The Religious Right's dance is just about over.

[Lyric]

I've been thinking about this today, in regard to where the Republican Party is eventually going to go. I suppose it's like trying to predict the path of a sidewinder rattlesnake; it's a dangerous thing, but there's definitely a pattern to draw upon. I suspect that in the near future of the Republican party, we're going to see a massing throwing-overboard of the Religious Right.

I can't think of a single pro-active thing--not even ONE thing--that the Religious Right wants to do. They have no ideas, no innovations, no visions. They contribute NOTHING to their chosen party except a whiny insistence to Ban, Ban, Ban things. Ban abortion, ban gay marriage, ban stem cell research, ban religious freedom, ban Atheists from public office, ban comprehensive sex education, ban this, ban that, ad nauseum.

How sad is it that these people can do nothing but sit around and salivate over all of the rights, freedoms, and information that they'd like to take away from Americans? What a pathetic, pitiable existence that must be, to live without any positive aspirations. How soul-rending must it be to have to define yourself in the negative at all times? To have NOTHING to contribute to the national political conversation except shrill demands to Ban everything you don't like? It's no wonder that these people are fanatically religious. When you have no real hopes and dreams, I suppose God is all you have left to hold off the insanity.

I think the old-school conservatives who've seen their livelihoods destroyed due to the toxic political marriage between the religious right and the hegemony hawks are going to revolt pretty soon. The latter has already been thoroughly discredited; I doubt if we'll be seeing any conservative, unilateralist armchair warriors in the White House for a very long time. But the former? Like a guest who just doesn't have the social skills to realize that they've overstayed their welcome, I think they'll be politely shown the door pretty soon. One more election cycle of losses is all that it should take to prove once and for all that the religious right has become more of a liability than a boon. I predict that we will see a lot more Giuliani-type pols from the Republicans, and a lot less of the God Squad. It was all well and good while the rich were comfortable and secure, but when the Jesus Jihad starts driving away the centrist voters and acting like he owns the place, you can expect Daddy Billionaire to put his foot down.

Don't look now, Moral Minority, but you have become the crazy person in the room that everybody feels uncomfortable with. I think that you'll probably have one more dance with the Republican Party that brought you, but after that, you're going to be led quietly out of the room and gently shoved into the nearest taxi headed straight out of Washington.

Don't forget your coat.

[Andy823]

1. I see three groups!

The republican party is ripe for a "civil war" within their ranks. One side will be the party that wants change, like Newt is preaching. Another will be the Rush "zombies" who think tax breaks for the rich are the only way to solve "any" problem that comes up and "hate" for anyone not on their side is the only way to go, the party of NO! The third will be the right wing religious zealots who want the world to end, and will vote for someone like Plan who they think will help to bring that end to be making the earth a place where only religious zealots will survive! The party is already being pulled in these 3 directions, and it will only get worse as Newt and Rush battle for control, and the religious right breaks away because they want someone like Palin to be the next president.

[cascadiance]

7. Huckabee was trying to appeal to the first and third camps...

which the 2nd group that has control over the party saw as dangerous and threatening to them and their core corporatist elites, which is why he was in effect "shut down" after iowa...

If the first and third group unite, there might be some form of opposition (that still is dangerous from the right wing crazies getting too much power). Otherwise this splintering is going to screw the party for many years.

The fundamental question is how much the religious zealouts will also try to help work with those who want change for the masses to get rid of the corporatist rulers, and those who want change from the corporatist rulers would be willing to accept their differences and unite. I still think that the religious right is too toxic for a majority of Americans to accept, especially without the corporatist dollars funding their mantras in efforts to "distract" us from the core corporatist issues that they want their minions from both Republican and Democratic Parties to fall in line with.

[smoogatz]

19. The same three as always.

1.The DC money boyz, super-rich fascists backing yet another empty suit (the Romney-ites and their ilk);

2."Movement" conservative followers of Limbaugh/Beck/Coulter, whose big idea is and has always been "liberals suck"; and

3.The wild-eyed religious right, who would (and did) vote for virtually anyone who blew the right dogwhistle on the subject of abortion.

There are some smaller subgroups, too--anti-Latino nativists; Ron Paul style right-libertarians; your assorted white supremacists, homophobes, Christian home-schoolers, global warming deniers, gun fetishists and other deranged knuckle-draggers and pinheads. The only meaningful rift in the Republican party right now is between the money boyz--who actually have a vested interest in perpetuating the Reagan/Bush doctrine of cutting taxes on the rich and deregulating everything--and everybody else, whose various agendas are all over the map and can no longer be presented to a sadder but wiser American electorate as a semi-coherent political philosophy. The money boyz despise the fundies but court them anyway because they need them to win national elections. The movement people and the fundies hate and distrust the money boyz, but aren't smart enough to know that without them they've got nothing--no national organization, no money, no power. The movement people have no constituency but themselves; the more they talk, the less moderates and independents like them. And yeah--hang out in freeptard-land for a few minutes (if you've got a strong stomach, that is) and you can see that the "base" doesn't know whether to shit in its collective hat or go blind. They have no idea where to assign blame or what to think--except that the problem with the Republican party, by God, is that it's not conservative *enough.*

[The Doctor.]

