Oh, where oh where have Texas GOP patriots gone?
Oh, where oh where have Texas GOP patriots gone?
MAGA and the TX GOP are purely fake patriotism
TAT readers,
My best for everyone’s Monday, or as good as any Monday can be. Today’s essay is about the Texas Republican party’s assault on our US and Texas constitution. To me, who as a retired soldier, that like all servicemembers and elected officials, is sworn to protect the constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, have a duty to act when that sacred foundation of our republic is endangered. Writing TAT is largely me honoring my oath to the nation.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Texas every bit as much as I despise the MAGA Republican Party that has run our state exclusively, for over three decades. One of the things I loved about the Texas, my army assignment brought me to, was its unabashed patriotism, albeit even in 2005, was well advanced in their slide into an oligarchical theocracy. Oligarchy and especially theocracy are about as un-American as it gets. Theocracy is expressly banned by the Constitution’s, First Amendment. Still, this doesn’t stop Governor Greg Abbott, felonious AG Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (actually Danny Goeb) and the entire TX GOP from imposing their Christian Nationalist views on all Texans, via legislation and policy decisions.
By default, no one and no party can consider themselves “patriotic,” if they flagrantly violate the constitution. In fact, the political parties which I despise, are not even mentioned in our constitution, but this is a story for another day. Even worse, I now live in a state, whose dominant political party, daily and overtly works to destroy our constitutional rights. Today’s essay is about one version of their full-frontal assault, on our First Amendment.
Let’s begin
It has taken me a few days to soothe my anger, after reading the article in the famously non-partisan and highly respected, Texas Tribune, about how the new curriculum for public schools, will be riddled with Christianity, expressly banned by the First Amendment. To be clear, not only is the TX GOP unpatriotic, but so is every single Texan that voted for a legislative representative who votes for “hot wheels,” (a common Texas pejorative for Abbott) new, allegedly Christian curriculum and taxpayer funded, school voucher plan.
Here in Texas, we even have a Supreme Court that will rubber-stamp every unconstitutional or immoral law proposed by the TT/ Texas Taliban or more politely, the TX GOP. We are being again sued by DOJ for our Jim Crow 2.0 voting laws while at the border, the Texas State Police/ DPS along with the Texas National Guard, denies entry to the Customs and Border Patrol from doing their job and the school voucher plan are just three examples of how lawless and unconstitutional, Texas has become under the TT.
The TT moniker comes from an Abbott led administration hellbent on zero abortion rights, religion in schools and government and the cruelty involved in enforcing the draconian abortion ban, by law enforcement authorities led by disgraced and seditious Attorney General, Ken Paxton. Abbott and the legislature refuse to honor FOIA/ Freedom of Information Act requests that would tell taxpayers if he in fact, paid Paxton’s way to DC for participation and support to the January 6th armed insurrection at our Capital.
Now, it’s not only school vouchers to pay for religious education, but they are also attempting to shove Christian-heavy public-school curriculum, down the throats of all Texas children attending our failing public schools. Very little is more un-American than a state religion. School administrations are pushing back, but like I said, there is no law in Texas but the MAGA agenda of the TX GOP, constitution be damned.
“The law is clear cut to us — you don’t teach your students a particular religion,” said Stan Surratt, superintendent of Lindale Independent School District, which sits in conservative Deep East Texas. “You can talk about different religions, but we don’t teach Christianity to our students.” - Some Texas school officials are skeptical that a K-12 curriculum with Christian influences is the lifeline state leaders promise - Texas Tribune - by POOJA SALHOTRA - June 5th, 2024
Abbott and his henchmen are even attempting to bribe schools to adopt their curriculum by offering school districts an additional $60 per student. In a state where the TX GOP starves districts and teachers for money and resources, the bribe may in fact, induce them to accept Abbott’s unconstitutional abortion of public education.
