Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Greg Hamilton
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000283A
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00:18 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:20 This is a program bringing you discussion, news, 00:22 views and information on religious liberty events 00:25 in the United States and around the world. 00:28 My name is Lincoln Steed, editor of Liberty Magazine 00:32 and my guest on the program is Greg Hamilton, 00:35 president of the Northwest Religious Liberty Association. 00:41 Let's talk politics. 00:42 Although with this is not a political program 00:44 but we have to comment on what we say. 00:46 And you know, there are actually three parties 00:50 in the United States now days. 00:51 Right. 00:53 The Republican, the Democrat and the Tea Party. 00:58 Or the independence. No, it just was through faith. 01:00 I know, I know, I know. 01:02 But we heard a lot about the tea party 01:04 which really is a subgroup of the Republican Party 01:07 but it's made a lot of noises 01:10 and I think contributed a lot to the gridlock in Washington. 01:15 What role do you see the tea party 01:19 and that whole movement 01:20 and tendency playing in the religious liberty field? 01:24 Is it entering into it? 01:25 Well, I think it's creating instability in our country 01:30 that we haven't seen in a long time, 01:32 not since prior to the civil war 01:34 and or the civil rights movements of the 50s and 60s. 01:39 What I see is a confederate 01:42 southern takeover of the Republican Party. 01:44 Now that may sound extreme 01:46 and over the top with our listening audience. 01:49 But what I'm about to share is a certain paradigm shift 01:53 that took place in the Republican Party 01:55 starting in 1980. 01:57 In 1980 Ronald Reagan's handlers, 02:00 not Ronald Reagan himself, 02:02 I revered the guy personally, think he was a great president. 02:05 And in fact the greatest president-- 02:06 I can ask you the real-- 02:07 Greatest president in my lifetime. 02:10 Flush you out of cover. Did Ronald Reagan dye his hair? 02:13 Yes, he did and so do I. You are at least a realistic. 02:16 And so do I and I will till the day I die. 02:19 I will keep my red hair. 02:20 Now here Ronald Reagan was a very user friendly president. 02:24 I think even his political opponents didn't dislike him. 02:27 He was very beloved by both sides really 02:31 until the Iran-Contra affair came. 02:33 But in 1980 Ronald Reagan's handlers 02:37 came up with a slogan called Reagan Democrats 02:40 and it was intended to reach 02:43 the rustbelt automobile industries, 02:46 two counties particularly in Michigan 02:51 and also the entire south. 02:54 And what's interesting is it worked widely 02:56 because what they did as they invited them into their party. 03:00 It was a bold stroke, a bold move 03:02 because here the old Dominion South Democratic Party 03:07 and forgive me for saying this, 03:09 the reputation was bigoted itself 03:11 because of slavery, because of Jim Crow laws, 03:15 because of fighting the Civil Rights Movement, 03:18 Martin Luther King Jr., etcetera, etcetera. 03:20 We could go on with history. 03:21 It's very evident even though people don't like to hear it 03:24 or deal with it or face it. 03:26 And so in 1980 within five years 03:30 in going into the next election 03:33 where Ronan Reagan was elected in a major sweep 03:37 where Walter Mondale only won his home state. 03:41 And didn't it also coincide with the rise of abortion 03:44 as a political-- 03:46 Yes, yes, the Roe v. Wade helped 03:48 the rise of Jerry Falwell the more majority 03:51 who Ronald Reagan says I can't endorse you 03:54 or you can't endorse me but I endorse you. 03:57 Okay, that's what he said in the very famous speech. 04:00 But what that did is it brought the Democratic South 04:05 in about five years almost the entire south 04:07 about 70 percent of the south became Republican 04:10 instead of 70 percent Democrat 04:12 which was a huge paradigm shift. 04:14 I mean, nobody ever though that that could happen. 04:16 The party of Lincoln which was pro-civil rights, 04:19 antislavery, anti Jim Crow laws, 04:23 very pro-reconstruction 04:25 and you know late 1800s and right after the civil war. 04:29 Ulysses S. Grant, the president at that time 04:31 making war on the Caucus clan 04:33 who sought to revive the southern confederacy 04:38 and slavery and bigotry was crushed by Ulysses S. Grant 04:43 by sending their own troops-- 04:45 It's true. And so on and so forth. 