What is it about the extremist wing of the GOP/Tea Party that makes it so compelling to compare their ideological adversaries to Hitler? They can’t seem to have a civil debate about issues with which they disagree without sinking to the most offensive depictions imaginable. And while often this behavior is confined to fringe groups and nut cases, it frequently surfaces among the right’s leaders.
This weekend Ted Cruz spoke at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition meeting and demonstrated just how repulsive the Republican establishment has become. His speech contained allegations that Democrats have “decided there is no room for Christians in today’s Democratic Party.” That may come as a surprise to the tens of millions of devoutly Christian Democrats, including pastors, priests, parishioners, and of course, President Obama (whom the wingnut contingent still thinks is a gay Muslim from Kenya). But that insult to the Christians that Cruz, in his self-appointed ass-holiness, has decided are illegitimate, apparently didn’t go far enough to viciously malign his allegedly fellow believers.
Cruz: There is a liberal fascism that is going after Christian believers. It is heartbreaking, but it is so extreme, it is waking people up. […] Today’s Democratic Party has become so radicalized for legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states that there is no longer any room for religious liberty.
According to Cruz, Democrats are analogous to the Nazi regime that slaughtered millions of innocents and sought to take over much of the civilized world. To Cruz the act of standing up for the rights of all Americans, and opposing the rankest form of discrimination, is no different than torturing and murdering people who were themselves victims of discrimination.
The form of “religious liberty” that Cruz advocates is one that permits people to freely exercise their prejudices in contradiction of the founding principles of this nation that declared that we are all created equal. Cruz would have the nation embrace a practice that makes some more equal than others. He claims to base his hateful opinions on his own warped view of America’s origin.
Cruz: We were founded by men and women fleeing religious persecution. We need leaders who will stand unapologetically in defense of the Judeo-Christian values upon which America was built.”
The absurdity of this statement lies in the fact that Cruz is at once heralding our forebears for having the courage to renounce the bigotry of the British religious tyranny, and in the next breath asserts his own demand for a religious tyranny that he happens to favor. It is a symptom of religious arrogance and supremacy that demeans all who do not submit to his beliefs.
Cruz is also demonstrating his pitifully weak grasp of the Constitution and America’s legal system. While it is true that Democrats as a party are more accepting of marriage equality, it is not the party that is broadening the civil rights of LGBT people. It is the courts who are acting on the principles of the Constitution, you know, the ones that Cruz and his hate mongering zealots profess to cherish.
Cruz and other like-minded bigots argue that civil liberties should be voted on and the majority gets their way. But that has never been the manner by which civil rights have been preserved. If it had been, African-Americans would have been voted against and segregation might still be in effect today. Thankfully, the courts decided that civil liberties may not be subject to public opinion.
However, in Cruz’a world it is permissible to suppress people if a majority says to do so. And if you don’t like that then you are a fascist with designs on genocide. Since Cruz is a member in good standing of the Republican Party, and a leading candidate for their nomination for president, the rest of the GOP field should be asked whether they agree with his condemnation of Democrats. Do they also regard their political foes as equivalent to those responsible for the Holocaust?
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Ironically, it is Cruz’s view that has more in common with the repugnant politics that result in discrimination and oppression. Yet he has managed to convince himself that his prejudices are admirable defenses of liberty. That’s a sort of self-delusion that is far too common among right-wing politicos, and even worse, among the many deluded citizens they have fooled into following them.
“Cruz is also demonstrating his pitifully weak grasp of the Constitution and America’s legal system. ”
Correction – He knows damn well the system. He counts on it, like all other GOP, the general public not knowing the truth/facts. Scarey words make people nervous enough they will believe what they are told. He/they count on people to uneducated/busy to look up/etc what they are spewing to take as truth. Just like most Christians go on about the bible but most have not even opened one up and actually read it. They just go by what their Priest/monk/etc tell them it say’s.
I mean FOX/GOP can tell their viewers/readers/etc that Mother Teresa was a super liberal/etc, but in reality she was following in the footsteps of their beloved Jesus. But you know Jesus/God would rather pick political people for President and football teams to win than help the poor/needy/unfortunate.
If it is Cruz’s position that covil rights be subject to a majority vote, then under that paradigm he would have to accept gay rights as a majority of Americans are for gay rights.
Apparently Cruz’s idea civil rights means his party’s civil rights and no one else’s . His idea of freedom is that people should be free only if they agree with him. And he should be free to treat no one else as an equal. There’s a special place in hell waiting for this man. His ideas are warped. I have never heard such a hypocritically way of thinking.
If you speak with a right-winger long enough you will find that many of them really don’t believe that people are created equal.
