Politics and Religion Rant

[urbpan]

NPR has been spending a lot of time talking to Iowans in the runup to the Caucus. It makes me realize a few things: first, this early caucus crap gives Iowa way too much power. There's got to be a fair way to run our primary/caucus system--I understand that all the states can't have their primaries on the same day, because then the candidates would ignore the little states altogether. But listening to the people they speak to in Iowa, (and to be fair, New Hampshire) makes me think they should be ignored.

One lady they spoke to said her main concern was that God should be put back in his rightful place in society (CHURCH, maybe?) and they asked "where's that?" and she replied "First. They gunna take him off the money and then ooga googa ooga..." I can't remember how she ended her sentence because I was already ranting to myself in my kitchen. "Hey lady, you know what country puts God first? IRAN! GO MOVE THERE." This "taking God off the money" gibberish is a bible-nut conspiracy theory that floats around every election cycle. Frankly, I think they SHOULD take "God" off the money (you know, on account of the Constitution declaring that the government will respect no religion) but any candidate who said so would be tarred and feathered.

Then they spoke to an old gent. "Well, I like huntin.' When they talk about gun control it hits pretty close to the heart." Are you hunting with an AK-47? If not, FUCKING RELAX. Hunting rifles and shotguns will never be outlawed--until Giuliani is elected, and sends his shock troops out to disarm all dissenters, who will be branded with the sign of 911 and rounded into camps.

The more I write, the more I disagree with myself. The nutjobs in Iowa and New Hampshire make the campaign more interesting. They're making Romney sweat, feign tears, and explain his weird underwear cult on national television. They're sacrificing the front-runners on their bizarre altars of Mike "Hucklebee" (as one Iowan supporter insisted on calling him). They're forcing the moderates, like the Des Moines newspaper's editorial staff, and former second-banana-to-the Nobel Prize winner Joe "Benedict Arnold" Lieberman, to remind everyone that John McCain is slightly less insane-looking and reactionary compared to the rest of the Republicans. At least he is willing to take a stand against TORTURE (isn't that the least we can do as Americans?) being the only Man among the field of pansies who has any experience in the matter.

I'm out of time. Thanks, enjoy your day. It's still 12 degrees.

Comments

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

I never get tired of the Relijus Rong and their tireless chants of "My Invisible Sky Buddy is better than your Invisible Sky Buddy!"
God is on your money?!:is more ascared of the US of A than he was a moment before:

-I have a spare room you and your family can use when Dubya inevitably declares Atheism Un-American and Illegal and punishable by death via mudskipper (killing two birds etc)

[duckmonster.livejournal.com]

Icon love.

I have no helpful commentary on this. I grew up in a conservative area of the country and always found it rather uncomfortable there (what with my wanting women's rights and gay rights and my arguments that "no, racism isn't dead" ... also, it's weird when everyone around you is pretty sure you're going to Hell, even if a lot of them are kind enough not to mention it).

Just know that a lot of these folks are good people. It seems weird, the idea that someone can be ignorant and a good person, but trust me, they can. They work, in the only way they know how, to make the world better. That they are misguided and actually sowing division is deeply saddening, but you have to understand that they are trying to help. They truly believe, deep down in their hearts, that they are helping. And you have to respect that, even as you disagree and try to fight through their ignorance. (Watch out; if you aren't careful, in this process, you'll discover some ignorance of your own. Trust me on that one. :))

If you haven't been exposed to certain points of view or experiences, you can't know better. I showed up, out here in the world outside my home valley, with some deeply held misconceptions, despite my liberal outlook and access to a computer, and it took a few years for certain ideas to make their way into my consciousness. That's just how it goes, you know? So I sort of get where these folks come from, even as I am angry at them for their short-sightedness. (Yes, I still get angry. But I try to dampen it with compassion, as best I can. Some days, that goes better for me than others.)

(Also, hi, urbpan, I'm Jess the Flying Duckmonster. I added you because a friend linked me to the most wonderful video of baby ducks, which you posted some months back. It was the cutest thing I've seen on the Internet and brings a smile to my face, just remembering.)

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Hey,

I have no real problem with the ones who are genuinely trying to help. It's the ones who pay lip service to being Christians whilst actively, knowingly and deliberately doing as much evil as they can (cough Dubya cough) I have a problem with.

Like Gandhi said: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians; your Christians are not like your Christ."

[weofodthignen]

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and smiling beatifically at your enemy will get you killed. And others killed, too. They are "helping" by ruining the only planet we have and the only country most of us have.

[droserary.livejournal.com]

God is on your money?!

Ayup. And it was added to our "Pledge of Allegience" as a knee-jerk reaction to communism in the 1950s. That fictional sky monster shows up everywhere. It's really just a simple phrase "In God we trust" on our money, but it pisses me off everytime I see it. In response to claims that it represents government-sponsored religion, the religious right says either that the "wall of separation between church and state" doesn't exist legally or that acknowledgement of "God" doesn't sponsor a single cult sect and instead represents the historical ties between religion and the US. I say bullshit and I'd like it off my money now, kthxbye.

If urbpan doesn't take you up on your offer, I'll gladly take the spot if you'll have me.