How Can You Tell a Conservative is Lying?

He’s trying to convince you of his values.

Don’t you get tired of holier-than-thou evangelicals pushing ‘family values’ in your face? And then when given the chance to exercise those treasured values, they vote for a thrice-married adulterer to represent them and their values. (Oh, you thought I was speaking of Trump? No, I meant Newt Gingrich four years ago in the South Carolina primary. Trump is just the follow-on example which proves the point.)

Guns! When I read the Bible I have, I find it hard to see Jesus as a weapons kind of guy.

Immigrants! I also find it hard to imagine Jesus being the kind of guy who tried to show us how ‘we’ are superior to ‘them’. Half of the New Testament is Paul taking the message to the Gentiles, proclaiming that all of us are one, Gentile and Jew, slave and free.

A religious aversion to abortion and homosexuality seems more in concert with conservative religiousness, but then why throw your support to a candidate who is squishy at best on those very issues?

I think conservative, evangelical Christians are confused.

And what about the Tea Party? The tract which defined the movement, Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin’s Tea Party Patriots: The Second American Revolution, defines their values as being about Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets. Who are they supporting in the 2016 election? Donald Trump, for whom none of those principles are features of his agenda and program.

Debbie Dooley, one of the 22 co-founders of the Tea Party movement, came out in support of Trump because he embraces conservative idealogy. And the evidence of that? He’s against Wall Street and for Main Street. (I guess that’s why the tea partiers continue to vote Republican (deregulate the banks! degregulate Wall Street!)). Sal Russo, another Tea Party founder, notes that many tea partiers support Trump not because he represents their ideology, but their hunger for a better life. So much for me giving much credence to them when they tout their principles to me!

Trying to understand what the Tea Partiers believed, I made a concerted effort to read their book. Should I have even bothered?