Great Delusion: Why evangelicals WILL back Fred Thompson

The Politico today has a story about why evangelical Christians - who are almost entirely registered Republicans - will be opposing Fred Thompson.

Don't believe it.

If Fred Thompson is nominated to be the Republican candidate for President next year, you will not only see most of these so-called "conservative evangelicals" not oppose Fred Thompson, but will see them support him with their wallets and their prayers.

You will hear preachers - as much as they can get away with it - crying out from their pulpits to their congregations that it is their "good Christian duty" to vote for Thompson.

You will witness the supposed "leaders" of Christian virtue in America do an about-face and instruct their followers via websites and radio programs and "voter guides" that they "cannot turn away from their God-given task" by failing to support Fred Thompson... especially if Hillary Clinton is the Democrat nominee.

And if Hillary is the Democrat candidate, you'll hear it preached far and wide that it will practically be a mortal sin not to do everything in our power to defeat her. The raw hatred for Hillary Clinton will blind so many that they won't even want to consider what exactly they will be choosing as the alternative.

You think it won't happen? I'm talking about the same people who still believe that George W. Bush was directly anointed by God to lead America. The ones who still refuse to believe that Bush can do wrong and who adamantly hold that whatever evil is attributed to him is merely "liberal media bias".

And you don't think they'll buy into the con that Fred Thompson is a "good Christian man" just like them?

They'll not only buy it, they will insist that he is good and virtuous. In spite of his lobbying for dictators and for the abortion industry, they will accept him. So long as he has that magic "R" stamped next to his name on the ballot come November 2008 and it's the "right" Democrat he's running against, they will gladly cast a vote for Fred Thompson.

I know these people well. Have met far too many of them over the years. For the most part, sincere and earnest Christian men and women. But try to tell them how Bush and other Republicans have been so un-Christlike in their actions, and they tune you out. They turn their heads away. They don't want to hear it. It's almost impossible for them to reconcile whatever you are telling them - however truthful it is - with the perceptions they like to entertain. It would literally hurt them if they tried to contemplate your facts. You want to see Orwell's "doublethink" in action? Find one of these self-proclaimed "evangelical conservatives" and get them to talk about how Bush is right to want to bomb Iran. Look at how much they will seem to want such an attack... and then confront them with Matthew 5:44. Brace yourself if you do such a thing: he or she will probably tell you that you're not being a "good Christian". Or a "good American" anyway.

It's the Great Delusion, happening right before our eyes: people who proclaim to follow Christ, throwing their principles away for sake of worldly power. It's as if Jesus rebuked Satan when He was offered all the kingdoms of the Earth and millions of those who professed to follow Him immediately raised their hands and waved to Satan crying "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

Evangelical Christians are the battered spouses of the Republican Party. They are beaten, exploited, raped, and subjected to indignity. But plenty enough of them to matter will keep crawling back to the GOP. Because as they say: "Who else is gonna take you in? Where else are you gonna go?"

Too many Christians in this country have decided we want the kingdoms of Earth over the Kingdom of Heaven. What does that say about the measure of our faith, indeed? Why should the rest of the world want to look at us and want what we have, if this is our testimony?

This is why I hate so much of what Christianity in America has become. It's turned into a spineless pile of mush that will do whatever the hell it's told to do, so long as the person giving the orders has money or power or picks up a Bible and waves it around and says the right words for itching ears.

No wonder this country is screwed-up. No wonder this world is so screwed up. Because we as Christians, who are supposed to be representing something apart from this earthly realm, keep demonstrating over and over that we don't really want that at all. We are commanded to be "the salt of the earth" but we've lost the saltiness and as Jesus said, we've become worthless. Everything is rotting because of it.

Okay, I'll go ahead and say it: "Americanized" Christianity is, literally, a God-damned piece of crap.

Why do I say "God-damned"? You surely don't think God is going to bless what we've done in His name, do you?

So if Fred Thompson is nominated and is on the ballot a year from now: just watch. The evangelical Christians - at least the ones still locked in this lust for power - will absolutely support and follow the man. They're too inebriated with the Great Delusion to want or know to do otherwise. It won't occur to them that "voting for the lesser of two evils" is still voting for evil.

They will do this, because they do not truly have Christ as the foundation of their lives upon which to stand.

You might could consider this little rant to be "Part 1" of a "diptych" that I am working on. The second part will follow sometime in the next day or so, and will likewise examine Christians in America and how we have let our desire for power overcome us to the detriment of all.

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This is decisiveness? Fred Thompson announces an announcement

Fred Thompson has said he'll announce his presidential candidacy on September 6th.

Ummmm... isn't the announcement of an announcement the logical equivalent of the announcement itself?

This is part of the reason why I'm so disgusted with modern politics: it's become too much about pomp and pageantry and public bravura, and so very little about substance.

It's like this: the President of the United States is a position of service. Those who fully comprehend that won't play games with even candidacy for it. A real leader would simply say "Yes I'm a candidate", without being a protracted prima donna about the matter.

