General Discussion

I am a proud Catholic.
The republican/conservative movement has NEVER swayed me.
I have always seen them for what they are.
I have always held them in contempt as being just like the Pharisees whom Jesus detested and railed against.
So many are self-righteous, holier-than-thou, hypocritical, blind guides who are all bluster and pretense.
Their purpose is veiled but it cannot be hidden -- judgment, power, control, division, dominance...
never truth, humility, compassion, mercy, grace, or love which are the things most preached about by Jesus.

"You will know them by their fruits." -- Matthew 7:16

"They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders;
but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
They do all their deeds to be seen by men.
BUT woe to you, scribes and Pharisees (and republicans), hypocrites!
They love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues.
Because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves,
nor allow those who would enter to go in. 
You traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte,
you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. 
Blind guides
You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law,
justice and mercy and faith
Blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 
You cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. 
You are like white-washed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
You are sons of those who murdered the prophets."
(excerpts from Matthew 23:4-31)