Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Focus on the Family stories of Obama presidency haven't quite panned out

statue of Jesus with hand to face Via Steve Benen, Libby Anne digs up an old Focus on the Family letter from 2008 on the dystopian hellscape that awaited us all if we dared elect the terrifying and dystopia-prone Barack Obama as president:
The document was in the form of a letter, a (fictional) letter from a Christian in 2012 writing back from the future about all the changes that had happened since Obama took office. Let's take a look, shall we?
Oh! Oh, I remember that one! It was part of the hoary conservative tradition of dystopian hellscape-painting, the continual Red Dawning of America. Evangelical conservatives are especially good at it, because to them the Rapture is always close by, lurking behind every recycling bin and in the sinister shadows of the trees lining each new bicycle path. Or something. Actually, I think their version primarily revolves around gay people.

All right, I'm game. Let's look back on the Focus on the Family dystopian hellscape of 2012 and see which of of these things have come to pass.

(1) Boy Scouts: ['] The Boy Scouts no longer exist as an organization. They chose to disband rather than be forced to obey the Supreme Court decision that they would have to hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys.
(15) Freedom of Choice Act: ['] This federal law immediately nullified hundreds of state laws that had created even the slightest barrier to abortion.
(19) Guns: ['] It is illegal for private citizens to own guns for self- defense in eight states, and the number is growing with increasing Democratic control of state legislatures and governorships.
Okay, I think maybe this is not going to ...
21) ['] Al-Qaida leaders have been emboldened by what they are calling the American 'defeat' and their ranks are swelling in dozens of countries.
(23) Russia: ['] In early 2009, they followed the pattern they had begun in Georgia in 2008 and sent troops to occupy and re-take several Eastern European countries, starting with the Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
(25) ['] In mid-2010, Iran launched a nuclear bomb that exploded in the middle of Tel Aviv, destroying much of that city. They then demanded that Israel cede huge amounts of territory to the Palestinians, and after an anguished all-night Cabinet meeting, Israel's prime minister agreed.
What? No. Focus on the Family, stop ...
(26) Health care systems: The new Congress under President Obama passed a nationalized 'single provider' health care system, in which the U.S. government is the provider of all health care in the United States, following the pattern of nationalized medicine in the United Kingdom and Canada. The great benefit is that medical care is now free for everyone -- if you can get it.
(27) Limited care for older Americans: 'The land of the free'? Because medical resources must be rationed carefully by the government, people older than 80 have essentially no access to hospitals or surgical procedures.
(31) Energy: World demand for oil continues to climb, and prices keep going up, but President Obama for four years has refused to allow additional drilling for oil in the United States or offshore.
(32) ['] Conservative talk radio, for all intents and purposes, was shut down by the end of 2010.
No, really, I think maybe you should just take a deep breath and '
(34) The Justice Department soon began to file criminal and civil charges against nearly every Bush administration official who had any involvement with the Iraq war. ['] Dozens of Bush officials, from the Cabinet level on down, are in jail, and most of them are also bankrupt from legal costs.
Oh, Lord. Now I know you were just trolling people.


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