Brian Holmes on Wed, 1 Jun 2011 20:14:39 +0200 (CEST)


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Re: <nettime> Rapture billboard


On 05/30/2011 09:14 PM, David Mandl wrote:

The Republicans have thrown crumbs to the religious right to gain their
support politically (a brilliant and mostly successful strategy), but
they surely roll their eyes at these yokels behind closed doors.

The relation between the Republican Party and the Religious Right goes back to Reagan and guys like Falwell, Swaggart etc., who formerly did not recommend any partisan vote to their faithful. By bringing them on board for partisan politics, the Republicans broke a Democratic hegemony that stretched back to the days of Roosevelt. The religious vote is key for the Republicans; it faltered under Bush senior and therefore Clinton got in. I say all this from memory cause we're in China and about to leave for the village of Wu Mu! So correct me on the details.

David, you're totally right to say that the Neocons are of quite another stripe intellectually, socially, culturally and above all, economically; but without the Religious Right their candidates cannot win. I think this brand of raving idiocy (which also includes tourist trips to the valley of Armageddon in contemporary Israel) is a very important factor in what is euphemistically called American politics. But who knows, maybe Saramania and Tea will replace the rapture nuts with yet more sophisticated forms of enlightenment....

best, Brian


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