“You know, we don’t live in a democracy because a democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what’s for dinner. OK? It’s not just majority rule. It’s a constitutional republic. The founders set that up because they followed the biblical admonition of what a civil society is supposed to look like. W...
This “not a democracy, a republic” crap is becoming more and more popular on the right. They’re not even trying to hide the authoritarianism and fascism any more. They’re now openly saying they don’t support democracy.
If the American electorate was slightly less stupid, I’d be ecstatic, because he made himself effectively kryptonite to reasonable, intelligent people with that statement.
Unfortunately, the American electorate is, on average, that stupid.
They treat the Constitution like they do their bible.
They don’t read it.
If they do read it, they just read the bits they agree with.
If they read the parts that don’t fit their desired narrative, they engage in mental gymnastics to reinterpret what was written to fit their desires.
Edit:
Jefferson's reply did not address their concerns about problems with state establishment of religion — only of establishment on the national level. The letter contains the phrase "wall of separation between church and state," which led to the short-hand for the Establishment Clause that we use today: "Separation of church and state."
Which led to the Establishment Clause…
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...
And also The point of Article 6 wherein no religious test is to be given to hold office.
I don't want to be that guy, but in fairness, ol' boy didn't actually say "biblical republic" (He just wheeled out the old "constitutional Republic" bit).
Doesn't make this any better, but I want to be sure we criticize with facts.
So this is the alternative history they want to write eh?
Clown, it was called the "Enlightenment Age" for a reason, people started breaking the chains of organized religion. Yes they were Christians, but they knew enough to not trust religion as a form of government.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the material world are some of the founding principles, not "death, misery and suffering but maybe get lucky choosing the right god and you'll be rewarded with eternal paradise..."
If they founded the country on the Bible, we'd live in a theocracy with no elections and no opposition parties.
Christians always try to re-history the world in their favor. They are the most dishonest hypocritical fascists.
Then again, they stole most of what their religion allegedly stands for.
Separation of church and state is both the first amendment and a clause in article six of the constitution:
First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
article six
no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Thomas Jefferson's use of the words "separation of church and state" was to explain the purpose of the first amendment specifically but the actual legal text of the constitution is worded broadly enough to cover not only separation of church and state but separation of mosque/synagogue/ect and state rather than singling out Christianity.
This is literally frightening to read that any American politician would think this. I don't see how any moderate R could support this train of thought.
I see this nutjob has no idea what he's talking about and cannot fulfill the duties of his oath of office, so he should simply be removed from office, right? Right guys?
I’m seeing lots of ‘New Speaker is [insert whatever you want that’s against humans in general] (maybe a slight over-exaggeration, but it doesn’t feel like it)
But can anyone ELI5 how you all ended up in this state, and how you get back out?
What’s the impact of this individual being Speaker?
Americans don't learn on their own faults, do they... After electing a complete idiot and criminal for a president, they give the house majority to the same party that chose Trump as their candidate (twice!)
It's absolutely not surprising to me that the party that had Trump as its candidate twice, now appointed this moron as a speaker. But Americans could learn on their own faults...
I've read somewhere else a book recommendation, and after having read it I can recommend it to you:
"Christian Nation" is an alternate history novel by Frederick Rich about the USA turned into a wholly fanatical theocracy with the necessary amendments to the constitution for it to be lawful and everything else.
From the description in one of those online book-selling websites:
"They said what they would do, and we did not listen. Then they did what they said they would do."
So ends the first chapter of this brilliantly readable counterfactual novel, reminding us that America’s Christian fundamentalists have been consistently clear about their vision for a "Christian Nation" and dead serious about acquiring the political power to achieve it. When President McCain dies and Sarah Palin becomes president, the reader, along with the nation, stumbles down a terrifyingly credible path toward theocracy, realizing too late that the Christian right meant precisely what it said.
In the spirit of Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, one of America’s foremost lawyers lays out in chilling detail what such a future might look like: constitutional protections dismantled; all aspects of life dominated by an authoritarian law called "The Blessing," enforced by a totally integrated digital world known as the "Purity Web." Readers will find themselves haunted by the questions the narrator struggles to answer in this fictional memoir: "What happened, why did it happen, how could it have happened?"
This is a ... thing for him to say, but also everyone in this thread read both Losurdo's Liberalism: A Counter-History and Kruze's One Nation Under God
I think he just said the quiet bits out loud, and all the people saying otherwise are coping. This is what USA has always been in spirit, a sort of Christofascist empire.
I better get my gay gangbang desires out of the way before this guy gets to say anything about it. I gotta ask my wife first. She said no. Again. Well I will ask her once more and if she says no again we'll see who gets the last laugh. She said no again. Either way, I'm going to keep voting for liberals. Because someone in this country must keep the gangbang lifestyle moving forward. More gay gangbang and less war!