Hillbilly Huck and his Theocratic friends.

This blog has argued that Hillbilly Huckabee is the most dangerous candidate running for president. Sure Giuliani has strong authoritarian tendencies but Huckabee is actually far worse. Giuliani isn’t the social authoritarian that he now pretends to be but Huckabee is. Huckabee is George Bush the Sequel: He’s Back, He Bigger and He’s Serious.

Amongst the fundamentalist community in the United States there is a lot of fringe groups. The fundamentalist mind is one attracted to an array of lunatic ideas. Often it is not merely theological delusions from which they suffer. They fall for a plethora of hoaxes, con jobs, urban legends and lies. Nonsense about conspiracies, the “North American Union”, the “Amero”, the “NAFTA Superhighway” and such intellectual bilge is quite popular with these people.

They are often attracted to “secret” knowledge of one form or another. That is they believe they have knowledge about the world that intellectuals, the educated and experts don’t have. They know how the “Illuminati” is running things and anyone who says otherwise is either part of the conspiracy or just stupid. Any straw that can be clutched to prove their delusionary fantasies is grabbed enthusiastically. And if the straws prove far too thin they announce that the lack of proof is itself proof showing how vast and powerful the conspiracy actually is. And the fundie types often link this directly to Old Nick himself. (Devils and spirits are another form of secret knowledge that they love to espouse.)

And among this circus of barbarity and raw superstitition there stands out one group, which to me, is the most dangerous and deadly of the patchwork of crazies that occupy the Bedlam of fundamentalism. That group is the Christian Reconstructionists. These are now just fundamentalist nutters but nutters with a thirst for power over others.

Born amongst the radical Calvinists these individuals hold to a very different theology than the normal fundie inmate. You’ve heard the story about how fundamentalists want the End Times so Jesus will return. A lot of people think that theology is dangerous -- and it can be. But the Reconstructionists hold a slightly different view.

They believe that Christians must take over the world and dominate it and impose a rigid Calvinist morality on everyone, by force of law. This “kingdom” must be created by the point of the gun on earth before Jesus will return. So one branch of fundamentalism does believe that chaos and destruction is necessary for the end of times to come about. But this other branch believes that they must take over the political structures and impose a theocracy on everyone before Jesus will return.

For them the return of Christ relies upon them taking control of the state and imposing theocracy.

Now if you read the Reconstructionists like Rousas Rushdoony, Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, Gary DeMar, and others you will discover the sort of hell they intend to impose in the name of heaven. They insist that Old Testament morality must be imposed. This includes executing sinners like adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, disobedient children, followers of false gods (non Christians), worshippers of graven images (by which they mean Catholics) and so on. They may disagree among each other as to how many moral crimes deserve capital punishment but the numbers can run from just over a dozen to as many forty.

Some of these fanatics even go so far as to pretend they support libertarianism. Gary North is one of them. But as “Christian libertarian” David Chilton explained: “Laissez-faire, in the Christian sense, means that the state enforces God’s laws, and leaves men free to make choices.” Of course that first part about enforcing God’s law means that if you make the wrong choice they will execute you.

Gary North has tried to pretend this is libertarian by arguing that in a Reconstructionist theocracy it is the general public who executes you through stoning, like the Taliban did, and thus the government technically is still small and limited but the general population is now the excutioner of sinners. Hardly libertarian by any streatch of the imagination.

As Chilton writes: “The Christian goal for the world is the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics, in which EVERY area of life of redeemed and placed uner the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the rule of God’s law. Rushdoony, North’s father-in-law, was the modern founder of this doctrine which became popular in Christian Right-wing circles.

Reconstructionist Mark Rushdoony said: “Parents will be required to bring their incorrigible children before the judge and if convicted have them stoned to death.” He even argued that under theocracy “the divorce problem will be solved ... because any spouse guilty of capital crimes will be swiftly executed, thus freeing the other party to remarry.” This sounds like one of the fanatical Taliban mullahs.

North is quite upfront with his desire to strip non-Christian of liberty and rights. He says that Reconstructionists will use “religious liberty” for themselves until they are able to “get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God.” He says this thing of “turning the other cheek” is temporary and should only be used while the Reconstructionists lack power. But “when Christians are given power in civil affairs, the situation is different and another rule is imposed.” North bragged that if secularists “fully understood the long-term threat to their civilization that our ideas pose, [they] would be wise to take steps to crush us.”

That’s just a surface view of the dangers that the Reconstructionists pose. So why is this important? Look at the following fund raiser for Mike Huckabee, the fundamentalist Baptist minister who many think will be the Theopublican nominee for the presidency. You will note that this fund raiser was paid for the Huckabee campaign and and that it was being held in the home of Dr. Steve Hotze, 5513 Russett Dr., Houston, Texas. Huckabee himself was there and Hotze was his host. Who is Steve Hotze? (Note: To enlarge the Huckabee invitation click on it.)

Other than being something of a medical con man, in my opinion, he is a Reconstructionist, and a prominent one at that. There certainly is some criticism of candidates over who donates to their campaigns. Certianly if someone donates to a candidate it is a valid question to ask what it is about the candidate that attracts certain kind of donors. Huckabee has gone much further than merely accept donations from some odious individuals. His campaign is paying to hold fund raisers in the homes of these people. That is more than an odious individual endorsing Huckabee that is Huckabee offering his own endorsement in return. If you want to hear Mr. Hotze preaching his Reconstructionist theories click here.

The Coalition on Revivial is one such outfit of Reconstructionists and Hotze is a supporter and signatory on their manifesto. They make it clear that they believe Biblical views apply to all “spheres of law, government, economics, business, education, arts and communition, medicine, psychology, and science.” Hotze is closely allied with Reconstructionist Gary DeMar and is on the board of DeMar’s “Worldview” magazine.

Another one of the sponsors of the Huckabee fundraiser, who is listed on the Huckabee invitation by name, is Rev. Rich Scarborough. Here is a film clip on Scarborough and his goals of imposing theocratic doctrines through politics.



What we are seeing is that the most fanatical, irrational, theocratically minded of the Far Right are flocking to Rev. Huckabee. And Hillybilly Huck is embracing them because he’s one of them. He is not merely an advocate of Big Government like King George has been. He is wants to go much further.