Far too tasty... Republicans at their worst...

Ahh, the glory days of the Internets... those would be days like today. In Virginia and Minnesota, Republicans are showing their inner selves, opening like sick flowers to reveal the corruption within.

Calling Republican George Allen, US Senator from Virginia a racist is misguided. He has roots, just like Kunta Kinte did! He's a brother under that white skin, and he's promoted anti-lynching legislation and apologies for slavery and all that!

I'd been wondering why Congress was passing that crap. It was an attempt to rehabilitate racist white bigots. Tissue paper covering the not-too-long memories of the strange fruit of the South.

Speaking of which, the killer for me (no, wait: I'm white - I wasn't the kind of person to get strung up) was the fact that as a lawyer Allen had a noose hanging from a ficus tree in his office.

Then, there's this gem from Minnesota. What a beautiful headline:

Tax-protesting Maple Grove boss is on the lam
(Star Tribune, Randy Furst)

Oh, the poor god-fearing Robert Beale. First, we will note the kind and gentle headline. Contrast with this:

Tax-dodging suburban executive turns fugitive

Who is Robert Beale? He's a study in white entrepreueurship: good school, business success, Republican credentials, founder of the local branch of the Christian Coalition (more on this in a bit...)

Beale, an engineer, is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a groundbreaking inventor of computer technology and the owner of a company with 70 employees and revenues of $12 million to $15 million a year, say family members.

He was a Minnesota delegate to the Republican National Convention in the 1980s, Bradford Beale said, and contributed more than $10,000 to Republican candidates in the 1990s, according to Federal Election Commission records. He founded the Minnesota Christian Coalition, which is affiliated with the politically oriented Christian Coalition of America.

A stalwart! A pillar of his community! A man who thinks he's exempt from taxes!!

Over roughly seven years, Robert Beale has waged a legal war with the Internal Revenue Service and Minnesota Revenue Department, filing rambling explanations in court, citing God, the Constitution and obscure legal decisions. He even published a full-page ad in a newspaper to make his case.

Geez - I remember the good old days when people who said God told them they didn't have to pay taxes lived in compounds in Idaho. Apparently, this same feeling can be found in the well-manicured lawns of fancy suburbs.

But he's a godly man, you know. That should forgive him some sins. The Minnesota Christian Coalition has done good work! Like purging the schools of transgendered teachers, and crossing the line of non-profits to endorse Republicans (sorry, flirting with the line...)

Let he who is without sin pay the first tax.

I think this is, sadly, far too typical of those who are at the intersection of business and religion in the Republican base. They are profoundly uninterested, even hostile to American secular democracy. From the Dominionists who want to remake government in this country for the greater glory of God to the libertarians who want to get rid of all government, the ideal of 'separation of church and state' 'promote the general welfare' is lost to them. They denigrate the idea of the common good - with 'I've got mine' on the one hand and 'Only the Chosen' on the other.

And as George Allen shows, when all else fails get racist.