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One reason why I support Ron Paul for President

Here, read his latest essay, "The Fear Factor".

When was the last time we had the opportunity to elect a man with an intellect on par with that of the Founding Fathers?

You'll never see this kind of thought and eloquence from Hillary Clinton, Rudolph Giuliani, Fred Thompson, or any other empty suit that the party bigwigs and the mainstream press would rather you vote for. You certainly can't say that you've ever seen this level of articulation from George W. Bush.

Just one more reason why in 2008 I'm voting for Ron Paul, or I'm voting for nobody.

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Excellent piece about Ron Paul in The Red and Black

Something I haven't let y'all in on nearly as much as I should have: I am a die-hard Bulldogs fan. When the girl of your dreams is a grad student at the University of Georgia - the school whose motto should be "Play Football or Die" - you tend to get caught up in the spirit of the place very quickly as you start making regular visits to Athens.

Seriously though: it's a great university. Even though I'll always be proud of my alma mater Elon, you can often find me wearing a Georgia Bulldogs t-shirt whenever I'm out. So I was especially glad to find that this very good article about presidential candidate Ron Paul was written by J. Patrick Rhamey for The Red and Black, the student newspaper at UGA ...

What are our traditional values? Looking across history, they are most certainly not wire-tapping, secret prisons, and preemptive wars. The Republican Party gained power with Newt Gingrich to minimize the size of government, lower taxes, encourage free trade, and get government out of our lives.

Unfortunately, they did the opposite and have paid the price.

It is time to elect someone who represents the political views of Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater and Dwight Eisenhower. A patriot who will not put our brave fighting men and women needlessly into harm's way. A candidate who supports policies of economic growth for the middle class such as lower taxes and minimizing government. A man of outstanding character who has been married to the same woman for fifty years and opposes abortion. A veteran who will secure our borders. This is the type of Reagan Republican we need back in the White House.

I encourage Georgians of all parties to take a moment to investigate Paul as a candidate on his website, www.ronpaul2008.com. In this great struggle against terror, amidst the many successes and setbacks, I fear we may be losing sight of that which our fighting men and women are dying to protect: individual freedom. If we lose sight of that, the terrorists have most surely accomplished their goals.

We must elect a candidate who will pursue a humble, defensive foreign policy. One who will bring our fighting men and women home to protect us here, not in Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran.

To quote another great Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower, "Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing."

As the only Republican candidate who took that advice seriously and opposed the war in Iraq, let's give Ron Paul a chance.

I've been thinking for awhile: even though I'm no longer a believer in political parties, I cannot help but think that if the Republican party does not steer toward the direction that Ron Paul represents, it will no longer be able to claim to be a party of principle after this next presidential election. Unfortunately I'm seeing most, if not all, of the party leadership putting their support behind the usual "contenders" of shallow character.

It's like this: the Republicans must decide that they either want reality, or illusion. It's time for them to take the proverbial red pill and put their money where their mouth is.

And if most people in the GOP seriously believe that Fred Thompson is going to be anything better than George W. Bush, then that party can kiss whatever respect they still have goodbye. It's almost gone anyway, after the fiasco of our border situation.

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"Conservative" Fred Thompson: Believer in big government and lobbyist to dictators

This is the "unabashed conservative" with the "great conservative record" that is supposed to be the only legitimate candidate for President?

(I'm not going to say here who exactly described Fred Thompson as that, only that the person in question is, well... the biggest sell-out and loon that I've ever seen on the Internet.)

From ABC News...

Fred Thompson, a likely Republican presidential candidate, on Tuesday defended his work as a Washington lobbyist, telling The Associated Press that lobbying is an important part of life because "government's got their hands in everything."

This is precisely the reason why a lot of us aren't being fooled into supporting Fred Thompson and are instead backing Ron Paul for President: because government really does have its hands in everything. Paul has a record for doing his best to remedy that situation. Fred Thompson just rolls over and lets it happen (and makes a handsome profit from it).

Sorta makes Fred Thompson the John Edwards of the Republican party, when you think about it (if we're holding Thompson to the same standard that the GOP holds Edwards to).

But wait, there's more...

The actor and former U.S. senator from Tennessee added, "Nobody yet has pointed out any of my clients that didn't deserve representation."

(snip)

He also was a lobbyist for deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was widely criticized for endorsing "necklacing," the gruesome practice of execution where gasoline-soaked tires are thrown over a person's neck and set ablaze.

In September 1991, Aristide said: "The burning tire, what a beautiful tool! ... It smells good. And wherever you go, you want to smell it."

"Necklacing" is why I couldn't help but loathe the Mandelas of South Africa: Winnie Mandela was a bigtime supporter of this execution method. It sickened me twenty years ago when I heard about it and it sickens me even more that a possible U.S. President would unapologetically represent a foreign dictator who enjoyed using it.

