I'm Michael Peterson, a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada, currently serving a parish in the Diocese of Toronto. I'm also a retired Canadian Forces chaplain , hence the Padre in the title. Mad just means eccentric, and on that note, I also blog on toy soldiers, madpadrewargames.blogspot.com. I'm on X (what used to be Twitter) at @MarshalLuigi and I'm on Bluesky at @madpadre.bsky.social
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
America Politics, Religion, and the Crazy Right
Two pieces in today's New York Times caught my attention. Read this piece on the arrest of members of a Christian militia, the Hutaree, in Michigan, and the read this oped by David Rich which puts the anger of (white) people like the Hutarees in perspective. Chime in if you don't think Rich does a good job of connecting the dots.
My take on this is the US right is infected with TPGBSD (Tea Party Glen Beck Stupid Disease). Other than those that get reinfected over and over again, it should run its course by November
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/yl4wx58
It's very nice for him that he can write this off as simply people who hate blacks and women. I do think he has one thing right....which is that this is recognized as major reshaping of the American system.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't think most people on the right care whether the person they're opposing is black or female or white or male. I personally voted for a black man for President three times, and none of them were Obama.
What we recognize is that this health bill is just a step on the road to where they want to go, and that a point has finally been reached where compromise has been replaced with a sense that we always lose in every compromise. Socialism always gets a little further each time. So what you're starting to see is a sense of 'not one more inch' arising amongst those who've been quiet before.
Most of us condemn threats of violence against members of Congress, and especially the recent plot against police officers by a tiny group. When you have people fired up, there's always going to be a minority that take it in unacceptable directions. The left has its crackpots and hotheads too; just go back and read rhetoric from when George W was re-elected. ;)
What we do see in this bill is several things. There is the unconstitutional provision of the federal government requiring an American citizen to buy something, under threat of fines and imprisonment. There is the fact that the majority of Americans opposed this bill, yet it was done over and above the consent of the governed. There is the fact that this will place burdensome mandates on an already weakened American economy. There is the fact that the "benefits" the bill claims don't take effect till 2014, while the taxes start right away. For those that are pro-life, there is the fact that Planned Parenthood openly scoffs that the "executive order" is meaningless and will do nothing to prevent federal funds from being used for abortion. There is the fact that this bill creates numerous new federal agencies which will have access into many areas of people's lives, and will have the ability to manipulate the insurance markets by locking private insurers who don't follow their dictates out of segments of the market by determining that their plans don't measure up.
This bill represents one part of a determined effort to reshape America, and we are aware of that. And we are endeavoring to prevent that from occurring. If you look at the history of America, you will find there is vastly less personal freedom now than there once was, with vastly more government intrusion. We don't want the government controlling our economic system or our health decisions. We see it grasping for more and more control and are trying to stop it now rather than later.