart, recognizing that a deep and abiding faith in God is the rock upon which this great nation was founded.”
Reagan also used racism, of course. He even announced his run for the presidency with a speech supporting “states rights” in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman were murdered because they were trying to register African American voters in 1964. William Raspberry in the Washington Post in 2004:
It was bitter symbolism for black Americans (though surely not just for black Americans). Countless observers have noted that Reagan took the Republican Party from virtual irrelevance to the ascendancy it now enjoys. The essence of that transformation, we shouldn’t forget, is the party’s successful wooing of the race-exploiting Southern Democrats formerly known as Dixiecrats. And Reagan’s Philadelphia appearance was an important bouquet in that courtship.
I don’t accuse Reagan of racism, though while he served, I did note what seemed to be his indifference to the concerns of black Americans — issues ranging from civil rights enforcement and attacks on “welfare queens” to his refusal to act seriously against the apartheid regime in South Africa. He gets full credit from me for the good things he did — including presiding over the end of international communism. But he also legitimized, by his broad wink at it, racial indifference — and worse.
His political progeny include Trent Lott, who got caught a while back praising the overtly segregationist 1948 presidential candidacy of Strom Thurmond, and, I suspect, many Lott soul mates in the current Republican congressional majority.
Today’s Republican majority in the House and Senate is probably far more racist (as well as right wing “Christian”) than the one Raspberry referred to in 2004.
George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush continued the Republican tradition of race baiting and using right wing fundamentalists–who had by then grown very influential in politics–to get votes.
When George W. Bush was in the White House, I couldn’t imagine this trend could actually get worse. But here we are today in a presidential race in which all of the GOP candidates are campaigning on hate and fear of “the other” and using fundamentalist religious beliefs to fan the flames.
The leading Republican candidate for president Donald Trump has actually said in a primary debate on national TV that as president he would kill the families of suspected terrorists in order to prevent attacks, and not many media talking heads have expressed shock about it.
Trump wants to round up 12 million undocumented immigrants, put them on buses and drop them off at the Mexican border. He wants to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. and he thinks he can shut down “parts of the internet” to keep potential terrorists from using it.
Another leading candidate, Ted Cruz, said on Tuesday night that as president he would “carpet bomb” any place where ISIS holds territory. Cruz is the favored candidate of fundamentalist “Christians.”
Both Trump’s and Cruz’s proposed actions would constitute war crimes.
The other candidates are horrible too. For example, Chris Christie has now said twice on national TV that he would shoot down a Russian plane that entered a no-fly zone.
How have we come to this? I can see the progression in my lifetime. What can we do to break the stranglehold of right wing religious extremism and intolerance on the Republican Party? The only thing I can think of is to elect Democrats to the White House, Congress, and State Houses. If we don’t, we’re on the road to fascism.
Interesting Reads for Thursday
A crazy article from the WaPo: ‘Unfriending’ Trump supporters is just another example of how we isolate ourselves online.
Think Progress: Trump Answers Question About Affordable Child Care By Mocking The Questioner.
CNN: Putin praises ‘bright and talented’ Trump.
WaPo: Pentagon chief’s use of personal email will prompt Senate review.
ABC News: Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli Arrested for Securities Fraud.
NYT: Fact Checking Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio on Immigration.
Politifact: Ted Cruz misfires on definition of ‘carpet bombing’ in GOP debate.
ABC News: Carly Fiorina Digs in on Claim That General’s Retirement Was Due to Obama Dispute
Christian Science Monitor: Why are non-Muslim women wearing the hijab?
ABC News: AP Interview: McConnell Suggests New Look at Patriot Act.
NBC News: Criminal Charges to Be Brought Against Enrique Marquez, Ex-Neighbor of San Bernardino Shooters.
Kevin Drum: Strike Two for Pair of New York Times Reporters.
I posted about this guy awhile back. The Cut: Millionaire Cleared of Rape Charge After Claiming He Tripped and His Penis Fell Into Teen.
The Atlantic: Lessons From the Mistrial in the Freddie Gray Case.
What stories are you following today? Or are you just too busy getting ready for the upcoming holidays? Either way, have a terrific Thursday!
peej
Carissa
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Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
I don’t think that we are seeing anything new from the Republican Party. The difference is, thanks to Trump, we are actually seeing it. It’s been there for a long time. From when the Dixiecrats stormed out of the Democratic Convention in 1948 to Nixon’s shameless exploitation of religion to add cover to his antisemitism to Reagan’s “…shining city on the hill…” dog whistle to Dubya’s providing taxpayer funding to faith based initiatives. It’s all been about hiding behind and exploiting Christianity to further their racist, exclusionary agenda.
Trump has ripped the scab off of it and we are all sickened by what we are seeing but really, if we are honest with ourselves, just as you pointed out, it’s been there all along. The Trump candidacy reminds me of Jackie Kennedy’s pink Chanel suit, hideously soiled during the gruesome murder of her husband and our President. When she was asked if she wanted to change her clothes she responded, “No. Let them see what they have done.”
Let everyone see what the Republican Party has become. Donald J. Trump.
Great comment, Janice. Thanks.
Yes, give us more of the same.
Good post today BB. I look forward to reading all the links.
Thanks!
