GOP Senator Wants More God In Government Visitor Center

Showing once again that whenever a transformational leader like Barack Obama comes along to lead the nation into the future, the Republican party is always there to drag us backwards, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) tried to delay the grand opening of the new Capitol Visitor Center in Washington because be thinks there just isn't enough mention of God in the facility.

Saying that the $621 million historical exhibit is "left-leaning" and leaves out America's "history of faith," DeMint tried to use his Senatorial clout to delay the center's opening on Tuesday and, among other things, wanted the original national motto of "E. Pluribus Unum" -- "from many, one" in Latin -- replaced with "In God We Trust."

“The Capitol Visitor Center is designed to tell the history and purpose of our nation's Capitol, but it fails to appropriately honor our religious heritage that has been critical to America’s success,” said DeMint.

What DeMint's religious-right stunt leaves out is that the purpose of the center is to provide an "…educational environment for visitors to learn about the unique characteristics of the House and the Senate and the legislative process" and to teach about our system of Government -- not to talk about the private religious practices of the nation's Senators and Representatives.

DeMint, who was joined in his silly protest by Republican Senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, has managed to strong-arm the Visitor Center into plastering over "E. Pluribus Unum," changing the motto to "In God We Trust" and committing to add the Pledge of Allegiance to the displays.

Of course, you know DeMint probably doesn’t care about pledging one's loyalty to the U.S. as much as he does about the "one nation, under God" part.

And the South Carolina Senator apparently really objected to a prominent statement near the facility's entrance that says "we have built no temple, but the Capitol. We consult no common oracle but the Constitution," which is attributed to Representative Rufus Choate, who represented Massachusetts in Congress in the 1830s and 1840s.

"This is an intentional misrepresentation of our nation’s real history, and an offensive refusal to honor America's God-given blessings," said DeMint.

That pretty much wraps it up nicely, doesn’t it? Given that DeMint and his Republican colleagues have contributed mightily to Bush and Cheney utterly trashing the Constitution and our true national creed for eight years, it's not at all surprising that a quote heralding the Constitution as our governmental foundation -- and not the bible, I guess -- should make him so angry.

And I guess South Carolina voters must approve of DeMint spending his time and energy on this while we have two wars going on, an economy in deep recession and people losing jobs and homes every day.

I'm assuming the inclusion of the Flat Earth Society somewhere in the newest D.C. attraction is coming next or a DeMint insistence that the Capitol Visitor Center include a mural of Adam and Eve riding a dinosaur to a church social.