, Chris Hedges. Hedges' new book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America, is a hard-hitting reminder that, just because the religious right got beat big in the midterms, it doesn't mean they're going anywhere or that they've changed their minds about anything or gotten any saner.As the title suggests, he sees parallels to fascist movements he's seen firsthand. Hedges asks, "Does this mean that this is Nazi Germany? No. Does this mean that this is Mussolini's Italy? No. Does this mean that this is a deeply anti-democratic movement that would like to impose a totalitarian system? Yes."
He doesn't have a lot of good things to say about Ohio 'Patriot Pastor' Rod Parsley, who told an audience in 2004, "If you think 2004 was something, we have not reached critical mass! We are the largest special interest group! … We’re building order from chaos! We’re fighting the sword with the word! We’re fighting savagery with hope! I came to incite a riot! Man your battle stations! Ready your weapons! Lock and load!"
"[T]he heart of the Christian religion, all that is good and compassionate within it, has been tossed aside," Hedges writes in his book. "Ruthlessly gouged out and thrown into a heap with all the other inner organs. Only the shell, the form, remains. Christianity is of no use to Parsley, [Former OH Sec. of State Ken] Blackwell and the others. In its name they kill it."
He has a different opinion of Bush than I do, "I think he's a believer, to the extent that this belief system empowers his own arrogant sense of privilege and intellectual shallowness. When you know right and wrong, when you've been mandated by God to lead, you don't have to ask hard questions, you don't have to listen to anyone else. I think that plays into the Bush character pretty well."
My opinion is that Bush is a christian in pretty much the same way that most christians are -- not especially. I see Bush as an opportunist and snake oil salesman. I doubt he's a man of deep faith...
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