The RNC has Plunged into Full Throttle Suicide Mode

A war is brewing within the GOP rank and file and all because insecure and paranoid Romney demanded RNC rules changes that would squash grassroots power in 2016 and concentrate all Republican decision making authority, including rule making and delegate selections, into the hands of about 10 all powerful GOP elites. Forget that Romney hasn't even been elected; he's already crowned himself emperor with absolute authority.

This issue is smoking hot and not because Republicans even care about liberty. Everybody in the GOP was silent (or cheering) when Ron Paul and the Paulites were being squashed, disenfranchised of their delegate status and churned into Satan for the crime of advocating for the restoration of the Constitution.

The religious right that loves the wars and socialism also HATE Mormonism with a passion and consider the religion a cult. Of course, the religious right Warvangelicals also hate Ron Paul, the Constitution and liberty.

But now that RNC/GOP top down command and control tyranny has turned on them, they've got their bowels in an uproar. The advocates for statist tyranny are most deserving of having tyranny imposed upon them.

This RNC rules change story has been breaking for 2 days and the mutiny is coming from some hardcore statist neocon Republican sites like Pajamas Media, no friend of Ron Paul, liberty or the Constitution.

RNC to Cull Grassroots by Changing the Rules

Social media is atwitter with protest from Republican delegates and grassroots activists as the Republican National Convention stands poised to vote on proposed rule changes which will fundamentally transform the process for nominating future presidential candidates. In an open letter to delegates in Tampa, Republican Liberty Caucus national chairman Dave Nalle summarizes what is at stake and urges opposition from the floor of the convention next week.

"One of the cornerstones of the Grand Old Party is a belief in republicanism and the idea that power is distributed and limited by checks and balances. Those values are embodied in our Constitution and they were the basis of the Republican Party when it was founded and for most of its history. Historically this has meant that most of the power in the Republican Party has rested with the party members in the states, working as delegates through their local and state caucuses and conventions to generate policy for the party in a unique collaborative process where the voice of the people could be heard strongly.

… Now there are those in Tampa who seek to overturn this traditional structure of the party, set restrictions on the free choice of party members and introduce a new and alien process which would minimize the input of the party’s rank and file and put power in the hands of party leaders and wealthy special interests who can buy the loyalty of the mob. They have borrowed the organizing structure of the Democrats and authored rules which would cause our delegates to be bound by the votes of primary voters who may not be Republicans or share our values. They have also proposed that the presumed presidential nominee could remove our elected delegates at whim. Finally they want to remove control over the rule making process from the state parties to a small elite within the national committee of the party who can change the rules under which the party operates at any time. Without fixed rules arrived at by the consent of the rank and file of the party we [state and national delegates elected at local conventions] become pawns rather than participants in the political process.

I hope that all delegates in Tampa will join me in opposing this coup within the party. If you are a [delegate], please join with others in supporting the minority report and opposing these changes which will be voted on from the floor on Monday. If you are watching from home, please realize that the media is not covering this issue and reach out to any delegates you know and encourage them to stand up for the rights of the state parties and the many dedicated Republicans who took part in the grassroots process which makes our party unique and protects the interests of all of its members."

The text of the proposed rule changes is attached to Nalle’s letter. The RNC rules committee approved the changes last week. But the rules will not go into affect unless approved by the convention this week. If passed, these rules will make it significantly more difficult for minority delegations to effectively participate in the convention process.

Basically, Nalle is saying that the rules change will effectively shutout grassroots activists and prevent the Republican Party from growing with the recruitment of new and energized conservative political activists.

Texans join uprising against RNC rules change

Republicans from Texas are leading a mutiny at their national nominating convention in Tampa and fighting proposed rule changes that they say amount to a power grab by entrenched GOP operatives at the expense of grassroots activism.

Rule changes forced through by Romney campaign at RNC provoke grassroots backlash

Rule changes pushed through by the Romney campaign that appear designed to prevent an insurgent candidacy like that of Ron Paul from mounting any meaningful challenge to the party establishment in the future are provoking a strong grassroots reaction.

This mutiny isn't going away and it's highly doubtful that RNC and GOP officials will be able to squash it as easily as they squashed Ron Paul and the Ron Paul delegates.  The Republican Party consists of 3 legs that all pretty much hate each other - the Rino New England Rockefeller Republicans, the religious right Warvangelicals and the minority Ron Paul Republicans.  The religious right Warvangelicals are a much more powerful and numerous force within the GOP than the Ron Paul Republicans and these folks can't be squashed like a bug.

I can already hear the Rockefeller Rino bait: "Don't worry, we've got to guarantee that no liberty candidate like Ron Paul ever again rises within the GOP and we love you, we support life and we love the wars too".

