Being off the reservation makes me a bit of an outsider when it comes to both religion and politics. It isn't that I don't bother to think about these things or pay any attention to them; but it seems like few people share my perspective.
From out here it looks like the Republican Party has, over the last couple of decades, morphed into a very odd Christian religious sect; and a shallow, somewhat disagreeable one at that. How else to describe an ideology that hates poor people, rejoices in punishing children for the mistakes of their parents, sees health care as a privilege for the well-to-do, thinks sacrificing the ecology for corporate profits is a mandate from god, and actually believes that being rich is god's gift to the truly righteous? In addition they consider money to be free speech while cheering when peaceful demonstrators, who are actually people trying to speak freely, are assaulted by police using batons, tear gas and pepper spray. And really, other than some whacked-out religious ideology, on what possible fucking basis can anyone be opposed to public education?
Like a lot of religion they also seem to be afraid of nearly everything. Gay people and socialism are the true dangers to human civilization? Immigrants and smoking pot will destroy the future? Evolution is a myth created by scientists and the earth is 10,000 years old? Insisting that the world is flat and the center of the solar system would not make them one bit goofier than they already are.
Yet they are still one half of the party coalition that governs the US. Roughly half of our “leaders” are parishioners, priests and bishops in this bastard religion of the willfully stupid. They inhabit the power structures of our nation, write our laws, oversee the most powerful military the world has ever endured, and control the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
As eventually happens to all religious groups, this Conservative / Republican / T-Party / Christianity (CRTPC) sect is apparently splitting into even more exclusive, and mutually hostile, factions. Perhaps that reflects it being populated by those who cling to the worst bits of Catholic, Protestant fundamentalist, and Mormon lunacy? At its core this religion is all about hate and evil. They hate each other as much as they do the rest of us and they are completely blind to the evil that they do in the world.
This brings some good news. Evil always turns out to be its own worst enemy, eventually turns inward, and self-destructs. So far as that goes it is encouraging to watch this particular CRTPC coalition stumble into oblivion.
Even as its (often divorced and serial adulterous) leaders froth at the mouth over protecting marriage from gay people, states around the country (and around the world) move toward granting this basic civil right to people who actually love each other. (Do hate and evil always stand against people who love each other?) Though they continue to scheme and weasel to defend and protect their personal fortunes, they face growing criticism of a Robber Baron economy and its strangle hold on economic justice. The vise-grip on society's resources that indulges in the cravings of the few while ignoring the needs of the many, may finally be starting to loosen.
The US Supreme Court, packed with CRTPC appointees, is basically untouchable. But do you know anyone who thinks they serve anything other than corporate interests? These unelected Emperors are long shed of any cloak of jurisprudence, but much of the country now seems well aware of their ugly nakedness. And as sometimes happens when evil people begin to spin out of control, this Court is so fucked up that even some of the CRTPC faithful are starting to protest. You just have to love the karma behind Sup-Pacs savaging opposing CRTPC candidates and hastening the group's splintering into warring camps of bile. Sooner or later rational people are going to reign in the Robert's Court, or else history will revile their part in the failure of a once democratic republic.
Though there is little chance that the US military will face any actual cuts in funding any time soon, there is at least enough unrest among the masses that the Obama is being forced to slow its escalating drain on resources. How big is that drain? The US military is the biggest purchaser of oil in the world and the largest single consumer of petroleum in the US. Some estimate that 1000 troops have died protecting fuel convoys in hostile areas. (If the USA were my enemy I would close the Straits of Hormuz in a heartbeat.) You have to feed the troops, run air-conditioning for them, provide health care, uniforms, boots, vehicles, knives, forks, spoons and plates. Every single .50 caliber bullet fired costs the same as providing a meal for a child. The simple fact is supporting the largest war machine on the planet costs all of us a considerable chunk of our standard of living. Any restraint on the military that can come from the CRTPC sect loosing its grip is good news. (Eventually military spending will be dramatically cut, just check with those who used to command the armed forces of the old Soviet Union.)
The bad news is that the CRTPC sect is half of the party coalition that rules the US. Is the sect fading into irrelevance and chaos, or are they just the first and most obvious segment of the US experiment in democracy fading into irrelevance and chaos? Those who worship in CRTPC churches may be insane, but the other half of the coalition (we call them Democrats) are not particularly lucid either.
Obama isn't slashing the size of the military. He finished Bush's one war, is continuing on with the other, is fighting at least one semi-secret drone war of his own, and seems bent on initiating a shooting war with Iran. (Any bets on the first shots being fired in say, September or October?) The revolving door between Wall Street and Pennsylvania Ave is more a super highway than it is a doorway. If one actually arrested those responsible for the fraud that trashed the economy, some of the "perp-walks" would start in the West Wing. In fact, given that Wall Street was one of Obama's early supporters, one perp-walk might start in the Oval office. (This is even more so if one thinks Bush II is a war criminal. If he is it is impossible to insist that Obama isn't.) Are oil companies any less powerful? Is health care any better or more affordable? Does solar power heat our homes? How many can afford to put kids through collage and who can pay their student loans?
If the CRTPC religious sect is self-destructing and about to fade from the US political scene, then our world may soon be a slightly better place. That wreck the rest of us will both survive and cheer. If the sect is actually a structural part of the US government and its demise simply one of the last facets of a long faltering democracy, many of us are going to be way too close to that disaster. What comes after is any one's guess and surviving the transition will be mostly a matter of being in the right place at the right time. (Or avoiding the wrong place at the wrong time!)
And if, by some small chance, you are a CRTPC worshiper and have read this far in this blog (small, small chance) you are going to be a part of the wreck either way. Good luck.
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