For decades now, I have been struck with a glaring inconsistency (some would call it hypocrisy) in the "pro-family," "pro-life" stances of so many self-defined conservative politicians.
They are against abortion and for "family values," but guess what. After the child is born, and the cohesiveness of individual families is threatened by the economic greed and fine print of corporations and financial institutions, then it is that too many of these same politicians refuse to pass laws that would help these people.
One glaring example presents itself in this overlay map from The Consumerist website.
The graphic is from a study published on the University of Utah Law School website by its authors, University of Utah law professor Christopher Peterson, and Steven M. Graves, an associate professor of geography at California State University, Northridge.
The study is summarized by Barry Scholl, who writes this on the page I just linked you to:
"We started this project hoping to find out more about the spatial location of payday lenders and were surprised when a pattern reflecting a correlation with the American Bible Belt and Mormon Mountain West emerged," said Peterson, who conducted the research and coauthored the article with "The natural hypothesis would be to assume that given Biblical condemnation of usury there would be aggressive regulation and less demand for payday loans in these states, but ironically, the numbers show the opposite is true. It's sad that states with a pious and honorable religious heritage now disproportionately host predatory lenders."
It seems as though the states with the weakest, or non-existent laws against the type of usury often offered by predatory payday loan lenders are also among the most traditionally- and let's call a "spade a spade" Christian conservative/Mormon conservative, church attending, conservative-voting pious. In fact, if you look at these two maps, you will see a high degree of correlation between piety and states where payday loan usury is statutorily tolerated.
In my mind, when a family in an economic rough patch has to pay 500% interest on a payday loan, or gets foreclosed upon, that creates threats to marriage far, far more than any two guys getting hitched at the county courthouse does. In fact the latter presents no threat at all.
Why is this? Is it because so many conservative politicians are really more motivated by corporate donors than the Bible they profess adherence to?
A Bible that, incidentally, that says:
35 ' If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.
36 'Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.
37 'You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. (Leviticus 25:35-37)
Come to think of it, churches all have such signs.
They need to institute some SERIOUS banking reform laws...this is run-amok fiscal idiocy...
but, evil dies hard, and fights like mad when you cut off its' food supply...Harriman and Hitler...fiscal lebensraum...
The Yellow pages show eight pages of entries for the various companies that will do cash advance type loans. Needless to say the local Mormon majority could regulate consumer lending as heavily as it does alcohol sales if it felt some sort of a moral imperative to extend a little help to cash strapped folks.
since 1970's paid rightwing "thinkers", writers, psychologists to create media manipulations to demonize certain words, ideas, American values and replace these with falsehoods and "new meanings" that PROFIT THE RICH AND RICHER.
They made DEALS with corrupt "reverends" to capture their faithful as a MINDLESS VOTING BLOCK that does what it is told.
Americans let these crooks GET AWAY WITH IT because they do not TAKE TIME TO THINK about who profits from such LIES.
As a result, America has become THE NANNY STATE FOR THE RICH & CORRUPT CORPORATE WELFARE QUEENS.
Wake up, people! Make YOUR VOTE count in the next election. GET THE CORRUPT RIGHTWING BUMS OUT. We do not need to be robbed any longer for THEIR ENRICHMENT!
Once that is recognized we can stop waiting for these nuts to be logical or rational.
The real hypocrisy is being pro-choice when it comes to abortion and killing innocent fetuses, but being against the death penalty and letting the scum of society live after they commit heinous crimes.
People can certainly disagree on these issues but for you to sit there and call pro-lifers hypocrites if they are for the death penatly shows your hubris and your ignorance. Sadly, this is all too common with liberals.
As for capital punishment being in the bible - should we stone people to death? If this is what you consider to be grown-up behaviour - or good old christian love - then perhaps you should move to the Middle East, where a man (not a woman!!) was recently stoned to death for adultery (I'm too lazy to look up the reference).
And just three years ago, our surprisingly-progressive Republican governor tried to update the state tax code...only to meet opposition from the state Christian Coalition.
Oddly enough ,the national CC was in favor of Riley's legislation. At least someone out there was being consistent with their values...but not Alabama wingnuts, oh no.
That said... it sure is one helluva correlation, ain't it?