If you’re on the fence about going out to vote in November, here’s a big reason why you should go to the polls–as long as the Republicans control the House, some of the most extreme people ever to walk into the Capitol will have a dangerous amount of influence on our policy. I’ve already told you about one of them, Jody Hice, who is all but certain to be the next congressman from Georgia’s 10th District. This is a guy who thinks that the Second Amendment gives you the right to own mini-arsenals and believes separation of church and state is a Satanic plot.
Well, I recently found out about another one who could potentially be every bit as loony if he’s elected. Namely Zach Dasher, who is running in the Republican primary for Louisiana’s 5th District in the northeastern portion of the state. Dasher is the nephew of “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson; his mother, Jan, is Phil’s baby sister. This district is a classic “God, gays, and guns” district; it has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+14. Not surprisingly given the nature of this district, as well as his pedigree, Dasher is running as a no-questions-asked conservative–he opposes abortion and gun control, and has vowed to “fight the big government intellectual elitists in Washington” if elected. He’s been endorsed by his uncle, as well as Sarah Palin and the Louisiana Tea Party.
Recently, Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski discovered just how extreme Dasher is. Before launching his run for Congress, Dasher ran a podcast called “Willing to Think” as a sideline to his day job as a pharmaceutical representative. A few days after the Sandy Hook massacre, Dasher put out a podcast called “Why Did This Happen?” in which he gave his thoughts on the tragedy. He claimed that the shooting happened because Adam Lanza began listening to the siren song of atheism. His full spiel on this has to be reproduced in full to do it justice.
“These children that were killed in Connecticut were made for a purpose. And to be honest with you, even the killer himself was made for a purpose. He was made in the image of God. But somewhere along the way, he believed what the atheist says. He reduced humanity to nothing more than a collection of atoms, to be discarded like an old banana peel. And I guarantee you–now this is my hypothesis–that he even saw himself as nothing more than chemicals. But because he was made to want to matter, he was made to want to be significant, he planned a way for himself to rise above the status of mere chemicals. He found a way to matter. Even if it was for the most disgusting, unimaginable act, at least he mattered.”
Sound familiar? As I’ve mentioned before, it’s more or less an article of faith in religious right circles that evolution isn’t valid because it lures people into atheism. Just last week, for instance, I mentioned that Ben Carson claims he doesn’t believe in evolution because if you’re capable of explaining everything, you don’t need God. It’s also an article of faith on the religious right that Sandy Hook wouldn’t have happened if the Supreme Court hadn’t ruled that mandatory prayer and Bible reading in public schools were unconstitutional.
I have to wonder if it’s a lot easier for Dasher to blame atheism instead of the lax gun laws and the holes in our mental health system that made it possible for Lanza to get his hands on the AR-15 and the 30-round magazine that powered it. Never mind his documented mental health issues, or the fact that the lack of a federal assault weapons ban made it possible for Lanza to even have the gun even though it was technically illegal in Connecticut. But then again, that would require some degree of compromise–a four-letter word among those of Dasher’s ilk.
Don’t expect Dasher to be held to account for this sort of talk, though. Indeed, there’s a very real chance he could be on his way to Congress. The district’s incumbent, Vance McAllister, appeared to be on his way to growing old in this seat when he succeeded six-term incumbent Rodney Alexander in a 2013 special election. However, just two months after his victory, McAllister was seen kissing a female member of his congressional staff–even though both of them are married. McAllister initially decided against running for a full term, but changed his mind. Nonetheless, the incident has made McAllister vulnerable. In Louisiana’s unusual “jungle primary” system, all of the candidates appear on one ballot in November, regardless of party. If no one gets a majority, the top two candidates proceed to a runoff in December. Although there is a Democrat in the race, Monroe mayor Jamie Mayo, given the dark-red tint of this district it’s very likely two of the six Republicans in the field will end up in the runoff.
The last poll in this race, in early September, showed Dasher with only seven percent support. But that poll came before the endorsements from the Tea Party and Palin in a district where the tea was flowing freely long before 2010 and Palin is adored. You have to think that if Dasher makes the runoff, he’d be the favorite. If that were to happen, a guy who openly smears atheists could be on his way to Congress.
True, Dasher is made to order for this district. But as long as John Boehner has the gavel, extremists like Dasher will be empowered.
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Darrell Lucus, also known as Christian Dem in NC on Daily Kos, is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
