South Carolina county requests purity pledge to become a Republican

Oh, this is going to be fun. In Laurens County in South Carolina, the Republican Party decided that in order to be on the ballot, you should pledge that you’ve never had pre-marital sex and will never watch porn again.

This is part of a 28-point pledge concocted which also includes hating gays, abortion and all that good stuff, but what has brought about the most attention is the piece that aspiring candidates would vow that they’ve never done the deed before marriage. The language states:

You must favor, and live up to, abstinence before marriage.

You must be faithful to your spouse. Your spouse cannot be a person of the same gender, and you are not allowed to favor any government action that would allow for civil unions of people of the same sex.

You cannot now, from the moment you sign this pledge, look at pornography.

Considering 9 in 10 Americans have the sex before marriage, they’re probably going to have a tough time finding candidates — though there was clarification later that legally they can’t force folks to sign the pledge if they meet the other requirements to run. But GOP Chair Bobby Smith still contends that they still reserve the right to “vet its candidates and will encourage all candidates to uphold the principles of the party’s platform as well as petition candidates to sign a pledge to do so.” In other words, if you want to make friends, you still best abide.

But looking at what’s happening with the GOP primaries and the birth control fight, Laurens County is just another ridiculous symptom of a political party that is literally splitting itself apart.