We all know I’m a better Christian than Donald Trump. But how does that nice Congresswoman from the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, compare to Il Duce in expressing Christianity through policy?
Two years before his death, Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “We are saying that something is wrong with capitalism … there must be a better distribution of wealth in this country for all of God’s children and maybe America must move toward democratic socialism.”
Virtually from the day she assumed office, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her avowed democratic socialism have been under attack. Much of the condemnation is from the same crowd that so vigorously insists that America is and always has been a “Christian nation.” This is quite ironic, because democratic socialism and the Bible share a strikingly similar vision of what constitutes a fair and just society. Capitalism, however, does not share that vision.
The Bible and democratic socialism preach that governments should enact policies that address the needs of the poor, provide equal access to opportunity, and legislate policies that curb inequity. Both believe that any government that ignores the interests of the poor is an unjust government in need of correction. As King put it, “The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism …” [Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., “The Biblical Values of Ocasio-Cortez’s Democratic Socialism,” Sojourners, 2019.01.30].
Instead of dropping by church every now and then for a photo op and opportunistically mouthing Jesusy lines, it would be nice to see Trump and his base take their professed church to the Hill and propose legislation that does what Jesus and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez would do. I mean, if we’re going to be a Christian nation, we ought to act like one.
Basically, the “Christian Right” is neither.
Murray-O’Hair was a better kristian than Drumpf. And Buckobear is 100% correct.
President Trump’s theological expertise speaks for itself.
I don’t want my party to pander to theocratic impulses. But, like Gandhi, I’d sure like Christians to try practicing Christianity.
“democratic socialism and the Bible share a strikingly similar vision of what constitutes a fair and just society. Capitalism, however, does not share that vision.”
Absolutely true.
The Satanists are just as Christian as Bloviating Bigot.
Need a laugh ??, You Tube/” Cheeto Christ stupid-czar” by Randy Rainbow !!! It will make you feel better, Promise !
The top secret photo that Bumble Brain tweeted has been identified. Well, our spy satellite that took the photo has been identified by AMATEURS! Certainly every nation on the planet that didn’t know about that satellite does now. Thanks, Mango Moron.
is.gd/Wmg2tp
This is what Economic Eunuch’s/GOP’s trade war is costing us individually.
“ABOUT $460 OVER A YEAR FOR THE AVERAGE FAMILY, ACCORDING TO AN ANALYSIS FROM THE ECONOMISTS KIRILL BORUSYAK AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON AND XAVIER JARAVEL AND AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS.
“ACROSS THE INCOME SPECTRUM, THE TARIFFS MAY COST UP TO $970 FOR AMERICA’S WEALTHIEST HOUSEHOLDS AND AS LOW AS $340 FOR ITS POOREST. THESE ESTIMATES INCLUDES TARIFFS ENACTED SO FAR AS WELL AS PROPOSED INCREASES FOR LATER THIS YEAR.
“And ABC News previously reported that Americans could be paying more on average.
“A STUDY BY J.P. MORGAN FOUND THAT TRUMP’S TARIFFS WILL COST THE AVERAGE U.S. HOUSEHOLD $1,000 A YEAR. THAT STUDY WAS DONE BEFORE TRUMP RAISED THE SEPT. 1 AND DEC. 15 TARIFFS TO 15% FROM 10%.”
Thanks, you flailing, flaccid fool.
Oh cont-rare Cory. This administration has Pompeo and Pence who both have expressed a desire for the “Rapture”.
[It scares the hell out of me anyway!]
As we Balkanize ourselves further and further each passing day, we should recognize our western civilization’s history. Christians have been killing Christians for a whole bunch of years and still terrorize each other in places like Northern Ireland. France wins this hands down with their own Crusade against themselves. Religions of all kinds have their limits. The expression of “Kill them all, let God sort them out” came from that Crusade as the Catholics could not tell Catholics from Cathars. Fun fact.That’s why it’s handy to go after Muslims, different color don’t ya know (for the most part). So will we war with one another over religion or shall it be something even more stupid?
“The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229; French: Croisade des albigeois, Occitan: Crosada dels albigeses) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political flavour, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practising Cathars, but also a realignment of the County of Toulouse in Languedoc, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown and diminishing the distinct regional culture and high level of influence of the Counts of Barcelona.”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade
AOC green new deal alert….
