Goldwater warned the GOP against radical religious nutjobs like Walker and Huckabee...

[whereisjustice]

But he never understood the real reason for their ascent to power.

Scanning over the GOP candidate list of radical, religious, neo-confederate nut jobs like Cruz, Walker, Perry, et al, I can't help but be amazed at how quickly, as a nation, we have come to embrace the racism and idiocy that define the modern conservative.

Of course, in retrospect, it isn't that hard to understand. The Democratic Party has failed to represent working class Americans. Without any opposing political party presenting a credible counter balance to the economic policies that are destroying the the middle class and below, people are reaching for remedies at the extreme and that makes them perfect for exploitation by charlatans like Perry, Cruz and Walker.

TPP is destructive to the middle class.

Banking deregulation is destructive to the middle class.

Sending jobs to unregulated, low wage workforce in Mexico is destructive to the middle class.

Ignoring the causes of global warming is destructive to the middle class.

This isn't governing from the "center". There is nothing moderate about letting Wall Street operate with criminal impunity while sacrificing the livelihoods of American families to build the nations of India, China and Vietnam.

Conservatives will hammer all day long about "gay marriage" or "excessive Wall Street regulation" as the cause for our declining quality of life. It's an easy lie that resonates well with many people because, until recently, there has been no real counter balance for the working men and women of the USA. How could the Democratic Party speak out against sending jobs to slave labor in Asia when they continue to fight for and defend the very policies that enable it?

The REAL cause of our middle decline is the inertia caused by conservative intransigence from "moderate" conservatives like Debbie Wasserman Shultz and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, and the hard core conservatives that constitute the entire Republican Party on the Republican side.

Meanwhile, even without understanding the root cause, Goldwater recognized the danger of religion and politics.

On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.

I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C" and "D." Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?

And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism."
Speech in the US Senate (16 September 1981)

I will say this about religion:
Thank god we have Bernie Sanders speaking facts and truth about the forces in our political establishment which do little more than continuously reward billionaires while treating millions of American workers like farm animals. Sanders is speaking an obvious truth to the layers of political lies that have betrayed the working people of the USA.

Until the Democratic Party is willing to invest in something other than the same voodoo trickle-down policies of deregulation and free-trade agreements, things are only going to get worse for the middle class and below no matter which party is in office. And this fact will continue to supply racist, religious extremists with a ready supply of voters.

[Malraiders]

1. Frank Zappa figured this out years ago

[Hydra]

2. I think Goldwater made a mistake in thinking his ideas had some sort of cheerleaders in reality

The GOP gets their best support from people who angry, afraid, anti-thinking and bigoted. As Mitt Romney the sucker found out, they pretty much don't have a base at all numbers-wise, despite the BS of the MSM that they somehow make up half the country.

If they didn't have the zealots, it would be pretty quiet on their side of the aisle.

[whereisjustice]

3. Disagree - economics is quickly polarizing the US, people don't have money

to spend to improve their own circumstances. We have the most extreme Republican Party in Congress in my memory - their view? We aren't pouring enough gasoline on the fire.

Such extremism forces the Democratic Party to the right in order to compromise. This might help the Democratic Party stay relevant as the "reasonable alternative", but it doesn't help the US as a nation. It hurts the US as a nation.

[Hydra]

4. Nobody is forcing our Dems to adopt Grand Ol' Pervert policies

They're doing it because there's nowhere else for us to go and it's profitable for them to do so.

While the diplo victory with Iran is with us today, the TPP currently simmering in the kitchen, waiting to be brought out.

[Scuba]

5. Scott Walker is not a religious nutjob. He's a con man wearing religion as a cloak.