My spouse, Jay Michaelson, has written a piece for the Daily Beast on Trump’s new pick for Attorney General, William P. Barr. I wanted to share it here because it seems with so much news happening, Barr’s strongly theocratic background and troubling statements have gone mostly overlooked as he prepares to become one of the most powerful people in America.
Barr is being described across punditry as a sensible pick, even a moderate. But his 1995 essay, “Legal Issues in a New Political Order”, paints a radically different picture. In it, Barr:
- states repeatedly that the United States of America should not have a secular government, but rather should have a deeply enshrined Christian government; i.e., complete abolishment of the principle of separation of church and state
- rails at length about sin in society and about venereal disease in particular — specifically stating that the US government must “restrain sexual immorality”
- concludes by declaring, quote, “that we are going to have to do more than joust around the margins. We must reenter the fray in an effective way; take the battlefield and enter the struggle.”
It may be that Barr has modified this view in more recent years. But it also may be that he has not, and the nation is currently very distracted by Trump-vs-Mueller and other headlines. It may be that we will not even notice as a full-on theocrat, one who does not believe in the fundamental principle of separation of church and state, steps up and into the office of US Attorney General.