Climate forums among the Democratic candidates will vet out their stance on nuclear power. By the way, Sanders opposes both nuclear energy and carbon capture. So he better have a plan for batteries that actually work, renewable technologies that are not dependent upon rare earths from China, and a plan to make renewables and batteries sustainable given the mining that is currently necessary.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/459829-dems-split-over-nuclear-energy-amid-climate-fight
Can you attain a 100% clean energy portfolio in time to solve climate change without nuclear energy?
If you do not like today’s nuclear, do you support the development and implementation of the advanced reactor technologies?
What is your plan for actually dealing with the current nuclear waste impasse (and wishing it away is not an option)? Will your answer change whether you are in Nevada, or in a state with a shutdown nuclear plant that has nowhere else to put the waste?
For that matter, what is your plan for dealing with the waste generated by renewables? Do you favor recycling for both nuclear and renewables?
Trump pushes to remove regulations for light bulbs.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/04/trump-rolls-back-requirements-on-energy-saving-light-bulbs.html
“The bulbs at stake include decorative globes in bathrooms, candle-shaped lights, three-way lightbulbs and reflector bulbs. ”
If all of the energy used to power the light bulbs is clean in the first place, then it is just a matter of the consumer paying for the extra energy, and the grid being able to generate more of said clean energy.
I am not sure this move is entirely about rolling back Obama era regulations. Many of the rare earth elements needed for more efficient lighting (both fluroescent bulbs and LEDs) come from China today, so this may play a role in those negotiations.
I expect resistance to this policy (i.e. political resistance, not electrical resistance ;^) ).
Cory asks a pretty good question, and here comes Debbo .. talking about Trump’s mammoth balls again.
“Economic Eunuch”
I don’t really care. I don’t want the surveillance spy state, gun control, and totalitarian markets.
Trump is the best candidate in this regard (sad, isn’t it?), so he gets my vote.
It’s an amazing time to be alive and paying attention.
If you really want to know what the problem with our country is, tune into the Leo Zagami interview at PlainsTribune.com
It’s complicate ..
Dang it, Clyde: a Rapture right now, the assumption of the truest Christians up into Heaven, would only leave a greater percentage of people like Pence and Pompeo who get Jesus wrong in charge of our earthly politics.
The Rapture is never a viable practical solution.
Note that none of the voting issues John cites as his latest excuses for Trumpism are inherently Christian principles or policy positions clearly expressed by the current Administration.
Surveillance spy state: last year Trump extended warrantless digital searches for another six years. Where’s a real Libertarian when we need one?
Gun control: Trump has spoken out of both sides of his mouth, threatening at one point to seize guns without due process. (Trump’s wider disdain for due process and rule of law should disqualify Trump in Dale’s book as quickly as it does in mine.) His position is unclear and apparently subject to the influence of the last person to whisper in his ear or grease his palm, neither a Christian nor reliable basis for casting a vote.
Totalitarian markets: Trump shuts farmers out of free global markets, makes them more dependent on government welfare payments.
The thesis of this post is that, if you vote for Christian principles, you vote for Ocasio-Cortez and her policies over Trump and his outbursts. Unable to refute that thesis, John Dale distracts us with an alternative thesis, that Trump is better on other policies, independent of his inadequate/insincere Christianity. Dale’s thesis also fails to withstand scrutiny.
Sanders is hoping for a miracle to pay for his $16 trillion climate plan.
He was just asked how he would pay for it by taxing fossil fuels, when at the same time he will push to reduce fossil fuels. He certainly will tax the rich, and blamed Trump for a lot of stuff, but he did not say the rest of us would not be taxed.
Sanders also is focusing on waste and Fukushima in his opposition to nuclear on CNN. “I’m not a fearmonger.” Ha!
He seems to think there is no solution to nuclear waste…but the issues are political, not technical. Science can apparently fix the issues with renewables one day, but science is ignored to deliver solutions that can occur right now.
The great Arthur Ashe said the following, which can be applied to the use of nuclear to help address climate change.
Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can.
Cory – I did not ascribe positive affirmation to Trump on these important issues. His religion is just not important to me. His decisions on these policies is important to me.
Being more or less Christian than someone else is, to me, a poor test of who to vote for aside from the fact that someone who is overly dogmatic about any particular world view is not a good sign.
In short, I wanted another option.
To reiterate, I don’t care what religion Trump espouses as long as he makes a good faith effort to follow through on his promises in his RNC acceptance speech:
https://PlainsTribune.com/trump
If, when election time rolls around, there is a better option for the values that I believe in, I don’t care what party they are in .. they will have my vote.
