[Winona Online Democracy] Dwayne, There is a lot of information beneath the Gov. Andersen article. Is that from the Press too? It seems to be from a watchdog site. What is the URL?
It is frightening to "look under the bed" to see all of the changes that have been quietly made during this administration, while the patter has kept the war on terrorism at the top. From changes to fund certain religious/political groups to killing the EPA, it's fairly staggering to see how much damage is being done now that the hounds have been released. A couple of examples: In Zaire, the ANC drafted a resolution last October on human rights, vowing to continue protecting people in spite of the american government. "Though there has been a marked improvement in the Human Rights situation internationally, the accession of the Republican Administration in the USA, is leading to the erosion of gains made in a number of countries." http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/pubs/umrabulo/umrabulo17/relations.html The Reuters article from last November, about Bush's administration making it easier and cheaper for the timber industry to log the national forests, got more play in Canada than it did here, raising international environmental concerns. etc. etc. I could go on for days, but that's against the rules ;) There has been some Republican resistance, however. The "Republicans Against Bush" http://world.std.com/~3Diff/rab.html just posted a letter 2 days ago that went out to republicans last December that I think voices many silent concerns within that party. It's worth a read. Clay Templeton -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Dwayne Voegeli Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 5:26 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Winona] Former Republican Governor's Advice: Great Article [Winona Online Democracy] Hello Winona Online Democracy, Here is a great article that appeared in yesterday's Pioneer Press. I worry that most of us don't realize how far right we've swung in the last 25 years. What we now consider "centrist" is like calling the 20 yard line the mid field line on a football field. :-< If I had said the things that this former Republican Governor had said, I would have a cartoon made out of me in the mainstream local newspaper. ;-> We are continually warned about dangerous fundamentalists abroad but we are blind to the growth of the fundamentalists at home, especially among the Republican Party. Below the Pioneer Press article I will include another article that talks about the rise of the fundamentalist right in the Republican Party. When people talk of the Republican Party, I wonder which party they speak of. The Republican Party of former governor Andersen is the Party of my grandfather and great grandfather. The Republican Party of Pat Robertson is chilling. Dwayne ==================== Pioneer Press Article: "A Governor's Lament" Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 NICK COLEMAN, Pioneer Press Columnist ==================== FORMER MINNESOTA GOV. ELMER L. ANDERSEN Minnesota should "get back" to where it once belonged. Gov. Tim Pawlenty made a mistake in pledging not to raise taxes to fix the budget deficit. A war against Iraq is a "foolhardy venture" that runs contrary to our ideals. Public opinion that "taxes are evil" is damaging a quality of life built over many decades of bipartisan cooperation. Wait a minute. It isn't some left-wing radical saying these things. It is Elmer Andersen, our oldest living ex-governor, a revered Republican and business leader who, 40 years after leaving the governor's office, is unhappy with what he sees happening in Minnesota. I paid a visit to Gov. Andersen at his Arden Hills home so I might ask him about the passing of his rival and contemporary, Orville Freeman, the DFL governor who preceded him in office. (Andersen beat Freeman in 1960.) Andersen praised Freeman, who died last week at age 84 and whose cremated remains will lie in state at the Capitol from 5 to 7 p.m. today. But Andersen also has plenty to say about today's state leaders. When Elmer Andersen speaks, Minnesota should listen. "We've gone way overboard in thinking taxes are evil or that government is flagrantly wasteful," says the man who once led the H.B. Fuller Co., the University of Minnesota Board of Regents and the Charles A. Lindbergh Fund. "Taxes are the way people join hands to get good things done. That's the tradition of Minnesota. "We wanted to have good services and to put the common good above the individual welfare. We are a state where people have been willing to join hands to pay taxes for public service, a way of life and a culture of caring." DIFFERING VIEW Andersen, who will be 94 in June, is the dean of Minnesota Republicans, a virtual icon representing old-fashioned Republican values of good government, fiscal responsibility and compassion. He doesn't see eye to eye with the present Republican leadership. Last fall, in fact, he refused to endorse the GOP candidate for governor, Tim Pawlenty. He may not even have voted for Pawlenty, whom he criticizes for pledging not to raise taxes during his struggle to win the Republican nomination. "Pawlenty is a good man, and he means well," says Andersen. "I like him, but I told him I thought he'd gone too far overboard (to get the nomination). He asked me for endorsement, and I didn't give it. If state expenditures are too high, Pawlenty (who was the Republican majority leader in the House before being elected governor) was largely influential in bringing that about, so he can't be too critical of it." Did he vote instead for DFLer Roger Moe or the Independence Party's Tim Penny? "I'm withholding confession of how I voted," Andersen says. "I told Pawlenty I thought he'd gone too far. That's all I want to say." But he says he thinks Moe would have beaten Pawlenty if not for the airplane crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone. "Pawlenty acts like he has a mandate from the election to cut taxes, but I beg to disagree. The election was an aberration caused by a tragic accident," he says, referring to the crash that killed Wellstone as well as to the controversial memorial service that followed, which he says was "blatantly misused by well-intentioned people." 