THEY'RE ALL PAWNS OF THE EVANGELICALS:

Neocon Pawns (Hamid Golpira, 6/08/04, Tehran Times)

The neoconservative movement is widely regarded as the ideological foundation behind the current government of the United States, but this is not the case.

It is true that many of the seemingly influential cabinet members and advisors of U.S. President George W. Bush are neocons, yet they are actually only being used as pawns by the real power behind the throne, the plutocrats.

The incredibly wealthy plutocrats have their own advisors, such as Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, who could best be described as paleocons not neocons.

There are several historical examples that shed light on what is really going on, one in particular.

In the early 1980s, the Moral Majority arose. It was a loose coalition of right-wing charismatic fundamentalist so-called “Christians” with a strong power base in the Bible Belt of the Southern states. Ronald Reagan used the Moral Majority’s support to win the U.S. presidential elections of 1980 and 1984, ushering in an era often referred to as the New Dark Age, typified by increased tolerance of racism, the dismantlement of social programs, rising homelessness, tax cuts for the wealthy, and a general return to backwards attitudes and imperialistic policies which many people thought had been relegated to the dustbin of history in the 1970s.

Members of the Moral Majority believed their day had come. They had the ear of the president. Yet their influence was not as great as it seemed and soon waned. They did succeed in getting a few pro-life judges appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was more of a concession.

The Moral Majority was being used by the plutocrats to promote their agenda. Many members of the loose coalition eventually realized this. Nowadays, the remnants of the Moral Majority are used by the Republicans as a voter bank in the Southern states, but they have no illusions about being the kingmakers they once thought they were.

We chose Bush over McCain.

MORE:
Team Bush Is On A Crusade (Michelle Cottle, June 4, 2004, The New Republic)

Karl Rove is no idiot. The dark wizard is well aware of his president's troubles, and -- even as the Beltway boys and girls obsess over Iraq -- Team Bush is furiously sucking up to the base on domestic issues. Just this week, W. delivered a keep-the-faith barn-burner to nearly 2,000 religious leaders and social service workers assembled in Washington for the White House Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. In his best preacher's voice, Bush spoke of souls lost and found, the power of the Good Book, and the need to surrender one's life to "a higher being." But his larger goal: Reminding the audience of what a key friend he has been. Stressing his commitment to government funding of religious groups, Bush noted that, when an obstinate Congress tried to block his plans, he outsmarted them by signing an executive order. (Take that, you godless legislators!)

The more illuminating speech, however, came from Jim Towey, Bush's faith-based czar, who helpfully focused the crowd on the fierce "culture war" still raging in this country. Iraq may be getting all the press these days, he allowed, "but there's also another war that's going on ... that really gets to the heart of the questions about what is the role of faith in the public square." If the anti-Bush forces wind up carrying the day, Towey reportedly warned, "you could almost wind up creating a godless orthodoxy." For peddling such divisive, partisan rhetoric at an official White House event, Towey most likely earned a cookie and a pat on the back from the dark wizard.

But the faith-based conference/revival was just one stop on Team Bush's crusade. Last week, the president met with several members of the religious media. This week, during a trip West, he was scheduled to swing by Colorado Springs to kiss the ring of evangelical powerbroker James Dobson. Finally -- and perhaps most impressively -- on Thursday The New York Times broke the news that the Bush campaign is working to recruit literally thousands of "Friendly Congregations" to aid its reelection efforts by identifying volunteers willing to distribute campaign materials, facilitate voter registration, and pray for a plague of frogs to paralyze blue-state voting on election day. (Just kidding about that last part.) In Pennsylvania alone, 1,600 churches have been contacted. [...]

A mighty army of religious warriors is being assembled on the president's behalf. With this in mind, the Kerry camp had better not get too wrapped up in Iraq (or Vietnam). This is a two-front war. And Team Bush is working hard to convince Americans that -- as in all battles -- God is on its side.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 9, 2004 2:15 PM