Here's a list of the frightening comments so far this election year:
Richard Mourdock, Indiana senate candidate: Pregnancy from rape is something "God intended"
Todd Akin, current House Representative, running for Missouri Senate seat: If it is a "legitimate rape" then the female body has ways of shutting down and preventing pregnancy naturally (without birth control)
Charlie Fuqua, Arkansas Senate candidate: In a book he wrote, he advocated the death penalty for disobedient children, just like the Old Testament commands in Deuteronomy 21:18-21. When questioned about this by the Associated Press, he said, "I think my views are fairly well-accepted by most people,"
Jon Hubbard:, Arkansas state House member: Slavery was a "blessing" for African Americans.
Paul Broun, Georgia House Representative: Big Bang Theory and evolution are "lies from the pit of hell".
Keep in mind that Todd Akin and Paul Broun are on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. What has happened to the US that people like this can make it past a major party primary, no less get elected to political office? Is this a sign of a new rise of fundamentalism?
I normally don't post about politics on the blog, but the fact that thousands of people at one time voted for them to represent them and their state is scarier than anything that normally happens on Halloween. This trend needs to stop now.
What's really sad is that some of these scary people will be elected. I just moved to Northern Virginia (DC area) from Indianapolis about 3 months ago. Hoosiers love Mourdock. Hoosiers are some of the most ignorant voters in this country. And by ignorant, I mean that they vote without doing any research. Other than the city of Indy, Indiana is a very Conservative state. Definitely one of the reasons that I'm glad that we moved away from there. I'm actually surprised at how Liberal Northern Virginia is.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny is terms having a different meaning depending on the location. Here in the St. Louis area, "hoosier" has a meaning along the lines of "redneck" or "low class".
DeleteI know what you mean about Indiana, even the Northwest corner, despite it's proximity to Chicago is heavily to the right because of a large community of religious extremists of all stripes, but First Baptist Hammond in particular. Click on the Exposing the IFB tab above, if you want to know more about that group, they're an eye opener for sure.
I often think that the state of American politics today is probably more scary to the rest of the world than in the US. I think most Americans either have no clue what's going on or are so desensitized that the believe this insanity to be perfectly normal.
ReplyDeleteHi Poutine!
DeleteDid you link to this post on Twitter? I noticed a surge of readers coming from a t.co link, which is usually a Twitter post.
Anyway, yes, you're right. Most people aren't paying attention, and in some states/localities, people actually applaud this. There wasn't much uproar from Akin's Missouri House district about his comments, but everyone else was shocked.
Here on the Illinois side, we don't have fundamentalists in government, we have very corrupt idiots instead ;)