2. That's a fair assesment.

Indeed... These people have adopted hatred to protect their small-minded fanaticism. The sooner they are expunged from the political process, the better off all of us will be.

[AlinPA]

3. Without the Religious Right the republican party would be nothing. Their hatred

drives the party and inspires their voters.

[tanyev]

4. Time to open up the gym floor and let them fall into the swimming pool.

[jedr]

5. Nobody can put up with bible-thumpers for long

The neocons are into money, not religion and they're very much about "what did you do for me lately" . The R/R didn't deliver the election for them so they are at the the point were the religion thing is of no use for them....couldn't happen to a nicer group of people.:evilgrin:

[Jeneral]

15. Bible twisters

They are not Bible thumpers they are twisted of Christianity.

[Froward69]

6. This last time around I turned

Many a religious voter to Obama as I would say "the republicans haven't delivered to you your single issue... a Ban on Abortion... Yet with a well funded Health care the number of Abortions would go down... as well as under democratic Administrations Abortion does indeed go down..."

thats all it took to bring em into the fold... so to speak.

[CatholicEdHead]

8. They are fading from political power and will be weak for the short term

but sometime within a generation the cycle will bring them back to a place of relevant power. Everything ebbs and flows. In the meantime they are compromised in the political realm but will consolidate their power and money in churches across the country and be back for another round.

[cali]

12. while I generally agree

the fact is that despite certain spurts of power, religious influence on politics and government has been declining for decades and decades. That's unlikely to change. And even at the height of their power over the last few years, they accomplished little of their agenda.

[CatholicEdHead]

36. They were mostly duped by Rove et al to vote and follow

If they cannot pull off a total GOP party coup for complete control of the party reigns, they will go their way for a few years but eventually work hard to get the power back.

In many rural areas the seeds of another future renewal are there for a later generation that will not have experienced the current times which the religious right had their current fall from power.

[conscious evolution]

37. I see it that way too.

What worries me is that they will spend their rebuilding time infiltrating the Democratic Party.

[Gregorian]

9. And Jesus isn't helping matters.

Sorry.

[Jeneral]

16. No

That's not right. Ti's their perverted form of Christianity and images of God that will not solve issues.

[saltpoint]

10. They've taken quite a few hits lately.

Not least, the Republicans nominated John McCain, who lost badly to a far more progressive candidate, Barack Obama, who is not likely to appoint anti-choice judges anyplace.

A short while back the fundamentalist chatter was all about overturning Roe v. Wade and that chatter has died down considerably.

The GOP lost a good percentage of its Senate leadership. Bill Cat Butcher Frist resigned. Rick Santorum got wiped out by Bob Casey. McConnell has stepped up but he's kind of pathetic.

The Ted Haggard story didn't exactly bolster the religious Right's causes.

A good number of folks saw the documentary JESUS CAMP and just had the crap scared out of them that people like that were actually running around in civil society.

The GOP's attack on Rev. Wright was essentially pointless to start with and extremely ineffective from that point forward.

Dobson is said to have just "stepped down" from his perch at Fungus on the Family.

Colorado, meanwhile back in November, went blue.

The GOP, the all-purpose shitwagon for all things rightwing, including fundamentalism, was shrunk down to size in the November election, and rendered more regional than nationally righteous.

There's no apparent leader in the Republican Party right now, unless you count Rush Limbaugh. When you're reduced to being led by a toxic propagandist talk host, you're reduced pretty far indeed.

The religious Right has to hang its hat on something and that hall tree's done been chopped down.

[NorthCarolina]

30. After reading your post I watched *Jesus Camp* on Google Video

and I cannot even begin to express how utterly disturbing that documentary is.

[saltpoint]

31. Hi, NorthCarolina. Yes. It is the creepiest of the creepiest.

What unnerved me was how CERTAIN "Becky" is throughout the film. An entire Panel of shrinks could not get to the level of disturbance that woman exhibits in this film. A total freak-out.

And there was ol' Rev. Ted Haggard talking about how many times people have had sex with their wives. My god. And he KNEW the camera was rolling.

[NeedleCast]

11. Excellent Post

It's fun watching the conservatives fight among themselves and will be interesting to see which of the factions you name becomes the face of the party, or (better yet) if the party splits up. Bush pushed them so far to the right that he's managed to drive out many Republican voters. Despite having to put up with eight years of Bush to get here, he did so much damage that the Republicans might never recover.