04:47 Good grasp on history there. 04:48 So they suddenly come in the Republican Party 04:52 but guess what, their values come into the Republican Party. 04:55 And what are those values? Those values were this. 04:58 And that's why it's no longer in my opinion 05:00 the Republican Party in many ways because-- 05:02 Well, it has radically shifted. 05:03 Because of the emergence of the Tea Party 05:05 within the Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln. 05:08 Why do I say that? 05:10 Is because they took many years for them 05:13 to infuse us within the Republican Party 05:15 but it comes from a predominant south, 05:18 Tea Party south and that is this whole idea that, 05:22 that states rights are-- 05:24 that state rights are ultimately sovereign 05:26 over the federal government. 05:27 That states can nullify federal law at a wimp, okay. 05:31 What the constitution says in Article 6 of the constitution, 05:34 they are called the supremacy clauses. 05:36 There are two paragraphs that basically say 05:39 that federal constitution trumps 05:44 over any disputes with state law, 05:46 okay, and states cannot nullify federal law at a wimp. 05:50 Yes, the message hasn't always gotten down south. 05:53 Remember Governor Wallace on the school house steps. 05:56 But more recently chief justice-- 06:00 what's his name down in- - 06:02 Roy Moore. Roy Moore. 06:03 In phase two of his infamous political career, 06:08 he is thumbing his nose at federal law. 06:10 But to be fair we can say 06:11 this is occurring in other states 06:12 like Washington State, Colorado over the marijuana issue, 06:15 they're thumbing their nose at federal law right now. 06:18 But there has been in the same period 06:19 you defined has been a rise of different states down south 06:23 actually flying the southern flag again, 06:28 the rebel flag. 06:29 So it's been very avert. 06:31 Remember they've had debates 06:33 whether appropriately even fly it over the state house, 06:35 in Georgia I think it was. 06:38 It goes back to the debates between Thomas Jefferson 06:40 and Alexander Hamilton regarding 06:42 the constitutional make up 06:44 of what was best for the constitutional system, 06:47 what was best for Democratic Republic 06:49 and Jefferson said economically 06:52 from his agrarian philosophy versus the industrial north 06:57 and in the capitalist north with banking, 07:00 Wall Street, the national bank 07:02 and all those things that Hamilton brought us 07:05 which was the economic system that we have. 07:09 I mean, he was an economic genius. 07:10 Jefferson believed in austerity without raising revenue 07:14 which we see with the Tea Party today. 07:16 You do not see that with Lincoln who-- 07:21 Abraham Lincoln at the time 07:22 he was very Hamiltonian in his economic philosophy, 07:25 but he was very pro-civil rights, 07:28 very much marrying Jefferson, 07:29 even though Jefferson was proslavery 07:31 in terms of religious freedom which Thomas Jefferson gave us 07:35 and other aspects of civil rights 07:37 that Jefferson promoted. 07:39 So there is interesting aspects to both sides of the party 07:43 but what emerges is this began 07:46 an ultimate takeover of the Republican Party. 07:48 Not only that but the southern, 07:51 the southern part of the United States 07:53 the confederacy during the time of the civil war, 07:56 very much believed in that the idea 08:00 that the founders intended our nation 08:02 to be a Christian nation by law. 08:04 In fact if you look at the confederate 08:06 constitution during the civil war, 08:08 they said that this nation was founded by Christians, 08:11 devout Christians 08:12 and they intended this to be a Christian nation. 08:15 And so they said that we seek 08:18 to make the laws according to the Bible. 08:20 In other words, the southern confederacy 08:22 was all about establishing a theocracy. 08:26 Abraham Lincoln in the north during a civil war 08:28 was not just about freeing the slaves, 08:31 it was also about economic soundness, it was also about-- 08:35 You are into a good discussion here and I agree with you. 08:37 Now, you can take it further back. 08:39 You can trace the lineage of lot of that to Crumble's rule 08:44 and the Christian republic in England. 08:47 It took route down south, absolutely. 08:49 And Lincoln wanted to make sure that we were one government, 08:52 one government, one nation with many states. 08:56 Not many states who were independent 08:58 and can thumb their nose 08:59 at the federal government anytime they wanted. 