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A Palin Theocracy

Posted on September 15, 2008
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By Marjorie Cohn

John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin
as his vice presidential running mate has invigorated a lackluster campaign.
The media can’t stop talking about her. Given McCain’s age and state
of health (his medical file was nearly 1,200 pages long), Palin would
indeed be a heartbeat away from becoming President. But what would a
Palin administration really look like?

Palin is a radical right-wing fundamentalist Christian who would love
to create a theocracy. She believes we are living in the “end times”
which will result in a bloody inferno from which only true Christians
will be saved. Palin recently attended a service in her Wasilla Bible
Church run by David Brickner, who runs Jews for Jesus, a group the Anti-Defamation
League criticizes for its “aggressive and deceptive” proselytizing
of Jews. Those who don’t accept Jesus as their savior will burn in
Hell, according to Palin’s brand of theology. 


As Governor of Alaska, Palin asked her congregation to pray for the
natural gas pipeline, which she characterized as “God’s will.”
She thinks the war in Iraq is a “task that is from God.” Palin has
pushed for creationism to be taught in schools, and she opposes stem
cell research. 
 
Palin’s choice to have a Down syndrome child and her teenage daughter’s
choice to continue her pregnancy have made right-wing evangelical Christians
ecstatic. But while she chose pregnancy, Palin would deny a woman victimized
by rape or incest the right to choose abortion, and then criminally
punish both the woman for having one and her doctor for performing it. 
 
McCain would also love to inject a heavy dose of Christianity into his
administration. A year ago, he declared, “The Constitution established
the United States of America as a Christian nation.” Just about the
only issue on which McCain has not flip-flopped is his opposition to
abortion rights. The next president will almost certainly make at least
one appointment to the Supreme Court. McCain has pledged to appoint
judges in the mold of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel
Alito; these would also be Palin’s preferred judges. Another conservative
on the Court would mean that Roe v. Wade will be overruled. That will
return us to back alley abortions with coat hangers.  
 
Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, said that “this election
is not about issues . . . This election is about a composite view of
what people take away from these candidates.” The Republicans know
they will lose if they really focus on issues such as the economy, the
war, healthcare, education, and the

environment. They are hoping that pro-choice
women who supported Hillary Clinton will gravitate to Palin because
she’s a feisty – albeit anti-choice – woman. They are also banking
on support from people who cannot bring themselves to vote for a black
man. 
 
But those non-evangelicals who back the McCain-Palin ticket do so at
their peril. Not only will they continue to suffer four more years of
the disastrous Bush policies; they will also find themselves living
in a Christian theocracy.

3 thoughts on “A Palin Theocracy”

  1. Beorge Gush says:
    September 17, 2008 at 8:59 am

    Forward this widely!
    McCain & Palin Youtube Video!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-QevraCQUc

    Log in to Reply
  2. Stephie says:
    September 16, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    The choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain\’s Vice-President was carefully calculated to arouse a strong emotional reaction from women and middle class and working class Americans who\’ve embraced radical right-wing Christianity as a way to find comfort and solace in a \”mean world\” which \”victimizes\” and \”persecutes\” them because of their religious beliefs, while at the same time, offering them the prospect of seeing their perceived \”enemies\” punished for all eternity, including abortion providers, homosexuals, \”secular humanists\” and doctors who engage in stem-cell research.

    Also, this particular brand of \”Christianity\” plays rather well with working class and middle class Americans who\’ve been bearing the brunt of the worst economic/financial collapse since the Great Depression, and who are desparately searching for an escape from the oppressive mountain of crippling doubts, insecurity, fear and instability.

    For these people, anything which stirs up hidden doubts and fears, while provoking powerful emotional responses, perceptions and reactions will be used to further Sarah Palin\’s rise to becoming the Vice President, and possibly, a President who will seek to establish a Christian theocracy in order to deal with the financial collapse. Since radical right-wing Christianity is focused more on feelings and a type of \”spirituality\”, rather than on following the actual mission of Jesus Christ, emotional reactions, perceptions and responses will be heavily utilized in order to solidify the McCain-Palin ticket, and to make an American Christian theocracy palatable to those who believe that the principle of the General Welfare was the worst idea the Founders came up with, and making the Bible the highest law of the land, and reducing the Constitution to little more than a useless \”damned piece of paper\”.

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  3. Lee Lakey says:
    September 15, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    We can only hope those privileged to vote will do so with integrity and moral conscience. America is founded on free choice for all individuals. This principle should be safely guard by all. We as American should and need to stand up for this right.

    For the last 8 years, I have not been proud to be an American. This wonderful country has been degraded and outright disgraced by the present administration. Stand up people! This is our country. Our free country. DO NOT VOTE FOR the fossel or is pit bull.

    Log in to Reply

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