Commentary

How Theocrats Became The Grand New Party

by Joe Mandese , June 28, 2022

"Do we live in a theocracy," New York public radio's Leonard Lopate asked during his call-in show Monday morning. I had to think for a minute -- okay, it was just a few seconds -- but my immediate answer was, "yes." For now.

That's because American has never been a pure democracy. We're a Constitutional Republic that is a form of democracy in which we get to vote for elected officials -- legislative ones in the House and Senate, and an executive one in the Oval Office, who pick judicial ones in the Supreme Court -- to represent us in order to protect our Constitutional rights.

The problem is our founding fathers designed an imperfect system in which a minority could rule, and right now that minority is controlled by Theocrats who are stripping Americans of some of our most fundamental rights.

Last week's Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe V. Wade -- even though four of the justices lied under oath that it was precedent and settled law -- is just the most visible, in-your-face -- or as the case may be, in-your-womb -- example.

This week's SCOTUS decision to uphold the right of a college high school coach to pray on the 50-yard line after his team's games, is another example that America's minority theocratic rule is removing the line separating church and state. My only question is what would have happened if he was a Muslim coach who rolled out a prayer matt and bowed to Mecca? How would that ruling have gone?

But aside from the fact that we now know four justices perjured themselves by lying under oath -- and clutch my pearls, to Maine Senator Susan Collins -- the real problem in America's current theocracy is that we are being ruled by a minority and that definitely is not in the spirit of the what our founding fathers (or mothers) intended.

Sure they left loopholes -- the Electoral College, the even representation of states in the Senate -- that enabled the Theocratic Party to game the system and seize control of our government. But they also created a Constitution that was intended to be a living document that could be amended and evolve over time.

And if we want America to be an actual democracy -- not one in which a third of voters can tell two-thirds what their rights are -- we need to focus on that.

Look, I get it. I understand and actually respect the pro life movement's beliefs. And I genuinely believe they have a right to express that and to live it, to lobby it, and to do anything in their power to enable it, so long as it doesn't encroach on the rights of the majority of Americans. Yet that's what they've done.

So the truth is America is now a three-party system -- Democrats, old school Republicans, and Theocrats -- which is okay with me, so long as we all get one vote.

And that's what the media should be focusing on as they cover this.

2 comments about "How Theocrats Became The Grand New Party".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, June 28, 2022 at 9:43 a.m.
Actually, Joe, we have evolved into many "parties". On the left we have the radical, left---or "progressives", then the old guard ---or more moderate Democrats--- and milling around in this general orbit are the women's rights people, the gays, the greens, the Black Lives Matter folks, etc. on the other side we have the old guard-or moderate Republicans and more to the right, the anti-abortion evangelicals, the gun enthusiasts, the law and order enforcement people, the white supremicists and finally, the Trumpicans. Naturally, there is a lot of overlap and you can drill down on an even more granular basis into finer and finer groupings. These, often disparate interests often unite to push one agenda or another, but we live in the age of me---not we---so their own, private cause is what really drives each segment. Meanwhile we have something called "the independents" and another growing segment, "the political dropouts"---people like myself who have lost faith in our political system and politicians in general.
Reply

John Grono from GAP Research, June 28, 2022 at 9:28 p.m.

A great post Joe.

I'd like to add one issue that I believe the US urgently needs to address - the lack of an Electoral Commission. With state governors drawing electoral borders the ghost of Elbridge Gerry salamanders will haunt your democracy.

Our AU system is pretty good, but needs some urgent updating. The good thing is that we have an Electoral Commoission that allocates the nunber of seats on a population basis (in the Lower House - but parity at a State Level) and of great importance is that they draw the electoral boundaries and are required to keep within a 10% differential between elctorates. They are modified each election to reflect the most recent population census (et. al.) data. In our most recent election there was a record number of Independent candidates elected (predominantly female), and our Parliament now more closely reflects our population. And that is why we don't have any salamander electoral boundaries.