"Cubicle," my, uh, foot. Women are doctors, lawyers, college professors, engineers.... Society needs them, and it needs men to enter insufficiently peopled professions (but coded "feminine" ) such as nursing and teaching. Not only is this position anti-woman, it is societally stupid, impractical and wasteful. Lastly, many people serve societal needs from their cubicle, e.g. social workers, government workers, writers, just to name a few. There aren't enough qualified men to meet the demand.
I really can't stand to read his comments. He sounds like so many of the men in the church where I grew up. Who spew ridiculous crap and then double and triple down on it because they're the man, and they get all the passes to say ridiculous crap.
Quality, affordable childcare has been an issue long before raising my children 40 some years ago. Is needs to be addressed sanely and not by patriarchal, religious men.
While P2025 calls for eliminating Head Start while states such as Florida provide the gateway to “home-based childcare” with vouchers for homeschooling,regardless of income.
Florida already is a Christo-fascist state. I don't think a lot of people realize that once they destroy public education, the only options for these vouchers will be Christian Nationalist religious indoctrination, whether it be in a classroom or via homeschool.
Many Americans don't. (Sherrod Brown's team clearly doesn't.) That's one reason this work is important. More Americans need to understand what underpins the proposals and laws Fascist Republicans plan for us.
The other day I had a conversation with a person who is "Trump friendly" and is a member of the LGBTQ community who also has a pre-existing health condition. They live in a ruby red state. I asked them if they knew about Project 2025, they told me "Oh Trump said he has nothing to do with that." I went into a long explanation of it and pointed out that under it their right to exist would be criminalized and that medication they get would no longer be covered under ACA all based on biblical principles. "Why on earth would you want to vote for that?" I asked. I don't know if the person believed me or not.
It always blows my mind how un-curious so many people are. How this person likely won't become curious until their life is severely impacted. I'm glad you were able to give them a detailed explanation of how it will impact them. I hope it makes a difference.
While I agree with you 100% through the body of the article I disagree about Sen Brown. He and his campaign know exactly what they are saying. He is a Dem in a blood red state with the Rethugs VP from the same state. I may wish he was not pandering but realistically he probably feels he has no choice Just as Joe and Kamala continue funding the most genocidal regime in the modern world because they are scared.
It may be that Brown’s team decided to repurpose some of Vance’s Catholic language. In American politics, it feels like everything is a numbers game. And by numbers, I mean money.
It amazes me how people are taking Trump’s word for this, never mind the fact that he is a habitual liar. Yet pointing out how many authors of the Mandate for Leadership served in the Trump administration, and how think tanks like Heritage shape Republican policies fall to quiet ears.
If you don't know many people in that world, here's how it goes. They are trained to immediately spot a "liberal." (The tell could be as slight as your saying something they haven't heard on repeat in one of their echo chambers.) As soon as they suspect you, that automatically makes you an unreliable source. They turn on the mode of "do not listen to this person" and "discount everything he or she says" and "shut this down with thought terminating cliches." If one keeps pushing, they become very emotional because they do not want to be curious or do self-reflection or believe their prior votes may have been wrong or detrimental to the country. I have multiple people in my life who have never once asked me about Project 2025, even though they know I am a recognized expert, simply because they assume my take is corrupted by my "liberalism." This is about THEM.
I recall reading, at least 2+ years ago, that in Hungary families with young children receive a stipend so a parent (usually the mother) can stay at home. This is straight from the Orban playbook and may have some broader appeal than some of the other P2025 recommendations. We do have a number of tapped out working parents today in our society who work for poor wages, then both come home to trying to maintain a household while making ends meet. I do not support this proposal, but understand how it might get some traction with mothers and fathers who feel like they don't have enough hours in the day to do it all and shoulder the exhorbitant costs of daycare.
It is from the Orbán playbook. His government gives loans for having children, and forgives them progressively the more children they have (up to 3, I think.)
