Admittedly, the general tone of this site over the past week or so has been one of unabashed anger and outrage. While I won't apologize for this -- mostly because I feel like the more that people throw down the gauntlet against the rising tide of dangerous stupidity on the part of the new Republican ticket, the better -- I do want to address the small amount of criticism I've received. Although the response has been overwhelmingly positive to the recent posts railing against John McCain and Sarah Palin, a few readers have chastised me for resorting to crude insults and sweeping generalizations as opposed to "elevating the debate" in an effort to win over potential voters on the opposite side of the aisle. I've made it pretty clear that I don't believe that those who seem not to care about logic and reason -- who demonize, ridicule and distrust anyone who has the audacity to put intellect and analysis above blind faith or bumper-sticker-brand patriotism -- will be willing to find common ground with those who do. But our government doesn't work without compromise, despite what many on the right believe; so back in January -- when it looked as if the funadamentalist Christian contingent who'd been given such a deafening voice in our government for so long would be left without a voice at all in the coming election -- I wrote a piece advocating if not unity then at the very least inclusion for all points of view. It was exclusive to the Huffington Post and was never published here. If I heard more of this kind of talk from the right -- and less mockery, chest-thumping and overt bullshit from the GOP's army of bellicose mouthpieces -- I probably wouldn't be fighting back in the kinds of absolute, unyielding terms that I am right now. Here now is that column from January 20th, 2008.
As believers in faith and ritual over science, perhaps it's not surprising that they failed to heed the basic laws of physics.
Most people understand that when a pendulum is pushed too far in one direction, it will eventually, inexorably swing back just as far to the opposite side. This is the natural order of things, and it tends to apply across the board -- even to that bulwark of chaos theory, politics.
Is it any surprise then that America's Evangelical Christians, who for the past eight years have been allowed an astonishing level of ascendency within the corridors of power and in the determination of policy, now find themselves all but sidelined in the 2008 presidential race -- literally, a voting bloc without a candidate? Although nothing is -- if you'll pardon the pun -- carved in stone, it would seem that yesterday's John McCain victory in Florida has made his fast-track to the Republican nomination all but inevitable, and that effectively leaves the Jesus-Said-It-That-Settles-It crowd without a seat at the executive table.
I wish I could say I was sorry to see them go, but the truth is I can hardly mask my delight -- and that's what's unfortunate.
I have no doubt that the far-right religious elements won't abandon politics altogether; the most cynical -- or devout, depending on the side of the aisle we're talking about -- would claim that God still has promises to keep, and as such needs his mortal attendants to continue fighting tooth-and-nail to bring his Earthly kingdom to fruition via White House provision. But from here on out, even the naive among the faithful are likely to understand that any lip-service paid to Evangelicals will be just that -- lip-service. There are no True Believers left in the race, only boilerplate politicians pimping themselves for the almighty vote. What's worse, neither McCain nor Obama or Clinton -- whichever Democrat claims the nomination -- has to worry about his or her rival laying absolute claim to the powerful fundamentalist voting bloc, which means that even the tokenism won't be ladled on as thickly.
The lamentable truth in all of this is that the needs of Evangelical Christians don't deserve to be disregarded or downplayed, nor did they ever. Like any segment of the American population -- anyone willing to take part in our supposed democracy -- they deserve equal consideration. The problem, of course, is that for the past eight years they've had those who disagree with their agenda at a monumental disadvantage; the deference they've been shown by the Bush administration, to say nothing of the iniquitous sycophants of the mercifully defunct 109th Congress, has at times seemed destined to turn America into an authoritarian theocracy.
And it's led to a backlash, naturally.
Although the Evangelicals themselves, as well as the far-right contingent in general, may be inclined to hang their heads for now and bide their time -- believing that they don't have a dog in this fight -- that would accomplish nothing. For nearly a decade this country has been held hostage by all-or-nothing, unilateral politics, the prevailing modus operandi of which was to crush the dissenting opinion. It's all but laid waste to the American system of government, causing some to wonder if Jeffersonian Democracy is an experiment that's failed outright.
It hasn't -- not yet anyway.
Thankfully, the Evangelical political juggernaut has been beaten back for the moment. But it will cast a long shadow in its absence and return to fiercely dominate the debate, unless we not only abandon the politics of division and exclusion but go so far as to impress upon the fringes the need for them to meet us in the middle.
If we don't, the pendulum will only swing back, leaving another group of Americans without a voice.
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