Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Iowa Senate Candidates: Federal Judges Must Follow Biblical Law

Three out of four Iowa Republican candidates for U.S. Senate said Friday they would block any federal judge appointee who did not have a “biblical view of justice” or follow “natural law” as handed down from God.
The discussion came up at a forum hosted by The Family Leader, an organization thatlavished money on a 2010 campaign to oust the Iowa justices who ruled that marriage equality was required by Iowa’s constitution.

When asked by moderator and right-wing commentator Erick Erickson what criteria they would use in confirming federal judges, the candidates tried to one-up each other to emphasize the importance of Biblical law. Sam Clovis, who recently asserted that Obama remains in office solely because Republicans are afraid of impeaching a black president, said any judicial nominees must be able to “explain to me natural law and natural rights.” Matt Whitaker went even farther, specifying that judges must be “people of the faith” with “a biblical view of justice.” State Sen. Joni Ernst stressed that judges must have an “understanding where the Constitution came from and our laws, and they all did come from God.”
Watch it via Right Wing Watch:
“Biblical law” is often used as a code for opposition to marriage equality among social conservatives, and to promote a patriarchal family structure with one man and one woman.
Despite the Republican Party’s efforts to reach out to a more moderate audience, this year’s crop of Republican primary candidates nationwide seem to be competing to hold the most extreme views. All of the GOP Senate candidates in North Carolina and Colorado have denied climate change exists. Georgia’s Senate race has also been characterized by candidates refusing to support any bill that does not fit “Judeo-Christian Biblical principles,” creationists denying evolution, and multiple calls to impeach President Obama.
Original Article
Source: thinkprogress.org/
Author: AVIVA SHEN 

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