The connection between Christian nationalism and white supremacy and why Christians have a special responsibility to address the harms of Christian nationalism

The title is from the testimony of Amanda Tyler before the January 6 committee. She is part of a group called Christians Against Christian Nationalism (see video below). I have transcribed most of her testimony (also below) so you can follow along if you so desire.

The reason I have posted this, especially after such a long time of not posting, is because I am concerned about the current majority on our city council in Huntington Beach. There are a lot of moving parts to this concern, but Ms. Tyler’s testimony brings together these moving parts and crystalizes why I’m concerned.
-The current majority was touted as “real republicans” and “God’s government”
-A local pastor prayed at a rally that people’s hearts would be changed to vote for the “four”
-One of the members of the majority of four, now the mayor pro tem, used to have a YouTube channel where she posted videos of herself participating in various Proud Boys’ efforts. She has never apologized for or explained her involvement, only offering that she was “learning” by going to these events.
-When asked if the Holocaust occurred, her response was, “I’m researching.”
-I have personally heard one of her major backers and persons responsible for elevating her make racist and anti-Semitic statements.
-Another member of the majority of four had QAnon statements on his campaign page.
– Another member of the majority was charged with 16 money laundering charges and agreed to pay a $40,000 fine, negotiated down from $80,000 if he admitted wrongdoing.

In addition, since winning election, these “God’s government” four have conducted themselves in a bullying and vengeful manner, reversing policy simply for the sake of reversing what a previous council put in place, being condescending and denigratory toward the “liberal” minority on the council, appearing many times to be hypocritical in their proposals, and regularly limiting comments and discussion. Certainly not Godly behavior. Recently, they wanted to change the policy toward the invocation offered during the council meeting. Many understand this to be an effort designed to specifically shut out a rabbi who previously offered an invocation during the council meeting who they felt was “too political”, and at the same time, make a pastor who held rallies for them during the campaign to be able to offer the invocation. And while the other three of the four may not have any direct association with white supremacy groups, they go along tacitly supporting the one that has. While the dots may not be in a straight line, they are still easy to connect and I fear the city is on the cusp of some very ugly things to come. As Ms. Tyler notes, like other Christians across the nation, I am alarmed at how Christian nationalism and white supremacy has gained a foothold, and here in Huntington Beach, on the dais.

Transcription:

Christian nationalism is a political ideology and cultural framework that seeks to merge American and Christian identities. It suggests that “real Americans” are Christian and that “true Christians” hold a particular set of political beliefs.

The Christian in Christian nationalism is more about ethno-national identity than religion. Christian nationalism is a gross distortion of the Christian faith that I and many others hold dear. Opposition to Christian nationalism is not opposition to Christianity, and a growing number of Christians feel a religious imperative to stand against Christian nationalism.

Christian nationalism uses the language, symbols and imagery of Christianity. In fact, it may look and sound like Christianity to the casual observer. However, closer examination reveals that it uses the veneer of Christianity to point to not Jesus the Christ, but to a political figure, party or ideology.

Christian nationalism often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. It creates and perpetuates a sense of cultural belonging, but is limited to certain people associated with the founding of the United States, namely native-born white Christians. Christian nationalism is not patriotism. Patriotism is a healthy love of country. Nationalism is an allegiance to country that demands supremacy over all other allegiances. Christian nationalism relies on a cherry-picked and misleading version of American history in order to thrive. The Christian nation myth must downplay or ignore the role of indigenous communities, Black Americans, immigrant populations, religious minorities, secular Americans and all others who undercut the false narrative that the U.S. is special because it was founded by and for white Christians.

But the myth of a Christian nation is worse than just bad history. It undermines and contradicts the U.S. Constitution, specifically the prohibition in Article VI against religious tests for public office, one of the truly revolutionary aspects of the Constitution that laid the foundation for the U.S. being a faith freedom nation.

As a Baptist, I became a leader in the fight against Christian nationalism because of my increasing alarm about the violence it has inspired at our country’s houses of worship: Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Chabad of Poway near San Diego. As recently as earlier this year, at the top supermarket in Buffalo, Christian nationalism inspired white supremacist violence in public spaces. Christian nationalism helped fuel the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, uniting disparate actors and infusing their political cause with religious fervor. We applaud this committee’s sustained work to confront white supremacy and investigate its myriad causes. Understanding Christian nationalism is imperative to both dismantling white supremacy and preserving religious freedom for all.

