Tom Tancredo Quotes

In the latter part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, one of the tactics of conservatives was to accuse liberal candidates and office holders of being un-American, unpatriotic, and disloyal to the country. The tactic goes back to the beginning of the nation when Jefferson and the Democratic Republicans claimed the Federalists were un-American--monarchists and Anglophiles. In the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy attacked President Truman, Secretary of State Acheson, Secretary of the Army Stevenson and many others for “un-Americanism.” Even wounded war hero, paraplegic, Senator Max Cleland was accused by Republicans a of being unpatriotic which led to his defeat at the polls. So accusing the President of being un-American, was that unique an act even though it shocked most Americans.

This was a very important historical quotation. In 1928 Al Smith, the Governor of New York, was the Democratic Candidate for President. He was the first Roman Catholic to run for the Presidency for a major party. He narrowly lost and the anti-Catholic sentiment of much of the country was one of the major reasons, Jones was one of the many Protestant religious leaders who were virulently opposed to a Roman Catholic in the White House. The analogy of a saloon on every corner was very important at the time as the United States had Prohibition, and alcohol had been Jones’ major issue beore then. The result was the election of Herbert Hoover and the subsequent Great Depression.

The sexual mores were very different then and separate beds were very common, especially among the more “proper” upper class. When this was written it was still illegal in some states to buy or sell contraceptives, and there were a few state laws regulating the position and method of sexual intercourse.

Lambert’s quotation is a classic example of some religious extremists who honestly believe that if a government does not legally prohibit something that their faith believes is a sin that the government is firmly endorsing that behavior rather than being neutral about it. So they believe that by making homosexual marriage legal, the government is brain washing the community including children to “believe in” the behavior as a very wholesome and beneficial behavior. This would imply that by allowing alcohol to be sold in the state, the government is brainwashing citizens including children to drink. Or that the state is endorsing adultery because it is no longer a crime. Most of the Christian Religious Extremists are very selective over what sins the government should prohibit. Children who do not honor and respect their parents is actually a capital crime in the Bible, but there is no serious religious effort to criminalize the behavior or to all fathers to execute their misbehaving children.

Over time, this has been a good description of the difference between the Democratic and Republican parties.

There were some arch conservatives who saw pluralism and multiculturalism as a negative—something to be avoided. Some were white supremacists and others just felt that having a uniform national culture was better.

The Republican Party at the time was in the midst of a takover by Donald Trump, the nativists and teh Tea Party. Their world view and their view of the proper role the U. S. in teh word, was almost diametically opposite to that of the Republican Party of the previous 120 years and still held by many of the elected Republican Office holders where only a few would express their real view for fear of a primary election challange from the right or losing the support of the Trump voters which might lead to their defeat by Democrats.