I have never pledged zealot-ous and unrelenting allegiance to President Trump. I do, however, pledge allegiance to the things I’ve reasoned out in my 44 years.
Pure “Libertarianism” has some interesting circulatory logical conflicts. For instance, holding a pure Libertarian view means tolerance for neo-lib nd neo-con views. There must be some practical limits to Liberty, the most important of which is that over time, as science advances to further quantify the extent of the proverbial swinging fist (air and water quality from mining, for instance), the enforcement of Liberty can and should change.
I think that if this aspect of Liberty’s constraints is addressed within the Libertarian community, it would appeal to a much broader audience.
I understand and agree with your desire to test candidates by something other than their religion, John. I’m glad you and I agree on the Constitution’s prohibition on religious tests for public office.
My point here is to challenge Christians who claim to support Trump on Christian grounds. I’m demonstrating that Christianity should motivate votes for someone other than Trump. To be clear, John has said nothing to refute that line of argument for those people. If you accept Christianity as a voting issue, you have to accept that Trump is a worse candidate with worse policies than many Democrats.
Now, if you Christians want to heed John’s advice and abandon your claimed Christianity as a voting issue, that might be a step in the right direction… although, even as an atheist, I’m willing to say that I would rather you simply adhere to consistent Christian principles as espoused and exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth himself rather than the BS from the mouths of James Dobson, Franklin Graham, Joel Osteen, and other false profit-prophets.
But even if you’re going to take John’s route and evaluate Presidential performance by something other than religion, John is not offering you a coherent framework that will lead you back to Trump. As I noted, every policy point he pretended justifies a vote for Trump is at best shaky, if not flat wrong. Trump does not reliably support the values John is wishing for. Trump has made no good faith effort to follow through on anything other than to benefit himself.
There is maybe the fundamental Christian principle we all need to apply: service to others. Trump is not interested in serving John Dale or Franklin Graham or Cory Heidelberger or anyone else. Trump will do and say anything he thinks will benefit himself… after which point his interest disappears. That, deep down, is really what makes Donald Trump the worst candidate on any ballot.
How many cojones, of any size, does a Eunuch have?.
Cory – “If you accept Christianity as a voting issue, you have to accept that Trump is a worse candidate with worse policies than many Democrats”
Not so fast, my friend!
Christianity is based upon recognition that humans are imperfect and can be cleansed. As far as I know, he hasn’t banged any hookers since taking office. Although at 73 he’s probably lost interest.
The old testament God was pretty savage, so acting violently (MOAB, for instance), may be construed to be in keeping with the old testament God.
One of my favorite books is “God is not Great” by Christopher Hitchens. Although I enjoyed the intellectual and rhetorical journey in that book, I can’t say I am an atheist. I have scientifically based notions that give me reason to believe there may be a higher power. That said, it is very complicated, and I do not have any kind of blind devotion.
Jesus was pretty savage, too, at times, confronting the money changers, willingly carrying his own cross as he dripped his own blood. Very stubborn!
That said, as was elucidated in Zeitgeist, the virgin birth story, execution/sacrifice, and resurrection stories were a global phenomenon.
Human thought is in need of a reformation, but before we do that the technocratic psychopaths must give up their twisted notion of a breakaway society and use technology for the benefit of all mankind.
When food, shelter, and clothing systems are stable without enslaving mankind, we can take a breath and craft a new world view together. But in the meantime, we argue about silly stuff and try not to get hustled as secret societies are experts at turning us against one another.
mike from iowa – “how many cojones, of any size, does a Eunuch have”
I’m sure the truth is somewhere between these two statements:
Trump is a eunuch.
Trump has bigger balls than a knocker ball tournament.
“Jesus was pretty savage, too, at times, confronting the money changers, willingly carrying his own cross as he dripped his own blood.”
I think it’s a long stretch to call Jesus driving the money grubbers of the Dan Lederman type out of the temple a “savage” act. Violent, yes. Angry, yes. There’s no evidence of any bloodshed or broken bones, but there is well-deserved humiliation and shame for the Ledermans.
To use one instance against dozens of examples of kindness, gentleness, humility, love and acceptance as an excuse to call Jesus “savage” is simply BS.
Forgiveness is for the contrite, the remorseful. Sinful Scheitface is neither of those and so not receiving forgiveness. He claims he’s never needed to repent.