Christianity does not unite Americans. Our belonging in American society must never depend on how we worship, what we believe, or how we identify religiously. Do not allow anyone to say that confronting Christian nationalism is somehow anti-Christian. All across this country, Christians are deeply alarmed by this ideology, especially the way it gives an illusion of respectability to white supremacy and undermines our nation’s foundational commitment to ensure religious freedom for all.

An open letter to Michelle Steel, U.S. Congresswoman for the 48th district, California, asking her to vote for the impeachment of Donald Trump

Following is the email I sent to Michelle Steel this afternoon urging her to vote for the impeachment of Donald Trump. Here is a link to her government page: https://steel.house.gov/

First, let me say that I understand that you have contracted COVID-19 and I want to wish you a speedy recovery.

I am writing to urge you to vote yes on a vote of impeachment of Donald Trump.

I was a republican for 25 years until 2016 when I left the party because it embraced Donald Trump. In the years before 2016, I participated in a number of conservative campaigns, walked precincts and worked with other conservatives on these campaigns. I contributed financially to Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign and made phone calls for Cruz from Dana Rohrabacher’s Newport office location. I remain unaffiliated with any political party.

On the day Trump announced I conducted some research on him because I knew very little about him. Just a cursory look revealed that he was a lifelong progressive and financial and vocal supporter of progressive causes and candidates, including our current vice president-elect. That research also revealed he had party-hopped since the late 1990s looking for a political vehicle to support a run for president, which indicated to me that a party’s platform or adherence to principles really didn’t matter to him. My research also noted his numerous business failures and bankruptcies, a record of “stiffing” employees and contractors on a regular basis, being sued for discrimination by the federal government, and repeated complaints of skirting the law and ethics. Donald Trump was a no-go for me from the start. Combined with comments he made that day that obviously seemed racist to me, which were confirmed by others as news of his announcement made the rounds, I knew I could never support him. I don’t consider myself “never Trump”, but rather in a positive light as “always conservative”.

Why am I urging a yes vote now on impeachment when there are only a few days left of his administration? Because it’s the right thing to do. It’s the thing to do to keep the people of this nation safe.

I saw the pictures of you greeting the president at the airport when he came to mine the deep pockets in Orange County. I know that powerful people in the party locally are all-in for Trump which concerns me greatly. I’ve seen a total capitulation of the party to Trump which has resulted in most republicans here, as well as some local leaders, refusing to model wearing masks or to social distance. I’ve also seen Trump supporters who used racist language get elected to city council and a woman who associated with the Proud Boys appointed to the Planning Committee in Huntington Beach, all because they supported Trump. These are the kinds of things locally that drive me to say I can never support the republican party again until it jettisons Trumpism.

Why now? Why impeach Trump now? Because he violated his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

Trump did this by willfully inciting his supporters to overwhelm the Capitol building while members of Congress were conducting their constitutional duty to affirm the electoral college vote. Trump knowingly wanted to stop or delay a constitutional process. There was no possibility the vote of the people could be overturned in such an effort, yet he knowingly urged his followers to disrupt and create fear, and he lied telling them that the vice president had the power to change the outcome—which he did not. They were so whipped into a frenzy by Trump’s disturbing rhetoric and tweets, it resulted in the stormers crowding the hallways chanting, “Hang Mike Pence.” Later, Lin Wood, Trump’s attorney called for Pence’s assassination on Parler and was subsequently banned by that platform. Now I haven’t been much of a Pence supporter since he became a loyal defender of Trump, but this is absolutely unacceptable on Trump’s part. Not only did people die in the course of the insurrection, but Trump created fear and unrest. And why? For his own selfish desire to remain in power after an election that he clearly lost.

In the recent letter from the ten defense secretaries, they noted that Trump’s continued focus on creating uncertainty regarding the election had put the nation in a precarious, vulnerable spot, creating an opening for bad actors in the world to take advantage of our vulnerability.

The office of the presidency has traditionally inspired confidence and trust, but Donald Trump has done the exact opposite. The office has required people of great character to carry the weight of the safety of an entire nation, but Donald Trump has failed miserably on both a domestic and international scale. I know the party powerful will make your life miserable, and threaten to not support you in future elections, should you vote to impeach Donald Trump. But it’s the right thing to do. For the sake and safety of the nation.

I know this letter is long, but I appreciate your consideration of these matters.
Again, I wish you a speedy and full recovery.

