More or less, religion has been a positive force in America – from my perspective. Christianity emphasizes humility, morality, love. It has been a positive counterpoint to Capitalism – which isn’t big on such things. The Separation of Church and State prescribed by our Founding Fathers has always been under assault, but has generally prevailed. But Christianity changed under the influence of the mass media and allowed for the rise of [mostly] men who turned it into a power base, pontificating on morality and assuming that they needed to impose their own agendae on the rest of us. They have become the most destructive force this country has ever known, and this election didn’t change that. They’re still there – amassing huge quantities of money and power. They will support anyone who espouses their agenda, independent of the impact on the country.
Militarism:
With the election of George W. Bush, we didn’t realize it, but we imported a large group of people from the ranks of the American Enterprise Institute and the Project for the New American Century who had a new vision for our country. They came from the Reagan Administration largely, and they had an idea about foreign policy that none of the rest of us really knew about. They felt that Reagan "won" the Cold War by being tough and militaristic. They had no patience for the U.N. They had no respect for the Geneva Conventions. They had no interest in World government. They liked the idea of our being a Superpower. So they had a doctrine – called the Bush Doctrine, though it was first articulated by Paul Wolofowitz in 1991. We woul act unilaterally and preemptively rather than working with the rest of the world in the U.N. We would have strength without equal, as we had had in the Colds War. And we would actively spread Democracy throughout the third world. No more "National Defense," we would have a "National Offense." The result was a preemptive invasion of Iraq, but under the guise of defense [a lie].
Constitutional Revisionism:
The group from the "Conservative" think tanks [A.E.I. and P.N.A.C.] were joined by the Federalist Society, another Conservative group who opined that our courts were out of control and "legislating from the bench." One of the forces in this group is the megalomaniac, Robert Bork. Democracy, in and of itself, can be mob rule. Our [my] South is an example. The White Majority supressed the Black Minority for a century after the Civil War was lost. In our Constitutional Democracy, the courts are charged with defending individual rights. The Federalist Society wants to limit the courts ["runaway judges"] because they don’t like what the courts have decided.
We have a system of Checks and Balances among the three branches of government. We have a principle called Oversight, by which each branch "looks over" what other branches do. Rather than fight the good fights that our form of government demands, this Administration has found ways to seize power [under the guise of war powers] – Signing Statements, Secrecy, Lies, War Powers, etc. All of this is called "the Unitary Executive" – a euphemism for monarchy.
So, it ain’t over. It’s not time to "put it behind us and move on." It’s time to investigate every little piece of it, and expose it to the light of day. Above all, America is an "open government." The only reason for secrecy is National Security, and even there, with strong oversight. November 7th was a start, but we’ve got a long way to go…
Much milder, far more tempered than mine, your thoughts provide well reasoned discourse that should be followed by Democrats of every stripe and by honorable Republican office holders where they might exist. My faith in having the liberal democracy of this nation’s founding fathers restored to anything resembling it’s origin, is nowhere in sight. Legislation, I’m told, was signed in secret ceremony in the White House on October 17, giving signatory powers to the incumbent President to enact Martial Law. No obvious trickery, no blatant theft of votes was used for the simply reason that “It just doesn’t matter!” Earlier Justice Rhenquist had prepared legal method and justification for the declaration of Martial Law. What we have been witlessly witnessing has been a “bloodless coup” set in full motion inauguration day, 2001, in fact, during the swearing-in ceremonies, to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, which soom came to be regarded as “nothing but a God damned piece of paper.” The staged justifying event of September 11, 2001 was the curtain opener, now soon to be reaveled in all its hideous glory, was the distraction required to eliminate, piece by piece, this Nation’s constitution, without protest, almost without comment from those in positions to do something to stop the insanity. The coup has been bloodless if we fail to count those who died in the initial sacrifice of the WTC buildings and those who continue to die secret prison torture chambers, and in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and soon to be, Iran. It just doesn’t matter what we might intend to do to stop the insanity, because with another stroke of pen, those of us who protest and continue to object aloud, “privately” or in public become enemies of the State and subject to Martial Law. In addition to the Democrats first “100 Hours” plan, there must be dramatic changes made and enforced in the House and Senate rules that govern their own behavior and their relationships with Corporate lobbyists. Standards of individual behavior must be upgraded, rigorously safe-guarded and enforced. Personal wealth incentives must be all but removed. My respect for the Mr. Rove and Mr Cheney remains undiminished. These two have executed with amazing success their plan in every aspect of its creation in just six years time, albeit 70 plus years khave gone into its planning, having begun with the hateful greed of Mr. J.P. Morgan, now coming to find its full force and effect in the Bush family. I pray every day for members of the Bush family, the Cheney family, and the Rove family: that in their hearts, minds, and souls they discover truth and honesty, and that they come to accept and understand those teachings of the founders of the world’s great religions, all of which have a common, simple theme: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” which is a definition for “liberal democracy”. While we witnessing the untold-by-TV war, our government has been suborned as if by a fantasy: “That couldn’t happen here.” Well, it has. Getting it back will require more, much more than good intentions. And the blood still flows; we just can’t see it, yet.