Re: <nettime> Rapture billboard

[Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldrift@gmail.com>]

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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