There's one problem.  The religious right Warvangelicals don't believe anything flowing from the lips of Mitt Romney.

Anti-Jefferson Book by a TX Warvangelical Pulled from Shelves by Publisher For Inaccuracies

It's a well known fact that some Evangelicals absolutely detest Thomas Jefferson and practically consider him Satanic. Not surprisingly, TX Evangelical David Barton wrote an incendiary book about Thomas Jefferson titled 'The Jefferson Lies' which was published by Christian book publisher Thomas Nelson. Apparently, the publisher decided to fact check Barton's book and learned that is was overflowing with errors.

‘Historian’ David Barton’s book on Thomas Jefferson pulled from stores

David Barton, an evangelical activist and writer often cited as a “historian” by conservative political figures like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, stirred up such a firestorm of controversy with his latest book “The Jefferson Lies” that his publisher now claims to have “lost confidence” in the text, opting Thursday evening to pull it from stores.

The announcement by Christian mega-publisher Thomas Nelson comes after readers of The History News Network at George Mason University elected Barton’s latest work as “the least credible history book in print.” It was also challenged by an assemblage of “10 conservative Christian professors” in the recently released book, “Getting Jefferson Right,” which accuses Barton of grossly misrepresenting the nation’s third president.

The author of “Getting Jefferson Right,” Warren Throckmorton, fact-checked Barton’s book and found a number of basic historical facts that Barton got wrong, like Barton’s claim that Jefferson invested in an American printing of the Bible, when in fact he only bought one copy. Barton also claimed that Jefferson was barred by law from freeing his slaves, but that too is objectively false. Professors sought out by Throckmorton — all of whom believe that America was founded as a Christian nation — said that Barton’s writing seems too eager to depict Jefferson as an adamant Christian, glossing over his less than conventional views of religion and the Christian deity figure.

The especially egregious claims about slavery struck a chord with a group of African American pastors and Jewish leaders in Cincinnati, who called for a boycott of Barton’s publisher for allowing Barton to offer a justification for Jefferson owning slaves.

“David Barton falsely claims that Thomas Jefferson was unable to free his slaves,” one of the pastors said in a media advisory issued Tuesday. “In fact, Jefferson was allowed to free his slaves under Virginia law, but failed to do it. The Jefferson Lies glosses over Jefferson’s real record on slaveholding, and minimizes Jefferson’s racist views.”

That apparently wasn’t lost on Nelson. Just one day after National Public Radio featured a scathing profile of Barton that ran some fact checking on some of his more dubious claims, Nelson’s top brass decided that was quite enough. A corporate spokesperson told Christian news publication World on Thursday that all copies of “The Jefferson Lies” would be pulled off the Internet and removed from bookstores.

In many ways, radical Evangelicals like Barton are representative of why the Republican Party is shrinking and folks are fleeing the party in droves.  The Evangelicals are notorious for rejecting the Constitution while promoting endless wars, big government, statism, social intolerance and even hatred.

David Barton is a very powerful Texas Evangelical who absolutely believes that America was founded on the principles of Biblical Law.  Glenn Beck has called Barton "one of the most important men alive". The statement is correct insofar as it applies Biblical literalists, Fundamentalist Christians and some Evangelicals, especially the factions defined by Dispensationalism, here.

Nuclear War and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, written by Jerry Falwell in 1983, welcomes a nuclear war: "'Nuclear War and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ' - the one brings thoughts of fear, destruction, and death, while the other brings thoughts of joy, hope, and life. They almost seem inconsistent with one another, yet they are indelibly intertwined."

It's this dangerous Dispensationalism that has spawned the religious right as a powerful and controlling force within the Republican Party. These folks advocate for endless wars and murder, and they are frequently sarcastically dubbed Warvangelicals, theocons and neocons.

Folks who adhere to Dispensationalist theology have literally declared war on Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson is an admitted deist, though he never embraced any particular Christian theology. Above all, Jefferson was much closer to a modern day Libertarian in that he advocated for natural rights and recognized the right of folks to do whatever they want to do and live however they want to live so long as it doesn't infringe on the natural rights of another human being. It's this 'live and let live' philosophy of Jefferson that so incenses the theocrats who seek to be in everybody's bedroom as the religious police and the morality gestapo.  They demand the criminalization of every possible human behavior that they don't approve of, including homosexuality. Many of these folks would implement Old Testament justice.

In Texas, Barton and his ilk succeeded in getting the State Board of Education (SBOE) to purge Jefferson from the list of people who were influential in the American Revolution as well as deleting him from the World History curriculum. The TX SBOE affair was so scandalous that Texas was the laughing stock of not only America but the entire world.

For crying out loud, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and is one of the most cherished names in history books all over the world, but not in Texas where Jefferson is banned.