Just remember, people have a short term memory for this stuff. We can't let our guards down.

[KharmaTrain]

13. Movements Get Old...

Be it the Progressives of the 20s or the New Dealers in the 70s, times change and movements usually don't. The fundies got into the game in the late 70's led by a relatively young generation of leaders who tapped into the social changes of the time and the "born-again" movement to get into the political arena. Those "young" leaders are going or gone and a new generation still hasn't asserted itself. We saw a move in that direction by Warren last summer, but he doesn't command the power or respect that a Falwell or Robertson did...nor a Dobson does.

Also, the religious right justifiably feels screwed over by the GOOP. They had nearly veto proof majorities in both houses...plenty to pass a bill banning abortion or mandating school prayer and it never happened. Many feel duped as the GOOP knows that the "life" issue isn't just a winner with the fundies for votes, but for money as well...why give up a cash cow? For all their votes, what do they really have to show for it?

Don't count this group out...they've risen and crested in the past and they will again. Right now the focus is going to be on putting food at the table and keeping the wolves away from the door. Issues like "life" or creationism are luxuaries this country can't afford.

[Jeneral]

14. Christians, Conservatives, the world and God

Christians--are not suppose to be fire branding people telling others that you are not Christian or pray for failure.

Conservatives--proper conservative ideology does not believe in banning xxx or what not and does not always see tax cuts as the solution for all economies

God--did not say you cannot receive communion just because your are pro-choice or allow abortion even in the most remote circumstance

the world--Politicians have never ever been ethically or pure. Especially American Presidents.

[saltpoint]

17. Time is not on their side. Neither is scientific advancement.

In the chance that stem cell research should result in significant reverses in patient's suffering, the fundamentalist factions who opposed public funding of stem cell research will look even more myopic and clueless.

Also, the Rapture doesn't appear to be an entirely schedulable event.

[Marr]

18. Yes- the rigidity that was their strength for so long is now their great weakness.

The Religious Right is one faction of the right-wing that simply does not compromise. They demand their pound of flesh, and they won't support anyone who won't give it to them. They demand their candidates publicly oppose stem cell research, for instance. Even if such a position will doom the candidate with the broader electorate, the Religious Right still demands it.

I think we reached a point very recently where winning the support of the Religious Right became more cost than benefit on the national scale. This is only going to sharpen the problem for the GOP over time, as regional politicians who *do* court the Christian Right will reflect on the rest of the party. The GOP will have to dump the Christian Right if they want to be a national party, but that will cripple them on the regional level.

[Still Sensible]

20. Right now they are the republican party for all

intents and purposes. At the end of the Bush II era, the party is down to a coalition of supply siders, neocons and the Religious Right.

The neocons got us stuck in Iraq and have lost what credibility they had. The supply siders, with their laissez-faire, deregulation, trickle down economics led us to the financial meltdown we are now suffering and have also lost their credibility. In both cases, their ability to carry influence with first, their own party, and second, with the public at large, has been compromised by their failures.

That leaves the fundamentalists, the Religious Right, as the most influential faction of what is left in the GOP coalition--at least right now. This wasn't supposed to happen, of course. The Bushies were driven by the greed of the supply siders and the MIC promoting neocons. They paid just enough lip service to the social engineering and racist fundamentalists to keep them securely in the fold--but the Religious Right was never supposed to be driving the bus.

Sure, the supply siders' man--Romney--won the CPAC straw poll for the third time in a row, but with a paltry 20%. Mr. Exorcism Jindal was second and the reigning fundie beauty queen Palin tied for third with Ron Paul. Why the Paul libertarians are still hanging around the GOP after most of their principles have been kicked to the curb in the Bush II years is beyond me, but that's a different subject.

Sure, the supply siders' tax cuts, trickle down dogma is what they continue to try and revive themselves with and what they rail at the new administration about, but make no mistake--nobody will get on the 2012 GOP ticket without the blessing of the Religious Right. They are the core of the Southern Strategy that the party has been married to since the 1960s and it will take a few more election cycles and some distance from the failures of the past eight years for the supply siders to regain control.

The only thing I can see that would change that is an epic failure of the new administration... which is why Rush and friends are clinging to that possibility as their only hope in the near term.

[Lyric]

22. One beef: Ron Paul's supporters are NOT Libertarians

Not by any definition of the term. No Libertarian would ever support banning abortion, as such a government intrusion into the private lives of citizens is anathema to Libertarian ideology.

[Still Sensible]

23. You are of course right

I'm sure the abortion stance is one Paul takes to keep getting elected in his fundie filled district, but other than that most of his politics seem rooted in libertarian principles.

[canis_lupus]

21. I wish I could share your optimism

But I fear that we are one economic disaster, terrorist attack, or fill in the blank of your favorite emergency from seeing the rapture right come roaring back.

