The soul-searchers
There's a lot of soul-searching within conservative ranks about the role of religion, with the usual Episcopalian suspects saying the movement has become too religious, and the usual Christian suspects saying it's not religious enough.

Both sides are missing the point.

Religious references are used by the Republican party to keep a certain voting bloc in line. Brand-R has never done one damn thing for those voters. Just as brand-D uses Comrade King's "moral mantle" to keep black voters in line while it never does one damn thing for them. Slogans, only slogans.

If a brand-R president were serious about abortion, he would declare a judicial emergency and delete Roe v Wade and all related case law. He would then call out the National Guard to close down all abortuaries.

Does that sound drastic? Unthinkable?

Oh, I don't know. We've called out the troops in recent years to bomb and kill a strange religious cult in Waco that wasn't harming anyone. We've called out the troops to kill a family in Idaho who wasn't harming anyone. Eisenhower called out the troops in 1957 to enforce integration, even though the evidence is clear (and was already clear in 1957) that integration gives no net benefit to black kids. And Lincoln made war on the entire country, killing 600,000 Americans and destroying the South, to stop a perfectly legal secession.

All of those warlike actions were aimed at practices which someone in DC disliked.

None of those disliked practices were deadly.

Abortion is deadly.

When the Feds seriously dislike something, they have never been stopped by teensy-weensy trivial details like laws and constitutions. When the Feds seriously dislike something, they call out the troops and bomb, smash, exterminate, exterminate, exterminate.

So. Do Republican presidents dislike abortion? Examine their actions. They appoint judges who may or may not be against it personally, and then they require the judges to guarantee that Roe v Wade will be untouchable, will be "settled law" forever.

That's not evidence of disliking abortion. That's indisputable evidence of loving abortion and guaranteeing its permanent continuation.

Well then, how about family values? Marriage? What has brand-R done for the family? They've spoken words about stopping "gay marriage". Is that evidence of favoring real marriage, improving the life of real families? No. It's a completely separate matter, which may be icky but has no correlation with marriage.

If a government actually wanted to strengthen families, it would take two steps. First and easiest, get rid of no-fault divorce. If the contract is harder to break, both partners will naturally work harder to maintain the marriage. Second and hardest, restore the economic conditions of the 1950s when it was possible for an ordinary man to support a family without working two jobs, without requiring the wife to work. Is that what brand-R has done? No, brand-R has done the exact opposite. Republicans have encouraged massive illegal immigration and massive outsourcing of factories and jobs. Result: an ordinary man can no longer support a family on his own. Children are deprived of maternal presence, deprived of paternal influence, just as they were in the sweatshops of the early Industrial Age.
  ¶ 9:30 AM