by Reluctant Junkie - December 17, 2008
PROLOGUE
For somewhat different reasons,
my good friends and fellow progressives Bob and Jack think I make too much of
the threat posed by social conservatism, which these days pretty much equates
to the regressive, faith-based agenda of the patently deluded religious right.
While I greatly respect and often rely on my friends' erudition and insights,
they have so far failed to persuade me that there are more important political
considerations than the pernicious political influence of America's home-grown
Taliban.
As exhibit number one in my
argument I present the recent, sudden ascendancy of Sarah Palin, who, if events
had played out somewhat differently over the past few months, could very well
have been in position to assume the Presidency of the United States (aka Unitary
Executive) within four years, or less. That someone motivated by such a set of
bizarre beliefs – someone so conspicuously unqualified and ignorant
– could be a heartbeat away should serve as a huge warning to anyone
inclined to downplay or dismiss the threat posed by the faith-heads / wingnuts.
I previously referred to Palin as “Bush in a skirt” and later as “Limbaugh in a
skirt.” As much as I detest those men, the comparison is unfair to both of
them, who, despite their relentless treachery, are far more evolved than the
winking (but never blinking), stupendously overconfident word-salad
machine from Wasilla.
It seems superfluous to point
out that Sarah the overnight sensation should scare the hell out of anyone
committed to constitutional democracy. Her millions of fervent backers are the
same implacable zealots who supported all the criminal, unconstitutional
actions of the Bush administration over the past eight years, the same people
who believed that Bush's appointment by the Supreme Court was a manifestation
of God's will. They are dedicated theocrats with friends in high places
throughout government, including the Supreme Court.
PART 1
I've now had more than three
weeks to think about it, and the night of November 4, 2008 still ranks as one
of the happiest moments of my life, right up there with other too-long-delayed
gratifications such as graduation from college. Leaving out the elephant in the
room – the financial crisis, not the Republican Party – my mix of
post-election emotions breaks down something like this: one part elation, one
part hope, one part pride, four parts relief, two parts lingering dread, and
one part schadenfreude (that delightful German term meaning the pleasure
derived from another's misfortune).
Now delayed gratification may be
the sweetest, but schadenfreude can't be far behind when its objects are so
richly deserving. Of course the “objects” to whom I refer are the
freedom-hating, destructive, anti-democratic right-wing political and religious
ideologues who have poisoned the politics and culture of our country with their
bigoted demagoguery for the past 30 years or more.
And no, I'm not in the least
ashamed of that feeling; I harbor not the slightest degree of sympathy for any
of them; my antipathy knows no bounds; may they suffer the torments of the
damned as they watch their once proud and vainglorious neoconservative, social
conservative, bible-thumping empire disintegrate amidst a babel of excuses,
blame, and finger-pointing. Let me add to the latter by pointing a big middle
finger right in their smug, bigoted, lily-white faces. It's time to pile on.
But let me tell you how I really
feel. These atavistic louts are the enemies of virtually everything I value
– politically, culturally, intellectually, spiritually, aesthetically,
morally and ethically, etc. They are personified by their treacherous political
leaders (who belong behind bars) and their chorus of media shills. The
seemingly endless political list starts at the top with Bush, Cheney, and Rove.
Recent additions are Palin and the odious, McCarthyite congresswoman from
Minnesota, Michelle
Bachman. But hey, they are all essentially the same, with only minor variations
– all the same in terms of the simplistic, dogmatic, fascistic agenda
they've been pushing since before Goldwater.
On the media-shill list, the
most prominent are those well-known liars, Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity,
O'Reilly, Savage, Drudge, Beck, and now Rove. Like their political ilk, they
are also essentially identical, competing only in terms of simplemindedness
(e.g., “Drill, baby, drill!”) and vicious slander (e.g., Obama the
Muslim/terrorist pal/socialist, etc.). And lies – all lies, all the time.
They are the crème de la crème of a vast Right-Wing Ministry of Propaganda. As
the late Hunter Thompson so delicately put it in a Rolling Stone article about Nixon and his cronies, “The Scum
also Rises.”
But as I said, these prominent
political and media figures are personifications of a movement numbering in the
millions, comprising a significant percentage of the U.S. population. They are
the social conservatives – religion-besotted homophobes, zygote-huggers,
“teach the (contrived) controversy” creationists, the same arrogant fools who
have been trying to redefine science to include the supernatural, the same
religious morons who, like their hero Sarah Palin, arrogantly maintain that humans
cavorted with dinosaurs less than 6000 years ago. It was Richard
Dawkins who pointed out that the magnitude of error in the assertion that the
earth is 6000 years old is on the same order as claiming that the distance from
New York City to San Francisco is 14 feet! Virtually ALL their beliefs, which
they would give the force of law, are on the same level of ignorant denial of
establish facts. Thus we're not talking about people who are just somewhat
mistaken – these are first-magnitude whack jobs who recently came within
a half a heartbeat of taking over the executive branch of government.
No, I'm not ready to concede
that I'm exaggerating the threat they represent. They hold power and influence
in excess of their numbers and are imbedded throughout Federal and state
government agencies, the Pentagon, and all branches of the military.
And lest you think I am a
vicious character assassin not unlike the enemy I condemn, I will point out
that THEY STARTED IT. Liberals like Bob, Jack, and I – and Democrats in
general – have always
tolerated and welcomed diversity, differences of opinion, spirited discussion
and debate. Unfortunately, the always-pathological political right is locked
into a rigid, authoritarian, coordinated, frighteningly determined political
and cultural war to supplant American freedom and democracy with their
homegrown brand of theocratic fascism.
I fully expect the atavistic
political and media right-wing culture warriors to emerge victorious from the
current Republican disarray. If that transpires, we will underestimate them at
our own peril. My prescription is constant vigilance: watch them like hawks,
begin combatting them more effectively at all levels (e.g., school board
elections), promptly and forcefully counter their poisonous media propaganda,
and give highest priority to exposing and opposing them wherever they seek
power. After all, most Americans still don't buy into their deranged beliefs;
but we need to begin matching their determination.
I'll try to start filling in the
details of what I'm talking about in my next column. What it really comes down
to is that ideology, especially fundamentalist religion, is possibly the
gravest threat to the future of civilization. 