A Speaker who doesn't speak for me

Previously, I suggested that Mike Johnson, the newly elected Speaker of the House, might be a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” I can now say without doubt, he is that and more.

In recent remarks, he quoted two of our Founding Fathers. George Washington: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports,” and Samuel Adams: “Our constitution is made only for a moral and religious people....”

That caught my eye because the quotes properly recognize that morality and religion are two separate things and both are separate from government.

Apparently those quotes are meaningless to him, because he believes we should have a “biblically sanctioned government.” The government of Israel in biblical times was decidedly theocratic. I am categorically opposed to that position.

Currently, we can practice whatever faith, or non-faith we choose. Mike Johnson professes to be a Christian, but he has made it clear that he doesn’t love all his neighbors and he is driven to harm many of his fellow citizens.

He says we have misunderstood the separation of Church and State. According to him, they are separate: but biblical law, meaning Old Testament Mosaic Law, takes precedence. Accordingly, he is prepared to legislate religious proscriptions (as he sees them) as federal law. This would, in effect, create a de facto theocracy.

Additionally, as an avowed evangelical Christian, he supports a literal reading of the Genesis creation account. This is in keeping with the Republican Party’s rejection of science. He doesn’t appear to have had any formal education in any area of science or technology.

In addition to his inherent ignorance, he has a professional ignorance of Global Warming and associated climate change, bought and paid for by Big Oil. Big Oil, the agency that has paid billions on propaganda and lobbying Republican legislators in an effort to suppress knowledge of Global Warming and Big Oil’s contribution to it.

Our democracy and all the hard-won advances we’ve made for same sex marriage, reducing the stigma on the LGBTQ+ minority, reducing the bias on women in the workplace, and more are at stake. He can do a lot of damage as Speaker, but the fact that he is now second in line in the succession to the Presidency is a more chilling thought. Let’s make his time as Speaker a brief one.

John H. Terrell