Sinful Scheitface finds Christianity a useful tool in his life of scamming and grifting, no less than the other “Christian” leaders Cory mentioned earlier. That’s all it is for SS.
Jesus, as you Christians understand him, was a bitch. He has killed more humans over the course of time than anybody. Fact.
There is a reason the founding fathers were adamant on separation of church and state!!
I have to agree with grudznick….there has probably been more people killed in the name of God than for any other reason. Of course that God isn’t necessarily a Christian God.
“there has probably been more people killed in the name of God than for any other reason. Of course that God isn’t necessarily a Christian God.”
True Clyde. Absolutely true.
Sorry Cory, this isn’t about Christianity…unless you believe that telling the truth matters…even in politics.
Elizabeth Warren came out against building new nuclear power plants, and ultimately wants to phase out the existing plants. If waste was really the issue regarding nuclear, we would also be concerned about what is in the renewable wastes that we have been throwing away. Nuclear waste requires a political solution, not a technical one.
I think she is trying to begrudgingly keep the current nuclear plants as long as is feasible to maintain the clean power they provide…until renewables and batteries can replace them. The only problem with that is every time we have shut down a nuclear plant, the power has been replaced by natural gas.
Policies that lead to more carbon in the long run will not solve climate change. That approach is not truthful unless you have the energy storage solution in hand…and we don’t. Use what we have, and do what we can.
Yeah, it is about Christianity, check out the title. You crack me up.
I venture to suggest that for most Trump supporters who self-identify as “Christian” (this doesn’t include fake Christians who use the label to obtain personal gain but have no genuine beliefs) there is only one controlling issue: doing whatever it takes to end a woman’s legal right to choose to terminate a her pregnancy, regardless of her circumstances or any compelling reason for terminating it. As long as Trump makes judicial appointments that might do away with Roe’s right of privacy in family planning so all abortion can be outlawed, genuine Christian Trump supporters feel that nothing else matters.
Very good bcb, spot on.
bob, yes and that is the political danger of the “Right to Life” folks, you get ONE issue to hook them, and their support then is absolute. I also think we grossly underestimate how many vote this way – on this singular issue.
Sorry, BCB – not “bob.”
Jerry is right. There are lots of different Christians. From practically the day after Jesus died there were many different interpretations of what became Christianity. There were theological disputes, some documented in the Bible, but much early Christian writing was excluded from the Bible. Even the Gospels present contrasting stories and interpretations, and were refined and doctored through time. There were constant struggles over peevishly small theological understandings right from the very beginning. Through history, at least after Constantine, Christianity has been associated with state power and politics, and has lost most of its value as a moral institution. The babbling that comes from the pulpit on Sunday mornings or whenever you go to church may be good or bad, but what it ain’t is based on much of what Jesus said or did.
I prefer people like AOC as a moral leader to, say, the mega-church pastors or Fathers, dependent on big donations from the elite in their congregations or large corrupt institutions. It’s much more in line to what Jesus was. That doesn’t mean I agree with her democratic socialism down the line, though.
Yes, and AOC is in the title too. So, does telling the truth matter jerry? Should the Democrats elect a truth-teller and a problem-solver, or someone who just tells a different set of lies to a different base?
You can have an energy system with wind, solar, and batteries that exist today. But one cannot have access to energy whenever one wants it. Granted, telling people that they will have to go without energy, or will not be able to use energy as they see fit, is not an electable strategy.
And that is why the Bernie Bunch is avoiding that conversation and focusing on the importance of going green instead.
The Golden Rule is also a Christian theme. And boy, are we going to do some carbon unto others by increasing our use of natural gas over the next century…because there is no delayed gratification today when it comes to how we use energy.
I think truth has left the building a long time ago. It certainly is not in the nuke industry, that is a given. AOC chaps hombre’s like yourself because she speaks truth to power, can’t have that in a woman of color. No sireee, that is strictly verboten or toirmisgte in Gaelic which all mean, forbidden. There, see how I did that to celebrate your immigration status?
AOC is the same as you doc in many ways. She is an immigrant and she is smart. The only difference is her color (which bugs the hell out of you) and her gender, for which you cannot argue against too much, as your ancestors wore dresses as well…er kilts, but…whatever
It is a legitimate argument to hit nuclear on the basis of cost. Which is just one more reason to build the new reactors and make them all the same, and live up to our promise to decommission the current ones and replace them with better ones.