Many European countries have high tax rates because they support families. I have a Swedish friend who got 70% of her salary to take a year off from her job after she had a baby. Her job was waiting for her on her return, when her husband could then do the same. So a parent was in the home for the first 2 years of their child's life, funded by the taxpayer. They also have free childcare that is excellent, and taxpayer funded. This kind of thing happens all over Europe. In Spain, where I am, the progressive government has taken many taxpayer-funded steps to make it easier for people to have children. I don't hear many people complaining about those investments. But it means paying more taxes. It means billionaires and millionaires and corporations pay taxes. And it means having a sense of pride in those publicly funded things that I don't see Americans ever having. So many Americans (not just Republicans) expect something for nothing.
I read Anne Applebaum. She and Ruth Ben-Ghiat have noted that the far-right exists in Europe, but they seem to have to moderate themselves to be elected. (I've been following the recent German election and the far-right gains in former east Germany. They have been aggressively targeting young Germans with their messaging, and in some places, it seems to be working. We have Vox in Spain, but the mid-line conservatives get lots more votes. And of course, Vox wasn't crazy enough for a fringe group, and they started an even further-right party.) In the US, it feels like a race to find and amplify the craziest far-right fascist talking points. Which makes me concerned for the long-term future of our democracy, whatever the outcome of the November election.
Yes. I read both Anne Applebaum and Ruth Ben-Ghiat. I have been discussing a Deutsche Welle English language discussion of the election with a friend today, who speaks Russian and spends a lot of time in East Germany. She is German and American mix like me. Anyway, while this is not discussed, the former East German states make up around 15% of the German population, and if 33 percent of part of that 15% since not each state has had elections, only 2 have, vote for the AfD, which I call the New German Nazi Party, then I do not see that as. German mandate for this party. Also the courts are investigating them in a way that I wish the US Supreme Court would be investigating Trump. In any case, no other group is willing to include them in a coalition, because it would taint them to their voters, and the AfD should basically be illegal by German law. However, a prof, who is an expert of the sociology of this talks about why this shift and it makes sense and is interesting. Scroll down to the video. https://www.dw.com/en/german-businesses-worried-about-far-right-gains-in-the-east/a-70112417?at_medium=Newsletter&at_campaign=Berlin%20Briefing&at_dw_language=en&at_number=20240903
Still, I read that the EU is not mostly going to go along with Trump if he wins, and will be busy picking up where the US pulls out, namely in their militaries, and in Ukraine, though that is not going to happen overnight. I have been observing East Germany and East Germans my whole life, since half of my family came from there, and many were trapped there. My grandfather was a west German, my grandmother an East German, from the state of Thüringen, which I have been to, but don't go to. My friend is now researching this professor's work, and it seems interesting. As the US and Europe browns, and some of the old haters die out, let us hope we can get on with a more multicultural world. Still the fascists are having their moment, and they know how to make people accept their shit. That is wear them down. This is what Trump is a master at doing. Don't you just want a day when he is not newsworthy? This Lincoln Project video called Stress captures that feeling. https://youtu.be/B9XTNcneynw?si=PDv9TshUpehRmrOg
However, this is what the youth is thinking about and knowing what is in Project 2025, it is just going to make it harder to achieve these things. It would take many generations before no one would have a memory of these things, but I see Project 2025 as a fast way to turn the US into a third world country. This video captures that in Time For Us. https://youtu.be/77A4fxdbVdI?si=_SDkh40PRMtIKJnF
Receiving a stipend, or child money is common in European countries. In Germany you get 292 € a month for each child from birth to 18+ depending on whether they go to university or not, or do an internship. In any case, my neighbors are each taking the maximum time off they can from work to be home with their baby. They will get child money regardless of whether they work or not, and they both work and have taken leave at different times to cover the baby's early child care.
Yes. You’re correct. If women were actually paid for the hard, imaginative, challenging work involved in child rearing, the government would go broke. Women’s work has been assumed work. It was assumed that women would perform these tasks perfectly and free of charge. There are so many thoughts I have about all of this but I’m glad to see this topic finally being addressed.