Sincerely,

Finally, some clarity of thought from a mega-church pastor

We attended Saddleback for about a year. We started going after he came back several months after the suicide of his son. He was a man and leader of a flock–a very large flock–still grieving over one of the most difficult losses a parent can experience. At the same time, it was an uplifting and encouraging time in our lives. We stopped going there only after a relative challenged us to attend a church closer to us as Saddleback was about a 40 minute drive one way. I know a lot of people like to criticize Warren, but as a graduate of Biola, I always found his theology spot-on. And yes, the worship was superlative in terms of talent and execution, but I never felt it was false, empty or lacking in substance. Though we have found good teachers of the Word closer to us, however, we unfortunately still grit our teeth with out-of-tune worship leaders and singers offering pedantic stylization. And it just drives me crazy when they sing that, “I’m sorry for the thing I’ve made it” song. If you’re sorry, then don’t sing it! Just my opinion, but worship leaders should also not have their wives or the pastor’s wives sing backup. Not only does it smack of nepotism, but the wives, cough, cough, are usually not that great. But I digress.

Warren offers some clarity of thought here that is bold and so, so needed. So many evangelical pastors have fallen in to the republicanism, or more accurately, Trumpism, is godliness trap, including some of those we’ve attended locally. It’s refreshing to hear a man I know whose theology is on target, challenge that thinking. Thank you, Lord. Thank you! Get back to preaching the Word, pastors! Get back to saving souls, instead of saving a politician’s career–especially one whose rhetoric and actions are so troubling!

I don’t agree with the statement at the end by Wilson. Scripture still calls for us to physically gather together. These are difficult times for believers and we have to find our way through it, but the politicization of church is not the way to do it.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/rick-warren-covid-19-revealed-a-fundamental-weakness-in-the-church.html

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter

(Screengrab Saddleback Church)

Though California’s strict limits on church attendance during the pandemic have angered churches across the state, Warren stressed that he doesn’t believe places of worship are being discriminated against. 

“They might have a discrimination case if theaters weren’t closed, football games weren’t closed … But they are,” he added. “We’re not being discriminated against. This is a safety issue. Regal Cinemas closed down 650 theaters. Disney laid off 28,000 people. We’re not being discriminated against.”

Suggesting that “some churches are willing to gamble the health of their people,” Warren said he is not. 

“The good shepherd prays for his sheep, cares for his sheep. One day I will be responsible. I don’t want to be a super-spreader. I’m not doing this out of fear; I’m doing this out of love. You wear a mask for love your neighbors, yourself.”

Many churches across the U.S. are scrambling in the wake of COVID-19 because they’ve focused solely on worship instead of other aspects of ministry, Pastor Rick Warren of the California-based Saddleback Church has said.

“COVID revealed a fundamental weakness in the Church,” the pastor recently told Relevant magazine in an interview. “Most churches only have one purpose: worship. And if you take worship away, you’ve got nothing. They’re in a hurry to get back to worship because that’s all they’ve got.”

But the 20,000-member Saddleback Church is built not on one purpose, but on five,” Warren explained.

“You take one circle out, we’ve still got four other circles. We’ve got ministry going on. We’ve got mission going on. We’ve got fellowship going on. We’ve got discipleship going on. Those all stand on their own.”

As a result, removing worship didn’t shut the church down, The Purpose Driven Life author contended. In fact, Saddleback’s seen over 16,000 people come to Christ since March — and is continuing to see about 80 new conversions a day.

“We’re in revival,” he said. 

When the pandemic first hit, Saddleback’s leadership “looked around and made a list of all the different problems that COVID was creating,” and then met those needs. 

“For instance, the first one was food,” Warren said, adding that Saddleback partnered with every school district in Orange County to develop “food pantry pop-ups.” Now, the church is the largest food distributor in Southern California,” having served over 3.5 million pounds of food to over 300,000 families.

“We teach our people that every member of the church is a minister,” Warren said. “Everybody’s a missionary too. You’re a witness. Those people already know how to share their faith. When people would pull up they’d talk to them about the Lord.”

“Of those 16,000 people who have come to Christ, over 12,000 of them have come through personal, one-on-one witnessing by my members. Not led to Christ by my sermons. By one-on-one evangelizing.”

Though California’s strict limits on church attendance during the pandemic have angered churches across the state, Warren stressed that he doesn’t believe places of worship are being discriminated against. 

