Unenlightened

There are two kinds of people in America. Those who are outraged that a socially autistic, morally erroneous, predatory theocrat like Rick Santorum has proven to be a viable candidate to represent the Republican party in the 2012 presidential election, and those who admire such qualities.

In a frantic attempt to grasp power before the ignorant, aging, evangelical base loses what remaining political leverage they still have, the Christian Dominionist movement has thrown several representative turds at the GOP wall in the hopes that one of their intellectually impotent candidates would stick. And while Michelle Bachman, and Rick Perry have been exposed as irrational on the national stage, Santorum –despite his constant displays of psychotic delusion and willful ignorance– has astonishingly managed to remain in the race.

With a profound lack of curiosity, and a prolific sense of indignation, Santorum forges ahead into the intellectual abyss, hoping to drag the rest of America with him. Draped in the flag and carrying a cross, the Dominionist candidate continually (and publically) vocalizes his disdain for freedom by lying about the intentions of our nation’s founders, denying scientific facts, and treating the first amendment with a cavalier disregard. Freedom, in Rick Santorum’s world, is just another word for religious subjugation. We see this exemplified in Santorum’s views about the rights of women, gays, contraception, reproduction, and even what consenting adults are allowed to watch in the privacy of their own homes, or do in the privacy of their own bedrooms.

As it is in the delusional mind of any theocrat, freedom lies only with the oppressors.

We have heard similar, historically revisionist drivel from like-minded sycophants such as Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and many other political televangelists. As such, there is a significant population who now believe that this nation was founded based on a Christian ideology, and that secular beliefs are a threat to our freedom when the exact opposite is true. But to those whose prosaic predispositions allow them to be coerced in the first place, inquiring as to the validity of these unfounded assertions might make them do the unthinkable… question their beliefs.

The truth is, the United States of America was *actually* founded on the heels of a period in history known as “The Enlightenment”, and the writers of our constitution were heirs to the age of reason. Rather than turn to, or even reference the Bible, our founders sought the wisdom of those who delivered Europe from the Religious Reformation. Our very constitution, which lacks a reference to any deity, and which not so coincidentally fails to mention the words “god”, or “Jesus” is influenced by the likes of Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Thomas Hobbes… not the god of Abraham.

Indeed, as John F Kennedy once re-affirmed when his religious background was brought into question –and much to the recent intestinal distress of Rick Santorum– our nation’s separation between church and state must remain absolute, and clergy has no right to have sway over *any* President. Conversely, Rick Santorum, and other Christian Dominionists hope to return the United States to an ideological period in history before the age of reason. Today, most refer to the thousand (or so) years of church rule prior to the Enlightenment as “The Dark Ages”.

Yet these are not like the lunatic ravings of Lyndon LaRouche and his scant amount of semi coherent followers. Christian Dominionism is an organized political effort that boasts considerable influence at FOX news, Congress, Senators, Governors… and which has run at least three nominees for the GOP 2012 presidential ticket. And as it is with any other theocracy, its method of acquiring socio/economic power is to supplant the laws of the land (in this case, our constitution) and replace it with theological (in this case, biblical) law. More frightening still, is that they don’t feel they need to hide this fact, but rather brainwash the proletariat through confounded morality, and false patriotism. The freedoms and liberties guaranteed to us in our Constitution are now being called “immoral”, and un-American, by people who themselves, immoral, and un-American.

More than at any time in our nation’s history, the separation of church and state that Thomas Jefferson so eloquently defined is being threatened. Capitalizing on the fundamental need for the intellectually ill-equipped to seek their expression via hatred, and recognizing that there is a direct correlation between a lack of education and bigotry, the Christian Dominionist movement has co-opted the GOP by appealing to the darker parts of human nature. For the most part, it has worked, as bigots who lack the capacity for introspection remain oblivious as to how their own socio/political perceptions have been manipulated. To quote a fellow Roman Catholic of Rick Santorum’s, “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”

If history can teach us anything, it’s that the most common method of rallying the masses is to get them to rationalize unjustified hatred through religion. In the Middle East, they call it Islamic Fundamentalism. In America, we call it Dominionist, Evangelical Christianity.