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all Men are created, equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…

These immortal words are among the most recognized phrases in the human lexicon – they are eternal, they are uttered internationally by peoples everywhere and they have become the battle cry for humans seeking to shed totalitarian slavery. Jefferson, as well as other American founding fathers, was a pioneer in the theory that we have natural rights that emanate from God and that no ruler, government or person(s) can usurp these God given “natural” rights. To deny a human being their natural rights constitutes tyranny and oppression.

The American Revolution was a cataclysmic historical event that reverberated around the world and those who made it happen are indeed worthy of recognition. The only goal of American Revolutionaries was to devise a form of government that was the least susceptible to abuse by  government and unjust laws.

To excise Jefferson as an important and influential figure in world history is insane. His famous words have been echoed around the globe as a message to other folks that human liberty is indeed possible because it’s a natural God given right that should never subservient to the whims of rulers/kings or even theocrats for that matter. To be a sovereign citizen with recognized rights versus a mere subject with limited rights was a milestone in human history and to a large extent, Jefferson was a driving force behind the foundation of our constitutional liberties as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and later codified into law by the Constitution that enshrined the principles of our Republic.

How did a Texas SBOE justify purging Jefferson? According to the Austin American Statesman, SBOE religious right extremist member Cynthia Dunbar is quoted:

“made a motion at the board's March 11 meeting to change the proposed standard, substituting "writings" for "Enlightenment ideas" and removing Jefferson from the suggested list. In Jefferson's place, she added Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone — respectively, a Roman Catholic priest and saint; a Protestant theologian; and an English jurist who wrote that the doctrines of common law are based on God's word. Dunbar, defending the amendment, said: "It does take out (the) reference to Thomas Jefferson. But the reason is not that I don't think his ideas were important. It's just that this is a list of political philosophers from which the Founding Fathers based their ideologies and their principles." Link

That a Catholic priest, a Protestant theologian and an English jurist, who believed that laws are based on God’s word, are now the defining characteristics of “enlightenment ideas” (a term expunged by Dunbar and replaced with “writings”) is indeed a gross mischaracterization. What right has Dunbar to assume that Aquinas, Calvin and Blackstone were in fact the primary philosophical influences of our founders? Apparently, the term “enlightenment” is disturbing to many TX SBOE members because it holds the potential to invoke secularism as well as the separation of church and state. . However, secularism itself doesn’t necessarily imply the absence of God but it merely infers that no man's theology shall ever be forcibly imposed on another man.

It has been said that John Calvin “preached the doctrine of absolute obedience and nonresistance to duly constituted government, regardless of how that government might be”. Of course, this fully endorses Romans 13, one of the most debated verses in the Bible because it mandates “let every soul be subject to the sovereign authorities. For there is no power which is not from God; and those who are in authority are ordained by God”.  More to the point, if this were 1776 I submit that Republicans would be loyalists and not the wondrous Revolutionaries who directly violated Romans 13 as well as the John Calvin doctrine of absolute obedience to the almighty state and its rulers.

In the interest of practical reality most folks have heard of Thomas Jefferson but few have heard of Aquinas, Calvin and Blackstone. To assert that philosophically they are more important than Jefferson is worse than a stretch, it could be construed as theological indoctrination. Granted, Aquinas, Calvin and Blackstone are enormously important figures if one is a serious student of theology but to teach that they are the critical philosophers behind the creation of America is simply not accurate because America was birthed by revolutionaries, reactionaries and even theological dissidents. Of course, the most radical revolutionary ever to exist was Jesus.

The growth of government power and absolute statism under Republicans is a profound moral flaw of the modern day Republican Party – a party that is vastly alienated from the vision of our founding fathers and a party that routinely tramples the Constitution and our founding principles.

Moreover, the TX SBOE just didn’t excise Jefferson from the curriculum. They literally became historical revisionists on many other highly relevant issues including “Students will learn about the contributions of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority…Students will also be required to “discuss the meaning of ‘In God We Trust.’ ”.  The religious right faction of the TX SBOE is fully committed to theological indoctrination.

I suspect that Americans are finally getting fed up with the hardcore 'Warvangelical' religious right who increasingly resemble theocratic Nazis. Many Christians are now shunning beliefs they once held and theocratic absolutism as a tool of the Republican Party is no longer the powerful force that it once was. Folks are waking up to the stone cold reality that many religions in America are nothing more than anti-liberty government indoctrination machines, especially on foreign policy, drug policy and the contentious social issues.

 "Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God." Lenny Bruce

 “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.”  Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson never said that religious folks couldn't participate in public life but try telling that to the theocrats.  Jefferson merely advocated for natural rights and opposed any religion dictating public policy or forcibly imposing national theocracy.

