73 Comments

Pure false christian but true fascist endoctrination at a large scale starts with children. Shame on this corrupt republican party. Soon not even one will be respectable. Insane times for this country and by ricochet for the whole world.

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Great essay, Thom!

I find that the most insecure people are those who demand obedience from others, subordinate others by constantly usurping center stage, and obliterate the other's individuality. Secure people, on the other hand, can tolerate or even appreciate differences.

Evangelicals must be insecure people who bolster their individual sense of self-worth by banding together like a gang, and forcing their will on others. I'm guessing that they learned this style of interaction by having grown up in strict father, authoritarian homes where they automatically had to submit to the tyranny of their parents' mindset.

No wonder they fall in line behind authoritarian pastors and political demagogues who require obedience...they live in a psychic world where differences are punishable by excommunication, and most people can't emotionally survive that.

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I would upvote if I could.

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What does "upvote" mean, William?

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That selection at the bottom of yor comment, next to the Heart. It means like, some sites use upvote and downvote, substack uses Like.

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Oh...thanks for explaining!

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The nasty little secret is the conservative evangelical movement in the republican party and the moral majority has racist beginnings. President Carter was going to take away Southern private christian schools 501 C 3 status because of racial discrimination. But Reagan met with Jerry Falwell and other southern evangelicals and committed to help them maintain their tax exempt status if they would support him. The rest is history.

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All this, despite the fact that "— More than 40% of Americans between 20 and 34 are religiously unaffiliated, compared with under 15% of the oldest Americans." - Pew Research. And the fastest growing religion in America is NO RELIGION.

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After 30 years as an evangelical cult member I woke up and realized I had been lied to. That was about 30 years ago. I will never get back the time or money infested. I unwittingly helped indoctrinate my children… I believe I suffer a degree of PTSD as a result of the shitshow. I’m an Atheist, and all the better for it. The current Christo fascist movement infuriates me.

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I became a devout atheist at the tender age of 8 when I questioned why 'god' would allow the starvation of children in Biafra, children my age, and my brother's age, and was told it was "god's will." I was also affected greatly hearing the protesters at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago on the radio. Their cause was just, and the cops just wanted to bust hippie heads.

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The problem with the Chicago 7 in 68 is that there actions were counter productive, they should have acted up at the Republican convention, but their act in Chicago and the subsequent anti war demonstrations were broadcast as commie and that stiffened the resolve of middle America, forced LBJ to expand the conflict with the Bay of Tonkin resolution to prove that he wasn't a commie sympathizer, leading to Nixon, another 40,000 dead Americans and Nixon's Treason, that leads to Reagan, Bush and Now Trump

Fucking idiot kids don't realize the power of reaction. They protest and middle America reacts Reverse psychology fools.

But you can't argue that with people who have protested,no, no, no they are filled with self righteousness and self congratulations.

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Wow, I don't think I could disagree more with this. First, you need to get your history straight. The Bay of Tonkin resolution was in '64, which resulted in American involvement. And the protests in Chicago didn't elect Nixon - Nixon ran on the platform of ending the war, after sabotaging a US agreement with NV to end the war. But the general sentiment in '68 was to end the war, whereas in '64 most of the country was behind the war. The change in public attitude was largely due to student protests.

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LBJ was president when he signed the Bay of Tonkin revolution, and I never said that the protests elected Nixon. but the protests against the war led to extending the war.

My point and you are free to disagree, as I know you will, because you more than likely have a vested interests in protests and believe they accomplish thier goals (they don't three recent examples, WTO, Occupy movement, and pro HAMAS protests._

The fact is the protests didn't change public attitudes, believe that if you will, and you must, it was the flag draped caskets and military funerals, middle America was weary from burying their sons, brothers, uncles, fathers and that brought the war to a halt, not the protests.

The protests actually stiffened the resolve of the public. I should know, I served 67-68, all over the damn country, and am a retired officer. A Mustang.

Your fucking protests are responsible for the lives of at least 40,000 people because American middle class is reactionary, and they perceived the protestors are filthy commies.

Now bite into that and digest it.

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You said the protests "forced LBJ to expand the conflict with the Bay of Tonkin Resolution", which is completely bogus. The protests started AFTER the resolution which expanded the war.

If you think the protests extended the war, then explain to me, why, after 4 years of student protests, the public sentiment had turned against the war, enough to force LBJ to forgo reelection, and both Nixon and Humphrey to campaign on the promise to end the war.

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founding

Wow,I guess you are from the sit down shut-up school of "social protest"? Sheesh! It might be your intolerance that makes people want to prorest.

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Bob Wagner, PTSD is common in people who were raised wrong. Once a raised wrong person gets older and they realize what idiots they were when they were younger. Many bad memories. Just try to do more good than evil in your life and try to forgive yourself. Poor parenting is legal in this world.