09:00 In fact, during the time of constitutional founding, 09:03 the Britain was laughing at us 09:04 saying that we would be forever weak in a confederacy, 09:07 all right, of many states 09:09 in which you had different coinage, 09:11 different bills, different forms of money 09:16 and so forth and also this idea 09:19 that if they can thumb their nose 09:20 at federal government anytime they want, 09:22 that makes them ultimately divided, weak, 09:25 they couldn't establish a national military, 09:27 an arm standing army, a navy, etcetera, etcetera. 09:31 And so Hamilton saw these problems, 09:33 Jefferson did not envision these things. 09:34 Jefferson was weak. 09:37 He was not the strong as we like to make him ought to be. 09:39 Well, I'll be careful, I know-- 09:42 I'm prejudice. I'm prejudice. 09:45 Yes, I related to Alexander Hamilton. 09:46 I bet you're pro with Jefferson too. 09:48 Yeah, I'm very pro Jefferson 09:50 on religious freedom, absolutely. 09:51 But, you know, there's been 09:52 a lot of interesting views over the years 09:54 and one of the group that sticks in our mind 09:55 that know nothing party rule. 09:57 I mean, there's been some crazy, 09:59 very divisive years of different times, 10:02 what seems to me fairly unique about the Tea Party phenomenon 10:05 and you described very well how it's moved in 10:09 and pretty much controlling elements 10:11 of the Republican Party is the recalcitrance, 10:14 they will not budge within the party. 10:17 They forced their will. 10:18 I don't think there is a majority 10:19 but they pretty much forced their will 10:21 and they're creating, you know, gridlock in Washington. 10:25 Now, when I look at England particularly 10:27 in that period I spoke about the civil war, 10:30 something comes out of gridlock. 10:32 When parliament cannot upright what you do, 10:35 they go home and they get an army. 10:37 That's I don't know that we're that close to, 10:39 but that's really what's at play. 10:41 When government will not work 10:43 because one party will not budge, 10:47 very unpleasant things happen. 10:49 Of course, the civil war 10:51 that's really what had happened. 10:52 The south would, you know, would not budge on slavery 10:56 in spite of the Missouri compromise. 10:58 It would not budge. 11:00 Where the Tea Party has hammered away 11:02 very successfully and so do Thomas Jefferson. 11:04 Thomas Jefferson was very anti big government 11:08 and so is the Tea Party 11:10 and they hammered it away at that 11:11 and that was-- has sustained them 11:14 in terms of their popularity. 11:16 Even during the congressional elections recently last year 11:19 they stormed back in the Congress 11:21 taking both the senate 11:22 and the house for that very reason. 11:25 But they are concerned about the budget statement 11:29 not political flaws. 11:30 If they're concerned about budgetary problems 11:34 that will cause the country to collapse 11:36 because they won't pass a new budget, 11:38 you start to wonder whether this is a death wish. 11:42 But purposeful gridlock in the name 11:48 of forcing the government to size down 11:50 is very popular in the minds of the American public 11:53 and that has what has sustained them. 11:55 You may think that they look like fools 11:57 but in fact, poll and poll, poll after poll has shown 12:01 that that actually resonates with the American people. 12:03 Not just voters in the red states 12:05 but some middle of the voters 12:07 in the Midwest states have resonated with that. 12:10 And that has been hugely popular 12:13 that they are the ones resisting 12:15 the big giant federal government 12:18 that's so intrusive into our lives. 12:21 Well, you know, none of us know the future absolutely, 12:23 certainly not on politics but it seems to me 12:26 if they have their way 12:27 it will be Greece all over again 12:29 on this side of the Atlantic. 12:30 But there is good news. 12:32 I really believe with this paradigm shift, 12:34 there is good news on the other side 12:36 and maybe not good news but there is a equally 12:40 prophetic shift on the left with the Democrats. 12:43 And I hope you viewers are still watching 12:45 after this discussion. 12:46 It's very complex. Yes. 12:48 But now to the other side 12:51 and we can explain that after the break. 12:53 Let's talk about how this impacts religious freedom-- 12:55 Yes, we will. In views of liberty. 12:58 Stay with us we'll be back after the short break 13:00 to continue this complicated but very important discussion. |
Revised 2015-06-11