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Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's book, "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy," is a good preview of what kind of campaign the former Fox News host will run if he makes a bid for the White House in 2016. As the title of the Republican'sbook suggests, it would be an effort dripping with culture-war rhetoric and identity politics that the larger GOP has largely tried to leavebehind.

It would be about fly-over country (the realAmerica!) versus that other (not-so-real?) America -- theAmerica where people don't do stuff like ...accuse the first family of hip-hop of something amounting to prostitution.

Huckabee, turns out, didn't at all like that time Bey performed her song "Drunk in Love" with her husband Jay-Z on stage at the Grammy Awards. (Note: Huckabee watches the Grammy Awards but isn't aware of theBeygency. Consider this a heads-up).

He writes in his new book according to excerpts from U.S. News & World Report:

My reaction: Why? Beyonce is incredibly talented gifted, in fact. She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom. Jay-Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?

Nope, it probably didn't occur to Jay-Z that he was a pimp when they co-wrote the song or when they walked off the stage like any other married couple arm in arm. And it's such an odd leap that it's almost not worth engaging. (For the record, Beyonce is the one that upgraded Jay-Z, but we digress).

But Huckabee's attack on Bey and Jay is just a sample of the kind of us-versus-them cultural rhetoric that couldbe part ofthe GOP primary raceif the Southern Baptist minister jumps in. Don't expect many attempts to make concessions from Huckabee on this front. No talk about how"Modern Family" is a great show(Romney)or how,while there might be an allegiance to the sweater vest, that doesn't mean sex hasn't been had (Santorum).

Huckabee's rhetoric will play big in evangelical circles, who see the Grammy performance as part of thedecline of good old fashion American values. (At some point, Elvis Presley's swiveling hips were also a threat).

And for the GOP field, it could tie them to the type of culture fights they really don't want to have and frankly the type of fights that don't really have much cultural currency anymore, beyond a select few. A recent poll showed the idea that government should be in the business of "traditional values" is very much on the decline from 55 percent in 2004 to 41 percent today.

But Huckabee could also provide a very easy contrast for the rest of the field to emerge as the anti-Huckabees. By simply steering clear of these Bey/Jay/culture-in-decline arguments, they could gain a little easy pop culture cred and a centrist sheen.

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Huckabee still hearts the culture wars. Bey and Jay and the GOP beware.

Far Cry 4 PC Gameplay Walkthrough - Culture Wars Part 31
Far Cry 4 PC Gameplay Walkthrough - Culture Wars Part 31......... The video covers Far Cry 4 PC gameplay, a review of Far Cry 4 for Xbox One, PS4, PS3 and PC...

By: Rizwan Ahmad

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Far Cry 4 PC Gameplay Walkthrough - Culture Wars Part 31 - Video

Far Cry 4 Walkthrough Gameplay Part 19 - Culture Wars
Far Cry 4 Walkthrough Gameplay Includes a Review and Single Player for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. This Far Cry 4 Gameplay Walkthrough will include ...

By: Inkslasher44Plays

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Far Cry 4 Walkthrough Gameplay Part 19 - Culture Wars - Video

On issues like gay marriage and birth control, cultural warriors haven't changed their mindsthey just want to be left alone.

Lauren Giordano/The Atlantic

It's a semiannual tradition in America: the culture-war debates. Is there a culture war in America, ask pundits and professors and journalists, or isn't there? And if there is one, is it over yet?

As with any tidy narrative, the culture war can be somewhat shape-shifting, invoked in ways that diverge from how the sociologist James David Hunter first wrote about it in 1991. But the gist is this: In debates over social issues like abortion, homosexuality, and birth control, American culture and politics is divided into two camps: the orthodoxor traditionalists, or conservativesversus progressives. Often, these issues are discussed in terms of religious values and religious freedom. Accurately or not, "the culture wars" are often referred to in terms of religious America vs. secular Americaand, sometimes, the Christian right vs. everyone else.

As Pat Buchanan said in his speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention, "There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself." But today's culture war, if there even is one, doesn't seem to be about winning America's soulit's about people's right to live their lives according to their beliefs.

The past year saw a renaissance in culture-war thinkpiece writing, with the fight being declared over and not over and over again in many turns. That's because many of 2014's big news stories touched on culture-war standards, like gay marriage, public prayer, and birth control. This year's list of Big Issues could have easily been from the 1980sthe heyday of the Moral Majorityinstead of 2014.