“They might have a discrimination case if theaters weren’t closed, football games weren’t closed … But they are,” he added. “We’re not being discriminated against. This is a safety issue. Regal Cinemas closed down 650 theaters. Disney laid off 28,000 people. We’re not being discriminated against.”

Suggesting that “some churches are willing to gamble the health of their people,” Warren said he is not. 

“The good shepherd prays for his sheep, cares for his sheep. One day I will be responsible. I don’t want to be a super-spreader. I’m not doing this out of fear; I’m doing this out of love. You wear a mask for love [of] your neighbors, yourself.”

Researcher Warren Bird, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, previously told The Christian Post that as the COVID-19 pandemic fades away, the churches that “do small groups well” will most likely be “stronger” than those that do not. 

“In light of the pandemic, so much of church health today depends on a vibrant, small group system underneath the big gatherings, whether they’re in person or online,” he said.

“Much like in the pandemic, the churches that are most threatened are those with preexisting health conditions,” Bird explained. “The churches that are going to have the hardest time re-surfacing will be ones that depended solely on the Sunday morning gathering. They will have a hard time re-gathering, rebuilding momentum, and reestablishing their mission as a church.”

As many as one in five churches could permanently close due to shutdowns stemming from the pandemic, David Kinnaman, president of the prominent Christian research organization Barna Group, recently said. 

As time passes, Kinnaman said that “we’ll look back at this pandemic as a fundamental change to the way Americans” handled church attendance.

Exponential CEO Todd Wilson recently said that “what is church” is “going to become “one of the key questions coming out of COVID,” as the digital way many are currently worshiping is “more of a missionary impulse for evangelism.”

“Personally, I’m predicting it’s going to become more of a debate, not less, as we move into the future,” he said. “It seems like the new normal is going to involve greater digital than pre-COVID. … All of a sudden, churches are going to think about, ‘Why do I even have a physical building? Why do I need it? Why not be completely digital?’”

“At some point, we’ve got to go through that question of, ‘What, physically, is church?”

Trump’s incompetence and unfitness to lead this country is clear

The COVID-19 crisis has revealed the depths of Donald Trump’s inability, unfitness and incompetence to lead this country. He spent crucial weeks calling the coronavirus a hoax and a democrat plot, rather than developing a response. So obsessed with his reelection, he kept sick people on a cruise ship because he liked “the numbers where they are” so  the number of cases wouldn’t go up and he wouldn’t look bad. This video graph shows how the lag in response resulted in an exponential increase in cases.

“I don’t take responsibility at all.” His most honest words yet. pic.twitter.com/i1CM3HgOSO

— jess mcintosh (@jess_mc) March 17, 2020

Moreover, the Trump administration was warned by the Obama transition team of exactly this scenario before Trump was sworn in. See the following tweets by Chris Lu, a member of Obama’s cabinet and transition team who attended the exercise in preparing the Trump team for responding to a “major incident”.

Here is the link to the Politico article mentioned in Lu’s first tweet.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/16/trump-inauguration-warning-scenario-pandemic-132797

With the uncertainty in the stock market, people across the country confined in their homes to “flatten the curve”, and empty grocery shelves from panic buying–we have a full-blown crisis in play. Adding salt to the wound, we have a president who is gives himself a rating of 10 out of 10 for his coronavirus response, and saying things like the only thing they did wrong was not get good press, plus, he now claims that he knew it was a pandemic before it was called a pandemic.

Whether it’s arrogance, or just plain old incompetence, he is unfit to be president. As the Christianity Today op-ed of December 19, 2019 noted, “the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character” is just a part of picture. We can add our health and well-being to that list.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html

Here are a couple more articles for your consideration.

While I don’t believe we can tell the future, Wehner is 100% correct regarding Trump’s total failure.

“The president’s misinformation and mendacity about the coronavirus are head-snapping.

“This is a massive failure in leadership that stems from a massive defect in character.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/peter-wehner-trump-presidency-over/607969/

Also:

https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-revealing-depths-trumps-incompetence-181602841.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvL2pJelBTT1FhSzg_YW1wPTE&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANzUSQiVy8qEV6fshm2rl9TlF7bc35Czc1dQ67Epf2_frbV9cE1QrRLYc3pErh0sFKf-SOvRwSdG8I8zbb5br8Ty4vZ0Eh6I8QvkB36fxxJ8Demwve3X8CvswBFmK-OJel2eZ8BVoqc34IuuFsrTbX88XzSGkc3izGwmivylLPuS

If You Didn’t Already Think Trump Was Unfit for Office, Syria and Ukraine Should Change Your Mind

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 10, 2019.

