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Monday, August 1st, 2011

Why Conservatives Behave More Like a Bizarre Religious Cult, Than a Legitimate Political Entity

Author:    
Source:     AlterNet
Publication Date:     25-Jul-11
 Link: Why Conservatives Behave More Like a Bizarre Religious Cult, Than a Legitimate Political Entity
Stephan:   The awful budget deal that appears headed into law is the result of a cult part ideological part theological, American Theocracy. This essay provides a good account of what it is and what it represents for the country. I do disagree with one point it makes. There is nothing to stop a religion from becoming a political party. Nor should there be, so long as there is a firewall between church and state. But the Religious Right does all it can to breach that wall. Nothing in their writings suggests that the Founders ever conceived of a political movement willing to crash the country in order to make it conform to a fact free vision. These were men of the Enlightenment, facts mattered. In their day people disagreed how to go about it -- Hamilton and Jefferson -- but they were all committed to the principle that making things better for citizens was one of main things government was supposed to do.

Why Conservatives Behave More Like a Bizarre Religious Cult, Than a Legitimate Political Entity

It is easy to get caught up in every rivulet of the default crisis as we approach the inevitable cascade of market panics followed byshock doctrine cuts to social services. It is easy to find fault with the Administration for its many flaws in handling the situation, and with Congressional Democrats as well.

But it’s also important to remember the big picture. The big picture is that America is being held hostage by a conservative movement that behaves much more as a bizarre religious cult, than a legitimate political entity. It is perhaps the most dangerous cult to have ever held sway over a major nation-state in modern times.

It is a cult founded on a number of dogmatic beliefs that have no basis in reality. These are people who believe that the inflection point of the Laffer Curve is somewhere in the low single digits, and that cutting taxes to insanely low levels will magically lead to revenue increases. These are people who believe that government itself is basically unnecessary but for a private property protection scheme, and that the unfettered market will provide all that society needs, […]

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