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Yes, and that is exactly why democracy is such a threat to them all.

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Amen!

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"..... we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."---final words of the Declaration of Independence

The founding fathers did not make a commitment to a god, instead they made one to each other. When it became possible, they formed a government, not another damn religion. They saw exactly how strife over religious beliefs could ruin a perfectly good country.

Church participation in America has fallen considerably. This tracks with how the right-wingers can't "read the room".

One cannot stand up for their God, Jesus, and The Bible and stand behind Trump at the same time. Any fool that can read can see that. Many Congressional Members and Supreme Court Justices participating in this political effort are highly educated people, so therefore we can only conclude they are in on the disgusting grift as well as the graft. There is no honor in them, sacred or otherwise.

Trump plans to wreck our government. Once he does, do they think he will help them put religion in its place? They haven't read what happens in THAT room either.

If their version of god truly exists, they will have hell to pay. In the meantime, they will be "paying" Trump while Putin decides our future.

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Thank you for the reminder: "..... we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."---final words of the Declaration of Independence.

By the way, I learned long ago (I'm old) that a fine education in no way guarantees WISDOM. That requires a committment to integrity, honesty, courage, and openness to universal learning.

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Exactly, Valerie!

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"Likes" still duds. Anyhow, I was thinking earlier, it would be different if the evil bullies actually were "Christian." They so are not!

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I have had long discussions lately about just what they actually ARE.

The word that comes to mind is NOTHING. Whatever was human about this group they have given to Trump---a creature with no conscience.

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The religious takeover of education has its roots in racism. Charter schools and government subsidy of religious schools is the culmination of a wet dream of a political economist, James M. Buchannan, after the Brown V. Board decision. He made it his mission at the University of Virginia. That we were able to fend him off for decades, and have now lost the fight says a lot about how badly we have failed today.

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Religion is a poor substitute for standing up to raw reality, a bit like the imaginary friend you conjured up as a kid. The Framers hoped we were better than that. But our current leaders don't care.

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I have been pounding this drum for years and it hasn't caught hold, it just isn't Evangelicals, but Dominionism, Christian NAZI's. I fear that it has spread to the other Academies and speaks ill, if Trump wins he will apoint these Christian NAZI's with 3 and 4 stars to the Pentagon.

https://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/fundienazis/royal_race.htm

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Was also on 60 Minutes. A huge scandal that was investigated and they are now teaching diversity.

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Yikes! Thanks for sharing. Any movement in the direction of making people think beyond what they have been habitually thinking bodes hope.

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Exploiting religion with the threats of tribal shunning and eternal hellfire is the time-tested gold stand for manipulating people who lack critical thinking skills, for e.g., our citizens who have learned to be bad at learning.

With contemporary tech and the amazing advances in creating great propaganda to control their fear and anger-filled marks, the morbidly rich sociopaths that own the GOP (Grifting for Oligarchs Party) are getting more powerful every day.

Thankfully, there is a proven method to overcome tyrannical behavior in our government. It just takes 3.5% of us engaged in sustained nonviolent resistance to replace our elected officials who choose to serve the donor class and not promote our general welfare.

I have detailed a project with the purpose of making that happen on Substack and you are invited to check it out at RMDolddave’s Substack.

Please check out the 8/23 and 9/23 posts first and share your thoughts for how to make it better.

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I support your intentions RMDolddave, but reasoning with lunatics is impossible. Just ask them what trump will do to them?

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I apologize if I left the impression that we could ever get the already-cultified to understand that they're being played. That is a great example of a fool's errand (not to mention the expensive and probably illegal deprogramming necessary for such an endeavor).

However, if we could get enough people to agree that our elected officials are supposed to fulfill their Constitutional Purpose AND agree that the powers of corporate personhood are the root of our problems, we could replace the morbidly rich grifters' government toadies with competent citizens who would fulfill their Constitutional Purpose.

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Jun 4·edited Jun 4

There is an idea floating around that if we rid ourselves of Trump everything will return to "normal". It won't, for all the reasons Thom Hartman put forth here. It's going to take a lot of hard work to save democracy while many of the tools we once had have already been destroyed. We cannot remain a house divided. We will become entirely one thing or the other. Personally, I am ready for a duplex.

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A two state solution with miles between the boders. North and South. Problem is, we share the same ecosystem.

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In order to turn the herd, need to turn the head to avoid a stampede. It takes one to know one. Fight fire with fire,

Not my testament but "Do not repay evil for evil" and "Overcome evil with good". Romans 12:17-19 also includes the instructions to "be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody" and "live at peace with everyone if it is possible".

So... what do the major religions say? Il Papa? Canon law? Sharia ? Talmud?

