My in-laws are from a small town 30-40 minutes north and west Ft. Dodge. Steve King Iowa.

They are lovely people, but church is the center of their social lives, and for some, their work lives, too. THey're not fanatics, but one nephew is I'd assume an angry incel.

They vote R because that's what they think they should do. They hear it in their churches. They read Christian books and news outlets. Surgeons don't save them, god does through their prayers.

Barry Goldwater nailed it, and this should be the rift that divides the "traditional gop" from this new radicalized John Wayne Republican Jesus come back as TDFG cult.

They willingly believe Earth is 6,000 years old, and nifty things like fossils and carbon dating as easter eggs from Satan to test their belief. Very literal, very rigid in their thinking, very small box traditional family. THey love Mayberry. As a Californian, with divorced parents, single til I was 34, with a gay brother, and step parents and birth parents, too, I was way outside their box.

"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them...

There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly.

The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.

I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.'"

- Barry Goldwater, prophet.