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"Americans
who look at Bush and see either compassion or morality are severely
suffering from optical delusion.” |
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Laughter of the Gods
Posted March 3, 2004 thepeoplesvoice.org
By: Sheila Samples
The more I look at the chaotic mess George W. Bush is making in every
blessed corner of the world, the more I am inclined to take a closer look at
the God in whose name he claims to be making it.
Just who IS this God that chats up brazen hypocrites and zealots in our
midst -- whipping them into a frenzy of pharisaic attempts to strangle
democracy at home and abroad? This awesome creature is on a murderous
rampage in the Middle East, Africa, South America and -- as Donald Rumsfeld
would say -- east, west, north and south somewhat. Armed and jackbooted,
Bush's flinty-hearted Diety bears no resemblance to the compassionate and
forgiving God in whom Christians have put their faith for more than two millenia.
More and more innocents are being herded onto the world's killing fields by
the deliberate actions of a Christian nation -- in the name of its Christian
God. What blasphemy! If Christians are unable to recognize the difference
between good and evil; if they cannot see that those we crush under our heel
are also God's creation -- then all those hours spent in Sunday School,
church services, summer camp and "all day singing and dinner on the
grounds" picnics were a sorry waste of time. The nature of a man is
revealed by the company he keeps. Those who preach that maiming and killing
terrified men, women and children is "God's will" -- who cover up
the slaughter of their own citizens and who topple other regimes by force or
farce -- are evil men who cavort with evil gods. And every single Christian
in this country knows it.
The Beast may not yet be loosed upon the world, but his minions are having
one hell of a good time, and laughing their asses off in the process. By
joining forces in a destructive "means justifies the ends" crusade
to both control and convert the world, the Neoconservatives and Religious
Right have created a playground for wicked gods. Each needs the other to
achieve its goals. And the glue that holds them together is a man whose own
words indict him as the proverbial village idiot who has no clue about
either means or ends, but who serves at this point in history as both the
enabled and the enabler.
The Neocons
I have written so much about this ungodly bunch I sometimes feel like a
rabid Sam Kinison, standing in the breach, screaming into the wind. Except
for God's coat-tails they intend to ride in on, the Almighty does not enter
into their equation for world domination.
Their names are familiar -- Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle,
Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Michael Ledeen...They tower contemptuously
above God, their plan
for a new world order far grander than His, and their fingerprints are
all over the tens of thousands of innocents who have been killed, injured or
horribly maimed.
They are everywhere -- from the Project for a New American Century (PNAC)
and other right-wing think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
-- to the Pentagon, State Department and White House. And, in their own
words, they have only just begun.
Ledeen is possibly the most dangerous and influential neocon of all the
Iran-Contra madmen who are back in power. In his book, Machiavelli
on Modern Leadership, Ledeen says, "Creative destruction is our
middle name. We do it automatically...It is time once again to export the
democratic revolution."
"God," Ledeen explains, "understands that all
men are evil, and the only way to achieve peace is through total
war." Ledeen believes "the sparing of civilian lives cannot
be the total war's first priority...The purpose of total war is to
permanently force your will onto another people."
In the unlikely event that Americans emerge from their stupor before Ledeen
and his New World Order is upon them, I hope they realize that following the
hostile and unfamiliar God for whom Ledeen speaks would be kind of like
walking a mad dog on a leash...
The God People
The Religious Right is also obsessed with power and control, and the
majority of its members are living proof that, like the ancient Euripides
wrote -- "Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad." God
walks with them; talks to them and issues militant edicts to us through
them. Most are Republicans -- proud "born again" Christians who
speak deleriously of "God's will and the blood of Jesus Christ" --
but their true religion is cold, hard politics.
They walk the halls of Congress, and are by far the most powerful voting
bloc in America. When they speak, presidents listen -- constitutional
amendments are proposed, freedoms are lost, liberties dry up...
According to a project by TheocracyWatch.org, " The Rise
of the Religious Right in the Republican Party," they propose
bills that are "anti-women, anti-labor and anti-civil rights. Their
legislation opposes finance campaign reform; environmental protection; gun
control; social justice for the poor; public education; teaching evolution;
human sexuality; and a separation of church and state." The report says
their bills "show a disregard for the U.S. Constitution, and finally,
Democracy itself. Bills coming from the Religious Right favor the wealthy
and large corporations. The ultimate political goal is to make this country
a Christian nation." (Emphasis added)
We smile and shake our heads at the outlandish claims of TV evangelists Pat
Robertson, to whom God confided recently that "Bush would win the 2004
election in a blowout," or Jerry Falwell, who believes the "idea
that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep
Christians from running their own country." We even giggled when
Attorney General John Ashcroft assured graduates at Bob Jones University
that "America has no king but Jesus."
