1 Who but a devotee of Trump would say such a thing?:
“I have just called President Trump to say this: “Stay strong and keep fighting, sir! The nation is depending upon your resolve. We must exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans’ trust in the fairness of our election system.”
That anyone could, over time and after the evidence obtained showed otherwise, still believe that there was some sort of conspiracy that voting machines were rigged would have to be considered as mentality unhinged as Trump himself.
Later, the same man was one of 147 Republicans to contest the results in key states; even after a pro-Trump mob attacked Congress on January 6, a riot developed, and we now know that it was linked to nine deaths and hundreds of convictions. But that is not all. That the Republican Party has placed yet another Christian literalist at the cusp of power is frightening. At a time when the Democrats are trying to restore a broken democracy that was almost destroyed by a cognitively impaired Donald Trump, it is unbelievable. To elect a Christian literalist as Speaker of the House when all this is taking place is an American madness.
2 He is a devout Evangelical Christian who literally believes Romans 13, which says, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
Which, in its stupidity, more or less says that you may as well not vote because it is God who places people in authority, not you. Or you are being manipulated by God.
“The Bible is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority … each of you, all of us,” he said.
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I am often staggered with the vigour American atheists use to confront religion. However, when one examines the conduct of religious institutions in that country, I cannot say I am the least surprised.
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3 The same man has claimed that a “‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society.”
4 He once worked for the “Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF),” a designated hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks US extremists.
5 The ADF is accused of supporting the:
“… re-criminalisation of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ+ adults in the US and criminalisation abroad; defended state-sanctioned sterilisation of trans people abroad; contended that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to engage in paedophilia.”
Rev Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said:
“Johnson has made a career out of attacking the LGBTQ+ community at every turn. His positions are out of touch with the clear majority support for LGBTQ+ equality in our country.”
6 The newly elected speaker of the House of Representatives has little respect for our changing climate:
“He has questioned climate science, opposed clean energy and received more campaign contributions from oil and gas companies than any other industry last year.”
7 He is firmly anti-abortion. Last year, when Congress removed the right to abortion, he celebrated “a historic and joyful day.”
8 He is against divorce. In 2016, as he ran for Congress, he told the Louisiana Baptist Message he had:
“… been out on the front lines of the ‘culture war’ defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and biblical values, including the defence of traditional marriage.” [He is an advocate for ‘covenant marriage.’]
9 Allegedly, he believes that mass shootings are caused – among other things – by the teaching of evolution.
Who is he? He is Mike Johnson
A “little-known Louisiana Republican” who champions Donald Trump and believes the last election was rigged. His emergence as the latest speaker is noted by his staunch opposition to all things considered progressive.
Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog Accountable.US, called Johnson:
“a far-right extremist who led a desperate attempt to subvert democracy … [who] boasts a voting record deeming him one of the most extreme members of the Republican conference.
“A Speaker Johnson means more of the same from the Maga [pro-Trump] majority: pointless partisan political stunts, peddling dangerous conspiracies and ultimately undermining American democracy.”
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Personally, I find the most objectionable feature of a conservative attitude is its propensity to reject well-substantiated new knowledge, science in other words, because it dislikes some of the consequences that may flow from it. Yes, there are known facts in the world.
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Around the world, we are at a point in time in our history where ‘change’ demands it be listened to. Where the events of recent times scream for it. It only requires a voice to order it on behalf of the people. American conservatives will soon have to realise that for the good of the country, their politics will have to change. That they cannot resist change in the foolish assumption that they can make permanent that which makes them feel secure. They must realise that change is, in fact, part of the very fabric of our existence.
But what is it that occupies the minds of men and women of the American conservative right that they need to be so malevolent in their thinking? The power of wit, truth and persuasion with reasoned thinking and argument no longer suffices. That sledgehammer thinking will win every fight. What is it in the backgrounds of these people that causes their narcissism, their inability to accommodate difference or equality?
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My thought for the day
Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, is the best way of providing solutions to human problems.
American exceptionalism has a lot to answer for.
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