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I would put it somewhat like this.

Sure, the Republican Party is the "party of religion". But only just ONE religion -- an ultra-conservative Judeo-Christian theism.

OTOH, the Democratic Party is the party of ALL THE OTHER RELIGIONS that (incidentally) Republicans want to stifle, suppress, shut down or at the very least subordinate to their own, as well as of non-theists and atheists.

Liberal Christians, liberal Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc, etc -- though no less religious than Republicans -- will not find a warm welcome to today's Republican Party, nor will non-theists or atheists.

(Matt Taibbi is not on my radar.)

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Love this description of Haidt. He has some things of value to say about the different bases of values that people use to make moral decisions. Where I disagree with him is the relativist basis that he seems to operate out of. Moral decision making is always contextual. Some contexts demand different values than others. I think Haidt's born-again conservatism is regrettable.

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So Taibbi missed Obama's eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, with its meditation on grace in the face of extreme adversity? He missed that Hillary taught Bible studies and spoke often of how her Methodist faith calls her to service? How did he miss John Lewis's memorial service? George Floyd's? They were on TV. He needs to interview William Barber. Maybe Barber could convert him, or failing that, at least teach him a little about love and grace.

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Prof. Jonathan Haidt, a favorite "conservative whisperer" of the media, has also pushed a form of this concept. When conservatives advocate for bans on abortion and same-sex marriage, for example, they are doing so out of adherence to Moral Foundations rooted in hallowed religious tradition. When liberals advocate egalitarian views he says we do so as a trendy woke "false religion". Like Taibbi, Haidt ignores the rich plurality of beliefs on the left to present a view of moral motivations centering white male Christian hegemony, which Haidt clearly likes while Taibbi pretends not to.

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Since the GOP co-opted the anti-abortion issue, they have almost guaranteed the votes of religious groups that feel morally bound to fight for the right-to-birth, which is not an "ancient" tradition or even mentioned in the Bible. Religious and GOP leaders have become co-dependent because the GOP is thrilled to get a free pass, which it uses to reward its rich patrons, and some conservative Christian leaders have backed themselves into a corner by focusing singly on abortion so that they can't really confront the GOP. The demonization of same-sex marriage is more recent, and the GOP latched onto it for the same manipulative reason. In the end, it's all about two big white-male-dominated institutions maintaining their power, not about morality or religion and certainly not about Christ.

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Interesting analysis, agree mostly - BUT Big Tent or not that is no excuse for the ridiculous , pathetic messaging from the Democrats. This year was slam dunk and except for Biden Democrats failed on a rather epic scale. Why ? Horrible messaging - Democrats convey weakness and weakness wins in exactly ZERO politics. Meanwhile the GOP IS WEAK but conveys strength and clarity. The GOP spots the jugular and goes for the jugular every single time...Dems bleed out while trying to explain some bad slogan liberals have fallen in love with.

Big tent is no excuse for not attacking the GOP's jugular. The aim should be to hobble the GOP , then defeat it. That is not nice but , trust me, THAT is ALL the GOP ever does.

There is simply no reason the Democrats can't convey direct, attacking, dismantling messages at Republicans. Like it or not American politics is a war game but Democrats act as it is a board game.

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Tim Wise wrote a compelling op-ed in the WaPo 18 months ago saying that the way to defeat Trump was to make people choose whether or not they want to identify as a racist. I think the Biden campaign adopted this strategy well with their "Battle for the Soul of the Nation" slogan, and only talked about issues to mollify the insistent Left. Wise wrote this article well before there was a clear frontrunner: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/07/23/how-do-you-beat-trump-same-way-we-beat-david-duke/

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Taibbi (somehow still taken seriously by SOME people after #MeToo accusations) is ignoring huge parts of the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, to name a few of the Christian faiths that are actively involved in faith-based social and economic justice movements throughout the country. Yoga and meditation (totally lefty practices!) are faith-based. Even a group of Amish Christians showed up at a Black Lives Matter protest. In my neighborhood, most Jewish families belong to a synagogue and observe traditions such as bar/bat mitzvah. My Unitarian Universalist faith calls out the democratic process as one of our seven core beliefs. That the Right has captured a certain part of fundamentalist Christianity over social issues is one of the tragedies of our time; read Frank Schaeffer's story about how and why that happened. I think it is sad to raise kids without a faith identity, and I think it is part of what fuels the "my own interest", "win at all costs" individualistic and selfish political culture we live in.

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