A piece in Salon written by Frank Schaeffer, a former evangelical himself, looks at why the Republican Party's lies play so effectively. Part of it is the evangelical Christian's rejection of logic, reason, and objective reality. Part of it also is because of evangelical Christians' rejection of science and knowledge. Indeed, many seem to celebrate the embrace of ignorance. But overall, Schaeffer argues it's because they have been brainwashed into believing lies all their lives. Here are some article highlights:
The Republican Party base is white evangelicals. So it’s no wonder that GOP lies about the country, the economy and the president worked. The folks who base their lives on religious mythology have spent lifetimes being trained to believe lies. On Tuesday they won. Lies won.
Since the economy has rebounded and healthcare reform has worked, all that remained for the GOP was to lie. And since the base of the GOP is white aging southern evangelicals, the GOP was in luck.These are easy folks to lie to. That’s because they already accept an alternative version of reality. Also, of course, since the lies are about a black man, that doesn’t hurt. Yes, race is still an issue.The midterm election boiled down to xenophobia about the “other.” Ebola was the president’s fault! ISIS is coming to get us! We aren’t safe!None of this is true, but no matter. In fact, judging by actual facts the Obama presidency has been successful in spite of GOP obstruction. The economy is back. Jobs are up. We’ve been kept safe from terror attacks. America is strong.
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