wedge politics as usual. if you think palin is a far right nutjob, then it follows that she isn't talking to you, that you are not of the "us" she addresses or appeals to. her rhetoric is not about expanding the existing republican base-it is about mobilizing the christian right machine, the elaborate grass-roots organization based out of churches, now re-interpreted at political gears, which set up van pools and convince the faithful that "god" is a republican. so if you object to palin's belonging to a church that espouses the position that folk who are gay are so because of the sin in their heart and that they can be "cured"--she isn't talking to you. you are therefore the "Other" and should perhaps be alarmed at the possibilities of far right one-dimensional american backwater protestant militants having any hope at all of getting access to anything remotely like the executive branch of the federal government.
this is not about "god" in general, or whether it is acceptable for politico-types to have oligarchy-compatible religious beliefs: this is about a PARTICULAR understand of who this god character is, a PARTICULAR understanding of the bible, a PARTICULAR understanding of the relation between 2000 year old writings and action in the present. this is about extreme right-wing evangelical protestants for the most part--perhaps in some areas working in coalition with extreme right-wing charismatic catholics. this is about the organizational expression of the pentacostalist movement. this is not about christianity as a whole--and the folk who claim otherwise generally allow themselves to be duped by the rhetoric of this particular version of christianity, which claims for itself a monopoly on the category.
but i'll say this again: if it comes down to political machine vs, political machine, these people will win.
never underestimate what the christian coalition has put together over the past 30 years.
if sarah palin freaks you out, take that seriously and become mobilized yourself.
__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
Last edited by roachboy; 09-07-2008 at 01:13 PM..
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