GOP Isn’t The Party of Life, It’s the Party of Money

Conservatives, Prosperity Gospel Ministers Want Registers Open, Even if it Costs Lives

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If you still lived under the false assumption that the GOP was “the party of life,” that idea should have been obliterated by images and messages urging Americans to risk their lives by returning to work in the middle of a pandemic.

It turns out the “party of life,” turned out to be a meaningless catchphrase much like “thoughts and prayers” and “Make America Great Again.” This was encapsulated by an anti-shutdown protest sign I saw that read “Sacrifice the Weak.”

I did a double-take when I read that sign because it sounded scarily similar to Nazi eugenics ideas. The Nazis believed they would make German society stronger by eliminating the physically and mentally challenged and other undesirables.

However, many Republicans have the same callous attitude, most notably Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick who urged senior citizens to sacrifice themselves for the good of the economy.

“And what I said when I was with you that night, there are more important things than living. And that’s saving this country for my children and my grandchildren and saving this country for all of us,” said Patrick on Tucker Carlson’s show. (Patrick is pro-life.)

This is troubling because FOX News spent months denying the existence of the coronavirus, while the Murdoch family, who owns FOX, took steps to protect themselves. While this was going on, FOX News talking heads urged Americans to keep working putting their lives in jeopardy.

So what do conservatives care about? Apparently money over everything, even human life. That’s why President Donald Trump and other conservatives are pushing for states to end the shutdown and reopen commerce. However, Center for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield warns that covid-19 is not over and we should expect a second wave of infections. According to figures from the Department of Health, 300,000 Americans could die if shutdown protocols were eliminated.

Unfortunately, this disregard for human life is widespread in conservative ideology. You see it in backing industrial polluters who reduce human life expectancy through environmental degradation. It can also be seen in a refusal to support a universal health system that results in about 45,000 Americans dying annually because of a lack of access to healthcare. And you see it in refusing to reign in the police when they regularly commit extrajudicial killings of mainly black and brown people. Evidently some lives matter more than others.

Money Over Everything

So what do conservatives care about? Apparently money over everything, even human life. That’s why President Donald Trump and other conservatives are pushing for states to end the shutdown and reopen commerce.

However, Center for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield warns that covid-19 is not over and we should expect a second wave of infections. According to figures from the Department of Health, 300,000 Americans could die if shutdown protocols are eliminated.

However, it seems that the public is not buying into this libertarian/Darwinism logic. Real Clear Politics collated several polls and found 50 percent of people disapproved of the president’s handling of the coronavirus.

Ironically, the term “party of life” was coined to win over socially conservative voters on the abortion issue. And it seemed to work because the GOP has received wide support from white Christian voters for years.

Even today, Trump, who seems to have broken every one of the 10 commandments, received overwhelming support from white Evangelical Christians. Many Christian voters support Trump because they want him to overturn Roe Vs. Wade, once he has a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

However, the Bible also frequently warns about the love of money. Many of Jesus’ messages were about taking care of the poor and needy. And he famously warned that it would be easier for a “camel to pass through the eye of the needle than a rich man to get into heaven.”

For-Profit Churches

But Christian theology, and the Bible, can be manipulated. America, a country of free-market capitalism, created the prosperity gospel, a warped ideology that claims God rewards people with financial wealth. Trumpism is the mutant offspring of laissez-faire capitalism and Christian nationalism, making it a uniquely American monster.

This is why it’s not surprising money-grubbing heretics, such as Paula White, Pat Robertson and Jim Bakker, support Trump. They’re birds of a feather.

Some pastors, such as Louisiana preacher Tony Spell, have challenged shutdown rules and insisted on keeping their churches open in the middle of the pandemic.

These ministers seemed to be more interested in raking in cash, than saving souls. According to a GEN article by Sarah Stankorb, many churches stayed open on Easter for financial reasons.

“Lutheran Pastor Angela Denker, author of Red State Christians, found that from her own, admittedly anecdotal experience at two large churches and two small ones, large churches were financially dependent on offerings at Christmas Eve and Easter, when less frequent visitors were apt to come for the big show,” said Stankorb.

It seems like conservatives, these ministers want to keep the registers open, even if it costs a few thousand lives.