As we move towards another govt shutdown reposting this article

[Katashi_itto]

The Theology of Government Shutdown: Christian Dominionism

On the eve of our government shutdown, I wanted to do some research into the theological roots of Senator Ted Cruz, the standard-bearer of the Tea Party Republicans behind the shutdown. I'm interested in understanding what account of Christianity creates the "no compromise" crusade that the Tea Party has become known for. It turns out that Ted's father, Rafael Cruz, is a pastor with Texas charismatic ministry Purifying Fire International who has been campaigning against Obamacare the last several months. He has a distinct theological vision for what America is supposed to look like: Christian dominionism.
In the months building up to the present showdown, Cruz has been giving speeches at Tea Party rallies and other religious right gatherings as part of a campaign to defund Obamacare. In watching the speeches, I can see how his status as a Cuban American refugee fits the ethos of the far right culture warrior movement perfectly. He is able to shift seamlessly from stories about the oppression of the Castro regime to talking about the Obama administration.

A good example comes from a speech at the Iowa Family Leadership Summit on August 12th where Cruz said that the government's "attack on religion" is part of a longer-term plan to establish socialism:

"When you hear this attack on religion, it's not really an attack on religion. The fundamental basis is this. Socialism requires that government becomes your God. That's why they have to destroy your concept of God. They have to destroy all your loyalties except loyalty to the government. That's what's behind homosexual marriage. It's really more about the destruction of the traditional family than about homosexuality, because you need also to destroy loyalty to the family."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/morgan-guyton/the-theology-of-governmen_b_4020537.html

[DustyJoe]

1. Non Sutdown shutdowns

Not to worry. Every shutdown we've seen has resulted in furloughs of government employees that ended up getting all back pay resulting in taxpayer free vacay time, restriction of public access to tourist areas, but no shutdown of military bases. And of course the holy grail of shutdown breaking will be the government ominous warning that the 'first' thing that will be affected are seniors Social Security payments and Veteran disability benefite. Takes the bite out of the shutdown movement every time.

When a shutdown actually results military spending at zero and entitlement payouts at zero from day one, then it will be seen as a shutdown instead of political theater.