The only "conservatives" who could possibly support Fred Thompson, in spite of knowing about his love of big government and prostitution of principles for a buck, are the so-called "neo-conservatives". And they've brought enough problems to this country than for us to want them to have another four or eight years in the White House.

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So Bush won't do anything about pardoning two Border Patrol agents who are in prison for doing their job ...

... but he has no problem commuting the sentence of buddy Scooter Libby for lying under oath.

Yet another post on this blog that will be tagged with "moral rot".

(Wondering how long it will take for some Bush-bot to come out of the woodwork and jump flunky on me for daring to criticize the Chosen One(tm).)

EDIT 9:41 p.m. EST: And now elite-anointed quasi-candidate Fred Thompson is saying that "I am very happy for Scooter Libby."

I spent eight years frustrated at the Clinton administration for getting away with this sort of thing. Only to watch the ensuing Republican administration do the same thing shamelessly.

Tell me again how it is that the two parties are supposed to be "different" from each other.

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Ron Paul supporters VS. Fred Thompson supporters on Meetup

Fred Thompson is supposed to officially announce he's running for President next week. Right now he's the darling of the Republican head honchos, and of a mainstream press that, as I have noted many times on this blog, is too lazy and more interested in maintaining the status quo than doing anything that might jeopardize that. And if you were to listen to them, you would believe that there is this "massive groundswell" of support for Fred Thompson out in the public.

Okay well...

Credit denvervoipguru on the Ron Paul Forums for finding this. It's the current number of people using the website Meetup to "meet up" and coordinate activities promoting their favorite candidates.

Here are Fred Thompson's "meetups":

And here are Ron Paul's "meetups":

Fred Thompson has 72 Members. Ron Paul has 14,673. Fred Thompson has 5 cities represented on Meetup... whereas Ron Paul has 323. There is one event being organized through Meetup for Fred Thompson supporters, while Ron Paul's have 482.

And yet according to most of the stateside press, all of this Ron Paul vibe is being generated by, at most, a couple hundred enthusiasts who live in their parents' basements, don't have girlfriends and are too dumb to realize that they are "throwing their vote away".

So I have to ask: on the level playing field that is the Internet, where is a comparative amount of support for Fred Thompson or any other candidate, as opposed to that which seems evident for Ron Paul? I mean, it seems that if Fred Thompson's support is this vast, that it would certainly approximate that of a "second tier candidate", doesn't it?

If anyone has an explanation for this discrepancy, I would love to know what it is.

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Fred Thompson as an example of media controlling perception

"Rivals try to deflate F. Thompson campaign"

Why should this be so important?

Rivals have tried to "deflate" their political opponents since the dawn of time. And there's been plenty of corporate-driven attempts lately to "deflate" candidates like Ron Paul. Especially like Ron Paul. Don't they warrant the same level of concern?

A lot of people in the parties and the media would really like it if "their choice" Fred Thompson is, in the minds of the American people, made out to be an "unfair target" of other candidates. Didn't we see enough of that when Bill Clinton was running for President?

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Reason enough to not support Fred Thompson for President

From this article:

The former Senator supports low taxes and free trade. On May 13, 2007 he told the ABC radio audience that "[Globalization] works to our benefit. We innovate more and invest in that innovation better than anywhere else in the world. Same thing goes for services, which are increasingly driving our economy. Free trade and market economies have done more for freedom and prosperity than a central planner could ever dream and we're the world's best example of that."

Thompson says he is for low taxes (having NO income tax would be a far better position however) and control of the border. But I've seen more than enough damage done by "globalization" over the past fifteen years to know to steer clear and away from anyone who thinks it's supposed to be a virtue.

Didn't anyone learn anything from NAFTA?

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From the "Ape Has Killed Ape!" file...

James Dobson is saying that possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson is not a Christian:

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson while praising former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also weighing a presidential run, in a phone interview Tuesday.

"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Thompson, took issue with Dobson's characterization of the former Tennessee senator. "Thompson is indeed a Christian," he said. "He was baptized into the Church of Christ."

In a follow-up phone conversation, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson's claim. He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith."

I've alluded to this before here, and I'll say it again: I'm damn thankful that I didn't wind up working at Focus on the Family a few years ago. It's true: I almost wound up in James Dobson's camp. But the Lord was gracious and started opening my eyes to a lot of things that are being done in His name... but are only about getting earthly power.

James Dobson is one of the worst offenders when it comes to "pimpin' Jesus for votes".

Well, turnaround is fair play I guess. So... I don't believe that James Dobson is a real Christian. George W. Bush has never acted like a real Christian at all. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell couldn't care less whether a soul is saved through their "ministries", just that their faithful all vote straight Republican.

There aren't that many real Christians in positions of authority in this country anymore. Ron Paul comes to mind as one of them. But he's one of a very few.

The time is coming, my friend, when we who are Christians are going to have to make a choice: seek the kingdom of God, or seek the influence of power. I don't think we're testing the spirits as much as we should be when it comes to figuring out if these "Christian leaders" are the men of God they profess to be...

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