THE DUOPOLY WATCH
By
Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
The GOP candidates fight to outdo each
other in their protestations of piety and belief in the Almighty. Of
course, they profess to know God’s plan for all lesser creatures.
In 1996, as many readers of my columns
know, I published the original version of the book now known as “The 15% Solution: How the
Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S.: 1981-2022.”)
(The current version of the book, the third, is published by my dear friend and
comrade Patrice Greanville, Editor/Publisher of The Greanville Post and
Publisher of Punto Press.) In that book, based entirely on what the
Republicans and the Religious Right were already telling us back then what they
would do if they ever got significant control of the U.S. government at both
the Federal and state levels, I predicted that a transmogrification of the
Republican Party into something I called the “Republican-Christian Alliance”
would occur sometime in the first decade of the 21st century.
Well it’s happening folks, about ten years after I originally made the call.
I pointed out in my last column that
one of the “mainstream” Republican candidates, Jeb Bush, in responding to
Donald Trump’s proposal for barring all Syrian refugees, allowed that he would
let in the Christian ones. But given what happened to Mr. Aikenhead, Jeb,
suppose they took a different positon on the validity of the Doctrine of the
Trinity than you do, would they still be allowed in? And while it might
make no difference to Jeb himself, there are still some serious doctrinal
differences among Christians of various stripes on this one. And then
must one wonder which version of the concept of the Trinity and of the Eucharist would be approved by John
Kasich’s proposal for the establishment of a governmental office for spreading
“Judeo-Christian values.” (In that last column I discussed the difficulty
— actually the impossibility — of getting the various Jewish denominations to
agree on almost anything that might, or might not, be considered a “core Jewish
value.” I gather from numerous conversations that Christians would have
the same problem.)
Of course we know that Mike Huckabee,
Rick Santorum, and Ben Carson are Dominionists (meaning they put “God” above
the Constitution), and Ted Cruz likely is, too, because his father is one,
quite openly. Of course, no media person is ever going to ask any of them
a direct question on the matter. Just as no media person will ever go
beyond the word “evangelicals” to describe the Christian Rightists in Iowa who
are very strong in the Republican Party to get to a definition of the
term. But in any case, these four, along with Trump, are usually
considered outside of the Republican “mainstream.”
Of course Trump could be described as a
Dominionist as well. Except that it would be a special type of
Dominionism, not of “God,” but of Donald Trump. Consider, for example,
that at a meeting of police officers he announced that on his first day in
office -- by executive order -- he would institute the death penalty, on a
national basis, for killing a police officer. Except that the use or non-use
of the death penalty is a matter of law, at the Federal and state levels, and
in the ordinary course of events could only be changed by legislation.
Then there was his statement that he would end, nationally, gun-free zones in
schools, another matter ordinarily handled by government, state and
local. I have discussed Trump’s flirtations with fascism, another term
for Trump-Dominionism, in this space before,
and it is a matter to which I shall likely return.
But then along comes Marco Rubio.
He is considered by the media as a “Republican Establishment” candidate along
with Bush, Kasich and Christie. As such, however, he is a candidate for
the Presidency of a Republic governed by a Constitution in which neither the
word “God” nor the word “Christian” appears. In this context, he made
some utterly remarkable statements in a TV ad aimed at the Iowa
Republican-Christian Right. I present for your consideration a discussion
of it that appeared in a publication
called the Christian Post (which seems to be rather favorable
towards Sen. Rubio.
“Florida Sen. Marco Rubio released a new web ad (watch
below) Tuesday discussing his Christian faith, saying our ‘ultimate goal is to
live in all eternity with our Creator.’ Rubio, like many presidential
candidates in the Republican field, has been open about sharing about his faith
on the campaign trail. The Roman Catholic candidate, who also attends
Protestant services with his wife, has admitted in the past that there have
been times he was not a strong spiritual leader in the home. The new ad focuses
on higher truths beyond politics, reflecting on the purpose of life and the
created order. ‘Our goal is eternity,’ Rubio says. ‘The ability to live
alongside our Creator for all time. That is the purpose of our life to grow
closer in our relationship and to accept the free gift of salvation to us
offered by Jesus Christ.’ Rubio affirmed the dignity and importance of
work in the ad saying that our vocation is a way to reflect the glory of God
but added our ‘ultimate goal is to live in all eternity with our Creator.’”
The Christian Post article goes on to
say about Rubio:
“Rubio said that the struggle ‘on a
daily basis’ for Christians ‘is to remind ourselves of this, to remind ourselves
the purpose of life is to cooperate with God’s plan.’ The Florida senator
quoted the notable passage from Luke 12:48: ‘From everyone who has been given
much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will
ask all the more.’ Rubio adds that God will ask humanity to account for the
gifts that He has given to us. ‘Were your treasures stored up on earth or
in heaven?’ asks Rubio, ‘and for me I try to allow that to influence me in
everything that I do [emphasis added].’ ” In his book American Dreams, Rubio
discusses the imago Dei teaching and the dignity of work: ‘For
Christians, the centrality of work to human meaning and happiness comes from
our being made in the image of God,’ wrote Rubio. ‘Being made in His image
means we have dignity, worth and creativity. Work is how we use these gifts to
contribute to our fellow men and women and to honor His name [emphasis
added]’.” Presumably, as President, too.
You can read more of
Rubio and religion at: http://www.christianpost.com/news/marco-rubio-ad-christian-voters-jesus-salvation-god-152690/#6pR4oJM8q5orKyir.99; http://www.christianpost.com/news/marco-rubio-ad-christian-voters-jesus-salvation-god-152690/#XpIIWIFfpcc6JdPb.99.
If you don’t find this philosophy of
life in a man who wants to be President of all of the people of the United
States totally frightening, you should. Even more frightening for me is
that the likelihood of the mainstream media asking him about his theology and
how it would govern his mode of governing as President is about as high as the
likelihood that the Doctrine of Global Warming is a myth. One can say the
same for any such questions coming from any representatives of the Democratic
side of the Duopoly.
About The Author
Senior Editor, Politics, Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) and author/co-author/editor/co-editor of over 30 books. In addition to being Senior Editor, Politics, for The Greanville Post, he is: a Contributor for American Politics to The Planetary Movement; a “Trusted Author” for Op-Ed News.com; a contributor to the “Writing for Godot” section of Reader Supported News; and a contributor to From The G-Man. He is the Editorial Director and a Contributing Author for TPJmagazine.us. Further, he is an occasional Contributor to TheHarderStuff newsletter, BuzzFlash Commentary, and Dandelion Salad.
Dr. Jonas’ latest book is The 15%
Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S.,
1981-2022: A Futuristic Novel, Brewster, NY, Trepper & Katz Impact Books, Punto Press Publishing, 2013,
and available on Amazon.
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