The gospel of the rich and powerful

[Jon8503]

Backed by the religious right, Republican lawmakers are now officially giving hell to the average American.

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By Joe Conason

March 11, 2005 | Watching the behavior of Republican politicians during the past several days, we are learning the true meaning of "compassionate conservatism." Not the public-relations version promoted by George W. Bush and his party propaganda apparatus, but the core philosophy enunciated by the deep thinkers of the religious right.

With legislative maneuvering designed to punish and deprive the least fortunate among us -- working people at the lower end of the American economy and their children -- the Republicans don't seem to be upholding the caring Christian ideals often proclaimed by the President. They're pushing down wages, snatching away tax credits and food stamps, slashing Medicaid and children's health insurance, and removing bankruptcy protections from families that suffer medical catastrophes. But they're extending tax cuts on dividends and capital gains, and making sure that those bankruptcy laws still protect the richest deadbeats.

In short, they are stealing bread from the mouths of the poor and stuffing cake into the maws of the wealthy.

The bankruptcy "reform" currently pending in the Senate, for instance, would compound the misery of Americans already ruined by enormous medical expenses, which is what drives most filers to seek legal protection. The sponsors of this punitive act, which will further inflate the profits of credit-card companies, rejected every amendment to discourage deceptive and extortionate lending practices, as well as every amendment to soften the impact on destitute veterans and others whose misfortune might ordinarily stir feelings of compassion.

Yet while the sponsors claimed that their only purpose was to stop "abuse" of bankruptcy laws, their bill will still allow every grifter to lawyer up and sequester his pelf in an "asset protection trust," an investment vehicle that limits legal liability, often by using offshore bank accounts. The clever rich will thus be exempt from the same laws that will be used from now on to denude poorer people. (At least a dozen Democrats also have signed their disgraced names onto this billion-dollar gift certificate for the credit industry.)

Those poorer people won't be seeing any increase in their pitiful wages any time soon, either, thanks to the Senate Republicans. Voting almost uniformly along party lines, the majority killed what would have been the first increase in the federal minimum wage since 1998. A recent poll showed that more than four out of five Americans favor this measure, evidently because they cherish the quaint notion that people who work for a living should be able to feed and shelter their children.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/03/11/compassionate/index.html

[HawkerHurricane]

1. Are you surprised?

The so called Christians of the Religious Right have done more against the teachings of Christianities founder than any heretic.

[Jon8503]

4. Not Surprised At All ---- This is not the religion I grew up with when

my parents started taking me to church. Back then you also had no idea what your pastor's politics was. It was never brought up in church. In other words church and state was separate. You got the teachings of the gospel when you went to church and no politics.

Also, back then Christianity was what I believe it was meant to be. Now to me Christianity is not Christian as I knew it but hedonistic. Mega Church's, rich and powerful, and the heck with the poor. The Church's are all about themselves and their wealthy elite.

I should add that there may be those old fashioned Church's yet.

[tccoyle]

5. Usually, religions do more...

harm than good, and those that support particular religions are the ones most likely to do the worst harm..

I am SOOOO disappointed in the Republicans - despite split ticket voting in the last 24 years, I have considered myself Republican. This week, I stopped. Mind you, I am not going to call myself Democrat....but I can not in any way justify the actions of Republicans in the Senate.

Tracy
cazelaw.com

[HawkerHurricane]

6. Welcome to political independence

I am pro Democratic Party, but not a member.

The Republican Party, who my New York Irish Grandfather called 'the party of the Robber Barons' in 1984 has only gotten worse. A bizarre alliance between
a. the Barons
b. the Dixiecrat racists
c. a brand of Christianity that is about being proud of going to heaven and not about what Jesus said you had to do to GET to heaven.

The Republican Party has shown me by it's actions over the past 10 years that they cannot be trusted with power. I do whatever I can to keep them out of power; which usually means voting for a Democrat.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill...
"If the Republicans invaded Hell, I'd post something nice about Satan on the internet."

[KT2000]

2. Using Christian Ideals

to justify their draconian behavior calls for a discussion on those grounds. Just how does robbing from the poor to feed the rich figure into any religion?
Think of all the poor people who once made donations to their churches and will have to "cut back" to feed the kids. Sounds to me like they are starving their own beast.

Maybe some day they will have to admit they have been taken.

[pilgrimsoul]

3. Yes - let's hope that

these deplorable policies result in drastically lower offering plate contributions from the people getting screwed over by this administration. And when the churches start bemoaning their reduced income, they will have no one to blame but themselves!

[DemoTex]

7. Conason had the fire in his belly when he wrote this one!

I heard Joe on Al Franken on Friday. He is pissed off. We need more like him. In fact, Conason needs his own radio show.


Compassionate Conservative