The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party

Tax cuts have been a signature issue of Bush's presidency, even as unemployment rises, the cost of war increases, and the government incurs heavy deficit spending. His cuts would cost the government an estimated $6 trillion over the next twenty years. The Texas Republican Party Platform, 2002, calls for the elimination of income tax, inheritance tax, gift tax, capital gains, corporate income tax, payroll tax, and property tax along with the IRS. As the federal government becomes starved for funds, many of its functions would be taken over by churches. Bush's Faith Based Initiative combined with massive tax cuts is leading toward a transfer of the federal government to religious institutions.

The Environment

The Bush administration is waging a virtual war on the environment enabling industries to decimate forests, divert water, pollute national parks, and release CO2 and toxins into the atmosphere. His administration joined the automobile industry in a lawsuit against California challenging its authority to set emission standards tougher than those of the federal government.

Reproductive Rights and The War Against Women

Just twenty-two days after taking office, Bush re-imposed restrictions known as the "Global Gag Rule." This policy restricts foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. family planning funds from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services, lobby their own governments for abortion law reform, or even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion.

On Jan. 30, 2001, Robert Scheer wrote in The Los Angeles Times: "Fully one-third of the world's workforce is effectively unemployed, and the United Nations estimates that 500 million new jobs must be created just to accommodate new arrivals in the job market over the next decade. Developing economies do not stand a chance of meeting that demand without aggressive population control. Yet Bush has chosen to cut funding for the very organizations, most notably Planned Parenthood, that work hardest to make birth control information available throughout the world."

On Feb. 2, 2001, Anthony Lewis wrote in The New York Times: "What it means on the ground is this: A woman who has AIDS comes to a clinic somewhere in Africa or Asia. Drugs to prevent transmission of the disease to newborn infants are not available there. She desperately wants to avoid bearing the child. But the doctor or nurse cannot advise her on a safe legal abortion if the clinic wants to keep its American funds."

Bush has chosen anti-choice extremists for key positions such as Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services. His administration has named a fetus a 'human being' preparing the way to argue that abortion is 'murder'. And Bush's nominees to the federal courts are consistently anti-choice.

From the International Women's Health Coalition: "Internationally and domestically, in our courts and in our schools, at the UN and on Capitol Hill, it is no exaggeration to say that the White House is conducting a stealth war against women. This war has devastating consequences for social and economic development, democracy, and human rights—and its effects will be felt by women and girls worldwide. "Bush's Other War: The Assault on Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights" provides a list of relevant international and domestic actions, nominations, and appointments thus far under the Bush administration." Go to this web site of the International Women's Health Coalition. Type in search "Bush's Other War." Click Here.

Title IX, a law that led to a revolution for girls, especially in sports is now being watered down. Read the New York Times Editorial, February 17, 2003, Click Here.

Gun Control

The Religious Right opposes any form of gun control. The House of Representatives, dominated by the Religious Right, pased a bill that immunizes gun makers and sellers from liability. "No one ever believed that legislation this bad could pass," said Mike Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Click Here. President Bush has indicated that if the bill passes the Senate, he'll sign it.

The Foreign and Military Policy

Bush's road map for peace in the Middle East, is not consistent with the goals of the Christian Zionist movement that favors an expanded Israel. Bush's seemingly lack of concern about the dangers of nuclear war, however, makes one wonder what he believes about Biblical Prophesy.

From Popular Science magazine:: "[T]he Pentagon has begun to consider the previously unthinkable: developing specially designed nuclear weapons for attacking buried caves and tunnels.... Such a move would represent the most significant rewriting of U.S. nuclear strategy in decades, because its intended purpose violates the two cornerstones of current policy: to use nuclear weapons only as a last resort and never to use them against non-nuclear nations.."Click Here.

Anti-Internationalism

The Texas Republican Party Platform, 2002, calls for rescinding United States membership in the United Nations and removing the United Nations from US soil. Pat Robertson, in his book The Millennium depicts the United Nations as a Satanic plot to take control of the world.

The country is paying dearly for Bush's anti-internationalism in Iraq both in human lives and in expense. Bush has consistently refused to cooperate with efforts of other countries to sign international treaties. He won't support the Kyoto treaty to halt global warming, and his administration is undermining what has been the most successful environmental treaty: the Montreal Protocol.

The following link from The Nation titled "Christian Soldiers on the March" gives a full report on Bush's anti-internationalism. Click Here.

Influence of Religious Right on Bush Administration Appointments

Attorney General John Ashcroft was the first highly visible Bush nomination. Ashcroft, member of the Federalist Society and former member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, changed a custom followed by every President of the past fifty years, Republican and Democrat, when he stopped using the American Bar Association to review judicial nominations. Ashcroft's extreme religious beliefs and attacks on civil liberties are well known.

