Cybrpnk's Rantings

Providence has decreed that my current consumption of literature is centered on Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, a work of historical fiction that takes place during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in England and around Europe. One of the central themes running through both that period of history and Stephenson's novel is the horrific human cost exacted by the periods' many religious wars and plots. Protestants vs. Puritans. Catholics vs. Protestants. And, to borrow a line from Tom Lehrer, "everybody hates the jews." Remembering this as the backdrop against which our Founding Fathers enshrined the principle of separation of church and state helps to illustrate the grave disservice and threat to our country posed by the Republican strategy of fashioning George W. Bush's second administration as a religious institution.

Apparently the strategy of the Bush campaign was to harness the network of evangelical Christian churches not only to turn out the vote, but to preach that only votes for a candidate who had the 'correct' positions on abortion, gay marriage, and stem cell research would be acceptable in the eyes of god. While perhaps narrowly skirting technical violation of campaign finance laws, this is in spirit a clear violation of one of the bedrock values of our society. While I can shrug off differences between myself and people with significantly different views on the economy or national security, this goes much deeper. This is moving towards establishing the concept of a societal norm defined as people who hold certain conservative Christian values. By definition this relegates those of us with different beliefs to the status of deviants. Far from simply offering an alternative philosophy, this threatens negation.

I have seen signs that there are Republicans who are similarly troubled by this trend. I sincerely hope that they rein in this messianic president before he drives our country over that same cliff down which Charles I took England. We have already had Christian extremists killing physicians in the name of Christ. With John Ashcroft and the Justice Department unwilling to label such acts the domestic terrorism they so clearly are, one wonders when the red state self-righteousness will spill over into acts that will draw retribution, followed by revenge, and on down into chaos. It was already clear from his reckless and feckless invasion of Iraq that W. is not a man who worries about the human cost of his policies. I hope that somehow we can rescue the country from this man who is so completely amoral in his pursuit of power and holiness.