BY DAVID FRENCH 

OCTOBER 17, 2019

French is a TIME columnist. A lawyer and senior fellow at the National Review Institute, he is a best-selling author whose next book will be The Great American Divorce.

https://time.com/5704178/trump-character-unfit-office/

Throughout the 2016 presidential primaries and through the presidential campaign, those of us who were classified as “Never Trump” or “anti-Trump” conservatives repeated the same mantra, time and time again: Character is destiny. A man’s temperament, knowledge, and integrity inevitably shape his conduct. As much as voters may hope that the weight of the office or the influence of advisers can shape or influence a flawed president, those flaws will still burst forth — especially when a man is as headstrong as Donald Trump.

While we have seen the consequences of Trump’s character throughout his presidency, no series of crises has demonstrated his profound flaws more thoroughly and completely than the twin foreign policy scandals in Ukraine and Syria. All of the character traits that Trump’s critics most feared are present — including his petty corruption, his temperamental unfitness, and his rank incompetence.

Let’s begin with Trump’s incompetence. There is no question that Trump faced a difficult strategic and diplomatic challenge in northern Syria. He inherited command of a complex military conflict, and then proceeded to make terrible decisions that had immediate and profound consequences.

Two weeks ago, America enjoyed an alliance with Kurdish allies who had borne the brunt of ground combat (and taken horrific casualties) in the successful fight against the ISIS caliphate. America also enjoyed a longstanding (though increasingly difficult) alliance with Turkey. In mere days, however, his abrupt and shocking retreat after a single call with Turkish President Erdogan destroyed our nation’s alliance with the Syrian Kurds, granted ISIS a lifeline as allied Kurdish forces lost control of ISIS detention facilities, and put our alliance with NATO partner Turkey under unprecedented strain as Trump then imposed sanctions that were too little, too late to avoid a profound military and diplomatic setback.

Adding insult to injury, Americans watched in shame and embarrassment as Russian mercenaries and Russian media toured a former American base — a base that was abandoned so hastily that American soldiers left equipment, food, and even personal belongings behind.

The disaster in Syria pushed temporarily shoved Ukraine from the headlines, but the impeachment inquiry further reveals Trump’s corruption and unfitness.

Evidence continues to pour out that Trump was attempting to coerce Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. In fact, beyond the blindingly-obvious quid pro quo revealed in the transcript of the conversation between Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, messages reveal that a key American diplomat believed that Trump was conditioning military aid on Ukrainian assistance in his harebrained schemes.

Even the most defensible of Trump’s requests — that Ukraine help investigate foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election — is tainted by his unfitness. As the transcript makes clear, he is obsessed with fringe conspiracy theories, including the bizarre idea that there exists a Crowdstrike server in Ukraine that’s indispensable to disrupting the mainstream narrative of Russian interference on Trump’s behalf. The idea is that proof of the “real” story of 2016 (and perhaps even copies of Hillary Clinton’s missing emails) is located in a missing server stashed in Ukraine. There is no evidence any such server exists.

While Trump’s entire presidency has been marred by his chaotic behavior, his defenders have long accurately noted that many of his policies—on taxes, abortion rights, court appointments—have been squarely in the Republican mainstream. They’ve also accurately noted that many of his advisers tempered his worst impulses. But all that is changing. The guardrails have collapsed.

Trump’s character chased off his best advisers. General Mattis is long gone. He resigned after Trump’s first attempt to destroy the American alliance with Syrian Kurds. White House Counsel Don McGahn is long gone. He arguably saved Trump’s presidency by refusing to fire special counsel Bob Mueller. John Kelly is gone. H.R. McMaster is gone. The list goes on.

So now Trump’s character has free reign. Just this week we learned that he tried to engineer a jolting surprise meeting (with photographers present to document the moment) between grieving British parents and the American diplomat who killed their son and then fled the country under diplomatic immunity. It’s hard to conceive of a more insensitive idea. And then today we learned that Trump intends to host the 2020 G7 summit at his company’s own property, the Trump Doral resort near Miami. Only a man who cares nothing for reasonable advice (or negative public perception) could engage in such brazen self-dealing.

