A key goal of Christian nationalism: Tax dollars; DJT threatens violent insurrection

A WaPo article comments about another incremental advance in two of the most important goals for America’s Christian nationalist theocratic wealth and power movement, (1) complete elimination of secular public education, and (2) taxpayer funding for all Christian religious activity in the US:

Billions in taxpayer dollars now go to religious schools via vouchers

 

The rapid expansion of state voucher programs follows court decisions that have eroded the separation between church and state

Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades.

School vouchers can be used at almost any private school, but the vast majority of the money is being directed to religious schools, according to a Washington Post examination of the nation’s largest voucher programs.

Vouchers, government money that covers education costs for families outside the public schools, vary by state but offer up to $16,000 per student per year, and in many cases fully cover the cost of tuition at private schools. In some schools, a large share of the student body is benefiting from a voucher, meaning a significant portion of the school’s funding is coming directly from the government.

In just five states with expansive programs, more than 700,000 students benefited from vouchers this school year. (Those same states had a total of about 935,000 private school students in 2021, the most recent year for which data are available.) An additional 200,000 were subsidized in the rest of the country, according to tracking by EdChoice, a voucher advocacy group. That suggests a substantial share of about 4.7 million students attending private school nationwide are benefiting from vouchers — a number that is expected to grow.

The programs, popular with conservatives, are rapidly growing in GOP-run states, with a total of 28 states plus D.C. operating some sort of voucher system. Eight states created or expanded voucher programs last year, and this year, Alabama, Georgia and Missouri have approved or expanded voucher-type programs. Some recently enacted plans are just starting to take effect or will be phased in over the next few years.

The growth follows a string of recent victories in [America’s Christian theocratic] Supreme Court and state legislatures by religious conservatives who have campaigned to tear down what once were constitutional prohibitions against spending tax money directly on religious education. It also marks a win for the school choice movement, which has spent decades campaigning to let parents use tax money for any school they see fit.

Voucher programs, which vary in their details, have grown particularly large in a half-dozen states. In each of these, participating families have overwhelmingly chosen religious schools, sometimes using the subsidy for schools their children were already attending before the programs began.

Like it or not, American taxpayer dollars are increasingly supporting and empowering radical, anti-democratic Christian nationalist (CN) theocracy in America. The Christian nationalist elites deny their authoritarian goals and corrupt tactics, but they are morally rotted liars with no credibility. Most of the CN rank and file are mostly clueless, most of whom have either never heard of CN labeled as a wealth and power political movement, or they are not aware of its bigoted, intolerant authoritarian Christian fundamentalist theocratic goals.  

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The first ~1:30 of this video shows the convicted felon DJT threatening a violent insurrection if he is sentenced to house arrest or jail. He makes a clear, public plea for violence. He falsely claims that the American people would not stand for his confinement. This is disgusting. He insults the American people. But as we all know by now, Trump’s shamelessness, mendacity and moral rot have no bounds. 

The usual question pops right up again: What about the rank & file who still support this lying, domestic terrorist and dictator-kleptocrat? Are they mere innocents, or something worse? Does ignorance justify their false beliefs if they think he is an innocent patriot who has been smeared and martyred?