As someone who was raised Catholic (and thinks of himself as a Progressive Catholic) I find the fact that other Catholics are getting themselves mixed up in this mess quite distressing, not to mention embarassing.
Most of these guys have ties to Opus Dei, which is a far-right Catholic group founded by one of Franco’s priests in Spain. But they have a strong presence in the US. Opus Dei has similar dominionist beliefs to the Protestant New Apostolic Reformation also. Ie: We will force the world to live as we say so Jesus can return.
Andra, I sent you two links regarding Republicans seeking to implement anti-abortion propaganda in schools and Project 2025's views about political extremism, given what I feel is essential for viewers to understand how Christian Nationalism is rooted in these efforts or not. In case you have yet to see it, I also thoroughly responded to our prior conservation before this afternoon. Please let me know if I offered excessive, unnecessary information for you to read or cover.
I do not believe the link I sent has a Baby Olivia video unless it is attached, which I did not click on. I read the article, which described the push from Live Action, an anti-abortion group, to indoctrinate children into their cause, knowing 76% of Gen Z is for reproductive rights. Surprisingly, the founder and head of Live Action is a younger woman.
Moreover, the private chat I sent for the second link, which says "YouTube," discusses how Project 2025 plans to encourage far-right extremism and the dangers it will lead to, claiming that far-right extremism is "manufactured." According to the video, white Christian Nationalists believe affirmative action and DEI efforts in schools and the workplace are more significant threats than far-right extremism. Please let me know if you cannot click on it or if it is not there.
I am baffled at whether conservatives truly believe this Christian Nationalist rhetoric or is it that they desperately don't believe in the religious aspect of things but want America to return to traditional gender norms and put anyone who is not a white, native, straight male "back in his place..." That said, I can understand why conservatives feel insecure that the America they once knew is disappearing fast, regarding the traditional lifestyle and nostalgia they experienced when the family was the centerpiece of life (think about how they had better job security before President Reagan). Due to their lack of education, I believe they, since they tend to be religious or attend religious events, fall for fearmongering rhetoric since people naturally like to blame someone for their problems while fearing and opposing change for anyone who does not conform to the old way of life (e.g., those in the Civil Rights Movement, as they opposed and succeeded in defeating white men's demands).
I watched a video a month ago from former far-right Evangelical leader Frank Schaeffer, whose father, Francis Schaeffer, along with Dr. C. Everett Coop, led the charge to abolish abortion nationwide and undermine gay rights not because of its biblical roots or the absence of it, but as backlash to equality by those who "didn't know their place," as they wanted to unleash their anger after losing the Civil Rights Movement and the Bob Jones University tax-exempt case, knowing there was nowhere to turn and fundraise millions to access political power.
This movement has always been about 1. churches and religious non-profits not paying taxes while being able to be political and avoid oversight; and 2. racism. That's their true religion. Tax-free profit for the select beneficiaries without any accountability whatsoever to anyone (including the congregations they pillage) and the ability to wield their power to force their religious views on all of society. It is about money and power for a few white men. Period.
Are you aware of the Johnson Amendment, named after then-former U.S. Senator of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson? Johnson introduced it in 1954 following two Texas non-profits' support for Johnson's primary challenger, whom they perceived to be tougher on communism, and he used the U.S. tax code to silence them. This Amendment received no congressional hearings or legislative analysis, was voted unanimously by a voice vote, and ultimately got signed into law by President Eisenhower weeks later, according to sources I found but forgot the names of online.
That said, the National Religious Broadcaster's (NRB) association, two Eastern Texas far-right churches, and the Intercessors for America (in VA) are suing to declare it unconstitutional on various grounds and view it as unfair and one-sided, despite the IRS' lack of enforcement of this statute.
I've read about this, yes. It is ridiculous, since they've been endorsing political candidates and parties from pulpits without repercussions for years. But they now feel like they have a favorable court environment to get the Johnson Amendment overturned.