'FOLLOW A UNILATERAL COURSE' Despite the infirmities of age that have confined him to a wheelchair, Andersen keeps up a keen interest in politics. In the evenings, his wife, Eleanor, has been reading David McCullough's biography of John Adams to him. Each afternoon, he works in a study lined by photographs of Lindbergh and President Eisenhower and others. When I ask him who the medieval gentleman is in one portrait, he tells me it is Erasmus, the influential 16th-century Dutch scholar, and then summarizes Erasmus' famous work, "In Praise of Folly": "Human frailty is a fact of life," Andersen tells me, which I suppose we all should know after four years of Jesse Ventura. "We should be sympathetic and caring and understanding and not too harsh in our criticism of others, because we're all guilty. One of my prime hopes is that we'll get over this period of feeling the government is the enemy and taxes are evil and that we know it all in the world and can follow a unilateral course." Which brings us to Iraq. Andersen was governor during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and remembers President Kennedy inviting him to a briefing where he was shown surveillance photos of nuclear-tipped missiles in silos. "Here were those missiles, pointed at us, and yet Kennedy held out for a diplomatic solution that saved a war and the lives of many people," he says. "Iraq is a foolhardy venture. It's wrong for the U.S. to make a pre-emptive strike. It's not our country's way to start wars. For us to embark on a sole course of war is out of character for our country." RIVALS YET FRIENDS Talk of war brings us back to Gov. Freeman, a World War II veteran who suffered a severe battle wound and went through a long recovery before becoming the DFL's first governor and (after Andersen defeated him) serving as secretary of agriculture in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. When Andersen assumed office, he kept some of Freeman's appointees in place. And before that 1960 election in which Andersen unseated Freeman, when Andersen was a Republican leader in the state Senate, he and Freeman agreed to fix a school-district taxing problem by forcing undertaxed districts to raise taxes to a fair level ? and to refrain from using the issue against each other in the coming campaign. "He kept his word and never mentioned it in the campaign," says Andersen, who plans to attend Freeman's funeral Friday. "We enjoyed a great friendship. He was largely responsible for many accomplishments (the credit for which) sometimes went to others. I've always admired Orville Freeman as one of the best, even though we were rivals." Talking about men named Orville and Elmer is a clue, I suppose, that we are talking about a bygone era. But even more of a tip-off is the fact that these are men who knew how to put aside partisan differences in the best interests of the state. So I decided to ask Elmer L. Andersen what message he would give today to the state's political leaders. He thought for a bit and then gave it to me, fast and furious, in a whole paragraph that I wouldn't mind seeing chiseled on the Capitol someplace: "Get back to the traditions of Minnesota as a progressive, thoughtful, sensible community of people that addresses issues as they come up in a bipartisan setting and with due regard to economic stabilization and a caring concern for the education of future generations and the ultimate well-being of those less able to compete." Works for me. And it used to work for Minnesota pretty darn well. But that kind of attitude could get Andersen in hot water with leaders of his own party these days. "That's all right," he says. "At my age, I'd rather be in hot water than nowhere. I remind people I want to be known as a liberal Republican. If that's a dirty word, so be it." =========================== Democracy and the Religious Right, a project of the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy at Cornell University By Joan Bokaer Last Update February 24, 2003 "We are talking about Christianizing America. We are talking about simply spreading the gospel in a political context." Republican Strategist Paul Weyrich, 1980 ============================= Winning the War "We need to find ways to win the war" Karl Rove, President Bush's political director told a gathering of the Family Research Council in March, 2002. Family Research Council is one of the most powerful lobbying organizations of the Religious Right today. Rove wasn't talking about the war on terrorism. He was talking about the war on secular society. This web site features links to articles, particularly from the New York Times, that document a systematic effort on the part of the Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress to overturn the separation of church and state and bring the government under religious control. While the United States public is focused on Iraq, our government is undergoing a conversion unlike any in its history. In the short time since Republicans won majorities in both houses of Congress, the federal government has issued an executive order allowing discrimanation in hiring, then another allowing government funds to be used to build churches, both orders in clear defiance of a separation of church and state. The Justice Department, under John Ashcroft's guidance, is supposed to be focused on the war on terror. At a time of huge and ever-increasing budget deficits, the Justice Department has been spending its funds to challenge Oregon's assisted suicide law and California's medicinal marijuana law. It is insisting that Attorney Generals from New York and Conneticut use the death penalty more frequently. It is interferring with academic