Yes, at this moment we are seeing them get shoved farther and farther to the edge. I just worry that all that would change in a moments notice if something were to happen that shakes the nation. Just as Germany's post-World War I economic woes helped lead to the emergence of the Nazis who blamed the country's problems on the Jews, a mistep in our own economic recovery could bring back all sorts of groups who claim to have THE answer as well as the ability to identify the villians (and the rapture right certainly fits into that category),

I hope I'm wrong in my pessimistic assessment, but there's a big difference between a group that gone and one that's simply gone from view.

[rolltideroll]

24. It may be over

for you blue state people, but I am trapped in the middle of the horde down here. When is the airlift?

[tanyev]

27. I hear ya.

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[tabbycat31]

32. you're welcome up here any day

[dickthegrouch]

25. How about removing the plank from their own eyes

What do you expect when their religions obsess on such miserable concepts as
Sin
Suffering
Guilt
Confession
Vengeance
Punishment
Fear, especially since the deity can’t be trusted to keep its promises
Etc

I have listened to far too many Catholic Novenas and funeral services recently and I can’t believe people actually take their kids to such a morbid, relentlessly depressing event (even once, far less nine days running).

I’ll agree that religion might be useful to explain conscience and consciousness for a short while during a person’s formative years, but I like Marx’s assessment of “Opium for the masses”. It is toxic, addictive, responsibility shirking and a damn good excuse for doing nothing.

A drug dealer rarely participates in the drugs he’s dealing, since he knows they will eventually corrupt his power. Religion is ALL about power and they’ll stop at nothing to preserve it. Which, in my mind, explains a lot of the hypocrisy encountered around the whole subject.

The sooner we rid ourselves of most judeo-christian crap, the better off the whole planet will be. The part of that crap that we have allowed to be attached to our institutions of government must be excised forthwith.

I was astonished to note that the priest character in “House” (on Fox TV) was so upfront about having recognized “the fairy tale” as a bundle of BS “a long time ago”. I wonder how many complaints they received about that scene?

My only question: How can we grease the skids into obscurity?

[Libertyfirst]

26. The "new" socially conscious evangelists will be the next

religious group to exercise influence. Note that they are also fundamentalists but do not push that brand so much. With the RR, which they are really a part of, but dressed for better presentation, the RR will continue to be an influence. The Republican Party will rise again --herpes only goes into remission -- and a number of thoughtful comments above indicate some ways it could happen. After the economy there are two things democrats absolutely must do: fix the problems with having all the votes counted and appoint judges in their late thirties and early forties.

[rufus dog]

28. I disagree

I thing the Religious Right is fully ingrained in local Repuke politics, The group with new ideas will have to leave the party.

[DemocracyInaction]

29. All of you forgot something -ECONOMICS

Trust me. I was born and raised by the pillars of the church and spent most of my life being a pillar of the church-----when things get rough, the pocketbooks slam shut. Only a small, small portion keep giving until they are broke. Giving to a church suddenly doesn't fall into the "necessity" category. They cut back, way back and then they stop altogether. And then another odd thing happen----they know that those who keep the books (members of the church) gossip like crazy and they are ashamed that the word will get around that they are not contributing any longer. So, many of them stop attending or drift over to some other church and try to not be approached for money. Individual churches and the fat boys on TV are going through some bad times and it's going to get worse. And, in Amureka..if you ain't got money, you ain't got power and you done don't count...you know how it is. They are going to have much less influence and soon.

[ThoughtCriminal]

33. It's all they have left

The religious right IS that 25% that keeps coming up. The oil-billionaire vote gets you a country club membership and the media. But for actual non-computer-generated votes, It's the only thing that puts them above low single-digits.

[GeorgeGist]

34. Maybe so ...

but Capitalism will still own them when the dance is over.

[Skittles]

35. they're losing support

the more people struggle just to live, the less they give a fuck if their neighbors are gay

[D23MIURG23]

38. Getting rid of the religious right would be the best thing they can do...

The real question is whether they actually will.

From my perspective it was the religious crazies who helped propel them toward the success the enjoyed from Reagan through W. I'm thinking that they will try to court the religious right more covertly in the future, and with fewer outright promises. Which might have questionable results.

That detail aside I think your analysis is right; the American public have come to understand what the Christianists are all about, and they don't like it.

[trotsky]

39. Sorry but I will never write them off.

We only need to look to 9/11 to see what a tiny yet highly determined group of religious radicals can do.

[Kablooie]

40. If the GOP loses centrist votes, those votes usually go to Dems but RR lost votes just drop out.

Seems they would rather lose RR votes than centrist ones.

[Bake]

41. I don't think you WANT to see their "positive" ideas.

They'd love to institute a theocracy. They just don't (usually) say it out loud.

Bake