Morton Blackwell, Executive Director of the Council for National Policy Education Foundation, told U.S News and World Report that in the fall of 1999, a group of conservative leaders met with then-candidate Bush seeking a promise that if elected, he would appoint movement conservatives to his cabinet. Blackwell said, "He is keeping that promise" and "John Ashcroft is an example of that."

The most far-reaching impact will come from Bush's judicial nominations to the federal benches who will be serving lifetime appointments. See Topic on judiciary for information about Bush's judicial nominations.

Bush has nominated W. David Hager to the powerful Food and Drug Administration's panel on women's health policy. Hager believes women should turn to the Bible and Christ for healing and joined a Christian Medical Associate's drive calling on the FDA to reverse its approval of RU-486, the 'abortion pill.'

President Bush is allegedly considering J. Robert Brame III, board member of Reconstructionist group, American Vision, as a member of the National Labor Relations Board.

Disregard for Democracy

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Bush's presidency is its apparent disregard for normal functioning of democracy. His efforts to circumvent environmental statutes laid down by NEPA demonstrate an unwillingness to abide by laws drafted by Congress and signed by a former president.

His administration continuously subverts branches of government by refusing to supply Congress with documents they need to carry out their investigative duties. Vice President Cheney has denied the General Accounting Office of Congress access to any documents concerning the development of the Bush Energy policy. Bush refuses to release Miguel Estrada's memos to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Since Estrada has no record of written legal opinions, the Committee has no basis with which to judge him.

"George W. Bush has not told the truth about a great many matters -- WMD in Iraq, tax cuts, global warming, homeland security, Social Security, the deficit, his own past and political practices, and more. We asked David Corn to pull together a sampling of lies and distortions from the voluminous examples in his new book, The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception (Crown Publishers) -- you can read more about the book at www.bushlies.com." Click Here.

MoveOn is keeping a list of Bush's misstatements. Click Here.

Bush subverted the intentions of Congress when the program for Faith Based Initiatives fizzled. Congress demanded that there be no discrimination in hiring, and that all religions be included. One of the Bush administration's first actions in 2003 was to eliminate the federal statute that requires government supported charities to not discriminate in hiring. In the year 2002, the White House by-passed Congress's legislative functions. The Department of Health and Human Services misused funds allocated by Congress by setting up a Compassion Capitol fund of $30 million to distribute to religious charities.

Under the guise of providing health care benefits to poor pregnant women, the Bush administration has named a fetus a human being, thus flouting Roe V Wade and the authority of the courts.

The story about outing a CIA agent reveals how the Bush team uses intimidation and threats to silence people. Former diplomat Joe Wilson wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times on July 6, 2003. In late July the CIA sent a memo to the Justice Department asking for an investigation. There was no response, and the media was "mysteriously" silent on the subject. In late September, the CIA sent a second request for an investigation. The Justice Department did nothing until September 26. This timeline suggests an administration trying avoid dealing with a blatant federal crime committed by one of its members -- and to silence the media in the process. Fortunately, we still have a free press and the story is not going away. (although you'll hear very little on FOX news)

This feature on the story from TomPaine quotes John DiIulio, a domestic policy advisor to the White House, about Bush's political advisor, Karl Rove. Rove is a key suspect in this crime. "Some staff members, senior and junior, are awed and cowed by Karl's real or perceived powers. They self-censor lots for fear of upsetting him, and, in turn, few of the president's top people routinely tell the president what they really think if they think that Karl will be brought up short in the bargain. Karl is enormously powerful, maybe the single most powerful person in the modern, post-Hoover era ever to occupy a political advisor post near the Oval Office." Click Here.

"The Bush Administration Adopts a Worse-than-Nixonian Tactic: The Deadly Serious Crime Of Naming CIA Operatives" by John Dean is published in FindLaw. Click Here.

Ralph Nader

A few months before the 2000 election, a New York Times editorial claimed that Al Gore would win by a comforatble margin if Ralph Nader stepped out of the race. Michael Ventura, who is no fan of the Democratic Party, writes for the Austin Chronicle, "I cannot imagine a worse fate for a man of Ralph Nader's convictions and record. His misreading of George W. Bush; his exaggeration, for political gain, of the similarities between the present Republican and Democratic parties; and his misuse of the trust of the Greens -- are a direct cause of the gutting of our Constitution, a rampage against nature, and the suffering of many millions of his fellow creatures. I don't wonder he can't admit it." Click Here.