There Is Nothing "Christian" About the Faith and Freedom Coalition

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Yesterday I received a large postcard from the "Faith and Freedom Coalition" that attempted to instruct me on how to vote this November.   This particular partisan advertisement was printed on yellow card stock (in the true "yellow journalism" tradition of William Randolph Hearst) and was focused on Missouri's U.S Senate Race.

The "Faith and Freedom Coalition" is a right-wing political organization that collects money from suckers and then channels much of it back into the support of extreme conservative candidates for public office, almost always Republicans.  It was founded by the well known political provocateur, Ralph Reed, four months after President Obama came into office - undoubtedly as a response to what Reed and his followers were able to justify as American backsliding by electing a liberal Democrat who also happened to be black.  The organization funds campaign embellishments (like big yellow postcards) for conservative candidates, and also undoubtedly pays salaries to Reed and several sycophants who are dependent of the good will of the not-so-bright.

I have already cast an absentee ballot for the November election, and, although I am not necessarily a fan of my state's incumbent senior senator, Claire McCaskill, she is much brighter and more capable than her Republican opponent, Missouri's attorney general, Josh Hawley.  I voted for Claire, and, after reading Ralph Reed's propaganda sheet, I am more convinced than ever that I voted for the better candidate.

Ralph Reed's right-wing political advertisement was labeled a "Voter Guide," something which can be cheaply mailed by the "non-profit" group that Reed founded, or can be easily put on car windshields at church services on the last Sunday before elections.  The "Voter Guide" compares the two candidates, McCaskill and Hawley, on ten issues split into columns.    It resembles a ballot, with McCaskill being on the left and Hawley on the right.

The issues were:

•   "Abortion on Demand"  worded to sound like the medical procedure was a food item featured on a smorgasbord - and had nothing at all to do with other issues like women's health, family planning, violence, poverty, or a host of other socio-economic concerns.  Reed would have America see abortion as the equivalent of a woman exercising her whims while shopping.  Not surprisingly, the guide said that McCaskill supports abortion on demand and the saintly Mr. Hawley opposes it.
• "Trump Tax Cuts" which, in reality, were tax cuts for America's wealthiest individuals and corporations - and which put more responsibility for keeping the country financially afloat on the backs of everyone else.  Ralph said that Claire is opposed to these "cuts" and Hawley favors them.  That sounds about right.
• "Defund Planned Parenthood," a plan that would take medical care away from millions of low income women.  Reed says that Claire McCaskill opposes this transparent strategy to rid America of abortion providers and Hawley supports it.  
• "Obamacare"  Ralph Reed and his good "Christian" friends seem to be opposed to people also receiving medical treatment through any program that was authored and passed by Democrats. His bulletin reveals that McCaskill supports Obamacare and Hawley opposes it.  (Although that is not quite the message that Hawley himself puts forth.)
• "Border Wall," perhaps the most ridiculous aspect of Trump's plan for America, is opposed by McCaskill and supported by Hawley.
• "$2,000 Child Tax Credit"  An inoffensive sounding measure that one assumes would be a financial boon to hardworking taxpayers who are also parents.  But, as with all things designed by Republicans, it would benefit rich people with kids far more than it would poor people who also happen to be parents.  It is, in reality, just one more way to help the economically privileged stay that way.  McCaskill is opposed and Hawley favors the measure - according to Ralph Reed.
• "Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court" in a seat that the Republican Senate held open for over a year to deny President Obama his constitutional right to appoint the replacement to Antonin Scalia.  McCaskill opposed Gorsuch as the ultimate benefactor of the sleazy political maneuver, and Hawley would have supported him.
• "Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court"  McCaskill opposed Kavanaugh's appointment, a brave stance from a Red State senator during an election year, and Hawley took the easy route of saying he would have supported Kavanaugh.  Meanwhile, Ralph Reed and his merry band of "Christians" are devout in their support of Kavanaugh, a man credibly accused of sexual assault and repeated instances of public drunkenness.   God save the Roberts Court from its own members!
• "Iran Nuclear Deal"   McCaskill favors the agreement crafted by the U.S. State Department and Iran under the Obama administration, a deal designed to hold Iran's nuclear aspirations at bay, and Hawley sides with the Trump administration in scrapping it and extending the range of turmoil in the Middle East.
• "Religious Freedom for Christian Businesses" or, more accurately, the freedom of businesses to discriminate based upon the religious views of their owners.  If you don't like gays, or blacks, or uppity women, whip up an objection based on some shard of a religion and then refuse to do business with them.  If someone had thought up this clever dodge back in the mid-twentieth century, blacks would still be riding in the backs of the buses and using "colored" restrooms.  But now God has shown conservatives how to discriminate legally - as long as they can pack the courts with their kinds of judges.  McCaskill is opposed to that discriminatory nonsense and Hawley supports it.

I appreciate the "Faith and Freedom Coalition" spending their money to send me a postcard.  If I had not already voted, I certainly would have solidified my opinions by reading their drivel - and I would have still voted for Claire McCaskill.

Keep those cards and letters coming, Ralphie.   It's always fascinating to watch someone conflate Jesus and politics to make a few dollars.