Posted on 07/27/2016 7:04:40 AM PDT by Kaslin
The primetime airing of remarks of billionaire technology entrepreneur Peter Thiel at the Republican National Convention was no accident.
Thiel was given a starring role at the convention to make some things clear. That although lip service may be paid in the party platform to traditional, biblical values and opposition to gay marriage, this is really no longer what the GOP is about.
Thiel brought his credentials as a high-tech billionaire to the stage to announce to the world that he is gay. In this, those organizing the convention told the world that, despite what the platform says, Thiel represents a new Republican Party.
Let's have lots of new technology and growth and stop the "fake culture wars," said Thiel.
"When I was a kid," he said, "the great debate was about the Soviet Union. And we won. Now we are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom."
But let's recall that the Soviet Union was defeated under the leadership of President Reagan.
The culture wars that Thiel calls "fake" were not fake to Reagan.
In March 1983, President Reagan spoke to the National Association of Evangelicals and delivered what became known as the "Evil Empire" speech.
He referred to communism as "the focus of evil in the modern world."
"Yes, let us pray," said President Reagan, "for the salvation of all those living in totalitarian darkness -- pray they will discover the joy of knowing God."
The secret to America's success lies in Silicon Valley, Thiel proclaimed.
But this is not what Reagan saw.
Reagan quoted Alexis de Tocqueville,
who wrote in the early 19th century, "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and genius of America. America is good. And if America ceases to good, America will cease to be great."
Reagan, of course, was a great exponent of the importance of free markets and limited government. But he also knew the vital importance of biblical morality to be truly free.
He also quoted William Penn, saying, "If we will not be governed by God, we will be governed by tyrants."
And this is exactly what is happening.
Religious freedom is under daily threat by wealthy secular humanists like Thiel, who use their wealth to force their values on the whole nation.
PayPal, the firm that Thiel founded, cancelled plans to expand into North Carolina, costing the state an estimated 400 jobs, because of North Carolina's law requiring that bathrooms be used only by those of the biological sex for which the bathroom is designated.
Now the NBA has announced that it is pulling its All-Star game out of Charlotte because of the law.
The secular humanist values that have grown increasingly strong over the last half-century are widely understood to be at the root of black economic and social problems today.
Yet, the NBA, more than 75 percent of whose players are black, somehow thinks they are helping the country by using economic power to undermine traditional values.
According to the American Enterprise Institute, the percentage of American households headed by married couples dropped from 78 percent in 1980 (when Reagan was elected president) to 66 percent in 2012. They estimate that median income of families with children would be 44 percent higher today if the incidence of married parenthood today were the same as 1980.
Peter Thiel and the Republicans he represents may believe that America can grow and be prosperous without biblical values that strengthen the American family. But it would be unprecedented in history and certainly is a view that departs from the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan.
I did RTFA and clearly, the final paragraph dumps on Thiel and by connection, Trump and the ‘new’ GOP. It’s preachy, holier than thou and utter crap. KMA
He pretends there is no contest. We'll have to wait and see if his naivete is fake or not.
I never said ignore them! I just said they are not key matters for this years and most national elections. You make the election about abortion or homosexual rights and I guarantee you will lose the election. Simple as that. We’ve seen it time and again. Focus on issues that are winnable. Address the others where and when they can be won or nudged along. We need Trump to win, not be a martyr.
What does Cheney’s daughter have to do with this? How do you know they were on stage in this convention? I watched the convention and I sure did not see them.
But they are key matters. That’s the facade of the speech—to pretend they aren’t.
It might take a while for a newbie to figure out that the poster of an article is almost always not the author of an article, but after about 24 seconds most have it figured out.
Freegards
______________________________
Free people will determine the culture of this great nation.
All these “laws” passed by the liberal pukes in DC, from abortion to gay marriage are intended to divide us.
We first need our FREEDOMS back to once again regain a moral society. It is not up to the President to fight the culture wars, but to help ensure The Peoples Right to live as they wish.
Freegards
______________________________
Free people will determine the culture of this great nation.
All these “laws” passed by the liberal pukes in DC, from abortion to gay marriage are intended to divide us.
We first need our FREEDOMS back to once again regain a moral society. It is not up to the President to fight the culture wars, but to help ensure The Peoples Right to live as they wish.
No, they are not key matters. Seriously, do you want to win the election and save America from Clinton or do you want to push an agenda that will lose the election and hand over the keys to Clinton? I’m all for a discussion on what to do personally, locally, and nationally on these issues but this is not the time or place. Consider even the Republican primary, Santorum lost immediately, Lyn’ Ted lost spectularly. The evangelical vote when 80% to Trump. He knows what is important this year, what is important at the moment. Don’t mess with that by trying to inject agendas that will lose. This is not the time and place. Better to get members of congress elected that will address them (and not simply lie about it and do differently once elected).
William Penn was absolutely right.
Peter Thiel is a very smart guy good at spotting trends.
The thing to do is to find a way to make the two work together. There is no going back tech wise, but there is the idea of being guided by wisdom in making these unimaginably brilliant tools useful servants of humanity. Wisdom is what Silicon Valley lacks and the wisdom tradition of the Bible would go a long way toward getting them back on track and away from all the bubbles.
We are not a theocracy, and Christianity was born in the cosmopolitan Roman empire. The Roman empire, for its part, did quite well until it became a state mandated religion, after which it declined, was broken, and the dark ages ensued.
Let’s hope that Mr. Thiel, the party, and the country learn from Rome’s example. I am hopeful, after all, the state-sponsored Godless groupthink called PC is a thing both Thiel and Trump are united against. We don’t need any more tokenism. We are full-to-the-brim of token gestures, from hashtag campaigns (instead of rescues of those young ladies in Africa), to poverty porn tours by the rich which is somehow equated as “doing their part”.
Why, its almost as though PC culture is really a manifestation of superstition that relies heavily on sympathetic magic!
Don’t be naive. The Dem party will destroy your life, and make it culturally horrible.
“It is not up to the President to fight the culture wars, but to help ensure The Peoples Right to live as they wish.”
What if it is someone’s wish to not be forced to let men into the woman’s exclusive areas that they own? Seems like it’s a pretty reasonable and common sense wish. Doesn’t seem like there is anything fake or outrageous about it to me, beyond this Thiel guy bizarrely labelling it as such.
Freegards
Reagan started that with his illegal alien amnesty in the 80s. There are lots of things politicians have done to destroy our lives and make things culturally “horrible”. Let’s fix them one at a time. First, elect good leaders like Trump. You do support Trump, correct? You do want him to win, correct? Or, would you rather put a stake in the ground for your pet issue and watch him lose, satisfied you pushed, but in the end lost on your pet issue? I don’t mean to demean the issue, any issue, but seriously, do you support Trump to win or want to set him up to lose? Your choice.
I think Reagan more paid lip service to the cultural side, but you can tell that being in Hollywood, that he and Nancy knew a lot of gay people and befriended them. Liberace is one example.
The last I read Homosexuals were 2 to 3 percent of the population. I’m a conservative and a Christian and I’m 77 years old. I’ve never understood this preoccupation with gays in the Republican party. The Bible says it is a sin and I believe it. It never stopped me from loving my lesbian niece. I haven’t seen anywhere where Christ commanded me to hate Homosexual people. I just love pundits who lecture me on my faith. /sarc
I see gays as sad defective people. But from a civil rights perspective they have every right to their pursuit of happiness. On the other hand I really don’t want my kids to be influenced by them. In the end my kids will have to find their own way. How will I respond if they tell me they are gay? I have no idea.
Borders, Language, Culture. In that order. Eye on the ball and get that wall built.
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