Wait a minute, this isn't where I wanted to go...
Back when Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin claimed that "his God was Bigger than the Muslim God, it was possible to think that he was an aberration. There was still plenty of Christian Warriors constructing a gigantic dome of invincibility over our troops, worshipers of doomsday, but I felt they were still very much on the fringe. I felt there was no way Congress could collectively lose its senses to the degree that it would seek to replace the US government's source of power - we the people - with an undefined, euphemistic deity - God.
Now reality is seeping in. We have an Evangelical Air Force. We have large numbers of very aggressive true believers who firmly believe that the President is divinely inspired. Thus we have the proliferation of artifacts that are the theological equivalent if a Velvet Elvis - only about a million times as vomitous - The Bush Fish. And we have Senate bill S. 520 and House version is H.R. 1070, AKA the “Constitution Restoration Act” (CRA):
In the worshipful words of the Conservative Caucus, this historic legislation will “RESTORE OUR CONSTITUTION!”, mainly by barring ANY federal court or judge from ever again reviewing “any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an entity of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer or agent of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official or personal capacity), concerning that entity’s, officer’s, or agent’s acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.”
Really? Constitution Restoration Act? Restore it from what to what? I had no idea the constitution was broken and needed restoring.
Even in the face of such imbeciles as General Boykin, I believed that common sense would prevail. For the most part, American Government has been about the business of governing - providing service and protection for the people. That service and protection were provided from a slightly more liberal or slightly more conservative perspective, to be sure, but provided without particular attention to the religious beliefs of its citizens. Now, common sense is not prevailing. History is not prevailing. What is prevailing is the incessant energy and money of the Corporate Christian Right. The Constitution Restoration Act? Democrats will hoot and holler. Some pandering idiots will even vote for it. In the end it will pass.
I do not have a solution. I believe things will get much worse before common people get sick of evangelical Republicans, their corporate christian financiers and the fantastically short-sighted laws they are passing. Once the United States is fully transformed into a belligerent society of people who do not believe in science, though they cannot refute it, who literally believe the world is ending through a series of events they are in the process of creating, who oversee the conversion of all public shcools to religious schools, who marginalize gay people and all religions not their own, after we have completely lost our industrial edge and ability to compete in the sciences. Maybe then we will wake up. Or maybe not. I no longer have much faith in the outrage of common people. I know I will get criticized by our right wing readers for saying this. I know they will say it's just more liberal sky-is-falling claptrap. I am going to say it anyway. At the rate things are going I believe I can write America's epitah:
America: she died in her sleep.
posted by Chris Dykstra @ 10:59 PM |
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6 Comments:
Perhaps its emblematic that your hopes are pinned to the "faith in the outrage of common people." Particularly when its faith you are decrying and reason (as opposed to outrage) that you're promoting.
What you are missing though, is that for us on the right, these far right bible thumpers are not the party. Not by a longshot, regardless of what Newsweek tells you.
On the other hand the left has picked Dean to carry the banner and the extreamist elements are the party. The hue and cry of "Choose my radical agenda over their radical agenda" has lost its luster because people know only one agenda is radical.
The truth is that the meat of this law has nothing to do with God. Here's the real objection the lefties have to this law -
"In interpreting and applying the Constitution of the United States, a court of the United States may not rely upon any constitution, law, administrative rule, Executive order, directive, policy, judicial decision, or any other action of any foreign state or international organization or agency"
Moreover, it provides for conviction and impeachment of judges that use international law as precedent.
-Censored
"What you are missing though, is that for us on the right, these far right bible thumpers are not the party."
Someone seems to have forgotten to let them in on this fact, then, because they seem to be riding it hard.
I am not decrying faith. Faith is good. I am decrying the loss of a common set of values. I would wager, were we to sit down and really talk, that we would not be that far apart on many issues. But we no longer assume the same things. - for example, I assume the constitution is just fine the way it is. It used to be that Democrats and Republicans respected one another because they respected the common principles on which this country was founded. We no longer share those principles. The New American Right believes those principles ought to be changed in ways that America has gone to war to prevent in the past.
What I believe you on the right are missing is that your party is very clearly led by far right bible thumpers. Most of you, good men and women, will not admit or see it. That has tragic results for us all.
You are right about one thing, though. I detest everything about this bill. From the obvious insertion of the power of God (read Jesus) into the legal system, to the silly isolationsist, xenophobic legal language that would set virtually every judge in the land up for impeachment and conviction.
Does the right think that American Law developed without the benefit of other legal systems? Virtually every concept in the American System was stolen from somewhere. What is so threatening about that?
The bill is a miracle of bad government.
Crispyshot
American courts do not generally consider the laws and decisions of the courts of other countries to be precedent for American decisions, unless there is no American decision that can be relied upon, or the issue is one that includes the laws of another country. Those cases do arise.
Lawrence v. Texas - there can objectively be no lack of case law on this subject. No other country was involved.
Roper v. Simmons - an arguement can be made in this case that didn't rely on foreign law but was 8th amendment, none the less its another good example of citing international law where there is a strong body of work on the subject domestically and again, no foreign involvement.
There is a way for prevailing international opinion to influence and prevail in our legal system, but it lies with the legislature, not the courts.
-Censored
Chris
Here's a link for you http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/04/02/weekinreview/20050403_GOP_GRAPHIC.html
You might note some interesting things, first that the neo-cons are a very small group and among the least partisan. The biblical contingent is 4th largest but more like just a tenth in composition.
You are making a mistake when you say that the right is under the control of bible thumping neo cons.
We elected a neo-con pres, but that doesn't mean he represents the soul of the party.
-Censored
hey...it's Premillennial Dispensationalism!! This is an interesting topic. Come over to www.monkeysponge.blogspot.com
I posted a little bit on the subject, as well.
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