Commentary
One of the defining characteristics of our political era is the degree to which authoritarian politicians shamelessly portray themselves as champions of freedom while using their power to undermine Americans’ freedoms. Ron DeSantis giving his book the title “The Courage to be Free” while bragging about using the power of his office to force businesses, educators, and elected officials to bend to his will is a preeminent example. But the House Republicans are giving him a run for his money.
As reported by The Military Times and highlighted by Steve Benen at MaddowBlog, House Republicans voted last Friday to ban any member of the armed forces from being in contact with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit group that represents servicemembers addressing violations of church-state separation and religious liberty in the armed forces. The Military Times reported that the amendment was inserted into the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act by Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio). Benen explains that under the House Republicans’ plan:
If American servicemen and women have concerns about religious liberty, they would no longer be permitted to contact the Military Religious Freedom Foundation — whether their concerns have merit or not.”
What’s more, if the Military Religious Freedom Foundation brought a legal problem to the attention of a military leader, commanders would have no choice but to ignore the issue without the direct approval of the Defense secretary, who presumably has other things to do.
In other words, House Republicans voted to squelch the freedoms of the very people who have committed themselves to fighting for those freedoms. The provision targets servicemembers’ freedom of speech and freedom of association, and their ability to defend their freedom of religion.
Can you imagine the uproar from conservatives if Senate Democrats had voted to ban military personnel from being in contact with the Family Research Council or Alliance Defending Freedom?
This provision is more evidence of the dangers that the increasingly aggressive and authoritarian Christian nationalism promoted by the religious right and embraced by many Republican politicians poses to democratic values—and to our freedom.
This was not the only far-right provision stuck into the National Defense Authorization Act by House Republicans, who also agreed to a series of anti-freedom provisions demanded by the misnamed Freedom Caucus in order to win their votes for passage of the bill. In the end, as Benen noted, House Republicans took a bipartisan bill, “loaded it up with culture war priorities, and turned the package into a far-right wish list.”
