Maryland doesn’t top the list of hard-core right-wing nutsery havens; not like some places I can think of (*cough-Texas-cough*), so how did the good people of Anne Arundel County, the home of Annapolis, let this guy out of the pen? Via C&L:
[Michael] Peroutka is a radical Christian Reconstructionist, a Southern secessionist, and has claimed in the past that “so-called civil rights laws” aren’t valid because “there is no such thing as civil rights.” This man, who wound up as the newly elected to the Anne Arundel County Council in Maryland, has claimed that promoting evolution is an “act of disloyalty to America” and said that SCOTUS Justice Anthony Kennedy “hates God” because “he thinks he is God.” Peroutka, not above the querulous paranoia so rampant on the right wing today, cleverly refers to being gay as a “deathstyle” and has claimed in the past that they’re out to “recruit your children.”
Toss in a beheading (or stoning; if he’s a good Reconstructionist, he supports a return to Mosaic law, punishments included) and Maryland voters basically elected the Christian cousin to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
[…]
Peroutka has argued and continues to argue that since state legislatures have passed laws like marriage equality that “violate God’s law,” the Maryland General Assembly isn’t “a valid legislative body” and, therefore, none of the law that it passes are “legally valid and legally enforceable.” It’s very easy for a legislature to violate Peroutka’s view of God’s law, by the way. The government has a very clear purpose: protect God-given rights, enforce and obey God’s law, and not to “house, feed, clothe, educate, or give healthcare . . . [to] ANYBODY!”
Sounds like a great guy.
My guess is the he was on the ballot along with a whole list of names and people just checked him off the way they do in county elections without knowing anything about the candidate. Maybe they’ve seen his campaign signs along the street or in front yards and they figure, “hey, what the hell, that name is familiar,” and then move on to the question over the dog park.
Ah, democracy.
I knew only eight names on the ballot here having moved to the place I live only a year ago. For about three months we took the Enquirer, but stopped delivery in anger at the paper’s right wing editorial stance and the fact that it’s a dependent of USAToday. So I went on line and checked with the endorsements of the Toledo Blade, copied the names (some were even marked R – horrors) but I was a typical know-nothing county wide. I have no idea who the people are I voted for holding the positions of city council or county clerk and other local but important posts. I am an enthusiastic participant in the electoral process – I vote in every election. I give to the DCCC, the DNC, the DSCC, the ODP and a few candidates. Now take into account the fact that only a third of those eligible to vote did so Tuesday I’m not surprised that we have ringers in more positions than the spooky guy in Maryland.
Anne Arundel county: explains a lot. Annapolis is there, and the elections seem fairly conservative. 75% Caucasian. Democrats have a substantial majority over the GOTea in registrations, but GOPers have done extremely well there (they went heavily for Nixon in ’72, Reagan in ’80 and ’84, GHWB in ’92 and Shrub in ’04, and leaned more toward McCain than BHO in ’08). There’s a strong independent streak too – which saps more votes from Dems than from GOTea. Also, the trainwreck that’s Prince George’s County is right next door: I’m guessing but it’s likely that Anne Arundel voters are watching PG and aren’t having any of Those People tell them how to vote.