Okay, not only is she crazier than an outhouse rat, she's a Christian Reconstructionist!
http://www.slate.com/id/2264348/In discussing religion, Angle often edges into the prophetic. When she was confronted about her unwillingness to support exceptions to an abortion ban even in the case of rape and incest, she said straightforwardly, "God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives." She objects to laws that prevent pastors from endorsing candidates from the pulpit. Most interestingly, she claimed that entitlement programs of all sorts violate "the First Commandment," and in case her point wasn't clear, she elaborated in biblical talk: "We have become a country entrenched in idolatry, and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government. We're supposed to depend upon God for our protection and our provision and for our daily bread, not for our government."
Any casual observer of the Christian right might feel puzzled. Since George Bush, candidates have mastered a certain innocuous way to send a shout-out to their religious brethren, referring more vaguely to "struggles" or a "relationship" with God—the standard stuff of the average American megachurch. But Angle's way of talking picks up accents from another movement that is usually muzzled in American politics but occasionally finds voice in a Southern candidate or two. It's called the Christian Reconstructionist movement and was started in the '60s and '70s by Calvinist theologian Rousas John Rushdoony. Indeed, Angle used to be a member of the Independent American Party, an offshoot of the Constitution Party, which was started by avowed Christian Reconstructionist Howard Phillips.*
Sharron Angle came to politics because of her opposition to state-run schools and her interest in home-schooling. Even as the Republican Party bigwigs have coaxed her into easing off her language denouncing Medicare and Social Security, she continues to hold fast to her objections to any federal hand in education. In fact, Angle's strong stances against federal entitlement programs and objections to the idea that the federal government should concern itself with job creation demonstrate the impact Reconstructionism has had on the Christian right, helping create the kinds of alliances with secular libertarians that fuel the Tea Party.
Angle's surprising comments about how a strong federal government equals "idolatry" particularly point to the impact Christian Reconstructionism has had on her thinking, even if she doesn't directly identify with the movement or has received these ideas secondhand. That quote particularly captures Rushdoony's philosophy in a nutshell: "Trying to organize civil society in ways that violate God's clear demarcation of authority is this fundamental sin of humanism," explains Ingersoll. "It's making humans and human reason the measure of what is appropriate." Just a few years ago, a candidate who uses the word "idolatry" in a political speech might quickly become a pariah. But now, it's all the rage again.
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