Off The Rails

Even a number of conservative Republicans have decided that the current party is off the rails. Former Senator, UN Ambassador and Episcopalian Minister John Danforth had comments like this in the New York Times:
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Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians. ............The problem is not with people or churches that are politically active. It is with a party that has gone so far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement.
When government becomes the means of carrying out a religious program, it raises obvious questions under the First Amendment. But even in the absence of constitutional issues, a political party should resist identification with a religious movement. .............As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around.

They have the power, completely. The good news is it looks, as one might expect, that they are taking it over the edge. It will certainly take some work from the opposition and more time but I feel like this is the beginning of the end for the American Taliban. Unfortunately these religious groups, through the ages, have not taken it well and have often resorted to violence when their primacy was challenged. I fear we may see this before it is all settled.