On Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends today, Ron Paul answered a question about whether Mike Huckabee’s new Christmas ad takes religious politicking too far thusly:
Well I haven’t thought about it completely but it, you know, reminded me of what Sinclair Lewis once said. He says when fascism comes to this country it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross. And I don’t know if that’s a fair assessment or not. But you wonder about using a cross like he’s the only Christian or implying that subtly. So I don’t think I would ever use anything like that.
God-o-Meter isn’t exactly sure what Paul meant, though it suspects it is that just because someone’s hoisting up a cross–i.e. Huckabee–it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s worth supporting. Or could Paul have meant that those carrying the cross so high as Huckabee should be greeted suspiciously? Either way, God-o-Meter is guessing that linking the cross with fascism will be unpopular in many Christian circles, lowering Paul’s reading.5
posted December 18, 2007 at 10:08 pm
A swastica is a cross. Sinclair Lewis wasn’t telling the future, he was teaching the past. We must learn from history lest we are doomed…
Mr. Huckabee has a recorded past. Perhaps Dr. Paul was suggesting we study it to see if it is in fact compatable with his current rhetoric. We might learn his current intentions by looking at his past actions.
posted December 19, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Ron Paul got downgraded for:
“… reminded me of what Sinclair Lewis once said.
He says when fascism comes to this country it will
be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.”
Bush has done exactly this.
I suppose we should downgrade Jesus too, for saying
to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
posted December 20, 2007 at 4:50 pm
I totally respect Congressman Paul’s decision to keep his spiritual beliefs separated from his political views. I also respect his full answer to the question posed to him, without taking his answer out
of context.
For those of us who actually “listen” to what a man says, and not to what we choose to hear, his direct answer to the question was “…that’s not something I would do…”
And his record as an elected representative proves it.
And the media “wonders” why they get no respect from the citizens,
it’s because the business is “sensationalize before reporting the truth”.
It efforts are transparent beyond their own imaginations.
That’s why Ron Paul has boots on the ground and money in the bank.
posted December 30, 2007 at 9:18 pm
I thought it was Huey Long who said that, not Sinclair Lewis.
posted January 14, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Dr. Paul was only quoting someone from the past. He was not implying that Christians are Fascist; only that Fascism is often hidden behind the facade of something else. Dr. Paul explains further on Meet the Press. I think it is a really big red flag when any politician tries to play the religion card like Huckabee did. Look what we got with Bush (perhaps a great Christian, but most defiantly the worst President ever). From on Christian to another, don’t be fooled by anyone trying to gain your favor by affiliating themselves with any group you may belong. I don’t mean to not research any candidates underlying beliefs, because those beliefs give shape to their moral values, but I have to say that when a politician tries that hard, it makes me wonder why? What are they hiding behind?
posted January 17, 2008 at 6:35 pm
The entire Bush administration is the worst thing that has happened to freedom since 1776, and it is all predicated on George’s spoken belief that he has a personal communication pipeline to the Almighty. The only thing that his decisions have to do with the Constitution involve how he can circumvent it. The Constitution is our only guarantee of individual liberty as it relates to government action. Bush’s religious mandate from God is a way to help him avoid criticism, since religion is about the only area in the public discourse that will broach no criticism. I think the reason Sinclair Lewis said that fascism will come “wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross,” is that patriotism and religion are the best insulation against reproach. The Bush administration realized that they needed to attack opponents of their policies as unpatriotic, but the master stroke in claiming divine revelation is that their opponents then became not only anti-country, but anti-God. How often did you hear Bush or his advisers claim that the unpatriotic, anti-war protesters made the country weak and vulnerable. Bush often continued by saying that he would stay the course because God told him to go to war in Iraq (tap phones, suspend habeas corpus, etc.) and the dissent of the “unpatriotic” would never dissuade him. The worst part of the whole mess is the media’s “religious litmus test” for presidential candidates, as if religion was the issue in this race, as if the burning question here is U.S. Christianity vs. Islam and Secularism.
Ronald Reagan told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Not to be outdone, George W. Bush has reached back into the pages of history to tell Thomas Jefferson to tear down the “wall of seperation” between church and state.