What's extreme to you is mainstream to normal Americans, and the other way around. To you and me, gays and atheists and pagans are perfectly normal people and good friends. Try casually mentioning that to someone without a lenghty university brainwashing and see what happens. Keep first aid kit ready.
Sorry, but no, the Moral Majority is, as John correctly points out, neither. Most Americans aren't evangelical Baptists. Even in the South, as fucked up a place as it is, the Baptists are just another denomination, and most of them aren't evangelical.
Moral Majority > Evangelical Baptist. The whole point of MM was to create a lobby / pressure group that focused on issues shared by all the Abramic religions and then some: Abortion, homosexuality, sexualization of media and irreligiousity in schools. Their views are still shared by a large part of the American populace. The life, death and resurrection of the Moral Majority movement was certainly not without controversy related to certain colorful personalities involved, but it had and has broad support in its main goals.
It can be argued that the current streak of Republican government owes more than a little to the work of the Moral Majority movement in the past. But perhaps you believe, like so many of my friends, that massive election fraud is to blame rather than Americans actually being reactionary enough to vote for a faith-based government.
Magnus, I LIVE in VA. I know who the MM are. They represent a small, but vocal, minority. Their membership is a few million. In a nation of 300 million, this doesn't even begin to become a useful sample, especially as it's self selecting. Most Americans, when actually asked, don't place anywhere near the amount of weight on abortion, gay rights, and flag burning as the fringe groups would have you believe. Unfortunately, the fringe groups are the ones who are most likely to vote. The studies are out there. The average US citizen does not want to live in a theocratic state, despite being religious. They're smart enough to recognize that their particular flavor may not meet the standard, and we all grow up in this country learning that the Pilgrims fled from England so they could be as crazy as they wanted without being persecuted. Religious freedom is something indoctrinated by the schools from very early on. Unfortunately, out of a couple hundred million potential voters, only twenty million or so show up (the tri-state NYC metropolitan area is 30+ million people, just to give you an idea of how few actually bother to show up), and they tend to be the older and the affluent, which is not a representative sample of the majority, so yes, a small non-representative group like the MM can make a large impact by doing nothing more than encouraging a slight increase in the numbers. Don't let that fool you into thinking they actually represent anything more than a fringe.
Both parties engage in election fraud. Tammany Hall is the current gold standard, with the Mayors Daley and friends of Chicago coming in a close second, but we're working hard find a new low. The fuck ups in Ohio from the 2004 election cycle are a matter of documented public record. It's not a question of faith, as I don't believe in invisible pink unicorns, gods, or men in black.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-23 04:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-23 11:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-23 12:29 pm (UTC)It can be argued that the current streak of Republican government owes more than a little to the work of the Moral Majority movement in the past. But perhaps you believe, like so many of my friends, that massive election fraud is to blame rather than Americans actually being reactionary enough to vote for a faith-based government.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-23 12:53 pm (UTC)Both parties engage in election fraud. Tammany Hall is the current gold standard, with the Mayors Daley and friends of Chicago coming in a close second, but we're working hard find a new low. The fuck ups in Ohio from the 2004 election cycle are a matter of documented public record. It's not a question of faith, as I don't believe in invisible pink unicorns, gods, or men in black.