Bachmann Once Again Invokes God, Panders To The Religious. Where's The Personal Responsibility?

[Re Religious Pandering]

So, the wonderful congresswomen once again has opened her mouth and probably made an idiot out of herself.

During an interview with with evangelical radio host James Dobson, she had the following to say:

“I think the President will ultimately be forced to repudiate his own signature piece of legislation because the American people will demand it,” she explained. “And I think before his second term is over, we’re going to see a miracle before our eyes, I believe God is going to answer our prayers and we’ll be freed from the yoke of Obamacare.”

“I believe that’s going to happen and we saw step one last week with the repeal of Obamacare in the House. We have two more steps. We serve a mighty God and I believe it can happen.”

Source
The pandering aside, let me ask a few crucial questions.

Why does God care about Healthcare in the US?

Why would he care about that MORE than, lets say, Genocide? Or famine? Or any other number of problems that exist in the world?

I would think, that God had more things to worry about, than intervening with a set piece of legislation don't' you think? In any case, I wanted to write this thread to discuss another topic.

Why is it that religious folk, accept the following scenario?

Congressman or Congresswomen goes on the record,claiming that God will intervene when asked about something regarding any piece of legislation. They don't at any point, provide an answer beyond that, like what they intend to do about it, since it's their job.

They simply and plainly state " God is on our side, he'll come around and fix things". Why would you accept this as an answer to a question that doesn't involve God? Even if he was going to help, I don't want to rely on him to make sure taxes are collected and that my kid's school is up to code.

Where does personal responsibility start? What are you responsible for Ms. Bachmann if you can just claim a miracle for anything you've personally, or collectively failed at?

ETA: It seems my blurb up here wasn't all that clear. I know Ms. Bachmann has the right to say whatever she wants, this isn't a 1st amendment question. It's a " what are you doing with your day" kind of question to a congresswoman who seems to talk a lot, but not get very much done, or say very much of consequence.

~Tenth

Simple answer? She has every right under the First Amendment to say whatever the hell she wants and/or believes, just as you have every right to criticize her for it. Agree or disagree with her stance is fine, just as long as you acknowledge she has the exact same right that you do to express her opinion. Just because you disagree with her, doesn't mean she doesn't have the right granted to her by our Constitution.

Bachmann Once Again Invokes God, Panders To The Religious. Why Is This Allowed?,

Why is it allowed? Because first amendment freedom of speech allows people to make fools of themselves. I'd rather allow her to make foolish statements, then to trust the government to decide what is allowed to be said and what isn't .... ya' know??

reply to post by MadhatterTheGreat


ETA: My title was less than clear, apologies.

What I asked is why people are willing to accept "God's Miracles" as an alternative to actual legislative work.

What I want to know is why people are willing to let Ms. Bachmann say those things, without actually making her answer the questions concerning her job and what she intends to do to work for her constituents.

~Tenth

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
What I asked is why people are willing to accept "God's Miracles" as an alternative to actual legislative work.

ahhhhh okay. the title of the thread says 'why is this allowed' ...
Why are people willing to accept miracles rather than actual work to get things done?
I don't know. But given Michelle Bachmanns standing in this country (or lack of standing)
I'd say that there aren't as many people buying into what she's selling then there used to be.
(which I think is a good thing. )

I think she's coming mighty close on more than one level to State Sponsorship of a religion. If she were a former Congresswoman, it wouldn't matter. She's a serving U.S. House Representative though. That does matter, IMO. House members don't carry near the 'policy statement' weight of a Senator making a public statement but that's as much or more by dilution of numbers as anything for ability to influence policy behind the scenes on Capital Hill.

Every belief system can be carried a bit too far and definitely into areas it doesn't belong in, IMO.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I think you are missing what she is saying.....She is not saying God will change this and make it happen...

She is saying us with faith in God will make it happen because it is wrong.....There is a difference...

Read her words again, she is not saying almighty God will strike his vengence upon Obamacare......She is saying the people that know this is wrong prays to God about this and their prayers will be answered.....This doesn't mean the other issues being prayed about are put on the back burner to handle this.....It is a general statement of belief in God...

I am not supporting her by any means, just trying to clear up what I believe she means

I would like to say that I live in Minnesota and wasn't allowed to vote against her. Now why would that be allowed?

Maybe if I pray hard enough to her God, then maybe, just maybe, her existence can be repealed.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
She's a serving U.S. House Representative though.

Yep .. I don't get that. Why she got re-elected .... First she's a proud American. Then in the middle of a run for POTUS she becomes a dual citizen, with Switzerland I think it was, and is all happy about it. Then a few months later she (supposedly) dumps Swizterland because 'it sends a wrong message'. I would have thought that all the uber-conservatives who support her would have been turned off by all that. I guess not. The mightly (R) after the name wins out ...

