The Poison of the Christian Right

Our system is a two party system. The deadlock in Minnesota politics, reflected in Washington, is the ultimate product of the Christian Right bringing religion into the work of the political process. They have imagined themselves as the only ones with morality, which demonizes anyone who disagrees with them. Their hectoring pal Ann Coulter has actually called the Democratic Party Demonic in her new book of that title (Available by the pound at Costco). In the strident world of Who Yells Hardest is the Most Passionate and therefor the Most Right, the strident passionate arguments of these well-meaning folk is that if they are voting from their faith, that means anyone who disagrees with them is Satan. They have gone from Right (conservative) to Righteous (religiously motivated and informed) to Self-Righteous (We are the Christian Soldiers, marching as to war). And the self-righteous are famously hard of hearing.

This batch of Republicans in Minnesota was elected on the promise of No Compromise, which is like saying "We will not participate in a Democracy. Compromise is wrong and Bad, and in fact is a sin." Former Republican Governor Arne Carleson, a good Republican in my book (like Durenburger, Eisenhower, Roosevelt, and Lincoln) has tried to lead by example by going out into Center Field with Mondale and a few others who grew up believing in an American system based on Inclusion, not self-righteousness. You are not in a conversation if you are not open to hearing what is being said to you, and open to being changed by what you hear. The opposite of a conversation is Hectoring.

A one-party system is called Fascism, or Communism. As long as the Republicans act like the Supreme Soviet, nothing will happen. And, in the words of David Books of the New York Times, they will prove they are not fit to govern.

Progressive Jesus Freak: Against Anarchy Posing as Liberty

Welcome.

If you are a Dr. King sort of Jesus person, who is sick to death of being sidelined in conversation because of assumptions about a spirituality based on Jesus, then I might have some things of interest to you.

Today's Bumpersticker: Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handbasket?

There was a confluence of news articles the other day. Budget cuts to education because rich people don't want to pay taxes. A new survey shows that Americans don't know much about history. This process was certified during the Bush years because he pushed us into testing for Science and Math. Of course Republicans from Texas don't want us to know about history. They want us to think the Civil War was about states' rights. It wasn't- it was about slavery. They want us to think Texas has always been part of the Good Old USA. Nope. It was the rich northern half of Mexico, and we took it because slave owners were wearing out the soil in the south, and had to take their stock (black people) to fresh territory. They want us to think Mexico started that war. Nope nope nope. The President of the United States (James K. Polk) started it so he could beat them up and that's what he wanted. Et Cetera.

And where does Jesus come in? People would find out that we are not a Christian Nation, and never have been. In fact, we have been a very Un Christian Nation.

We declared our Independence from the Brits because they wanted the White Man to quit stealing land from the Indians. We bought Louisiana because we told Napolean that if he didn't sell, we would take it. We stole California and Texas and New Mexico, etc. to move slaves in and also because San Francisco and San Diego (note Spanish names) had harbors that could be used to dominate the Pacific for the next several hundred years. Then there is Hawaii, the Philippines, Central America, etc.

Republicans would find it hard to get people to blindly salute their Merakin Flag-orino if they actually understood how all those stars got on there. How many thousands died to paste those pentagrams in place.

Jesus preached against the domination of the weak by the strong. He preached against the abuse of power by the rich and the hoarding of wealth by The Temple at the expense of the poor, the sick, the marginal. Romans preached peace through victory, which meant the killing of all opposition: Jesus preached peace by peacefulness.

I'm in favor of Democrats who believe Government is there to make this a better nation, and that was also a Republican philosophy. Lincoln was about Government interference Against Slavery. Teddy Roosevelt was about Government Interference Against the Robber Barons.

Now we have Republicans who are against having a government. That is not conservatism. That is Anarchy. It's not Libertarian, it is Anarchist.

More reflections on the news as it happens. Stay tuned.

Shalom, Mark Dominic Sebastian