How Evangelicals politicized the Bible to Serve the State and its Wars

America has become a nation that worships war and murder. The only reason the damn wars continue is because there really isn't much of a public outcry against the wars, at least not one that affects general election outcomes. While warmonger Bush was justifiably castigated by the left and blamed for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama turned out to be Bush on steroids and actually expanded Bush wars. The so-called anti-war peace loving left shut up when their party was doing the killing. The silence was deafening. 

But by far, the biggest block of psychopathic murderous warmongers in America are the Republican Evangelicals who literally thrive on war, murder, carnage and overt military worship. Of course, there are wonderful Evangelicals are aren't afflicted with the war disease but they don't vote Republican. One of the greatest shocks of the Republican primary season was at a debate in SC. Ron Paul suggested that we invoke the Golden Rule on foreign policy and got booed by the largely Republican Evangelical crowd. Gingrich lets loose with "kill em' and gets a standing ovation.

Evangelicals were not always theocratic Nazis who embraced despotism and war, even if they currently resemble the Nazi Party. Kelly B. Vlahos wrote a fascinating piece titled A Biblical Threat To National Security that doesn't necessarily explain why and how America's Evangelicals embraced Satanic evil but it certainly sheds considerable light on how the Evangelical movement has used the Bible to endorse military violence and serve the interests of the state. Vlahos starts off talking about the Holman Bible (which I never heard of) and how the US military embraced it.

To be more exact, a version of the Bible that, for reasons still undetermined, was authorized with the trademarked official insignia of the U.S. Armed Forces emblazoned on the front cover. There is The Soldier’s Bible with the Army’s seal, The Marine’s Bible with the Marine Corps seal, The Sailor’s Bible and The Airman’s Bible, both with their respective insignia. The books have been sold for nearly six years throughout Christian bookstores, commissaries and PXs on U.S. military installations — and are still available on Christianbook.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

It’s not the King James Version that the Gideons leave behind in hotel rooms drawers. The Holman Bible was commissioned and published by LifeWay Christian Resources, a subsidiary of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Baptist denomination in the world, in 2003.

Vlahos also references the work of Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein who, according to Wikipedia is "an attorney, businessman, and former Air Force officer. He is the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and author of With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military in which he describes his fight against alleged coercive Christian Fundamentalist practices by some members of the military."

The fact that folks are waking up to the horrifying implications of Evangelical influence within the US military is indeed refreshing. In fact, it definitely raises critically important issue involving Evangelical influence in foreign policy.

Anyway, what precisely is the Holman Bible? Vlahos writes:

The Holman Bible, or HCSB, has been popular with evangelicals for its references and study tools. Someone convinced each branch of the service they’d be perfect for the military, too. So the HCSB became the “official” Bible of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines in 2004, complete with reader-friendly text and custom “designed to meet the specific needs of those who serve in the most difficult of situations,” according to the publishers.

In other words, aside from the text, the books are filled with “devotionals” and “inspirational essays” tailored to each branch of service. I was unable to get my hands on a copy by press time, but Amazon’s “peek” inside the book and several positive reader reviews confirm some of the contents, revealing what could only be described as a guileless conflation of both Christian and American military iconography. War and service as religious devotion.

In addition to the Pledge of Allegiance and the first and fourth verses of the Star Spangled Banner, there are excerpts from one of George W. Bush inaugural addresses and the Republican president’s remarks at a National Prayer Breakfast. Gen. George S. Patton’s famous Christmas prayer card from the field of battle 1944 is also included, as is “George Washington’s Prayer,” which has been widely circulated (and debunked) as proof of America’s Christian paternity.

These Bibles also feature “testimonials and encouragement from the Officers’ Christian Fellowship,” which has approximately 15,000 members across the military and whose primary purpose is “to glorify God by uniting Christian officers for biblical fellowship and outreach, equipping and encouraging them to minister effectively in the military society.” In other words they proselytize within the officer corps as part of an evangelical “parachurch” within the military.

WOW. That's  very dangerous religious and political propaganda and it clearly implies that the the US military exists to do God's work and that God's work definitely includes waging murderous wars in the name of God.

Vlahos quotes U.S. Brigadier Gen. Bob Caslan who said “We are the aroma of Jesus Christ.”.

Michael Weinstein's warning is no understatement. “We’re fighting a Fundamentalist-Christian-Parachurch-Military-Corporate-Proselytizing-Complex”.  

For more on this issue, see:  U.S. Military being used as Government-Paid Missionaries

One thing is disturbingly certain.  America's Warvangelicals are spread throughout government, the Republican Party and the entire US military.  So long as these dangerous folks have power and influence, America and the rest of the world are doomed.