Most Christians would take offense at the comparisons you make here. These are overgeneralizations and that is an understatement because the KKK was not Christian they only used Christianity as an excuse but they did not follow it
Hi BB. Many thanks for taking time to write and put together all these links for us, and the same of course goes to Dakinikat and JJ. I would like to recommend Rebecca Traister’s article. This will be the first time so please correct it if the link doesn’t work.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/12/election-and-the-death-of-white-male-power.html
I have mentioned my ties to Philadelphia, Neshoba County Ms. I am not proud of what my family connections were and are involved with but I’ve tried for damn near a life time to understand these people that I hail from, and I know I didn’t have a choice in picking my family, and know that I do have a choice when it comes to picking friends, at least to who I think I am. ( Or so I thought until reading today’s article on facebook, and seeing myself deleting those very families/friends, and trying to shake them lose).
I grew up hearing day in day out, save yourself from the fires of hell, we are all sinners, and going to hell. I had different family members you spoke the language of tongues, and were for the most part pentecostal. I came from those that where Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian. They all moved about in out of the different sects, but most came early on from the primitive sect out of the Carolina’s. Most of the poor families couldn’t read, and most of them didn’t ever leave within 70 miles of their farms/homesteads. Some did go into town, and some got rich, but not so many in Neshoba County Co. Ms. My poor folks went on to Jones County Ms. (I’ve mentioned the movie coming out in May 2016 with Matthew McCaughney, the Free State of Jones County, Ms. And that I am a daughter of the Free State of Jones. Some of them learned to read, some to join up with quilting clubs, or bridge clubs, or even some golfing clubs. These were the white southern people, who were taught, that they were a hell of lot more civilized than blacks were, and they taught blacks (as well as women and children) to know their place and stay in it. Women and blacks were hard working people, but they knew their place. I can’t seem to ever forget, that women and children (me as a child) were not allowed at Pawpaw’s table to eat with him, as men came first. I suppose my dream has always been to place myself at that table and talk to the man, but I was but a child, and I too learned their ways. My dream now is to have equality and justice for all, I had thought we were making progress, but I see the KKK rising, I see the police departments doing the same thing Lawrence Rainey, and Cecil Ray Price were doing in Philadelphia, shooting blacks as they get out of the police cars, or simply gun them down, and somehow the courts agreeing that they were justified, and doing so in the line duty. I see it, and understand what BB says about Ronald Reagan, he wasn’t a man of high principle, no, he made the worst of the worst when it came to poverty and injustice in our country. Pretty much like I see Trump, all show, and not very good on substance. All rich white males, pigheads who anti-minorities and anti-women. I see the families like which I hail from, who were/are poor, agreeing with Trump, as they did with Reagan, because they see them as white powerful males, and they are clinging who don’t give a crap about them.
The message came down, these white religious males, are not interested in working towards a better relationship between races, or even religions, no they don’t give a damn, they are two faced, and like the article on facebook, making people choose sides, and Bush said, you are either with us or against us.
They refuse to live together, and they really don’t believe in things like good neighbors, and treating people with respect, nope it’s all about MONEY and POWER. It’s all about who top the other right wing religious nuts with there bullshit.
Rant Over.
Fannie, you are a treasure. I love reading your thoughts.
I just remember being a Republican at one time and gradually being turned into an enemy to be booted because they have this idea of what every Republican must believe now. No Weickers. No Rockefellars. No one but the extremists exist! Great post! We need a viable second party for democracy to work. That’s probably why they’re dysfunctional. Plutocrats love it!
Excellent point. Maybe it’s exactly what the corporatists want.
Thanks, Dak. think the wealthy and powerful do want to keep people uneducated and living in fear–so they don’t notice the people they look up to are robbing them blind.
http://www.salon.com/2015/12/17/r_i_p_gop_party_of_old_disillusioned_white_people_is_dying_a_slow_death_report_says/
To read this NYT article about the fact that at least one Sanders campaign staffer breached the database of the Clinton campaign, one is almost left with the impression that Sanders is the victim here. Unbelievable representation of the story.
Wow.
Great post BB, you said:”How have we come to this? I can see the progression in my lifetime. What can we do to break the stranglehold of right wing religious extremism and intolerance on the Republican Party?” I have often had the same thought myself.
Yesterday I met with friends I hadn’t seen in almost a year. We chatted aimlessly for awhile and then Barbara said, “how on earth did our country end up in the mess we’re in. My friend is African American, and she went on to say that there were times in her life when she experienced prejudice but it’s gotten much more frightening recently. I agreed with her.
I pointed out the fact that my immigrant grandparents suffered prejudice but being white, it wasn’t the same. Then she said, “yes, but I’ll bet they made an effort to “be Americans,” to learn the language and dress like Americans, instead of wearing clothes that made them easily identifiable, wearing their hair in odd styles, loudly singing/listening to thier native music all the time, speaking thier slang version of English.”
Another friend had joined us as we spoke. Josefina, jumped right in with comments about how her family’s immigration from Mexico was not easy, but she pushed her mother and siblings to assimilate, how she and her husband have been going to school since they arrived and have tried to get their friends to do the same but have gotten a lot of pushback.
Barbara then said, “I guess some of us play right into the biggot’s ideas of what we all are, and part of what drives them is the behavior of those who refuse to “Americanize” at all.”
Josefina added, “…and it won’t get any better by marching or chanting, people have to want to be ‘American,’ my family practice traditions in our home but don’t insist on everyone else adopting those traditions that are foreign to them. Heck, we left Mexico for something better, not the same, we could have stayed there for that.
I agreed, saying that as second generation Italian American I still follow traditions around the holidays that my grandparents practiced in my home but don’t foist them on others.
I think we’ve gotten to where we are because some insist on pushing their beliefs on others and I believe more and more they are doing that through violent means.
Yes. Great comment, Joanelle. Thanks.