Jerry Brown compares Republican Party to the Catholic Church

The governor tells the LAT that the debt-ceiling crisis was "a very dangerous and sorry spectacle" that reflects a decaying American political system.

“This budget reminded me of doctrines, from back when I was in the seminary,” he said. “If you’re 15 minutes late to church, you could burn in hell. That’s how Republicans are about taxes. There’s a fanaticism. They are deeply stuck in a no-tax identity that is almost now, on the national level, a religion. " 'No taxes' is a central dogma in the new Republican church. You can’t deviate," he said. "They won’t burn you at the stake, but they’ll recall you." He also had choice words for Democrats, who he said increasingly vote in a bloc on nearly everything in the Legislature. "It’s getting to be lock step … [and] nobody up here has the courage or cojones to do anything about it," he said.

Brown said, "there’s something atrophying in the political process. It’s getting extremely rigid and inflexible." Unfortunately, guys like Brown don't have much influence anymore.