What’s new is old and what’s old is new. Changing the very structure of how democracy works by a group of fanatics seeking to take over elective offices in order to proselytize their outre beliefs is not a new concept in the least. We just see it recycled, as this day and age of COVID profiteering is used as a wedge to disrupt meetings of local politicians, starting with school boards. There is a much darker agenda in place besides elimination of masks. That’s the excuse for being there, it’s not the reason. The plan is for the crazies to take over and in lieu of democracy substitute autocracy and rule by fear.
None other than Pat Robertson put together the template back in the early 80’s.
“During the 1980’s I began taping and transcribing Pat Robertson’s 700 Club show because of the alarming anti-Christian political philosophy he was endorsing. He began a drum beat for drastic political and cultural changes to this country.
Robertson’s guests did something I’d never seen before: they reversed the scriptures and called it immoral for the citizens to help the poor through taxation, which, by the way is expressly required in the Old Testament. The accusation was and is that taxation robbed the rich to help the poor.
If you are interested in how the movement reversed Judeo-Christian standards, see Bloodguilty Churches (which is also available at Amazon.com).
Robertson slowly introduced the idea of an American empire; he attacked pluralism, and pleaded that the people of the U.S. “must speak with one voice.” (7/19/85)
The idea of taking over and controlling the United States government began with a series of guest appearances:
On April 4, 1985, Billy Graham appeared on the show, and in a startling announcement said, “I’m for evangelicals “… getting control of the Congress, getting control of the bureaucracy, getting control of the executive branch of government. If we leave it to the other side we’re going to be lost.”
On September 25, 1985, Tim LaHaye, appeared in a film clip with Phyllis Schlafly on the show. In that clip, he laid out the plan to take over the government of the United States. He said:
“Suppose that every Bible believing church—all 110,000—decided to…raise up one person to run for public office and win… If every church in the next ten years did that, we would have more Christians in office than there are positions…there are only 97,000 elective offices.”
Though the idea of right-wing religious conservatives controlling the U.S. government appeared to be a pipedream to most observers I talked with, for the churchgoers who were listening—and by 1985 Robertson’s 700 Club topped the Nielsen ratings with a projected monthly viewing audience of 28.7 million viewers—to those viewers—the idea of gaining and holding the power in this country was a tantalizing and intriguing concept—they began to accept the idea of dominating America step by step, day by day.”
This is exactly what you’re looking at today. The irony here is that Pat Robertson endorsed the Big Lie for a while and then told everybody to give it up and move on. He may regret that decision now, because the far right-extremist churches are eating this up, and they intend to keep the Big Lie going in tandem with anti-vaxxing and unseat local politicians. That has been pretty obvious for a while now. Here’s the reasoning.
2. I posted, on twitter, many times, exactly what they were about to do at school board meetings in August. I told you who was behind it. Just as I did from Dec 19-Jan 5 every single day about Jan 6.
3. Yes, some are just agitators or actors or people who like attention.
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 1, 2021
5. While the pithy, snarky, “these are all just a handful of traveling actors” comments may seem like a good way to act like this isn’t a problem, is does a great disservice to local govt officials having to deal with their radicalized community members.
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 1, 2021
7. Which local offices do they covet the most? Supervisors of Elections and Sects of State. The people who saved the country by refusing to go along with the Big Lie. The gatekeepers of election integrity. And they are counting on the Democratic Party to be focused elsewhere.
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 1, 2021
Franklin Graham has been urging Christians to run for office for years. Now there’s a new spin on Christianity. The new sheriff in town is QAnon and the QAnon Qrazies all believe in the Big Lie and anti-vaxxing as well, so they’re perfect candidates for office. And they have been on the move. Franklin Graham has been imploring them to rid schools of what he calls the “godless socialist agenda.” New Civil Rights Movement:
Pointing to an article about Loudoun County, Virginia, currently a hotbed of controversy over transgender students’ rights and the teaching of critical race theory (which is not actually being taught in public schools, only in colleges and universities), Graham patted himself on the back for traveling to all 50 states in 2016 to urge Christians to run for office, especially school boards.
He says those local boards’ decisions “impact our children and our grandchildren’s lives, and they impact the future of our country, so it is vitally important. I’m thankful for the parents in Loudoun County, Virginia, who are speaking up and working to keep things like critical race theory and concerning transgender policies out of their schools.”
“We have to stand up against the godless socialist agenda trying to divide us and take over this country,” he claimed.
“Pray for the Christians in Loudoun County, that they would stand strong and speak the truth in love. And pray about how you can get involved in your city and make a real difference. Will you?” Graham urged.
Conservatives have been infiltrating local school boards, where they have the opportunity to indoctrinate children at a young age into far right wing extremism, the pro-Trump MAGA movement, white nationalism and white supremacism, and an anti-science agenda.
In April TIME reported, “QAnon Candidates Are Winning Local Elections,” and asked, “Can They Be Stopped?”
And earlier this month the National Education Association (NEA) asked: “Is QAnon Radicalizing Your School Board?”
“Proponents of QAnon allege that Satan-worshipping pedophiles are secretly running the country, and they also have spread false information about COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, the recent election and more,” the NEA article revealed. “When they get elected to local offices, they endanger citizens because their potential decisions — around budget, safety, school curriculum and more — aren’t grounded in reality.”
And in 2017 Media Matters reported on “How The Hate Group Alliance Defending Freedom Is Infiltrating Public Schools.”
This is not something to be taken lightly. It never has been. If you never read my piece, Mike Pence Is A Theocrat. His Christian Supremacist Followers Seek To Take Over America. Seriously do so now. Pence has been thankfully kneecapped by his idol Donald Trump, so we don’t need to worry about him. But this theocratic plan in general is nothing to discount. This is some serious and scary stuff. And don’t forget, just as recently as last year we had theocrat Betsy DeVos serving as Secretary of Education. Bear that in mind. In fact, don’t let it leave your mind for a moment, because these people are lunatics and they are serious about taking over. That’s the plain truth of the matter.
There is one local church recalling our progressive Vice Mayor (son’s best friend.) They got the 11,000 signatures. Texas anti-abortion going through. It’s all happening at the lower levels in the cities and states. Putis takes advantage of all of it. We need to be shaking in our boots folks. Democracy is on the edge.
Make people sign in with names and addresses – you can’t speak unless you live in the school district/city/whatever. Because a bunch of people will come from outside to stir sh*t.
Why do those controlling the meetings let this happen? If a person(s) starts screaming, ranting, swearing, threatening, etc. whether they are commenting or in the audience, they should immediately be kicked out of the building and grounds. These rules should be set forth before the meeting. Any threatening of the council or school board members either during or after the meeting should result in their arrest for harassment.
Those in charge need to keep order in the meetings and if people can’t act like adults, the meeting will be adjourned.
They should have police presence at the meetings to ensure there is order.
This is the way the Tea Party got started…..by urging lunatics to disrupt local council and town hall meetings…..seems the Talibangelicals have ripped a page out of the Tea Party playbook.
What do you mean “ripped a page out?” There is ZERO difference between the Teabaggers and the Talibangelicals.
Strange isn’t it how come the only ones currently being investigated for having sexual relations with minors just happen to be Republiqanons?