Move over TX and NC...CA is coming!

[EyeQueue]

And is bringing the batshit.

Candidate for California Congress Mimi Walters funded by group that advocates the integration of Biblical law into the US law code:

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/07/03/2252231/mimi-walters-biblical-law/

How in the @#$% can someone who is very explicit in saying they are for incorporating Biblical law not immediately disqualified from running for office? Aren't we supposed to be protected from state-sponsored religion here? How on earth is this not a violation of the Establishment Clause? :pull-hair:

Those in California and in her potential district, please spread the word among family and friends to NOT vote for her.

ETA: Not to mention her extra dose of hypocrisy. According to the Biblical laws she so desires to have integrated with US laws, she wouldn't be able to run for office to begin with. So, yet another real-life Serena Joy. :angry-banghead:

[RachelB]

Blech. I do not know anyone in Orange County to warn away from her, but I am contemplating making a donation to her opponent.

[Lillybee]

She may be a shoo in. OC is extremely conservative.

[EyeQueue]

She may be a shoo in. OC is extremely conservative.

I know. :( The headship has a number of far right-wing bagger types living down there.

[hoipolloi]

She seems to forget that biblical law (as enunciated by Rushdooney et al.) says that teh wimmenz do NOT hold public office.

[Coconut Flan]

The only friend I have in OC would never give a thought to voting for her.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

She seems to forget that biblical law (as enunciated by Rushdooney et al.) says that teh wimmenz do NOT hold public office.

Indeed. My first thought was "oh, the Prairie Muffin would love this!" but then I remembered she pointed out that women can't hold office in explaining why Sarah Palin was a problem. (She didn't think women should VOTE, either.)

[Full enough quiver]

Just when I thought this place couldn't possibly suck any more. I moved to OC (kicking and screaming) from Arkansas, and I can't believe how much more conservative it is here. People here are some of the most shallow assholes I've ever met. My husband says that attitude is why I haven't made any friends. I beg to differ. It's totally the conservative asshole factor.

[ADoyle90815]

She may be a shoo in. OC is extremely conservative.

Exactly. After all, the right wing nut and major asshole Dana Rohrabacher keeps getting re-elected to the House from there.

[anjulibai]

People are often really surprised by how conservative California is. It's stereotyped to be a bastion of loony extreme liberalism, but it isn't. Sure, we have two Dem senators, but we* also produced Nixon and Reagan, and shot down gay marriage. There are liberal areas, but there are some super, super conservative areas. People forget we have a large, rural, farming population. We're not all hippies and Hollywood types.

*Native California here, but sadly don't live there anymore.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

I keep trying to tell myself that this wave of extremism is a manifestation of the last dying breaths of far-right conservatism in the United States as social progressivism makes it increasingly irrelevant. Unfortunately, they are having much more success right now than that hypothesis would merit.

[EyeQueue]

People are often really surprised by how conservative California is. It's stereotyped to be a bastion of loony extreme liberalism, but it isn't. Sure, we have two Dem senators, but we* also produced Nixon and Reagan, and shot down gay marriage. There are liberal areas, but there are some super, super conservative areas. People forget we have a large, rural, farming population. We're not all hippies and Hollywood types.

*Native California here, but sadly don't live there anymore.

That was precisely my shock when I moved here about 10 years ago. I started working on my Ph.D. and teaching at a university in Northern California, and I was completely taken aback by how conservative the students were. And I'm from Arizona! :lol:

I can't tell you how many papers I've graded where students have used the Bible as secondary sources in support of various arguments--and several got very indignant when I tried to explain that the Bible is a primary source and not a peer-reviewed secondary source of the type I was requiring them to use in their papers. And I had one girl who was really upset with my explanation of how medieval worshipers regarded saints and relics. :roll:

What I did not take into account when moving out here was that huge Central Valley area where it's all rural and farmy--but what's up with OC, then? How did they get so far to the right?

[EyeQueue]

I keep trying to tell myself that this wave of extremism is a manifestation of the last dying breaths of far-right conservatism in the United States as social progressivism makes it increasingly irrelevant. Unfortunately, they are having much more success right now than that hypothesis would merit.

This would be my hope, also, but they seem to wield a disproportionate amount of power. There are people commenting on one of the community blogs here in my relatively liberal (although there are increasing numbers of conservatives moving in) town who make comments like how they welcome someone like good ole Joe McCarthy to have a good ole fashioned Communist hunt, how all the liberals need to be rooted out, and laws passed so no liberal can hold office.

I'm afraid things could get a lot worse before they get any better--like with all these oppressive anti-abortion laws that states are passing left and right. And good luck getting elected to higher office if you don't pay lip service to the religious fundies. I wonder just how long it will take for an atheist or agnostic to get elected to the US Presidency? I don't even think there are "out" atheists or agnostics in the US Congress (are there?).

[Megan]

OC is super rich and they protect their own interests politically. I also wouldn't be surprised if discriminatory laws helped keep it conservative for a long time, though I'm not sure about specific ones in that area (I'm guessing codes similar to the ones Tarzana in the SFV had. Tarzana's housing contracts had discriminatory racial codes for a long time - you had to be white to buy there).

[Megan]

I don't even think there are "out" atheists or agnostics in the US Congress (are there?).

Pete Stark was an open atheist in the House of Representatives. Not sure if there are currently any open atheists in Congress, but I doubt it.