The GOP is an Old Testament religious tribalism, a secular/religious tribe that uses rational political language in as code to disguise its religious underpinnings. 

This solved the perennial problem of secular rational modernity that has, since the 16th century, wiped European/American reality clean of its mythos/subjective meaning. The subjective baby got thrown out with the bathwater with Bacon and Descartes. The subjective means our need for meaning and purpose or value. 

The objective world view, which is our empirical scientific world view has become the only world view, and its concern is with control or how do manipulate nature to create comfort, not value. Having value in comfort alone is a shallow value and will not satisfy the need for meaning: who am I? 

So the GOP stumbled into this toxic mix of religion and politics when Nixon invited the Southern Democrats into the party, and it became a religious/political tribe with a special covenant with God and wealth, a prosperity gospel. Vote GOP and you will have meaning and the power and comfort of wealth. You, through belief, will be the Elect, The Chosen. You become a member of the Chosen Tribe not by birth but by voting.

As I explained in my talk (listen to the talk as well as reading this), the GOP created an energy generating system that, like a battery, contains two contradictory commandments or imperatives in a metaphor or political party. The GOP is the Chosen Party, the People of God and America, the patriotic party, the true value party…and so on. That is the message of the GOP for the last 50 years. 

A metaphor (that which contains opposite poles in one system harnesses the wind, is a self-generating system) contains power and makes it available when you need it. The GOP needs this power when it an election and they must get out their vote. They have wedge issues that turn on the power switch to get out the passionate votes, who then go back to sleep after the win. 

All the power brokers (those who understand how the batter/generator works) just bring out a new trigger at an election to energize the vote. You are among the Chosen by voting the Chosen into power. You are doing God’s will by voting Republican. That is the subliminal message that keeps recharging the GOP battery. 

But this battery is running down now. We can see the signs. The world is changing and it will no longer support this toxic mix of religion and politics. that gives. you personal meaning and value without changing the deplorable conditions of your life.