Polimom finds today’s polarized versions of the Democrat and Republican parties to be dismally out of touch with the world – or at least, my world. Somehow, the extreme left and right have hi-jacked them both, leaving those of us in the middle mute.
Mute, and very concerned.
There’s plenty of moonbat hysteria from the left, but just at the moment I’m more concerned by the apparent resurrection of the GOP as “God’s Own Party”, and the accompanying take-over of the moral high ground on every issue. The cat’s peeping out of the bag, and the result is more than a shift in politics: the country is polarizing further.
WaPo’s Kevin Phillips writes:
We have had small-scale theocracies in North America before — in Puritan New England and later in Mormon Utah. Today, a leading power such as the United States approaches theocracy when it meets the conditions currently on display: an elected leader who believes himself to speak for the Almighty, a ruling political party that represents religious true believers, the certainty of many Republican voters that government should be guided by religion and, on top of it all, a White House that adopts agendas seemingly animated by biblical worldviews.
While I’m not convinced we’re becoming a true theocracy, it seems very clear that the religious right is pressing its agenda much harder right now – and why wouldn’t they? As Ross Douthat writes in the Wall Street Journal, this is the Thecon Moment:
This a good time for such considerations, because the last, limping years of the Bush administration find religious conservatives in a position of unusual strength — flush from victory in the Roberts and Alito confirmation battles; relatively untainted by the stumblings and scandals afflicting the GOP; and stronger, in numbers and credibility, than most of their rivals for control of the party. “National greatness conservatism” has foundered, at least temporarily, on the rocks of Iraq, while the starve-the-beast right looks in the mirror and finds the beast staring back, wearing Jack Abramoff’s fedora. Which means that for the moment, the closest thing to a credible public philosophy the GOP has to offer emanates from the once-unlikely alliance of evangelicals and Catholics, and their God-infused politics of social reform.
That’s it? That’s all that’s left for the GOP credibility? Likely so, judging by the latest polls. No wonder Polimom can’t figure out what they’re doing anymore. Perhaps that explains the actions of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who didn’t think signing a bill is political, so he signed it in a church last year (from the NY Times):
The choice of location for the signing, Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Worth, is being praised by conservative Republicans as a major victory. Critics call it inappropriate
The governor will not sign the bills from a pulpit but in the school gym, said Perry spokesman Robert Black. “It’s interesting. No one seemed to protest the governor signing a bill at a business or a hospital,” Black said. “It’s not a political event. It’s a bill-signing.”
Er… yes, Mr. Black. More:
Governor Perry said that the church school was a fitting venue for action on both matters.
“The two issues talk about values,” he said. “A church is an appropriate place to come together and celebrate a victory for the values of the people of Texas.”
Oh my. Polimom is horrified by that last comment, frankly. Not only is it totally inappropriate, it’s a sign of these Theocon times that a Governor would so obviously align “values of the people of Texas” with a church.
There are any number of people in America who do not attend church or are not Christian, who are “moral” and teach values to their children — values like human compassion and the role of charity, respect for people and property, and tolerance for others whose views are different. This framing of politics as Christian is taking us right down the road into sectarianism and theocracy, and it’s not only appalling, it’s amazing…. or hasn’t anyone been noticing how that looks, real-time, in the Middle East?