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein


Hm.. nope.

She literally said:

And I think before his second term is over, we’re going to see a miracle before our eyes, I believe God is going to answer our prayers and we’ll be freed from the yoke of Obamacare.”

She is stating, that God will intervene, with a "Miracle" in order to get Obamacare repealed.

That's actually VERY telling. See Mrs. Bachmann is stating that she doesn't believe that her, or her colleagues or anybody for that matter has the ability to do it themselves, it requires a "miracle" from God.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I think that's all she's got, a prayer, to repeal Obama_cares.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
Mrs. Bachmann is stating that she doesn't believe that her, or her colleagues or anybody for that matter has the ability to do it themselves, it requires a "miracle" from God.

Yep .. that's how I read it as well. Kind of a 'God frees the Jews from the Egyptians via Moses thing'. The Jews couldn't do the job themselves .. and after 400 years of praying for release, God finally decided to do something and it was done through a miracle intervention (supposedly .. if you believe the bible account) Yep .. I"m seeing the human element removed. I agree with how you read it ...

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I happen to be acquaintances with some very hardcore Christian conservatives that are deeply involved in politics as well and these sorts of statements are made regularly.

It wouldn't be good for a Christian conservative to say "with luck, Obamacare will be repealed" or "hopefully the cards fall in our favor".

They (the hardcore) do not believe in luck or hope. Everything is the work of God and that is how they rationalize and articulate.

I hope that I explained that well enough......

reply to post by sheepslayer247


Yeah, I get the rhetoric, it just boggles my mind that the Religious types wouldn't put the responsibility of it on her shoulders too.

She effectively, gets to say "Hey, don't worry, God has our back" and do nothing about it.

What happens in 6 months, or at the end of Obama's 2nd term, when Obamacare is still around? She'll invoke the Devil as being the cause?

I don't mind you invoking religion or even pandering to religion, but you can't do that, and then not do your job too. It just defeats the purpose. What are people from Minnesota paying her for?

~Tenth

In a shocking development today a crazy eyed religious fruitcake continued to babble nonsensically about god.

To be serious, its allowed because religion conditions people to accept nonsense. If you believe all the other nonsense in the bible why wouldn't you believe the creator of the universe hates democrats, or will revoke a policy.

You're so far into the crazy already its not really a stretch.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


You know what I can't help but be struck by. If someone sees the outcome as God's plan, then anything done in pursuit of it is God's will. Substituting Allah with God makes no functional difference when it's that line of thinking, and thankfully, it's one we don't hear often. Pretty rarely, actually. It sure doesn't make it sound better from a national elected official though. The line of logic isn't good.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by sheepslayer247

 

Yeah, I get the rhetoric, it just boggles my mind that the Religious types wouldn't put the responsibility of it on her shoulders too.

She effectively, gets to say "Hey, don't worry, God has our back" and do nothing about it.

What happens in 6 months, or at the end of Obama's 2nd term, when Obamacare is still around? She'll invoke the Devil as being the cause?

This is exactly why religious leaders are such a bad idea. This is why people make the joke about Bush Jr taking advice from his invisible friend.

Some people might find that insulting or offensive, but would any sane person rather have an elected official using facts, science, statistics and knowledge to formulate their decisions, or would they trust a person who looks up at the sky and decides based on what they think their God is telling them to do?

However you cut it, that is the definition of a crazy person, and the next in line would have every legal right to remove them from office because they are incapacitated and unable to do their job.

Elected people who express such a stupid attitude to their role in representing EVERYONE in their electorate should be recalled. She is not fit to do her job if she looks to imaginary beings for answers

reply to post by justwokeup


It's one thing to disagree with a certain belief system or all of them.. It's another entirely to invoke your own sense of superiority and spouting total disrespect for a massive group of people. I will have you know that I am not suffering from any sort of mental illness or defect and stating that my "personal" constitutionally protected beliefs make me a complete nut job is very disrespectful.

I would prefer you would think about what you say and have some respect for others....

-------------------

As for the OP.... I was unaware that anyone has ever taken anything that comes from Michelle Bachmann seriously... I know I don't...

What I asked is why people are willing to accept "God's Miracles" as an alternative to actual legislative work.

Well I do remember a certain someone going on national televison saying 'God bless America' after the killing of Bin Laden.

Was he 'pandering' ?

Somebody should just tell this nutcase God isn't going to solve your problems. Now go and do the job you were elected to do.