The Religious Right

[jjockers]

The Durham county chairwoman stepped down, as many of you know, with this letter:


To all the party faithful:

I have analyzed the last few months of trying to lead a party where clearly all persons were not working in the best interest of the DCGOP and the 4th District. With that said, it is obvious to me that I will no longer be able to lead in what I think is in the best interest of the North Carolina GOP and the DCGOP for the following reason: A Congressional candidate has been actively supported in the primary by members of the DCGOP and the Executive Committee, resulting in his election, who, in my opinion, does not support the existence of our party, our platform or our national nominee, John McCain.

See the following links:

www.rlc.org/ [RLC versus RNC]

www.paulcongress.com/Candidates2.html [look near the bottom for NC – R]

www.ronpaul2008.com/ ["Now There Are Two" as in John McCain & Ron Paul]

Additionally, this individual has never even served in the Republican Party in any capacity.

Worse, I have also witnessed, in my view, malicious personal attacks by member(s) of the DCGOP on another Republican candidate who does support the NCGOP, adheres to the NCGOP Platform and has served the Republican Party faithfully and successfully as a precinct chair and as a county chair.

In light of these events, I am submitting my resignation - effectively immediately - as a member of the DCGOP. I will gladly continue to support true Republicans, who have not consciously mislead persons and usurped the Republican Party organization for another organizations' agenda. I wish the DCGOP well and will forward all chair information, materials, passwords to web sites, etc. to the Vice Chair or the designee.

I wish to thank David Smudski and Teiji Kimball for trying their best to resolve a very unfortunate and an unnecessary situation. I would also like to recommend that others who have contributed to the discord in our party resign as well.

This correspondence is the first and only correspondence that I have had with any member of the DCGOP since the election; therefore, everyone is receiving it firsthand.

Best Regards,

Melodie Parrish

In my experience at the polls, the active Cho supporters - there were 3 at my polling location, all supporting Cho and Fred Smith (governor) - were all right-wing Christians. This is an observation, not a condemnation. I was friendly with them and explained my opinion concerning the 'defining marriage' amendment, to which they should stared blankly and said something to the like of 'libertarian, right?".

Then there is Chuck Campbell, our local "conservative voice" on the radio. He apparently believes that one can only be conservative if Christian social values are also expected at the federal level. He has been an adamant supporter of Cho and has spoken against BJ numerous times. He has said that Lawson only carries a bible around so-as-to 'know thy enemy'. Here's his blog:

http://blog.chuckcampbellshow.com/

Before we worry about getting support from the independents and democrats, we need to find a way to bring the vocal right-wing religious conservatives into our cause.

Suggestions?

[DRV45N05]

Jon,

firstly, I don't think that Christian conservatives necessarily have a particular issue with B.J.. He got lots of Christian right votes on Tuesday. I think what you saw was a by-product of the efforts by the Party (and I'll include Chuck Campbell in that group) to exercise their control over the party by attempting to poison the waters in Christian circles. I know that some Cho supporters were going to Churches and distributing the negative mailer he sent out about B.J..

We will have plenty of time to mend these fences. I don't think it will require much effort. We just need to talk to them about the principle of federalism and how it is one of the mainstays of the traditional conservative position. Besides, who else are they going to vote for? David Price? I think not.

[amy31416]

The thoughtful religious right will realize several things:

1. Freedom is in their best interests.
2. They should be pissed off that neocons used them for as long as they have, then didn't keep on any of the promises made to them (like abortion, marriage stuff, etc.)
3. The war in Iraq does not fall under the allowances of the Christian Just War (I don't actually know anything about that, but have heard so several times.)

[Gadsden Flag]

But wouldn't Lawson himself along with RP qualify as 'religious right'?

I know the chairperson of my county Libertarian party identifies himself as such.





Now, what Ms/Mrs Parrish talked about in the second half of her letter, I have no trouble at all believing and agreeing with. The part about personal attacks and insults. Guys, if we ever want to get anywhere in politics we have to stop acting like we're in 8th grade. Knock it off!

The juvenile, black-and-white, 'with us or against us' attitude has to stop if we ever want to lose the reputation as being rude and irrational people. Yes, they do call us that partly because of what we believe, but this attitude sure as hell doesn't help.

[yongrel]

The religious right has been manipulated by the GOP leadership for decades now to believe that their best interests are served by statism. Silly them.

[GunnyFreedom]

But wouldn't Lawson himself along with RP qualify as 'religious right'?

I know the chairperson of my county Libertarian party identifies himself as such.





Now, what Ms/Mrs Parrish talked about in the second half of her letter, I have no trouble at all believing and agreeing with. The part about personal attacks and insults. Guys, if we ever want to get anywhere in politics we have to stop acting like we're in 8th grade. Knock it off!

The juvenile, black-and-white, 'with us or against us' attitude has to stop if we ever want to lose the reputation as being rude and irrational people. Yes, they do call us that partly because of what we believe, but this attitude sure as hell doesn't help.

Umm, if you know the story behind the letter, then you know that the person Ms Parrish is defending is the one who did all the smearing and attacking. Not most of it, but ALL of it.

[jjockers]

But wouldn't Lawson himself along with RP qualify as 'religious right'?

I know the chairperson of my county Libertarian party identifies himself as such.


Both BJ and Dr. Paul are religious. They are also fiscal conservatives ("right"). That does not qualify them to be a part of the religious right. I'm speaking of those of the political persuasion that includes, but is not limited to:

federal marriage definition as man and woman, federally imposed/protected right to life, gays/lesbians/trans-gendered should not have equal treatment under federal law, defend Israel at all costs, Islamic-terrorism is a serious threat to our freedom, 'they' hate us because of our freedom, etc

People of this variety are *scared* of the liberal mindset. They fear that protecting our civil liberties will deteriorate America's 'moral values', destroy the concept of family, encourage our children to be gay, all-the-while not protecting us from Islamic-terrorism here in the states.

These people *do* exist. And they are passionate. The three people working my polling location for Cho and Fred Smith were of this variety. Hopefully, they will realize that Lawson represents them much more than Price and will still cast a vote for him, though I doubt they'll campaign for BJ.

[boggie08]

This is simple. Find conservative ministers and reach out to them. I know that B. J. Lawson can communicate our message well, and he does know the Bible. I think he could persuade ministers to support his candidacy.

Has anyone in North Carolina attempted Christian outreach for Ron Paul? It is important that they share their experiences so that Christian outreach for B. J. Lawson goes more smoothly.

[FreeTraveler]

I think the fact that she stepped down is wonderful news. One less neocon in the henhouse, so to speak. Much better to run them off relatively peacefully and take the country back than let the current agenda continue. There's no doubt that the neocons will continue to consolidate their power until they can get away with blood on their hands if we allow it. Any peaceful retaking of the country is better than what they have planned.

People recover from personal attacks and insults much faster than from no-knock raids and interment camps. She sounds like the type who would approve of the latter, as long as she's not inconvenienced.

[Gadsden Flag]

^^^ Um. Wow.

[BenIsForRon]

I second the idea to reach out to ministers in the area. The have been actively misled by the establishment for years, and I'm sure BJ could bring them back around. Does anyone doubt for a second what Jesus's opinion would be about our middle east intervention?