"This instructional redesign for public schools comes amid an ongoing embrace on the right of Christian nationalism, which claims that the United States founding was ordained by God, and that its laws and institutions should thus favor their conservative, Christian views. Recent polling from the Public Religion Research Institute found that more than half of Republicans adhere to or sympathize with pillars of Christian nationalism, including beliefs that the U.S. should be a strictly Christian nation. Of those respondents, PRRI found, roughly half supported having an authoritarian leader who maintains Christian dominance in society." - Some Texas school officials are skeptical that a K-12 curriculum with Christian influences is the lifeline state leaders promise - Texas Tribune - by POOJA SALHOTRA - June 5th, 2024
For Texans who are true patriots, regardless of party, there is no relief from the MAGA agenda, which is by default, un-American. There is an enormous chasm between principled conservatism and what serves as today’s GOP platform. A while back, I wrote a long, detailed piece that compared President Eisenhower’s 1956 presidential platform to the Texas 2022, GOP platform. The national GOP has not written a platform since 2016 when they anointed Trump, traitor-in-chief, king. I included links to the original documents and compared the same topics from both, side-by-side. Today’s GOP platforms around the country, especially in the deepest of so-called red states, there is zero in common between the elite, principled conservatism of President Eisenhower and what serves as GOP dogma today. Not one bit.
Still, most media still call republicans, “conservatives.” This is a farce and dishonest. There is nothing conservative about overturning the constitution, or siding with Russia, oligarchs and White Christian Nationalists. Yesterday in European elections, the far-right did very well. Russian and European Christian Nationalists share a great deal of their immoral ideology, with the American far-right, which now controls the GOP, lock, stock and barrel.
We no longer have two competing political parties. We have one that keeps its agenda between our constitutional guardrails, whether you agree with them or not, and we have the GOP which has fully embraced, right-wing extremism built on conspiracy theories, not principled conservatism. As an American raised in a family of preachers and teachers, by the dozens, what I witness daily here in Texas appalls me. Understanding political and religious extremism is a very deep part of my profession, both domestically and in combat zones. Nothing good comes from either.
Theocracy is the doctrine of states like Afghanistan and Iran. Even in India under Modi, Hindutva is the Hindu version of Christian nationalism. Many of those in Netanyahu’s administration in Israel are the Jewish version of Christian Nationalism and there are plenty of lesser examples globally. This should give readers a clue about what bastardized religious fanaticism does to a nation and its people. The Russian people live under Russian Orthodoxy which under Putin and Patriarch Kirill leader of the Russian Orthodox Church (a former high-ranking KGB snitch), is a very dangerous version of Christian Nationalism. The Russian religious fanaticism is somewhat a hub and model globally, for the ideologies that support theocracy. That this is a pillar of today’s GOP, is terrifying to those who care about our republic.
I most certainly am alarmed, at how close our American dream is to the edge of the precipice. Our SCOTUS even is infected with supporting oligarchy and Christian Nationalism. Some of their rulings since Mitch McConnell sabotaged American exceptionalism with the religious fanaticism of the likes of Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Comey-Barrett and Gorsuch. This means that at the highest level, all laws will be measured against their adherence to Christian Nationalism, not our constitution. Having my home state of Texas leading the way, is beyond disgraceful.
Finally, I want to make clear that I’m not at all anti-religion. I consider myself deeply spiritual. I have faith that in the America I have served in some fashion or other, my whole life, would always respect every American’s spiritual preference. I no longer have such faith but will work incessantly to restore our nation to our founding principles. That simply means that Abbott, Trump and the national leadership of MAGA must go by the wayside and those who consider themselves Eisenhower Republicans, must find their long-lost courage and take back their party. All Americans must also demand of all parties, that our constitution comes first, not last as it is in Texas. I hope that you and those who are honest patriots will join me and others in this fight.
The fake patriotism of today’s GOP is an insult to all other Americans. It is everyone’s duty of citizenship to right our ship of state. After that, if you have a party preference, so be it. For me, there never will be a party preference. Honoring our founding principles is my party of choice.
My very best for your week,
Paul