This is why we can't have nice things:
If slavery were so God-awful, why didn’t Jesus or Paul condemn it, why was it in the Constitution and why wasn’t there a war before 1861?
The South has always stood by the Constitution and limited government. When one attacks the Confederate Battle Flag, he is certainly denouncing these principles of government as well as Christianity.
This bit of genius comes to us courtesy of one Loy Mauch, a state representative running for reelection in Arkansas, endorsed by the National Rifle Association, the Arkansas Right to Life PAC, and, until this week, the Arkansas Republican Party.
There's nothing special about Mauch, really; turns out, he's just one of several Arkansas politicians whose years-old love letters to the institution of slavery have been recently exposed, thus causing embarrassment for the state GOP, which has all of a sudden decided to be offended—or at least embarrassed. Thus, this oh-so-bold decision:
Arkansas Republicans said Monday they will no longer financially help three state House candidates whose racially charged writings have come under fire, including one lawmaker who called slavery a "blessing in disguise" and another who labeled Abraham Lincoln a "war criminal." [..]
The move was the latest by GOP leaders to distance the party from the trio after renewed attention to their writing.
It's hard to decide what about this story is most troubling. That any of these jerks were elected in the first place? That it wasn't until
this week that the Arkansas GOP decided supporting these jerks looks sort of bad? That endorsing slavery because Jesus is apparently such an accepted position in Arkansas that it took
years, and the scorn and disgust of people outside of Arkansas, for the state's GOP to feel compelled to distance itself from such blatant racism?
Or maybe it's just that the argument is so mind-numbingly stupid that it really makes you think we need some sort of literacy test for candidates. (Also, maybe an American history test. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure there was a war or two before 1861.) Because, really, this is just about the stupidest thing someone has ever said (and I say that as a devout watcher of both Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin):
If slavery were so God-awful, why didn’t Jesus or Paul condemn it, why was it in the Constitution and why wasn’t there a war before 1861?
Yeah, and if the Constitution is so important, why didn't Jesus or Paul say anything about that? And if banning abortion and gay people is so important, why didn't Jesus or Paul say anything about that? And if taking care of the poor and sick and elderly among us is so important, why didn't Jesus say anything about—Oh. Wait. He did.
Like I said, this is why we can't have nice things.