How Big business Republicans use Christians for their own purposes

In the 1920's the Republican party used strong Christian support for prohibition (and drugs it should be noted - the war on drugs was started in the 1920"s) to grab control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency.  Although big business in general could care less about alcohol abuse, the Republican party took a strong position years earlier favoring prohibition, and had played a big part in pushing through the Constitutional amendment in 1918.  Although by 1922 the crime problems inherent in any kind of prohibition of activities some people enjoy had begun to become apparent, the Republican party platform pledged absolute support for prohibition to pull in the Christian vote and continued to use prohibition as a source to get Christian voters riled up and active.  In the meantime the Republican Congress undermined regulations that protected workers, consumers and, in the end, the health of the economy.  After the 1929 Stock market crash and a couple years of the great depression Christian voters turned back to voting for what made sense for them economically and in 1932 the voters handed both houses of Congress and the Presidency to Democrats.  A year later prohibition was repealed.

60 years later history began repeating itself.  Younger Christian voters with no memory of the great Depression or the events leading up to it began putting personal moral beliefs over their economic self interest by voting for Republicans as long as they promised to overturn the Supreme Court limitations on regulating abortions, and to defend marriage from homosexuals.  Again big business Republicans saw a tool they could exploit to grab control of the levers of government and in 1996 took control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 + years.  By continuing to exploit voters emotional feelings about abortion and gays they held onto power for 10 years, during which they once again undermined laws that protected homeowners, public safety and fair treatment for workers.  They set in motion the forces that caused the housing collapse in 2007, the financial meltdown in 2008 and the ongoing economic difficulties that will probably be with us for the better part of a generation.

The country would be better off if Christians spent a little less time trying to impose their moral beliefs on others and a little more time learning about how to avoid being exploited by the folks who care only about money.