Modern Republicans’ callousness and willingness to overburden the poor evokes another act of state villainy—one that is especially pertinent because Republican leaders so often invoke the Bible. The suffering that the American people are forced to endure because of the GOP leadership’s actions calls to mind the Israelites in Egypt under the unjust rule of Pharaoh. It was before the Exodus, and Pharaoh had forced them into hard labor making bricks. Despite long hours of backbreaking work, the Israelites were barely able to meet the required daily quota. Then, Pharaoh made their lives even harder, ordering their supervisors to stop supplying them with straw, a basic ingredient in making bricks. Instead, the Israelites had to gather their own straw wherever they could find it and still meet their daily quota. It was an impossible task, but Pharaoh pretended otherwise. While overburdening the Israelites so they wouldn’t be able to listen to Moses talk about uprising, he complained about their idleness and had them beaten. Turn the clock ahead 3,000 years, and you’ll find a swarm of modern-day Pharaohs in Washington visiting cruel punishments on innocent people. When it comes to denying food assistance, some of them proclaim falsehoods with the whip in their hands. Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN) and other Republicans even had the gall to quote the Bible in defending cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, citing 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” americanprogress.org/issues/religion/news/2013/10/02/76150/have-they-no-shame/
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 20:50:51 +0000
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