This great article by Christopher Hitchens, Why I’m Rooting Against the Religious Right, prompted the following exchange between me and my brother, after I sent him the link with a note saying, “You gotta love this article”. Hitchens begins with this quote from Barry Goldwater:
The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100%. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. . . . Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some god-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of “conservatism.”
Jeff: Amen, brother. My only question is, have you only now just noticed that these maniacs are gaining a stranglehold on the Republican Party and exercising a veto power over Republican candidates, Republican leadership, etc.? My main response to this article is, duuh! Hitchens’ point about the contradiction between promoting a greater secularization and separation of religion and state in the Islamic world while playing footsie with lunatic theocrats at home ought to be devastating to national security oriented Republicans or Democrats. These religious fanatics on the right are threatening to cripple the moral authority of America in the world in a way very similar to the way Southern racial segregation damaged us after World War II as Third World countries and people of color won their independence from colonialism.
Nick: I think the point of the article is that if, indeed, the maniacs do gain a stranglehold on the Republican Party, it will be a bad career move for them and for the GOP. The statement by Goldwater is a pretty accurate expression of the American spirit, right, left, Christian, and non, and the GOP ignores this fact at their peril. It’s just that the Democrats have become so lame, on every issue, the Republicans can afford to indulge in this kind of pandering to the fundamentalist sliver, without paying much of a price.
Jeff: That not making the R’s pay a price does kind of get to me. Given how conventional and moderate the D’s actually are, you would think a few of them would know how to quote the Bible in a progressive way. And you’d think they’d have some idea about something that was worth selling and could be sold. It’s really discouraging to see the R’s fall all over themselves and the D’s get absolutely no traction from it, and that is entirely the D’s fault.