01-29-2019, 07:20 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-29-2019, 07:22 AM by Bill the Piper.)
(01-29-2019, 01:43 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: It has been very clear for years that the Christian right and the Libertarian-economics right (neo-liberalism) are the two main factions in the Republican Party, and they are joined at the hip and overlap. Militarism is another strong component of the Republican brand, which we often call neo-con. George W Bush when he was president specifically mentioned these three items on the white house webpage as their purpose. Racism is in the background of neo-liberalism, although not explicitly stated, and so it has been since Nixon's southern strategy.
Now under Trump, the Christian right continues to back him, and he rewards them with policies, even though Trump is scarecly moral himself and totally egotistic. But I don't see that as any kind of ideology. It doesn't seem to be a factor at all for the Christian right; they back Trump. Some neo-liberals don't, but most do, because except on trade Trump policies are so thorougly neo-liberal libertarian free-market trickle-down economics. As for militarism, Trump is less interventionist, but not immune to it, and he is keen to build up the military just like previous Republicans. The main difference is that Trump is more outspoken in his racist xenophobia, although not completely overt about his racism, except in his anti-immigration policies which are the cornerstone of his campaign and his presidency.
This will always be a mystery for me: how can an alliance between political orientations that have almost nothing in common last so long?
Christian Republicans promote Rand, although she openly hated Christianity. She was praised by the famous Satanist Anton LaVey:
https://www.churchofsatan.com/satanism-and-objectivism/
On the other hand, Jesus made it clear that those who worship mammon are not his followers. I have pointed it out to some Republicans on Personality Cafe, but they typically come up with gimmicks like "glorifying personal achievement is not worship of mammon". In essence, they redefine this sin in such a way that it's almost impossible to commit.
As for racism, I don't agree that libertarianism is racist since it views the individual as most important, rather than a collective like race. But its outcomes ARE harmful for economically less powerful individuals, and those individuals are more likely to be non-White, so in practice you are almost right
