Bush Seeks to Mobilize Religious Conservatives

We already knew that our Born Again, Dry Drunk pResident was not too big on the separation of church and state but the administration has carried it to new highs (or lows). Bush and Rove know they need the right wing paranoid Bible bangers. They have been encouraging the clergy to push Bush from the pulpit, a shocking violation of the foundation this republic was built on. Now they have taken it one step further, they want church directories so the names can be added to telephone and mailing lists. Many religious leaders and most civil libertarians find this to be an abhorrent violation of the separation of church and state.

The gay marriage issue is playing into Rove's hands as well since it will bring Christian fundamentalists to the polls.

This is just an expansion of a Republican strategy that originated during the Nixon administration.

Traditionally, American fundamentalist Protestants were not particularly active in national politics, long seen as worldly and corrupt. This changed in the late 1970s as part of a calculated effort by conservative Republican operatives who recognized that as long as the Republican Party was primarily identified with militaristic foreign policies and economic proposals that favored the wealthy, it would remain a minority party. Over the previous five decades, Republicans had won only four out of 12 presidential elections and had controlled Congress for only two of its 24 sessions.

By mobilizing rightist religious leaders and adopting conservative positions on highly-charged social issues such as women’s rights, abortion, sex education, and homosexuality, Republican strategists were able to bring millions of fundamentalist Christians—who as a result of their lower-than-average income were not otherwise inclined to vote Republican—into their party. Through such organizations as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, the GOP promoted a right-wing political agenda through radio and television broadcasts as well as from the pulpit. Since capturing this pivotal constituency, Republicans have won four out of six presidential races, have dominated the Senate for seven out of 12 sessions, and have controlled the House of Representatives for the past decade.

The Republicans have continued to expand the policy to use prejudice and paranoia to attract a large voting block they would otherwise have no chance to get.