Do Republicans Endorse Theocracy?

I know Republicans who are bothered that their party is dominated by right-wing Christian fundamentalists; there's a thread in American history that runs through both political parties: religion is sacred and personal, not something to be imposed by others and not something to be manipulated for political or monetary gain. Gulf Coast Progressive posts a transcript of Lou Dobbs of CNN interviewing Kevin Philips, a Republican strategist and now author of American Theocracy, a book critical of how religion is being used by Republicans:

“--------DOBBS: Former Republican Party strategist Kevin Phillips joins us here tonight. His new book is called "American Theocracy." It is a provocative indictment of the administration's foreign and economic policy, and examines, among other things, how the religious right is driving this administration's policy. Kevin, it is going good to have you with us. Mr. Philips political acumen has been correct in the past, let’s hope that it’s not too late to reverse these trends.”

KEVIN PHILLIPS, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN THEOCRACY": Nice to be here.

DOBBS: This is an indictment, clearly and straightforwardly. What drove you to the conclusions that you've reached?

PHILLIPS: Well, there are a lot of, I suppose, launching pads for this. But one, as many years ago I wrote a book called "The Emerging Republican Majority," was sort of the outline of the Republican coalition.

DOBBS: What was it, what, 37 years ago?

PHILLIPS: Ah. 1969 is when it was published. It started before the election. But what's happened to the Republican coalition in the last 10 years especially is it's been moved more and more towards religious yardsticks. People who go to church. People who favor religion defining government. People who have just a whole set of concerns that go beyond economics. One of the reasons I think we have kind of screwed up economic politician in some ways is that a lot of Americans have stopped worrying about the economy because they're waiting for the second coming.

DOBBS: And you mean this quite literally?

PHILLIPS: I mean it quite literally.

DOBBS: You talk about 30 to 40 percent the electorate is caught up in scripture, exerting their influence, even power, over the White House and the Republican party. You're comfortable that it's that large a number of people, and that indeed that influence is felt that strongly within the White House?

PHILLIPS: Well, I think so. And it's partly because a considerable number of Republicans and conservatives and evangelicals believe that religion should guide politics and they have no hesitation about pushing their view on a whole host of issues. Whether it be the biblical aspect of the Middle East or science on the White House.

I don't buy Phillips numbers of 30-40%; I think the numbers are about ten points lower. On the other hand, Phillips may be concentrating only on those who vote which may raise the numbers somewhat. And I suspect the numbers over the last twenty years have been driven somewhat by well-financed people like Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and others who seem to have a knack of putting money before religion; of course, people like Tom DeLay and Senator Frist (remember the awful video diagnosis?) manage to be the darling of many of these monied religious figures. At a time when Americans are becoming more thoughtful about religion and wondering if some of these monied religious figures have been misleading them, it's puzzling that John McCain is giving up the last remnants of his legendary integrity to gain their endorsements.