- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
June 2, 2008 at 3:47 am #625934
JeannieParticipantNew Resident, my post was not lambasting Republicans. Specifically, I said “right-wing nut in Texas…The nutjobs on the extreme have highjacked the Republican/Conservative platform and used it to their own greedy advantage.” So that hardly constitutes an attack on Republicans. And, yes, I know and respect quite a few true Republicans, as well as some very smart Independents.
“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
June 2, 2008 at 4:06 am #625935
charlabobParticipantWhy I loathe the neocon philosophy, in a nut(case) shell:
“Make government small enough you can put it in a bathtub and drown it.” Grover Nordquist
June 2, 2008 at 4:34 am #625936
ErikParticipant“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html
June 2, 2008 at 5:05 am #625937
JeannieParticipantGood quote from Ike, Erik! Funny that these days, neo-cons would probably consider Eisenhower and perhaps even (good heavens) Barry Goldwater too “liberal”!
“I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.†– Barry Goldwater
June 2, 2008 at 8:52 am #625938
ShibaguyzMemberWhy would someone in the LGBT community be considered a liberal fanatic??
June 2, 2008 at 5:21 pm #625939
KenParticipantRE Barry Goldwater: I got yer liberal fanatic right here…
Barry Goldwater :
“I don’t have any respect for the Religious Right.”
“Every good Christian should line up and kick Jerry Falwell’s ass.”
“The religious factions will go on imposing their will on others,”
“A woman has a right to an abortion.”
“I am a conservative Republican,” Barry Goldwater wrote in a 1994 Washington Post essay, “but I believe in democracy and the separation of church and state.”
When Sandra Day O’Connor was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1981, some Religious Right leaders suspected she might be too moderate on abortion and other social concerns. Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell told the news media that “every good Christian should be concerned.” Replied Goldwater, “Every good Christian should line up and kick Jerry Falwell’s ass.”
The five-term U.S. senator from Arizona was equally unimpressed with TV preacher Pat Robertson. When Robertson sought the GOP nomination for president in 1988, Goldwater wasn’t about to say amen. “I believe in separation of church and state,” observed Goldwater. “Now, he doesn’t believe that . . . I just don’t think he should be running.”
A few years later he told The Advocate, “I don’t have any respect for the Religious Right. There is no place in this country for practicing religion in politics. That goes for Falwell, Robertson and all the rest of these political preachers. They are a detriment to the country.”
While some Americans might find Goldwater’s stand against all interaction between religion and politics too sweeping, many would agree with his strong commitment to individual freedom of conscience on issues as diverse as religion in schools, gay rights or abortion. In 1994 he told The Los Angeles Times, “A lot of so-called conservatives don’t know what the word means. They think I’ve turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That’s a decision that’s up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right.”
Goldwater, an Episcopalian, had theological differences with greedy TV preachers. “I look at these religious television shows,” he said, “and they are raising big money on God. One million, three million, five million – they brag about it. I don’t believe in that. It’s not a very religious thing to do.”
But Goldwater was also deeply worried about the Religious Right’s long-term impact on his beloved GOP. “If they succeed in establishing religion as a basic Republican Party tenet,” he told U.S. News & World Report in 1994, “they could do us in.” In an interview with The Post that same year, Goldwater observed, “When you say ‘radical right’ today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.”
But most importantly, Goldwater was deeply concerned about the Religious Right’s relentless war on the Constitution and basic American freedoms. In a Sept. 15, 1981 senate speech, Goldwater noted that Falwell’s Moral Majority, anti-abortion groups and other Religious Right outfits were sometimes referred to in the press as the “New Right” and the “New Conservatism.” Responded Goldwater, “Well, I’ve spent quite a number of years carrying the flag of the ‘Old Conservatism.’ And I can say with conviction that the religious issues of these groups have little or nothing to do with conservative or liberal politics. The uncompromising position of these groups is a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative system, if they gain sufficient strength.” Insisted Goldwater, “Being a conservative in America traditionally has meant that one holds a deep, abiding respect for the Constitution. We conservatives believe sincerely in the integrity of the Constitution. We treasure the freedoms that document protects. . . “By maintaining the separation of church and state,” he explained, “the United States has avoided the intolerance which has so divided the rest of the world with religious wars . . . Can any of us refute the wisdom of Madison and the other framers? Can anyone look at the carnage in Iran, the bloodshed in Northem Ireland, or the bombs bursting in Lebanon and yet question the dangers of injecting religious issues into the affairs of state?”
Goldwater concluded with a waming to the American people. “The religious factions will go on imposing their will on others,” { he said,} “unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives. . . We have succeeded for 205 years in keeping the affairs of state separate from the uncompromising idealism of religious groups and we mustn’t stop now” { he insisted}. “To retreat from that separation would violate the principles of conservatism and the values upon which the framers built this democratic republic.”
June 2, 2008 at 8:18 pm #625940
JanSParticipanthear, hear…..thanks for that, Ken….
June 4, 2008 at 5:40 pm #625941
Tonya42MemberI think it’s safe to say that Moonbats are on both sides of the political isle and several posters in this thread prove that point.
Neither the left nor the right is perfect, if you think that is the case, you are a bigger loon than most.
In all honesty the left and right need each other to balance each other out.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.