If you speak with a left-winger for 10 seconds, you will see they have no sense of truth or reality at all.
If you read anything Scott writes, you find that he has no sense of truth or reality at all.
That has been my experience as well. Too bad they don’t realize most of their leaders, heroes, or whatever believe they are the deficient ones. Who else would believe the crap that people like Cruz and his ilk proclaim but those lacking basic cognitive abilities to think for themselves.
CS – maybe you should define what YOU mean by “created equal” – because depending on your definition, that may very well be true. Knowing progressives, you probably include things like level of success, how much stuff someone has, etc in your belief of equality. Your personal definition may explain the disconnect between you blessed progressives and us rotten conservatives.
Actually if someone obtains wealth by hard legal work I have no problem with them burning their money if they want to. But making money of off the mistreatment of others or by corruption and nefarious means, now I have a problem with that.
God would beg to differ with that. They are more like the priests in the temple that had Christ crucified because he was a threat to their way of life.
That last statement was in response to Scott.
Ok, then. If ‘We The People’ insist that our government extend more rights to more people – even people who belong to an unpopular minority that have been traditionally denied respect or equality – then we are all Fascists. Interesting. So MLK = Hitler and Gandhi = Mussolini… Allll-righty then, if that’s the kind of rhetoric that excites the GOP base then I guess we should step back and let them explain to the rest of the voters why they should control all three branches of government in the 21st century.
Seems to me that the Republican message is very clear. What is the Democrats’ message going to be? “More Status Quo – Less Hate” would fit nicely on a bumpersticker, but so what? I’ll be “wasting my vote” on the Greens again and I’m quite prepared “though the heavens fall” to deal with the revolution that will likely follow if the Radical Right end up running the whole rotten mess. Be the trouble you want to see in the world!
Cruz: We were founded by men and women fleeing religious persecution.
Umm, and the people persecuting them were Christians, who were being evangelical and committed to preventing them from racticing Christianity wrong.
That’s an excellent point. The pilgrims were actually fleeing the persecution of other Christians. And when they got to the New World they became the persecutors. That’s why the colonists who left Jamestown left to found Rhode Island.
Actually, the colonists who went to Rhode Island were from Massachusetts not Jamestown. Those in Jamestown were Anglican and had to remain that way by law, especially since they were chartered by the king. Of course, their primary reason for establishing a British colony in the New World was for financial gain, a search for riches like the Spanish had obtained.
Nobody has a monopoly on hate.
The right wing hates gays, immigrants, atheists, Muslims, and democrats
the left hates theists, Christians, the tea party, and republicans
the rest hate all the people who support either the left or the right. Two opposite ends of the spectrum, two sides of the same coin.
The rest of the world hates this country full of bickering, narrow minded people who only support those who think like they do, conveniently forgetting that freedom means being able to have and express one’s own opinions, but that freedom to think and express whatever you like should not infringe on the rights and freedoms of others.
I love Jesus, but I’m pretty ashamed of so many so-called Christians who are too busy passing judgement to realize that the whole point of Jesus sacrificing himself for each of us, and tearing the curtain to the Holiest of Holies was to lift the need for us to judge and punish each other in God’s name (as Jesus bore the punishment for us all) and to allow every man and woman to have access to God directly, and therefore be individually responsible for his/her own actions and be held accountable directly to God for one’s own decisions and actions.
God does not need us to fight his battles for him. Homosexuality may be a sin, but that’s not anyone’s business but God’s and the person violating His commandments. Jesus said ” 14″Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15″Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.” Matt 10:14&15
Christians, you are to tell them what God has said, if they don’t want to hear it, leave them be. God will sort them out. It’s not your responsibility.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt5:43-48
I wish more Christians were as committed to the actual words of Christ as you have written here.
And by the way, the left does NOT hate Christians. As I noted above many Christians are liberals and get their liberalism from the teachings of Christ. As for Republicans, the left only hates their tendency to look down on others and force them to adhere to their ways. That’s very different than hating people for who they are (i.e. blacks, gays, etc.).
Dig a bit deeper Mark – you preach as much hatred for right wingers as anyone…
Right wingers – at least the average person on the street – doesn’t hate anyone and certainly not the list of people noted on the post. If there is any hatred – it’s only for those parts of your ideology (note ideology and not personal) that require us to relinquish control or our lives and our money to government – against our will and certainly involuntarily. For that specifically – you get lots of hatred.
Don’t hate the person hate the idea,
I wish Christians would stop believing this supernatural BS like Christ is their savior or there is some god or all the other stories they believe.
Jesus himself preached to all people, forgave all people. But he destroyed the temple for their greed. How does this compare to what Cruz is saying. ? Night and day.