Cybrpnk's Rantings

One of the truly surreal things about the current power of the Republican party is the way in which it has conned two groups with radically different philosophies into seeing past their cognitive dissonance and supporting the party which both promotes, and undermines, their goals. Talk about your devil's deals. The two groups are the free market, less government crowd, including the libertarians; and the religious right. Let's look at one side of this dissonance. Sure, the religious right is getting people in office that are willing to advance their narrow-minded bigoted agenda, but at what cost?

What is it that the religious right really seems to want? They seem intent on turning back the clock to a mythical past in which all children were born in wedlock; all women knew that their place was in the home and beneath their husbands (both physically and metaphorically); all sex was between husband and wife; people took responsibility for their own actions; and god had a central place in everyone's lives. I've read a lot of history, and I haven't run across even oblique references to any time and place that even vaguely approximated this vision. Not even Puritan New England in the 17th century, although that might have been as close as anything.

What is it that the religious right most blames for the current fall from grace with which they find themselves cursed? Why the empty materialism of modern culture of course. The crass commercialism. The lack of personal responsibility. The economic forces that undermine traditional neighborhoods and families. And who are the biggest boosters of this commercial culture? The true believers of anything for a buck? The people who are disdainful of the sentimentality of people who mourn the loss of mom and pop stores to Wal-Mart? Those who scorn anyone who doesn't worship at the altar of free trade and efficient flow of capital? Why, the fiscal conservatives at the heart of the Republican Party, that's who.

So, by joining with the fiscal conservatives, the religious right is increasing the power of the social and economic forces that undermine everything they hold dear. Sure, the money people are willing to throw them some bones around issues like abortion and gay marriage, but how about changing the economic structure so that more women can afford to stay home? Not going to happen. And as for individual responsibility, I can think of few things as corrosive to this ideal as the culture pushed by our corporate leaders. They mocked Al Gore for his claim about 'no controlling legal authority' yet most of them make this very claim in all aspects of their lives at work. How many times have you heard some corporate flack defend what is clearly unethical and immoral behavior with the bland statement that all applicable laws were followed? And that's the message that kids are absorbing: if it's not illegal, it must be okay. Where does free will and personal responsibility fit into that world view?

When push comes to shove the right tends to be more successful than the left. A lot of this is that the right has much stronger cohesion and party discipline. But ultimately, the difference is that the left has principles, and the right, despite their sanctimoniousness, would rather have power. Recent news reports suggest that perhaps the evangelical Christians are starting to realize how severely they have been Fausted. If they follow their conscience, and realize that it is inconsistent for them to be in bed with the forces of soulless globalization and efficiency above people, they will presumably do great harm to their power in the secular arena; but if they are true to the values they claim to have they should be willing to make that sacrifice to protect their claim to righteousness in the eyes of their god. If they can not be true to their own values, they surely can't expect to be taken seriously when they claim a moral authority to tell others how to live their lives. Not that I would grant them that moral authority anyway, but I could at least have some respect for them if they were not so clearly hypocritical power-hungry theocrats.