freedom by investigating the choice of a university biology professor to refuse to recommend students who don't believe in evolution. You will find in this website links to newspaper and magazine articles documenting the federal government's actions. Ironically, Ashcroft and almost his entire staff belong to the Federalist Society (Topic 3b) which advocates a weaker federal government and stronger states' rights (Topic 10). To understand the war on secular society, we should go to the man who has been perhaps the most influential in taking control of the Republican Party and giving the Republicans a majority in both houses of Congress: Pat Robertson, founder of Christian Coalition. Robertson told the Denver Post in 1992 that his goal was to "take working control of the Republican Party." He defined the war on secularism in 1991 at a Christian Coalition rally. "It's going to be a spiritual battle," Robertson declared. "There will be Satanic forces.... We are not going to be coming up just against human beings, to beat them in elections. We're going to be coming up against spiritual warfare." Robertson named his enemies in a 1992 newsletter, Pat Robertson Perspective. The list includes, among others, the National Organization for Women, the National Education Association, the National Council of Churches, the Gay-Lesbian Caucus, as well as People for the American Way, and Americans United for a Separation of Church and State. They are lumped together as the "radical left." "The strategy against the American radical left should be the same as General Douglas MacArthur employed against the Japanese in the Pacific...Bypass their strongholds, then surround them, isolate them, bombard them, then blast the individuals out of their power bunkers with hand-to-hand combat. The battle for Iwo Jima was not pleasant, but our troops won it. The battle to regain the soul of America won't be pleasant either, but we will win it." (from the book, The Most Dangerous Man in America? by Rob Boston). The Dominion Mandate Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates, an organization that monitors the Religious Right sums up their goals in one word: dominion. Sara Diamond in her book Road to Dominion is credited with recognizing dominion as a political goal. "Our aim" according to Pat Robertson at a banquet in 1984 "is to gain dominion over society." Authors Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell have written an influential textbook for Christian schools titled America's Providential History. "The Puritans are prime representatives of this "spirit of dominion," they explain, holding out the Puritans as examples of good government. "They recognized the scriptural mandates requiring Godly rule, and zealously set out to establish that in all aspects of society." Dominion is described by the president of Family Research Council, Kenneth L. Conner as a society that "reflects, in the final analysis, the sovereignty of the Lord over all aspects of our daily life." The term dominion means control over; in this case control over all of the democratic institutions in this country. The Republican Party has been the key vehicle in the drive for control. Now that the Religious Right controls both Congress and the Presidency, they are highly focused on the one remaining branch of government: the courts. "Judges are the basis of the land's righteousness, " said David Barton, a 'Christian nation' activist and Vice Chair of the Texas State GOP, who is dedicated to overturning the separation of church and state. Barton was speaking about the coming 2002 elections. "We have a Senate election here in Texas. The only issue that should matter is judges. "* David Barton was speaking at Worldview Weekend, April, 2002, an event whose aim is to teach fundamentalists how to gain political influence and bring government under religious control. Another speaker at that event was the new House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, but it was Barton's speech that captured the spirit of the 2002 elections: "The only issue that should matter is judges." In his speech Barton was urging the audience to vote for any Republican Senator, even moderates. Since Republican leadership is firmly in the hands of the Religious Right, the strategy was to insure a Republican majority in both houses. The section on Government in this web page, Topic 2, goes into more detail about who the Republican leaders are in Congress. Who is the 'Religious Right'? This web page is not about Religion. Many religious leaders, including those from mainline Christian churches are deeply concerned about the Religious Right. The Interfaith Alliance, as stated in its website, "is a non-partisan, clergy-led grassroots organization dedicated to promoting the positive, healing role of faith in civic life and challenging intolerance and extremism." This web page is not about Christianity. The Religious Right does not view mainline Christians as true Christians. In the words of Pat Robertson on his television program, the 700 Club: "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists, and this and that and the other thing. Nonsense! I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the antichrists." (Pat Robertson, the Most Dangerous Man in America?, Rob Boston) The term "Evangelical" is sometimes used to refer to the Religious Right, but that is a mistake. Evangelicals cover the whole political spectrum as we can see in the former President Jimmy Carter, an evangelical who is considered a liberal Democrat. The Evangelical Environmental Network, a coalition of Christian groups is deeply committed to stewardship of God's creation. They have been running advertisements asking the question " What would Jesus drive?" (Answer: not an SUV.) Topic 6 of this web page, Religious Institutions, discusses different belief systems. This web page is not about Republicans. During the 2000 Presidential primary John McCain claimed that the Religious Right was "destroying" the Republican Party. Time magazine quoted John Moran, Bob Dole's financial manager during his bid for the presidency, as saying that Christian Coalition had "hijacked" the Republican Party. This web page is about Republican strategists who target fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic churches as a way to expand the base of their Party, and about a very specific group of Religious leaders who are using the Republican Party as a way to gain "dominion" over society. Of course, not all fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic churches join in the effort to gain control of the U.S government, but those groups are targeted by Christian Coalition organizing efforts. While the Mormon Church does not necessarily participate, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Ut) a Mormon who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee has been perhaps the most influential person in Congress in helping the Religious Right gain dominion over the courts (See topic on Judiciary). U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is a good example of the Religious Right in government. He spoke at a Christian Coalition rally, October 11, twenty-five days before the 2002 election. "Get the few liberals out" he told the crowd talking about the U.S. Congress. "You will be doing the Lord's work, and He will richly bless you for it." Pat Robertson's mission, Operation Blessing, was richly rewarded. Just before the election it received a grant of $500,000 from the Presidents Faith-base Initiative. An Estimate of Political Strength This drive for "dominion" is underestimated by the media and political analysts. Karl Rove estimates the number of people from the Religious Right who voted for Bush in 2000 to be about fifteen million, and he talked about raising that number to 19 million. With the Religious Right's passion to gain control of the federal court system, and it's ability to send followers to the polls by the bus load, Rove's estimate is probably modest, and its number as a voting bloc could exceed twenty million. A bill defeated in the House of Representatives on October 3, 2002, was drafted with help from Pat Robertson's law school. Its purpose was to bypass campaign finance reform and allow houses of worship to collect money for political campaigns. This bill was opposed by a strong coalition of religious groups, and lobbied for intensively by virtually all the key organizations of the Religious Right, for it would have allowed unrestricted campaign contributions to be made through the collection plate. These contributions would have been both anonymous and tax exempt. Since virtually everybody except the Religious Right opposed the bill, it was a good measure of their numbers in the House. Roughly 43% of those who voted supported the bill (178 for, 239 against). Religious Right backed candidates won sixteen new seats in the House of Representatives and the bill, along with other legislation designed to make the United States a 'Christian Nation' will be introduced in the next session of Congress. Karl Rove was disappointed with a turnout of 15 million voters in 2000, but that number is not trivial, especially at times of low voter turnout. Their strength becomes magnified when the Religious Right joins forces with other groups over specific issues. Even after the tragedy at Columbine High School, a Million Mom March did not produce significant gun control legislation when the Religious Right, adamantly opposed to any form of gun control joined lobbying efforts of the NRA. They join with corporations to lobby against legislation designed to regulate industry. As quoted from the Texas 2002 GOP Platform: "A strong and vibrant private sector [should be] unencumbered by excessive government regulation." The 'government regulations' they want to abolish protect the environment and workers. Those who believe that biblical prophesy forecasts the return of all Jews to Israel before the final Apocalypse has lead some leaders of the Religious Right into an alliance with the Likud Party in Israel. Falwell has been helping fund settlements in the West Bank and Gaza since 1979. Jewish voters in the U.S. are divided about the question of Israeli expansion, but those that support the Likud Party have formed an alliance with the Religious Right to oppose the withdrawal of settlements from Palestinian areas. Ironically, the Green Party has helped swing elections to the Religious Right by challenging Democrats in a political system that doesn't have run-off elections. Helping Republicans win the Presidency and three key House seats in 2000, and then additional House seats in 2002, the Green Party has inadvertently helped the Religious Right win control of the White House and House of Representatives. With a champion in the White House and strong leadership in both houses of Congress, the courts have taken on a special importance, for they have been the greatest barrier to dominion. Throughout this web page there are references to times the higher courts, in support of a separation between church and state have overturned decisions by lower courts, state legislatures, and state boards of education."The only issue that should matter is judges. "* The rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party is perhaps the most important story in modern politics. The battle for "dominion" over society is being waged in all major institutions including government, the courts, schools, mainline Protestant churches and the media. This web page will describe the impact of the Religious Right on our major institutions and how they have found in the Bush administration a strong ally. Section 13 of the Topic List offers a look at the State of Texas GOP Republican Platform. This web page is a wake-up call to citizens of the United States who believe in a democratic, pluralistic society. _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. 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