That makes sense. I suppose the IRS could go after churches if it really wanted to, but they don't because they fear conservatives will challenge it as unconstitutional in court and it'll then be overturned, in their eyes. I doubt they want that.
I think they should enforce the Johnson Amendment on everyone. I don't think people should use non-profits and pulpits to endorse anyone, right or left. That's part of the point of the Johnson Amendment. If churches and religious non-profits want to claim to do the Lord's work, they should stick to that and keep out of politics. Which is NOT the Lord's work.
Did you know the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled about the Johnson Amendment's constitutionality? I wonder what Clarence Thomas will think about it, if it reaches his desk for certiorari (the request to grant a case before oral argument at the SCOTUS)... And his wife has ties to ultra-conservative groups. I doubt it'll get far, but you never know with the conservative makeup of the federal judiciary.
Thanks, Andra. You are a wealth of information and are appreciated. Project 2025 will have us go back at least fifty years. I think I speak for everyone here -
This is now our Republican Party. They won't go away after the election. We must continue to fight them until they implode, which I'd honestly love to see.
It is also odd to see progressive leaning people wax poetic about single income middle class households from the 50s-70s, when such households were the privilege of high earning European males, and anyone outside of that demographic was shut out of it.
"Cubicle," my, uh, foot. Women are doctors, lawyers, college professors, engineers.... Society needs them, and it needs men to enter insufficiently peopled professions (but coded "feminine" ) such as nursing and teaching. Not only is this position anti-woman, it is societally stupid, impractical and wasteful. Lastly, many people serve societal needs from their cubicle, e.g. social workers, government workers, writers, just to name a few. There aren't enough qualified men to meet the demand.
I really can't stand to read his comments. He sounds like so many of the men in the church where I grew up. Who spew ridiculous crap and then double and triple down on it because they're the man, and they get all the passes to say ridiculous crap.
Quality, affordable childcare has been an issue long before raising my children 40 some years ago. Is needs to be addressed sanely and not by patriarchal, religious men.
I agree, Susan.
While P2025 calls for eliminating Head Start while states such as Florida provide the gateway to “home-based childcare” with vouchers for homeschooling,regardless of income.
Florida already is a Christo-fascist state. I don't think a lot of people realize that once they destroy public education, the only options for these vouchers will be Christian Nationalist religious indoctrination, whether it be in a classroom or via homeschool.
I never realized the religious dogma that was attached to the phrase "dignity of work".
Many Americans don't. (Sherrod Brown's team clearly doesn't.) That's one reason this work is important. More Americans need to understand what underpins the proposals and laws Fascist Republicans plan for us.
The other day I had a conversation with a person who is "Trump friendly" and is a member of the LGBTQ community who also has a pre-existing health condition. They live in a ruby red state. I asked them if they knew about Project 2025, they told me "Oh Trump said he has nothing to do with that." I went into a long explanation of it and pointed out that under it their right to exist would be criminalized and that medication they get would no longer be covered under ACA all based on biblical principles. "Why on earth would you want to vote for that?" I asked. I don't know if the person believed me or not.
It always blows my mind how un-curious so many people are. How this person likely won't become curious until their life is severely impacted. I'm glad you were able to give them a detailed explanation of how it will impact them. I hope it makes a difference.
While I agree with you 100% through the body of the article I disagree about Sen Brown. He and his campaign know exactly what they are saying. He is a Dem in a blood red state with the Rethugs VP from the same state. I may wish he was not pandering but realistically he probably feels he has no choice Just as Joe and Kamala continue funding the most genocidal regime in the modern world because they are scared.
It may be that Brown’s team decided to repurpose some of Vance’s Catholic language. In American politics, it feels like everything is a numbers game. And by numbers, I mean money.
It amazes me how people are taking Trump’s word for this, never mind the fact that he is a habitual liar. Yet pointing out how many authors of the Mandate for Leadership served in the Trump administration, and how think tanks like Heritage shape Republican policies fall to quiet ears.