Do any traditional sects endorse the notion that Christians must assert control over every other religion, every family in America, the US government itself, all public and private education, the arts and entertainment, all American media, and ultimately regulate all commercial business in our nation?

Baptists? Presbyterians? Methodists? Seventh Day Adventists? Buddhists? Jehovah's Witnesses? Etc?

ALL my coreligionists, even the ultraorthodox fromm holier than me Trump donors will obviously be targeted.

Maybe Thom can interview some?

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Every major religion has a form of what Christians call The Golden Rule. Some are the positive version, treat others the way you want them to treat you, and some are the negative, don't treat others as you don't want to be treated, and some have both. The people that make up governments make laws that reflect the way not to treat others with laws and punishments for breaking them. The common welfare is the way we "do unto others" with the idea that taxes will be used to take care of the needs of the population. I don't think we will find many people in the world who still believe in the divine right of kings to make laws and rule. But we still have many who believe in reward and punishment after death, and we have those who wish to control people using the idea of the supernatural or whatever else gives them power over others; money, weapons, false promises, etc. The Founders decided to set aside whatever personal beliefs they had and to separate Church and State because they were scholars of history and philosophy. They understood that a State religion would sabotage efforts of the people to rule themselves. Now we have an evangelical movement to indoctrinate children and teach them obediance without critical thinking. I read many years ago that the reason the military wants 18 year olds is because they are still amenable to following orders without thinking. The GOP would have the mudsill class molded to their will.

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Bertrand Russell was an astute philosopher who was keenly against organized religion as expounded in “why I am not a Christian.” This quote I think has relevance to our conversation here.

Will Religious Faith Cure Our Troubles? (1954) by Bertrand Russell

“There is something feeble, and a little contemptible, about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought, and he therefore cannot carry his own reflections to any logical conclusion. Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not rational, he becomes furious when they are disputed. He therefore adopts persecution, censorship, and a narrowly cramping education as essentials of statecraft. In so far as he is successful, he produces a population which is timid and unadventurous and incapable of progress. Authoritarian rulers have always aimed at producing such a population. They have usually succeeded, and by their success have brought their countries to ruin.“

— Bertrand Russell, Human Society in Ethics and Politics (1954), Ch. XII: Will Religious Faith Cure Our Troubles?

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Tax the "hell" out of the church!

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Christianity, or any religion for that matter, is as Christianity does. True faith in a Higher Power is best demonstrated through an adherent's attractive faith guided behavior, rather than by promotion. Sad that Our Mad King (wannabe) Donald, the iconic Anti-Christ, if there ever was one, has led his true believers down the corrupted path of hypocrisy and selfish personal material enrichment, and in the perverted name of a great spiritual leader. They should be so very ashamed. God help us one and all!

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This has been taking place slowly for decades but Trump has enabled all of them to come out in public now. He doesn't care as long as long as he gets paid. The average American voters are apathetic in a lot of ways now due to all of this constant barrage of trash coming across the wave all the time. They won't know what they have lost until it is gone. For those of us, like Thom Hartmann, who are doing all we can to scream at everyone to wake up before it's too late, all we can do is keep shouting in the hopes that people will wake up before it's too late.

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When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag! Who said this? OK, times up, Sinclair Lewis.

While the deep state catholics and billionaires keep the sheeple distracted with minor trivial issues, mother nature is getting ready to pulverize everyone. You can run from the truth , reality and God, but you can't hide. The ungrateful sadistic parasites deserve an island of their own. It is a pity they share the island Earth with honest truth seekers!

Fascism is coming, riding on a horse of insanity, triviality, and money. The people who claim to hate the deep state, the maga cult, are trying to hop on to get a piece of the pie, and to torture the honest Godly people.

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Thank you for sharing your wisdom and scholarly knowledge with us! This promotion by the small minds of peope like Mike Johnson, Leonard Leo, and the faux historian Samuel Alito "turns religion from a spiritual exercise into a social, cultural, and political cancer." Destroying the ability of religion to serve as a reminder of morality and instead contorting it into a weapon of some shallow orthodoxy absolutely takes the life out of LIFE.

Both the Muslim and the Jewish cultures run the risk of turning healthy people into robotic obeyers. Then, we have the Russian, North Korean, and Chinese autocrats shunning any development of inner wisdom in its followers.

Keep reporting, Thom! And, please, let us know if and when you are going to be on TV--you must have an email list of all of us.

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founding

You haven't heard of FSTV, Free Speech TV? Depending on how you get TV, Thom already there. I have been tuning in by radio for many years. Thom and Loise and crew are really national treasures!

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Thanks, I get it all through Comcast. What is the radio station? would love to have access.

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founding

Look him up online, he is on lots of stations depending on where you live or Sirius. Lookup FSTV, too.

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