Mike Pence (1959- ) is the Republican governor of the northern US state of Indiana. He is also Donald Trump’s pick for vice president in the 2016 US election for president.
Mike Pence, in other words, could either become president some day – or a trivia question. Only time will tell.
He is not from a swing state, but he does make up for many of Trump’s weaknesses:
- he has held elected office;
- he is solidly on the Christian right, an important wing of the party;
- he is friends with Paul Ryan, head of the House of Representatives;
- he believes in the US Constitution;
- he seems like a responsible adult.
That is heartening because it means Trump is somehow able to see past his huge ego, that he is more than a big mouth.
Pence grew up in the 1960s and 1970s as an Irish American Catholic in middle-class Indiana. His heroes were John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. He was a Democrat, voting against Reagan in 1980.
But by the late 1990s he was a megachurch-going White Evangelical Protestant who had his own right-wing Republican talk radio show, which he said was “Rush Limbaugh on decaf”.
He had practised law and was the head of a think tank. He first ran for Congress in 1988, but did not win till 2000, when he started putting his faith at the centre of his politics. He was in Congress from 2001 to 2013 and has been governor of Indiana since 2013.
In 2015 he made news nationwide when he signed into Indiana law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It allowed businesses to refuse service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people for religious reasons. The infamous example was of a flower shop not selling flowers for a gay wedding.
Apple compared it to Jim Crow. The NBA was against it too. Business leaders in Indiana freaked out and got him to amend the law – but that made the Christian right unhappy! By the end of it, though, he had thoroughly mastered the art of the non-answer.
Pence says he is:
“a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.”
in particular:
“For me it all begins with faith; it begins with what matters most, and I try and put what I believe to be moral truth first. My philosophy of government second. And my politics third,”
That sums up what people most like and most hate about him: applying his religion to public policy.
Positions:
- For: the Iraq War, the Patriot Act (government spying on citizens), capital punishment, ALEC, Koch brothers, coal industry, Israel, free press, free trade, TPP, blue lives, charter schools and vouchers.
- Against: abortion, gay rights, gun control, net neutrality, the 2008 bail-out of Wall Street, GM and Chrysler, the 2009 economic stimulus, “reverse discrimination”, Obamacare.
- Doubts: evolution, global warming.
He has been silent about Black Lives Matter.
Disagreements with Trump: Pence called Trump’s ban on letting Muslims into the US “offensive and unconstitutional”. He also disagrees with Trump on the Iraq War, free trade and a free press.
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
- 2016 US election for president
- Republican
- Moral Mondays – which has protested in Indiana against his policies
- Irish Americans
539
Well, well, well. Let’s repent before the November ballot gets bent
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Pence says he is: “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.”
Huh, … mixing religion with politics is the equivalent of pouring a cup of water into a bucket of oil. The jelling will never take place because these are adversarial substances and the so-called Amerikan Constitution says that there should be a “separation between the church and the State.” So goes the narrative of Amerikan politics as well, these people will say almost anything to get elected (smh).
Psalm 64:8 “So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.”
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Milkwood should love this guy!
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“In 2015 he made news nationwide when he signed into Indiana law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It allowed businesses to refuse service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people for religious reasons. The infamous example was of a flower shop not selling flowers for a gay wedding.”
The new attack on civil rights is hidden behind “religious freedom”.
Not surprising that Trump’s pick is Pence. It fits with his white Christian Nationalism.
Can you imagine the controversy if a Jew or a Muslim declared his/her religion came before politicale idiology and party while running for office ?
The American version of Christianity has now become absorbed into the white default.
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How can he “doubt evolution and global warming” ? Is he a complete moron? I don’t understand your country at all! How can anyone bring religion into their politics. No offence meant but sometimes I feel exasperated by American politics and political representatives. You might as well have the Pope govern your country – Actually, it would probably be a lot better if you did! Historically America is vile yet seems to criticize every other world regime. I think I might run for president some time soon. I can’t be any worse than 80% of those who have gone before. And yes, I know Britain is far from perfect before anyone says anything!
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@Zoe Jordan
People doubt evolution because it clashes with their fundamentalist religious beliefs. True, they could accept evolution and still be “Christian” or “Muslim”, but once you go against the grain on one issue, it tends to be a slippery slope.
I’ve never met anyone personally who has doubted global warming. I would imagine you would have to be one of those business elite crooks or their cronies to doubt it. And even then it isn’t so much that they doubt it, they just want to pretend it isn’t real.
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This skeletor-looking dude complements Trump in being extreme in the areas Trump hasn’t adequately covered.
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@ Benjamin
I’m a Catholic and have to #accept (lol) that Mary was a virgin, for goodness sake… I have to sing songs about her chastity every Christmas just to prove it and even I know one cannot deny evolution!
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Prepare for the new apartheid and Jim Crow black family!
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(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GNBVOtM7VI)
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