Trust me -- these people are not funny
For example, Tom Delay, Texas Republican and House Majority Leader, once
told a group of evangelical Christians that God was "using
him" to promote a biblical worldview. "Only Christianity offers a
comprehensive worldview that covers all areas of life and thought -- every
aspect of creation," DeLay said. "Only Christianity offers a way
to live in response to the realities that we find in this world. Only
Christianity." (Emphasis added) Like his counterparts, DeLay
believes that fundamentalists should "overturn the separation of church
and state and bring government under religious control."
And listen to Gary Potter, president of Catholics for Christian Political
Action -- "When the Christian majority takes over this country, there
will be no satanic churches, no more free distribution of pornography, no
more talk of rights for homosexuals. After the Christian majority takes
control, pluralism will be seen as immoral and evil and the state will not
permit anybody the right to practice evil." (Emphasis added)
But few are more frightening than Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe who strode
to the Senate chamber shortly after 9-11 to announce that the attacks were
punishment by God because we were not sufficiently in awe of Israel. Inhofe
said God told him Israel is "entitled" to the West Bank, and the
U.S. should not pressure Ariel Sharon to stop killing Palestinians.
According to Inhofe, God angrily slung three airliners full of unsuspecting
souls into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, incinerating more than
3,000 innocent citizens, and furiously rammed another plane into the
Pennsylvania countryside -- because America was not sufficiently subservient
to Israel. Inhofe believes America got what it deserved, and we should heed
God's "wake up call" lest He strike us again...
Brother James Inhofe -- just one reason we sleep with the lights on in
Oklahoma...
The Chosen One
From Jesus is my philosopher to God is my co-pilot, George Bush has been
nothing if not ghoulishly entertaining. Far more talented writers than I
have gone completely berserk while attempting to explain what makes Bush
tick. It's simple, really. The answer is Nothing. Nothing makes him tick.
That's why he's the perfect foil for the warhawks and religious zealots.
Bush is a swaggering, paranoid, hubristic bully, consumed by an irrational
sense of his own worth. Just your normal, run-of-the-mill Texas good ol' boy
Republican -- with money. After carousing, falling down drunk, and failing
at every business enterprise his daddy set up for him -- at the tender age
of 40, Bush was "born again" and became the Lord's own most
visible high-stepping 12-stepper. Fourteen years later, he was President of
the United States. In his defense, I have to say Bush is acting no
differently than any other 14-year-old spoiled bully would be expected to
act under the same circumstances...
And he's a Believer. Bush believes what they tell him he believes, such as
he was chosen by God to lead the Christians in a righteous war against
Islam. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia even blames God for his own
deadly vote that thwarted democracy in 2000 and seized power from the
people. Believing that Bush is serving by divine appointment, Scalia wrote
in a May 2002 article, God's
Justice and Ours that the government has a higher authority granted to
it by God. He said unequivocally, "Government carries the sword as the
minister of God, to execute wrath upon the evildoer..."
Much of Scalia's, and therefore Bush's, belief is based on, and his core
speeches drawn from, the 13th Chapter of Romans, which admonishes citizens
to "obey the government, for God is the one who has put it there."
Punishment is swift and sure for those who refuse to "obey" the
laws of the land, for the scripture says, "the policeman is sent by God
to help you. But if you are doing something wrong, of course you
should be afraid, for he will have you punished. He is sent by God for that
very purpose..."
Bush shrugs aside wimps like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John who can't seem to
get beyond love, kindness, helping the vulnerable, caring for the needy and
the sheer compassion expounded by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount, and seem
to prattle on endlessly about salvation. Bush is also wont to deep-six most
"Thou Shalt Nots," because, in Romans 13, it clearly says all ten
commandments "are wrapped up in this one -- to love your neighbor as
you love yourself..." It is the only law Christians need to obey --
other than, of course, those of the government and its Ashcroftian Mr.
Policeman whom God has sent to punish them...
Americans who look at Bush and see either compassion or morality are
severely suffering from optical delusion. This is a man who sets himself up
as a purveyor of truth and knowledge, but who sees "thugs and killers,
brutal dictators and barbarians" behind every tree, and is committed to
not let "terriers and rogue nations hold this nation hostile."
This is a man who declared war upon Islam --calling it a "crusade"
-- from the pulpit of the National Cathedral rather than the Oval Office.
This is a man who enjoys what he is doing in God's name, and who promises
that he will not stop killing until the entire world is "safe."
The world cringes as George Bush, militant neocons and the completely mad
religious right steer the Bush Ship of State toward the jagged shoals.
God has left the building.
Is it any wonder the lesser gods are shrieking with laughter...?
-###- © Copyright
Sheila Samples
2004 All rights reserved. Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma freelance writer,
a former US Army Public Information Officer and Axis of Logic contributing
editor. Reprint permission is granted if it includes name of author and Axis
of Logic designation. http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_5423.shtml
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