Our only reliable source of news was the talk-radio station I'd listened to as tornadoes approached Tuesday afternoon. Because that station leans hard right, it's also a reliable source of wingnut propaganda.
An ad for Republican Bob Gibbs, who's running against Democratic incumbent Zack Space to represent Ohio's 18th District, almost had me swerving off the Interstate. The spot was produced not by the candidate, but by the Faith & Freedom Coalition, one of those 501(c) "outside groups" that are dominating this election cycle.
The ad is among the scariest things I've heard during a very scary campaign season. Its closing line:
"Please, vote faith. Vote freedom. Because it's us versus them."(Click here to launch an mp3 audio clip of a similar radio spot.)
The Faith & Freedom Coalition was founded by none other than Ralph Reed, who won't rest until the United States of America becomes a Christian theocracy. (Think Iran, but with crosses and better haircuts.)Conservative Republicans only need apply, by the way. I mean, everyone knows that a Democrat can't be Christian enough and a liberal couldn't possibly love his country -- right?
Reed, who's been thumping his self-righteous tub for three decades, may be a friend to the faithful but he's an enemy of freedom. He's intent on dismantling the Founders' wall of separation between church and state, attacking the foundation of our Republic and dividing The People in the name of his god.
"Faith and freedom" isn't an essential patriotic compound. Freedom favors no religion, party or ideology. Faith is the personal choice of an individual citizen who's free to practice that faith and to worship in a nation that allows for all faiths (including the choice of no faith).
Reed and his misbegotten coalition wield faith as a wedge and make Liberty their whore.
They've got the us-versus-them thing right, though. Independent citizen-patriots of many faiths, People from across the political spectrum, will defend their constitutional right to worship but we'll stand against their assault on freedoms that belong to all of us.