There was a time when it wasn’t difficult to convince Republicans that character counts. GOP officials and activists warned America that Bill Clinton was a lying lothario. They warned about his reckless personal conduct. And they were correct. Not even the great weight and responsibility of the Oval Office (much less his marriage vows) could keep him from a tawdry affair. Not even the solemn legal responsibility of an oath could keep him from illegally lying about his misconduct. Clinton’s reckless behavior so marked his presidency that even his own Vice President, Al Gore, distanced himself from Clinton during his own presidential race. Voters appreciated peace and prosperity, but they were exhausted by the drama in the White House.

But if there is anything we’ve since learned about the partisan mind, it’s that it’s capable of endless contortions and rationalizations in the pursuit of power. For the GOP partisan, character is no longer destiny. It’s an increasingly-irrelevant factor in the quest for power — even when the exercise of that power consistently and increasingly results in outcomes and policies that Republican stalwarts once opposed.

Imagine, just for a moment, the Republican outcry if the Obama administration had so abruptly abandoned the Kurds. Republicans, in fact, demanded that Obama intervene in Iraq in 2014 to save Iraqi Kurdistan from ISIS. And when he did, they demanded that he fight harder, that he “take the gloves off.”

While it’s gratifying to see a number of Republican senators and congressmen condemn Trump’s Syrian retreat, few are (publicly, at least) acknowledging the full truth of the moment. Trump’s Ukraine and Syria policies represent Trump unleashed. This is the man in full, and the man in full is demonstrating that he’s just as corrupt, unfit, and incompetent as his critics feared. Character doesn’t just count, character controls, and the diplomatic, military, and moral fruits of Trump’s are bitter indeed.

 

 

 

Justin Amash: Our politics is in a partisan death spiral. That’s why I’m leaving the GOP.

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan listens as he is introduced during a town hall event in Grand Rapids on May 28. (Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg News)

By Justin Amash

July 4

Justin Amash, an independent, represents Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District in the House.

 

When my dad was 16, America welcomed him as a Palestinian refugee. It wasn’t easy moving to a new country, but it was the greatest blessing of his life.

Throughout my childhood, my dad would remind my brothers and me of the challenges he faced before coming here and how fortunate we were to be Americans. In this country, he told us, everyone has an opportunity to succeed regardless of background.

Growing up, I thought a lot about the brilliance of America. Our country’s founders established a constitutional republic uniquely dedicated to securing the rights of the people. In fact, they designed a political system so ordered around liberty that, in succeeding generations, the Constitution itself would strike back against the biases and blind spots of its authors.

My parents, both immigrants, were Republicans. I supported Republican candidates throughout my early adult life and then successfully ran for office as a Republican. The Republican Party, I believed, stood for limited government, economic freedom and individual liberty — principles that had made the American Dream possible for my family.

In recent years, though, I’ve become disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it. The two-party system has evolved into an existential threat to American principles and institutions.

George Washington was so concerned as he watched political parties take shape in America that he dedicated much of his farewell address to warning that partisanship, although “inseparable from our nature,” was the people’s “worst enemy.” He observed that it was “the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.”

Washington said of partisanship, in one of America’s most prescient addresses: “The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. …

“It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.”

True to Washington’s fears, Americans have allowed government officials, under assertions of expediency and party unity, to ignore the most basic tenets of our constitutional order: separation of powers, federalism and the rule of law. The result has been the consolidation of political power and the near disintegration of representative democracy.

These are consequences of a mind-set among the political class that loyalty to party is more important than serving the American people or protecting our governing institutions. The parties value winning for its own sake, and at whatever cost. Instead of acting as an independent branch of government and serving as a check on the executive branch, congressional leaders of both parties expect the House and Senate to act in obedience or opposition to the president and their colleagues on a partisan basis.

In this hyperpartisan environment, congressional leaders use every tool to compel party members to stick with the team, dangling chairmanships, committee assignments, bill sponsorships, endorsements and campaign resources. As donors recognize the growing power of party leaders, they supply these officials with ever-increasing funds, which, in turn, further tightens their grip on power.

The founders envisioned Congress as a deliberative body in which outcomes are discovered. We are fast approaching the point, however, where Congress exists as little more than a formality to legitimize outcomes dictated by the president, the speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader.

