Dear Religious Right…

By Will Coley, Director of M4L
November 2012

Hello average GOP values based voter, I wanted to take a little time after the election to thank you. You have handed the US another 4 years of Obama, and as a Libertarian I appreciate that. Your failures may possibly spell out to our party’s future success as you continue to stick your head in the sand and drive away voters from your party.

Now some may see this statement as harsh, which it is, and it should be. Sometimes, when dealing with the pathologically delusional you have to be firm and direct.  A quick slap in the face to bring them back to reality, and remind them what planet they actually live on.  A wake up call to let them know that culture war, class war, and advocating US imperialism are no longer  viable strategies for carrying national elections.

The failures of 2012 are entirely of the GOP’s own making, particularly those among them who see themselves as the “moral majority”.  That evangelical and conservative jewish block that the talking heads do all they can to court 365 days a year.  A portion of our country that wants to legislate its own moral views on the rest of us, and outlaw or stifle the rights of other religious traditions in the name of “patriotism” or “national security”. They are NOT  irrationally targeting anyone different from them, they will argue, “we are only trying to save America”.

Well I have a quick reality check for you, YOU are helping destroy America. By forcing a political party to adopt your narrow social and religious views as national and foreign policy, you alienate the entire rest of the country that does not share your social or religious views.  YOU and YOUR rhetoric push people out of the GOP on a daily basis. Your lipservice to personal freedom while advocating the usurping of the rights of those you don’t agree, simply turns the GOP into the party of hypocrisy. Your constant harping about  “capitalism” while supporting croniests for office, doesn’t sit well when you actively condemn giving govt handouts to the poor. Welfare is welfare my friend, and corporate welfare is NOT capitalism.

Romney lost the popular vote by a little over 2 million votes. This is ALSO your fault. The GOP can trace it’s dwindling numbers directly to the amount of influence your message has had over the party. The more influence radical religious nativists hold over the party, the less the GOP message appealed to voters. In 2010 I met a man outside the Orange county RPOF office in Orlando.  I was there for a religious freedom bill rally and he was there trying to talk to GOP party bosses who had once listened to him intently, that now snubbed him and turned their backs to him. In 2000 this man, Mr Loutfi, had been instrumental in turning Florida GW Bush’s way. Particularly in the much sought after I-4 corridor.

Mr Loutfi is an American Muslim from Syria, a citizen, and since his immigration to the US a staunch supporter of the GOP. One of between 3-7 MILLION American Muslim VOTERS, that’s right religious right, Muslims not only live here, breath your air, drink your water, and shop in your stores. WE VOTE, and we vote in blocks, in MASS numbers. In 2000 we voted overwhelmingly with GW Bush, in 2008 we voted Obama. Why? Pretty simple really, would you vote in favor of a party whose base openly advocates for nazi style tactics to be used against YOUR religious community?

In 2008 I was staying at a friend’s house in Orlando, it was Eid and the election was right around the corner. I was asking how on earth a well to do musllim family living in the I-4 corridor could possibly vote for McCain. He was Bush part 2 and would continue the atrocious policies of Bush against American Muslims. I was assured that McCain was different, that he was a veteran, had survived torture and was going to fix America’s bad policies. Two days later that changed. A right wing evangelical group sent them a dvd in the mail. I was there when FOUR copies of the Obsession DVD showed up in the mail. One copy for each REGISTERED REPUBLICAN living in the house. I watched live, in person, as the entire household of an influential muslim family changed their vote from McCain to Obama. That was 4 votes, and that’s only one house. I am quite sure that happened in many households up and down the I-4 corridor that day. In their attempt to scare up support for McCain just days before the election, this group had assisted the GOP in performing political Hari Kari, and basically handed the state of Florida and the sought after I-4 corridor to Obama.

Now I am sure that about this time you are feeling righteously indignant. This is YOUR America, a “Christian Nation”,  and you’ll be damned if you’re gonna share it with some pot smoking hippie or some towel headed muslim, and you are entirely entitled to feel that way, but just remember, that hippie and that “muzzie” they vote too, just like you. They raise money, LOTS of money. It’s time the GOP realizes, or remembers, that if they want to remain viable in the future. America is made up of a lot more than Catholic or Evangelical corporate executives. Mr Conservative himself Barry Goldwater warned the GOP against allowing you to have too much influence and power over the party. Goldwater, like most of Americans today, saw you as irrational, obstinate, and divisive. He said your influence over the party would spell the death of the GOP and possibly America…looks like he was right.

This article was also posted on the Daily Paul forum. It was controversially removed only to be reposted with an apology. See the commentary here: http://www.dailypaul.com/263105/dear-religious-right