I lived through the Martin Luther King heyday of civil rights. The Democratic Party was the champion of equal rights of all Americans, cared about the poor and underpriviledged, and protected the common, working man's rights. The Republican Party, on the other hand, looked out for the richest class of Americans, sought benefits for big business, and tax breaks for the upper class. Their attitude toward the underpriviledged was one of "benign neglect".

Over the years the Republicans have greatly injured the middle class in America with their Reagan trickle-down voodoo economics that gave tax breaks for the wealthiest elite, reducing their tax bracket immensely and renaming the estate tax (that only taxed the top 5 percent of all Americans) the "death tax" in order to fool the masses to agree to eliminate it. Even today, the Republican Party stands for Bush and Big Oil and Cheney and Halliburton. So, how did this party dedicated to championing the wealthiest Americans and that cares so little about the welfare of the middle class and poorer Anericans ever usurp the title of a Christian party?

The Republican Party did so by being cunning and callous. Bush pretended to agree with the Religious Right and sold them a bill of goods. He pretended to be one of them. By making anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage prominent issues, he won the support of religious right zealots who valued those issues above all else. It was enough to make him President. There have been books written about how his administration secretly made fun of the Religious Right leaders behind their backs, and most of these leaders now have grown disappointed with the actions of Bush in failing to deliver on his pre-election promises. But, the party of cruelly arrogant, power-hoarding politicians continues to cloak itself in Christian-value garb while being mean-spirited and ruthless.

Look at two of the most outspoken advocates of the Republican Party -- Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. What outstanding Christians these two are! Each spews venom like a spitting cobra. Coulter tries to label Edwards as "a fag". The hypocritical Limbaugh (ranting about drug addicts while secretly being one himself) has currently been giving frequent play to a song entitled "Barack The Magic Negro". Why are Republican spokespersons so exceedingly meanspirited?

While it completely mystifies me how the Republican Party can keep convincing the American public that it has anything to do with being Christian in its attitudes of intolerance, I can safely predict that for the next election the Republican Party once again will distract its supporters with those paramount issues of abortion and gay marriages so that they will not focus on the trivial matters of fair taxation of the elite, the war in Iraq, the lack of health care for millions of Americans, global warming, development of alternative energy sources, ...  And why not? Any parent learns early on that when a two-year-old starts doing something you want to avoid, you distract them with something else. It also works well with the Republican Christian Right.