With little genuine debate on policy happening in Congress, party leaders distract and divide the public by exploiting wedge issues and waging pointless messaging wars. These strategies fuel mistrust and anger, leading millions of people to take to social media to express contempt for their political opponents, with the media magnifying the most extreme voices. This all combines to reinforce the us-vs.-them, party-first mind-set of government officials.

Modern politics is trapped in a partisan death spiral, but there is an escape.

Most Americans are not rigidly partisan and do not feel well represented by either of the two major parties. In fact, the parties have become more partisan in part because they are catering to fewer people, as Americans are rejecting party affiliation in record numbers.

These same independent-minded Americans, however, tend to be less politically engaged than Red Team and Blue Team activists. Many avoid politics to focus on their own lives, while others don’t want to get into the muck with the radical partisans.

But we owe it to future generations to stand up for our constitutional republic so that Americans may continue to live free for centuries to come. Preserving liberty means telling the Republican Party and the Democratic Party that we’ll no longer let them play their partisan game at our expense.

Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party. No matter your circumstance, I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us. I’m asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system — and to work toward it. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it.

Here’s the Mueller report

Click to access report.pdf

 

Borderless Corruption: Republicans Sink Further Into Trump’s Cesspool

In this opinion piece, the writer notes that “the Republican party has been corrupted by its association with Mr. Trump.

“This is what some of us who are conservatives…have warned since Mr. Trump began his quest for the presidency–that his corruptions would eventually become theirs.

“In the most transparent and ham-handed way, they saw no evil and heard no evil.

“Republicans are dedicated to annihilating truth in order to defend Mr. Trump. ”

The Paper Cup Party is a party of progressivism just as much as the other party is

I was thinking about the proverbial frog in the frying pan, and it seems that perhaps the situation we are in is that republicans are trying to beat back the flames of progressivism with a paper cup full of water at a time. Sure, it might help–for about a second–but the flames will still consume you, just at a slightly slower pace. Seems like a losing strategy, if you ask me. Which means that, really, the republicans kind of like the fire and are mesmerized by it…which has been borne out since they won in November of 2016.

I left the Paper Cup Party back in June of 2016 because the guy they nominated was throwing gas on the fire, and had been his entire life. Trying to work within the Paper Cup Party to change it won’t work because you’ll never have enough paper cups of water to be effective if the majority of the Paper Cuppers secretly like the fire and are working to kneecap you. Sorry, I can’t participate in speeding my own demise, even it it is at a slightly slower pace.

The paradigm has to change. Cut a fireline to liberty, I say. It may not be the quickest way to deal with the problem, and it may be painful and will take time and a lot of hard work. But I believe it’s the only way to stop the advance of the fire.

“Access”: the new euphemism for legalized killing

Some very sad and disturbing developments regarding the new euthanasia law in Canada.

In the article below, it describes how political leaders are being approached “about modifying the law to allow family members with degenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s access to the procedure.” So apparently “access” is how they’re going to frame it. Killing your relative with Alzheimer’s will become a “right”. Watch and see.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/453213/never-enough-euthanasia-canada

In another article (link is below this paragraph), children are in the crosshairs. Doctors are being approached “by parents about the option of seeking medically assisted death for children.” The author of the article warns, “Once a society agrees that killing is an acceptable answer to human suffering, there are few logical off ramps.” The writer continues, noting the case of the Canadian father who killed his daughter with car exhaust because she had cerebral palsy (click on link within the article). And once again, you’ll see that advocates of euthanasia frame it in terms of a nice, acceptable euphemism: “access”.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/453151/canada-child-euthanasia-matter-time

Not long ago, I watch a powerful six-part series that explained the history behind the Nazi death camps, particularly Auschwitz. Hitler began his path to genocide with a 1939 decree to euthanize mentally and physically disabled children. From there it was expanded to adults, with doctors employed to make decisions as to who would live and who would die. It was at this point they started experimenting with methods to kill large numbers of people in the most efficient manner, including gassing. Shortly thereafter, mass murder was employed to rid the Nazis of the Jews, gypsies, and anyone else deemed to be an enemy of the Third Reich.

Oh, don’t be silly, Teri. We’re a long way from that! Really? During the campaign last year, I received threats that I would be among “the first to go” for not supporting Trump. There are also documented cases of well-known people receiving threats that were far worse than what I received.

And let’s not even get started about how “access” is  the favorite euphemism for abortion and abortifacient advocates, especially in minority communities.

I think we are living in dangerous times.