If you don't know many people in that world, here's how it goes. They are trained to immediately spot a "liberal." (The tell could be as slight as your saying something they haven't heard on repeat in one of their echo chambers.) As soon as they suspect you, that automatically makes you an unreliable source. They turn on the mode of "do not listen to this person" and "discount everything he or she says" and "shut this down with thought terminating cliches." If one keeps pushing, they become very emotional because they do not want to be curious or do self-reflection or believe their prior votes may have been wrong or detrimental to the country. I have multiple people in my life who have never once asked me about Project 2025, even though they know I am a recognized expert, simply because they assume my take is corrupted by my "liberalism." This is about THEM.
Exactly!! This is my experience, with close family members, who unfortunately also had first hand experiences with religious indoctrination and abuse.
I recall reading, at least 2+ years ago, that in Hungary families with young children receive a stipend so a parent (usually the mother) can stay at home. This is straight from the Orban playbook and may have some broader appeal than some of the other P2025 recommendations. We do have a number of tapped out working parents today in our society who work for poor wages, then both come home to trying to maintain a household while making ends meet. I do not support this proposal, but understand how it might get some traction with mothers and fathers who feel like they don't have enough hours in the day to do it all and shoulder the exhorbitant costs of daycare.
It is from the Orbán playbook. His government gives loans for having children, and forgives them progressively the more children they have (up to 3, I think.)
Many European countries have high tax rates because they support families. I have a Swedish friend who got 70% of her salary to take a year off from her job after she had a baby. Her job was waiting for her on her return, when her husband could then do the same. So a parent was in the home for the first 2 years of their child's life, funded by the taxpayer. They also have free childcare that is excellent, and taxpayer funded. This kind of thing happens all over Europe. In Spain, where I am, the progressive government has taken many taxpayer-funded steps to make it easier for people to have children. I don't hear many people complaining about those investments. But it means paying more taxes. It means billionaires and millionaires and corporations pay taxes. And it means having a sense of pride in those publicly funded things that I don't see Americans ever having. So many Americans (not just Republicans) expect something for nothing.
Same with Germany. Even the right wing considers these things normal, they just don't want them for immigrants with brown skin.
I read Anne Applebaum. She and Ruth Ben-Ghiat have noted that the far-right exists in Europe, but they seem to have to moderate themselves to be elected. (I've been following the recent German election and the far-right gains in former east Germany. They have been aggressively targeting young Germans with their messaging, and in some places, it seems to be working. We have Vox in Spain, but the mid-line conservatives get lots more votes. And of course, Vox wasn't crazy enough for a fringe group, and they started an even further-right party.) In the US, it feels like a race to find and amplify the craziest far-right fascist talking points. Which makes me concerned for the long-term future of our democracy, whatever the outcome of the November election.
