Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, February 01, 2013

Jason Rapert, Arkansas Abortion-Ban Sponsor, Made Racial Remarks At Tea Party Rally

New video has surfaced of the Arkansas Republican state senator who sponsored the state's new abortion-ban bill making racially charged remarks about President Barack Obama at a 2011 Tea Party rally.

State Sen. Jeffrey Rapart (R-Conway) told rally participants that they should not allow "minorities to run roughshod over what you people believe in," The Nation reports.

A minute-and-a-half segment of the video surfaced on The Nation website a day after the Arkansas Senate passed legislation, sponsored by Rapart, that would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Rapart did not respond to calls requesting comment.

In the video, Rapart criticizes Obama for inviting Muslim leaders to the White House for a Ramadan dinner and then not attending the National Prayer Breakfast. He questions "what [Obama] stands for" then directly criticizes Obama.

"I hear you loud and clear, Barack Obama," Rapart says. "You don't represent the country that I grew up with. And your values is not going to save us. We're going to take this country back for the Lord. We're going to try to take this country back for conservatism. And we're not going to allow minorities to run roughshod over what you people believe in."

Rapart was first elected to the state Senate in 2010 and is one of the more conservative senators in the state. A financial planner, he helped organize an evangelical humanitarian group. The chairman of the Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee, Rapart is co-sponsoring legislation in the Senate that would allow people to carry guns into church services.

The report of Rapart's comments in 2011 follow a series of racially charged comments from Republicans in the state during the 2012 election season. Last year, then-state Reps. Jon Hubbard (R-Jonesboro) and Loy Mauch (R-Bismarck) came under fire for a series of past writings that endorsed slavery; Hubbard wrote a book published in 2010 that said slavery had been a "blessing" for blacks. Neither was reelected.

Republican state legislative candidate Charlie Fuqua was criticized for saying in a book released in 2012 that he wanted to deport all Muslims and that he endorsed the death penalty for rebellious children.

Original Article
Source: huffington post
Author: John Celock

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