Since it became official that George Dubya Bush had legally stolen the election with the help of his brother and his brother's mistress, I have made an extraordinary effort to avoid all contact with reality vis a vis "the News." I don't read the paper, no more Time magazine, no News-Radio 78, no NPR, no CNN...zip. I have found this level of insulation to be quite refreshing-;and strongly recommend it. As I can do absolutely nothing about the direction in which the country is headed ( or about the Village Idiot driving the bus ) it is somewhat pointless to even talk about this stuff. Nonetheless, like all of you, I have my own take on what is going on and how it will all shake out. After years of political activism and observation I have developed a pretty reliable 'sixth-sense' about this sort of thing. So here it goes:
Leftists, by association, are of varied, diverse backgrounds. Their politics move at a glacial pace because, unlike their counterparts on the Right, they anguish over every nuance of political correctness, inclusiveness and process, eternally second-guessing every move ... often to everyone's frustrated bewilderment. The pre-Clinton Democratic Party was an excellent example of this. So is almost the entire history of Gay Politics.
The Right, on the other hand, has no such problem with nonconformity: the Party Line is very well defined and those who disagree are barred from the Convention stage. They will ( grudgingly ) suggest the illusion of a 'big tent'...but no more. The Right...being of one mind, and one mind alone...truly believes it is always, well ... right-;in its every thought, word and deed. In fact, it has never even occurred to those people that they might be wrong ... about ANYthing.
This is due to their hyper/pseudo-Christianization. That is, the Republican Party has been infected with an insidious belief that they are not only right, but SO right as to be above it all, virtually outside the mechanics of democratic government. As though, for them, democracy itself had become a cumbersome contrivance—something to be thwarted, circumvented ( i.e. Florida ) . In purely faux-Christian parlance it goes something like:
"We're SAVED, you're NOT. As unrepentant sinners who will never join God's Army ( in spite of all the opportunities we have given you to do so ) you are DAMNED anyway and, therefore, expendable. Any means to gain and maintain dominance over you Hell-bound reprobates ( including tampering with a federal election ) is OK with Jesus. So, praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition."
You will see endless variations on this holier-than-thou posture in the months to come. In fact, it is the lynchpin of so-called "Compassionate Conservative-ism"...if that is even a word. Trust them, THEY know what is good for YOU.
There is an old gay-produced bumper-sticker that says "The Christian Right is Neither." We gay folks have always known this. They have been lying about us, who we are and what we are about for so long that we are not surprised by their duplicity, nor by the fact that they are anything but "Christian." It is the rest of the country that is about to get a 'wake-up' call. Indeed, the Republican Party ( and their numerous Christian operatives ) are going to become quite frustrated with the general public for not believing them to be as wonderful as they think they are—especially when it should be so OBVIOUS. As a matter of fact...this is going to drive them positively wiggy. Because the one thing wrong with always believing you are right is that you will not believe the warning signs when they are flashing right in front of your face.
Fundamentalist Christianity is, by design, based on principles and beliefs that cannot be contradicted, countermanded or compromised. Politics, on the other hand, is based entirely on principles, beliefs and opinions that change faster than you can say 'CNN-Time News Poll.' These two institutions...Religion and Politics...are thus like Matter and Anti-Matter—they cannot coexist in the same space and time without a great deal of containment to keep the whole works together. [ This is the essence of Warp Drive ... . ]
Up until this recent turn of events in history, the Republicans ( and the Christian Right ) have been fortunate enough to have those nasty Democrats as foils upon whom all blame could be cast. First, for many decades, in the form of a Democratic-controlled Congress challenging their every initiative; then, later, led by licentious Bill and Hillary "The Whore of Babylon" Clinton. Because of these foes, Christian Conservatives have been frustrated time and again in their pursuits to overturn Roe v. Wade, to neutralize the gay menace, to put guns back in the home ( where they belong ) , to put prayer back in the public schools ( from where it should never have been banned ) and to put your tax dollars into the hands of their most powerful demigods.
With all three branches of the federal government now controlled by the Republicans, the Democrats are no longer there in sufficient numbers to balance the equation—to act like control rods in a nuclear furnace—to impose moderation. The Republicans are now free to do all they claim to so fervently believe in. And I suspect it ( quietly ) scares the hell out of many—if not most—of them. It's one thing to talk about over-turning Roe v. Wade, so long as your enemy is powerful enough to ensure you never get to DO it. It is another matter entirely to actually bring back those fabled "back-alley abortionists"...and to be unilaterally blamed for the mayhem that will erupt when that first bloody death hits the front pages.
So, "Fasten your seatbelts—it's going to be a bumpy Presidency." I'm scared. Sort of. But I cannot be crippled by it. And I suggest you not allow yourself to be crippled by it either. For there is no greater act of political defiance than to live your life large, out loud and proud...to become the blazing, happy antithesis of what they claim you are. So, join me, pull up a chair and take note of this point in history. Because...even though I plan to listen to as little of it as possible...I DO plan to relish being around to watch when this unholy triumvirate...the entire Republican-Christo/ Fascist-Conservative alliance...the whole kitandkaboodle...finally, deservedly, gets blown back to the Hell from which they most certainly came.
They say "Power corrupts-;and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Well, I guess we're about to find out ... .