It is also legitimate to question policies that artificially drive up the costs of nuclear, such as not solving the nuclear waste impasse for political reasons, or playing around with the electricity markets by forcing utilities to take wind/solar when they are available instead of storing that energy to be dispatched as needed.
I would agree with AOC that the climate change issue needs to be addressed….where we differ is that I would like to implement policies that actually drive down carbon and that generate less waste and use less land space per kilowatt-hour. And I would like to implement policies that led to more permanent energy jobs in South Dakota (and not farmed out for maintenance, etc.).
Without a solution for sustainable energy storage (i.e. providing enough energy storage, and making mining and recycling better), more wind and solar lead to more natural gas. That is just math.
I would like more students of color to pursue a physics degree. I would like more women (and women of color) to pursue a physics degree. You are barking up the wrong tree from your afforestation project.
Here’s a link with regard to nuclear energy’s interest in inclusion and diversity.
https://www.nei.org/news/2019/why-nei-is-joining-seia-diversity-challenge
Having a diverse workforce is key to having different backgrounds and perspectives that can be called upon for better solutions.
Identity politics – John Dale et al are Trump supporters. They are nothing else, so let’s run with that and project anything negative about Trump onto them.
Debbo – “Sinful Scheitface” – how Christlike of you. Oh wait, Christianity is just an excuse to violence for the violent?
jerry – “I think truth has left the building a long time ago.”
Could not have said it better myself.
The core contributors to this comment forum must be using it as therapy so they don’t lash out at work or against relatives. :D
whoop whoop! #trumptrain
Clyde – “there has probably been more people killed in the name of God than for any other reason”
I think the God concept is a motivator, not the reason. The reason is usually something like “but he killed my brother!” or “that SOB gored my ox!” or “they have been cramming us down economically, lying about us, trying to indoctrinate our children into sex magic cults, stealing from us, attacking us in the streets, and violating our human and constitutional rights!”
“Kill them in the name of [insert divine reference here]”.
On a kewl note, Benny Hinn renounced his prosperity gospel. Maybe he finally got enough….money.
If the social engineers would lay off long enough, Christianity could take a moment acknowledge, and reform.
The toothpaste has LONG SINCE out of the tube. I think there is some scientific merit and valid logical interpretations of the old testament kick-your-ass God.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculous_births
I laugh when I get called out for calling Moral Monster names. Meanwhile, MM himself locks children up in cages and takes $ from military families but Dale loves him. I guess that’s Dale’s version of moral equivalence.
Dale, just declare yourself the victor and stop.
And make sure you have the last word. 😆
Debbo – I just have a hard time letting complete untruths and character smears go.
For instance, Obama’s admin setup the cages. Obama caged people. “Cages” is not even an intellectually honest assessment of what has happened on the border under EITHER administration.
I can’t tap you out. You have to to do that yourself .. in the form of not spreading fake news. While you’re at it, you can stop bringing up Trump’s nuts.
Right. Dale, his favorite sources and Moral Moron are honest. It’s the rest of the world that’s “fake.” The only one who smears your character is you. Same with your heroes. It’s all self-inflicted.
It is interesting how a Trump disciple can thoughtlessly justify an evil and cruel act by asserting Obama did it first as if, even if true, somehow this would excuse current policies that inflict cruelty and long term damage to little kids. And then in the same breath assert some “intellectual” difference between a cage and chain links that block movement of these children somehow justifies inflicting harm on little kids who lack the Trumpist “intellectual” ability to recognize being trapped in a chain link pen can somehow be distinguished from being trapped in a cage.
I wonder what sort of rational Trumpists will use to justify the new Trump policy of demanding that kids being treated in hospitals for cancer, HIV, cerebal palsy, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy and other deadly diseases must leave the US hospitals and treatment facilities and exit the U.S. within 33 days or be deported. Perhaps to save money that could otherwise be used to pay exorbitant prices to stay in a Trump hotel, golf club or resort (thanks Pence) and further enrich the Trump family?
https://www.boston25news.com/news/rhode-island/immigrants-with-special-medical-status-ordered-to-leave-us/979488073
I guess Trump’s pro-life con doesn’t quite prevent unnecessarily issuing death warrants to sick kids, especially if the children choose to have the wrong skin color or choose the wrong place for their birth. This policy alone confirms the thesis in Cory’s thread that Ocasio-Cortez is more Christian than Trump.
BCB. The last B stands for “Bazinga!”