Yes. I read both Anne Applebaum and Ruth Ben-Ghiat. I have been discussing a Deutsche Welle English language discussion of the election with a friend today, who speaks Russian and spends a lot of time in East Germany. She is German and American mix like me. Anyway, while this is not discussed, the former East German states make up around 15% of the German population, and if 33 percent of part of that 15% since not each state has had elections, only 2 have, vote for the AfD, which I call the New German Nazi Party, then I do not see that as. German mandate for this party. Also the courts are investigating them in a way that I wish the US Supreme Court would be investigating Trump. In any case, no other group is willing to include them in a coalition, because it would taint them to their voters, and the AfD should basically be illegal by German law. However, a prof, who is an expert of the sociology of this talks about why this shift and it makes sense and is interesting. Scroll down to the video. https://www.dw.com/en/german-businesses-worried-about-far-right-gains-in-the-east/a-70112417?at_medium=Newsletter&at_campaign=Berlin%20Briefing&at_dw_language=en&at_number=20240903
Still, I read that the EU is not mostly going to go along with Trump if he wins, and will be busy picking up where the US pulls out, namely in their militaries, and in Ukraine, though that is not going to happen overnight. I have been observing East Germany and East Germans my whole life, since half of my family came from there, and many were trapped there. My grandfather was a west German, my grandmother an East German, from the state of Thüringen, which I have been to, but don't go to. My friend is now researching this professor's work, and it seems interesting. As the US and Europe browns, and some of the old haters die out, let us hope we can get on with a more multicultural world. Still the fascists are having their moment, and they know how to make people accept their shit. That is wear them down. This is what Trump is a master at doing. Don't you just want a day when he is not newsworthy? This Lincoln Project video called Stress captures that feeling. https://youtu.be/B9XTNcneynw?si=PDv9TshUpehRmrOg
However, this is what the youth is thinking about and knowing what is in Project 2025, it is just going to make it harder to achieve these things. It would take many generations before no one would have a memory of these things, but I see Project 2025 as a fast way to turn the US into a third world country. This video captures that in Time For Us. https://youtu.be/77A4fxdbVdI?si=_SDkh40PRMtIKJnF
Receiving a stipend, or child money is common in European countries. In Germany you get 292 € a month for each child from birth to 18+ depending on whether they go to university or not, or do an internship. In any case, my neighbors are each taking the maximum time off they can from work to be home with their baby. They will get child money regardless of whether they work or not, and they both work and have taken leave at different times to cover the baby's early child care.
Yes. You’re correct. If women were actually paid for the hard, imaginative, challenging work involved in child rearing, the government would go broke. Women’s work has been assumed work. It was assumed that women would perform these tasks perfectly and free of charge. There are so many thoughts I have about all of this but I’m glad to see this topic finally being addressed.
So appreciate this analysis. Infuriating, but motivating.
I'm so tired of seeing religious bullshit everywhere. But I will keep calling it out.
As someone who was raised Catholic (and thinks of himself as a Progressive Catholic) I find the fact that other Catholics are getting themselves mixed up in this mess quite distressing, not to mention embarassing.
Most of these guys have ties to Opus Dei, which is a far-right Catholic group founded by one of Franco’s priests in Spain. But they have a strong presence in the US. Opus Dei has similar dominionist beliefs to the Protestant New Apostolic Reformation also. Ie: We will force the world to live as we say so Jesus can return.
BINGO! Every time an ultraconservative catholic pops up, Opus Dei isn't far behind.
They're almost a sect within the Catholic Church.
Andra, I sent you two links regarding Republicans seeking to implement anti-abortion propaganda in schools and Project 2025's views about political extremism, given what I feel is essential for viewers to understand how Christian Nationalism is rooted in these efforts or not. In case you have yet to see it, I also thoroughly responded to our prior conservation before this afternoon. Please let me know if I offered excessive, unnecessary information for you to read or cover.
I got it. Will reply privately when I have enough time to devote to it. (This weekend.) I've seen the video before. It's gross.
I do not believe the link I sent has a Baby Olivia video unless it is attached, which I did not click on. I read the article, which described the push from Live Action, an anti-abortion group, to indoctrinate children into their cause, knowing 76% of Gen Z is for reproductive rights. Surprisingly, the founder and head of Live Action is a younger woman.
Moreover, the private chat I sent for the second link, which says "YouTube," discusses how Project 2025 plans to encourage far-right extremism and the dangers it will lead to, claiming that far-right extremism is "manufactured." According to the video, white Christian Nationalists believe affirmative action and DEI efforts in schools and the workplace are more significant threats than far-right extremism. Please let me know if you cannot click on it or if it is not there.
I am baffled at whether conservatives truly believe this Christian Nationalist rhetoric or is it that they desperately don't believe in the religious aspect of things but want America to return to traditional gender norms and put anyone who is not a white, native, straight male "back in his place..." That said, I can understand why conservatives feel insecure that the America they once knew is disappearing fast, regarding the traditional lifestyle and nostalgia they experienced when the family was the centerpiece of life (think about how they had better job security before President Reagan). Due to their lack of education, I believe they, since they tend to be religious or attend religious events, fall for fearmongering rhetoric since people naturally like to blame someone for their problems while fearing and opposing change for anyone who does not conform to the old way of life (e.g., those in the Civil Rights Movement, as they opposed and succeeded in defeating white men's demands).
