Why I consider this scary

Earlier today, I posted a link to this New York Times article on the resignation of Alabama Governor Robert Downey, and commented that the sixth paragraph was scary.  That paragraph reads:

“The idea that moral hypocrisy hurts you among evangelical voters is not true, if you’re sound on all of the fundamentals,” said Wayne Flynt, an ordained Baptist minister and one of Alabama’s pre-eminent historians. “Being sound on the fundamentals depends on what the evangelical community has decided the fundamentals have become. At this time, what is fundamental is hating liberals, hating Obama, hating abortion and hating same-sex marriage.”

Who would have thought that “the fundamentals” were fungible?

Let alone that “evangelical voters,” “the evangelical community” would have “decided … what is fundamental is hating liberals, hating Obama, hating abortion and hating same-sex marriage.”  Not exactly a paraphrase of John 13:35. The opposite, in fact.

All in all, a depressing read, but, unfortunately, not an outlier.

I imagine most evangelical voters supported Mike Pence, who has famously said that he is “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.”  If Wayne Flynt is correct, I would suggest the word order be reversed and “Christian” be put in scare quotes (and not just because that was the reaction I had).

And, for the record, I am a Christ-follower.

Trying to interpret Iowa voters

This morning I was trying to catch up on my news reading for the week, and took a look at yesterday’s New York Times. One of the pieces I looked at was by Trip Gabriel, reconnecting with some of the people he had spent some time with in Iowa over the last year.

I was wondering about the Democratic party’s ground game when I read this paragraph:

“Maybe it’s time to have some change,” Mr. McKibben [laid-off Maytag worker, now working in a prison] allowed. “I saw neighbors I knew were strong union people with Trump signs in their yards.”

Are there really no authority figures, either in the union, or the Democratic Party, or at colleges in the area, who could address the underlying issues and show the folly of this reaction?

I would put that lack of response in the unacceptable category, whereas my reaction to Jackie Furman, a 70-year-old retired commercial bakery manager is stupefaction. Her comment:

“I’m ashamed to say we caucused for Obama” in 2008. “My view is he purposely got into the presidency so he could ruin America.”

I know a number of people who voted for Trump, something I would’ve never contemplated were I a US citizen. I would never suggest that he purposely ran for president to ruin the United States, although that outcome is more likely with him as president then with Barack Hussein Obama.

Don’t let my take on this article dissuade you from reading it. It is well written and worth reading.

And please feel free to share your reactions to the article, and to this post.