Coming to a Nation near you ©2004 UrbisMedia
The transformation of the G.O.P into the C.R.R.A.P. (the Christian Right-Republican Alliance Party) lie in the most significant social change in the history of America – the so-called Civil Rights Movement. But a couple of things ought to be said about that movement: one is that it has its impetus from WWII, as did that other, and arguably equally significant social change, the Women’s Liberation Movement. This all came to a boil in the tumultuous 1960s, stirred and seasoned with the cultural divide of the anti-war movement. They were heady times, and there has been a lot of fall out from those days, most summarily a deeply sundered nation with seemingly little hope of ever finding future accommodation with itself.
But that part that I wish to take as the current theme is how these circumstances served to create what I will charitably call C.R.R.A.P. The C.R.R.A.P began with the chennanigans of Richard Nixon and his political henchmen. By contemporary standards things like his “enemies list,” his political retributions, and his approved Watergate break-in and attempted over-up seem rather innocent. These were, after all, the types political activities that were not without precedent in either party. I emphasize political because that is the way in which we conduct the resolution of difference in policy in our democracy. But the reason that I take my theme from the Civil Rights Movement is that it was the prime factor in re-ordering not only the political balance of the nation, but the cultural balance as well. And from that re-ordering was birthed the C.R.R.A.P.
The American South never quite got over losing the Civil War; but losing the Civil Rights was the last straw and the old Dixiecrats alliance with the Democrats could no longer be tolerated. One by one, they shifted parties to where their bigotry was more ideologically aligned, to the party that claimed the old ways of doing things and the old social order (read “conservatism” here) was preferable. The old, Eastern establishment Teddy Roosevelt Progressive Republicanism and Rockefeller Republicanism were out the door. No more clipped New England accents and New York dialects; the new Republicanism drawled and twanged.
But if the political was “techtonic,” the cultural shift was “volcanic,” the bubbling of the magma of Christian fundamentalism as the countervailing answer to all that licentious granting of rights to minorities and women, and maybe even one day to those homosexuals (read “liberalism here). So the Republicans shook hands with the devil, er, make that the Christ, and sold its soul to the Southern-based Christian fundamentalists for votes, thereby declaring not just political opposition, but cultural war. Indeed, no Republican running for national office can afford the loss of support from this increasingly powerful constituency. No legislation or judicial appointments can be made without the vetting of them through the litmus of their ‘godliness’. Public policy, such as the rights of women to control what happens to their own bodies, could now be characterized as “sinful”.
These new Christian fundamentalist Republicans care little for the notion of the separation of church and state, and so government, or at least its functions related to social change, became the “enemy,” along with Hollywood, and the U.N. Since they owned their prime allegiance to a “higher power” the Christian fundamentalist Republicans could actually run for office by running against “government.” Goervnment was interfering too much in our lives except as a means to put prayer in schools, the ten commandments in government buildings, and to build a proper Christian nation.
The egregious injection of religion in the political mix – by way of conflating reactionary religious values with so-called conservative political norms – has arrogated a righteous obligation to the C.R.R.A.P that it is no longer engaged in a secular debate about public policy, but a pitched battle for the souls of the polity. With such stakes in the outcome, so reason the worst practitioners of this logic, any and all tactics are justified, lies, deceptions, distortions, and more, because it’s a war for the very soul of America.
“There will be Satanic forces . . . We are not . . . up just against human beings, to beat them in elections. We’re going to be coming up against spiritual warfare.” Pat Robertson, Road to Victory , 1991.
“We need to find ways to win the war ” Karl Rove told the Family Research Council in March, 2002. The Family Research Council is one of the most powerful lobbying organizations of the Religious Right today. Rove was referring not to the war on terrorism, but the war on secular society.
“There is another war going on in this country [other than Iraq]. This one is far more insidious. It’s one that you just can’t go and attack. It’s a war for the absolute soul of this country.” Alabama Govenor Bob Riley
Most recently, if the C.R.R.A.P gets its way, churches will be able to legally endorse candidates and lend support to campaigns just in time for November’s elections . In a move designed to crush all opposition, House Majority Leader Tom Delay and House Speaker Dennis Hastert have joined with Rep. Walter Jones to attach the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act (Jones bill/HR 235) to the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (H.R. 4520)
It is one of the ironies of the rise of the C.R.R.A.P that their ultimate aims—the obliteration of the secular state—and many of their specific policies—such as those related to women and homosexuals—are so similar to the Taliban and a Islamic fundamentalists they see a threat to America. It’s not just an oily war; it’s a holy war. It’s what you get when you have too much C.R.R.A.P.
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©2004, James A. Clapp (UrbisMedia Ltd. Pub. 9.12.2004)