I watched a video a month ago from former far-right Evangelical leader Frank Schaeffer, whose father, Francis Schaeffer, along with Dr. C. Everett Coop, led the charge to abolish abortion nationwide and undermine gay rights not because of its biblical roots or the absence of it, but as backlash to equality by those who "didn't know their place," as they wanted to unleash their anger after losing the Civil Rights Movement and the Bob Jones University tax-exempt case, knowing there was nowhere to turn and fundraise millions to access political power.
This movement has always been about 1. churches and religious non-profits not paying taxes while being able to be political and avoid oversight; and 2. racism. That's their true religion. Tax-free profit for the select beneficiaries without any accountability whatsoever to anyone (including the congregations they pillage) and the ability to wield their power to force their religious views on all of society. It is about money and power for a few white men. Period.
Hi Andra,
Are you aware of the Johnson Amendment, named after then-former U.S. Senator of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson? Johnson introduced it in 1954 following two Texas non-profits' support for Johnson's primary challenger, whom they perceived to be tougher on communism, and he used the U.S. tax code to silence them. This Amendment received no congressional hearings or legislative analysis, was voted unanimously by a voice vote, and ultimately got signed into law by President Eisenhower weeks later, according to sources I found but forgot the names of online.
That said, the National Religious Broadcaster's (NRB) association, two Eastern Texas far-right churches, and the Intercessors for America (in VA) are suing to declare it unconstitutional on various grounds and view it as unfair and one-sided, despite the IRS' lack of enforcement of this statute.
Here are the links you should read:
1. https://nrb.org/nrb-mounts-challenge-to-longstanding-irs-restrictions-on-free-speech/
2. https://www.christianpost.com/news/unconstitutional-churches-file-lawsuit-against-johnson-amendment.html
3. https://baptistnews.com/article/baptist-churches-join-nrb-lawsuit-seeking-freedom-to-endorse-political-candidates/.
I've read about this, yes. It is ridiculous, since they've been endorsing political candidates and parties from pulpits without repercussions for years. But they now feel like they have a favorable court environment to get the Johnson Amendment overturned.
That makes sense. I suppose the IRS could go after churches if it really wanted to, but they don't because they fear conservatives will challenge it as unconstitutional in court and it'll then be overturned, in their eyes. I doubt they want that.
I think they should enforce the Johnson Amendment on everyone. I don't think people should use non-profits and pulpits to endorse anyone, right or left. That's part of the point of the Johnson Amendment. If churches and religious non-profits want to claim to do the Lord's work, they should stick to that and keep out of politics. Which is NOT the Lord's work.
Did you know the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled about the Johnson Amendment's constitutionality? I wonder what Clarence Thomas will think about it, if it reaches his desk for certiorari (the request to grant a case before oral argument at the SCOTUS)... And his wife has ties to ultra-conservative groups. I doubt it'll get far, but you never know with the conservative makeup of the federal judiciary.
Thanks, Andra. You are a wealth of information and are appreciated. Project 2025 will have us go back at least fifty years. I think I speak for everyone here -
“ WE ARE NEVER GOING BACK!”
This is now our Republican Party. They won't go away after the election. We must continue to fight them until they implode, which I'd honestly love to see.
Imploding would be extraordinary !
It really needs to happen, because we cannot sustain a healthy democracy with one viable political party.
It is also odd to see progressive leaning people wax poetic about single income middle class households from the 50s-70s, when such households were the privilege of high earning European males, and anyone outside of that demographic was shut out of it.
I don't know anyone in a single income middle class household. With virtually everyone I know, it takes 2 earners to make it.