Religious Right Politics - It's Just Wrong

It's sad to see the state of the political thrust in our country today. The "might is right" mentality seems to pervade the campaigns and personal agendas of far too many in public office. Unfortunately, there is a group mindset that comes into play when those who would abuse their positions have gotten away with skirting issues of morality and ethics, as well as ignoring the law. The attitude of "who's gonna stop us?" runs rampant throughout our political system when the majority forces it's positions and opinions on the rest of society. It is not what the founders of our country intended for a civilized union, and when abused is no better than a religious/political theocracy in the middle-east forcing it's belief system on the citizens held within it's borders. There are safeguards in place in our country to keep the majority class from riding roughshod over the opposition, but many of those features have been largely ignored and set aside by filling our courts with extreme representatives of conservatism and "yes men" of the administration and corporate interests.

There are voices in the wilderness calling us to stay the course of representative democracy and re-establish the legal checks and balances as they were meant to be. And many are willing to take up leadership positions or follow the emerging leadership. Sadly, the powers currently in place do not play by the same rules. They do as they want, when they want, claiming it's for the greater good, then justifying their actions through fundamentalist rhetoric and an arrogance unseen in our land for many years.

When George W. told a reporter that he felt he was in the office of the president in this time in history because of divine guidance, it was all over. It was a moment that defined the remainder of his term, as well as outlined the scope of his thought processes and his general feeling that his decisions are somehow blessed by God and therefore the rest of us should listen to the wisdom he hands down. Yes, hands down from on high.

It's sad, but he has fallen victim to the doctrine of religious prosperity that so many prominent televangelists have gotten swept up in. It's not just about money, but power. The belief statement of "I would not be in this position now and blessed with all that I have if I was not pleasing God with what I'm doing" is a statement of self deception and arrogance that defies every basic tenant of Judeo-Christian doctrine. If a person truly believes that God has blessed them with more than the rest of us because of their faith, then conversely one must also believe that the less fortunate, those who are hungry and homeless, those with mental illnesses, or those whose lives are cut short by natural disasters have somehow displeased God and deserve their lot in life. If you hold the first idea as truth, then you must also hold the second true. But what this distasteful and unethical belief system does to it's practitioners is bolster the idea that whatever they do is right, or God would not allow them to do it. It is what revisionist historians base their transcripts on. It is the epitome of self-righteousness and borders on narcissism that would only be known to a sociopath. They do what they want to do, no regrets, no remorse. The religious ideology used along the way is merely a tool that they've learned is handy and powerful.

As a society of responsible caregivers for each other and our planet, we must pull back from the zealous right-wing fanaticism that pervades our political system. If we are truly blessed in some divine manner to be a nation of leaders, then we must begin by acknowledging the value of humanity and responsible environmentalism everywhere. We must lead by example. We must build schools and educate the less fortunate. We must not only alleviate the suffering of the hungry in the short term, but we must give them the means to feed themselves. We cannot force our way of life on other cultures and expect them to understand it's origins and beginnings when their cultural thought processes come from a completely different point of understanding.

If we want to be perceived as a world leader, then we must also understand that stable politics can only come after an empty stomach has been filled, after a roof has been provided to protect families from the freezing rain, after we show our compassion for the children of the world by seeing that all of them have proper immunizations. A parent who has just lost a child to malaria has no interest in choosing political alliances. The time is now to trade in a few bombs for booster shots, some napalm for grain, political bantering and posturing for school books and self worth.

There will always be those who crave power and strive to achieve it by any means possible. But that does not mean that's the way it should be. The current administration should take a lesson from the marketing gurus for fast food eateries. In order to gain the business of future generations, they make certain that the child customer of today has fond memories of visits to their establishments. Will the children of the world grow up to follow the political party/system that gave them schools, or budget cuts? Will they become involved with the country and ideologies that gave them safety from the storm, or a crumbling infrastructure? Will they support world leaders who told them how to believe and when to believe it, or those that gave their dying siblings medicines that allowed them to grow up and go to school, earn a living and help feed the family?

We have much to learn in this country as caretakers and leaders of our planet. Will our future be about extending a hand to pull someone from a crumbling cliff, or giving them a shove past the edge so that their plight is no longer in our line of sight? I wonder.