But the fascinating thing is that these issues of culture-war vintage have played out in distinctly un-culture-war-y ways. Unlike the alleged culture wars of yore, these legal battles aren't about shaping culture and laws in favor of one side or anotherthey're about individual conscience.

Is the Most Powerful Conservative in America Losing His Edge?

Gay marriage, for example, has been a long-simmering, divisive political issue. Same-sex marriage is now legal in 35 states, and in nearly a dozen others, court decisions for or against same-sex marriage are pending. In November, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld same-sex-marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, which will likely lead to a Supreme Court review of the issue.

Arguably, the many court decisions that overturned same-sex-marriage bans last year were enabled by shifts in public opinion, which has steadily moved in favor of gay-marriage legalization over the last decade. Yet, as I pointed out in March, a slim majority of Americans still think gay sex is morally wrong. What can be made of this apparent contradiction?

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Taming Christian Rage

January 6, 2015|5:59 pm

America has always been a nation with great respect for the right of conscience. As a people, we like the idea that a person should follow their heart, go with their gut, do what feels right. Our laws have traditionally followed this course by according deference to individual conscience on a whole host of matters. Perhaps the most well know example is that of conscientious objection to war, in which a person can claim exemption from conscripted military service on the basis of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. Our President appeals to the concept of conscience perhaps more than any other in recent memory, often defending his administrations' actions with the simple phrase "it's the right thing to do."

Of course, when he says this what he really means, "it's what I think is the right thing to do." On a whole host of policy issues the President has swum against the tide of public opinion in the name of executive conscience, to the point of getting himself into legally shaky territory. It is disappointing then, though perhaps not surprising, that the President and his ideological bed fellows have very little respect for the consciences of those who don't think like them. This hypocrisy shines brightest when it comes to social issues. The owners of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties were sued by the Obama Administration for refusing to comply with the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate, specifically for refusing to cover certain types of contraception that can lead to the termination of the life of a nascent child. These employers were compelled to resist the law by their conscience, their belief that life begins at conception and is sacred, that abortion is murder. President Obama could not care less. In his mind, free birth control and abortifacients (and abortion, I'm sure, if he had his way), is "the right thing to do." If you disagree, you are an enemy of progress.

Then of course there is the issue of same-sex marriage. Again, for the President there is only one civilized opinion you can possibly hold (at least, since his own opinion has "evolved" on the matter). Love is love is love. Equal protection under the law requires the complete cultural normalization and legal protection of same-sex marriage, and there is no room for conscientious objection, no matter who you are or what you do. The public relations campaign waged by pro-gay activists over the past 30 years has been enormously successful, to the extent that today anything less than the total embrace and celebration of homosexuality and gay rights is seen as analogous to the racism of the Jim Crow south. The belief that marriage is a divinely established institution designed for one man and one woman is disparaged as toxic hate speech.

This is an issue with huge implications going forward. Already, the cultural war on religious conscience has begun to insinuate itself into the law. Increasingly, the right of religious conscience is being eroded in the name of equal protection. Private business owners are being told that they must check their moral convictions at the door or risk prosecution. How long before churches are told the same thing? The City of Houston recently made headlines when its mayor subpoenaed sermons containing references to same sex marriage. This represents a trend in a very dangerous direction, in which the public expression of religiously orthodox belief on matters of human sexuality will be a prosecutable offense. Unless a major cultural shift occurs, and soon, this doesn't appear to be a question of if, but when. This is already happening in Europe. It's only a matter of time before lawmakers here push for the adoption of policies embraced by our enlightened progressive cousins across the Atlantic.

America is a nation that was founded by individuals fleeing religious persecution in their homelands. From day one, a commitment to individual liberty liberty of speech, belief, conscience, and self-determination has been a hallmark of the American spirit. President Obama may have forgotten this, and Progressive policy crusaders and cultural warriors may deny this, but millions of Americans still cherish those self-evident truths articulated by our Founders in the Declaration of Independence: the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

For Christians, and all people of religious faith, the time has come to stand up and fight for their right to live in accordance with their religious convictions. Today the issue is same sex marriage, but tomorrow it will be something else. Everyone has a stake in the preservation of religious conscience, and if this battle is lost, everyone will pay a price. Those Americans who adhere to traditional views on matters of marriage, family, and the sanctity of human life must be prepared to engage in civil disobedience if the forces of "equality" prevail in the courts. They must be prepared to resist Caesar if he compels them to do what God forbids. The stakes are not just civil and temporal. They are spiritual and eternal as well.

Continued here:
Conscience Counts for Everyone in the Culture Wars of Healthcare, Abortion and Marriage