The right wing's "Our Father" (Austin Chronicle)

[kurth]

Prayer for the Common Man
In the religious right's new democracy, principles prescribed by man have no value in the war between heaven and hell
BY LOUIS BLACK

There is a new prayer to God above, howling up from this country out of the confusion of cheap rhetoric, meaningless polemics, and secularly driven holy visions. Longtime right-wingers and conservatives are now loudly declaring that they find nothing wrong with president-ordered wiretaps in the name of national security. "Only the enemies of this country or those with something to hide would protest," they note. "They are needed to protect us from the terrorists. Why do those protesting hate our country so much that they are determined to see the terrorists win?"...

In the thrall of traditional values and strict religious guidelines, the new right understands that strange bedfellows are unacceptable, even when politics dictate the liaison. Principles, especially as prescribed by man, have no value in the war between heaven and hell. Lifelong champions of the individual over the government have suddenly metamorphosed into presidential groupies rather than find themselves bedded with neoleftist utopians, moral-relativist Marxists, and suicidal-pacifist, chic anarchists – all masquerading as equivocating, multicultural liberals/Democrats.

This is a brand new democracy, and there just isn't room for those who don't belong. The founding fathers' organizing vision of this country as a constitutional republic is no longer accepted by the executive branch or our national legislative leaders. In their pursuit of "original intent" and judicial acquiescence (to the executive and legislative branches), they are bravely willing to go where few have gone before. In order to preserve the Constitution, they are willing to abandon it; to preserve freedom, they have the courage to cripple it...

A constitutional republic's mandate that the rights of the minority must be protected against the will of the majority is trumped by holy vision. Patriots may embrace the Constitution without actually caring about what it means. As with the Bible, the absolute word of God, it is still left to man to make the important distinctions. Thus, it is more important to focus on the exact and definitive timing of creation than it is, for example, to not charge interest on loans and forgive them if they are not repaid after seven years. When God commands "Thou shall not kill," only the most blessed of believers understand the distinctions God does not bother to delineate ("no" to killing an unborn child, "yes" to killing a criminal or nonbeliever). When in Matthew 22:39, the Lord is quoted as saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," the clear meaning is "love that neighbor exactly like yourself as yourself, and damn the rest!" When asking the Lord to please "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us," the last clause really is conditional ("those who trespass against us but are Christian," "those who trespass against us but speak English," "those who trespass against us but vote Republican").

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http://www.austinchronicle.com/cols_pagetwo.html

[unhappycamper]

1. kurth:

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[sduncang]

2. WOW!

This is a grand-slam. Hope everyone gets a chance to read it.