Theocracy II
Two Percent Company builds a case for recognizing the emerging American theocracy
I don’t want to believe that our country could fall under the thrall of some local flavor of Taliban, but I keep seeing indications that keep me up at night wondering. It’s the curse of consciousness; the brain is a pattern-seeking engine and when you see a pattern that someone else doesn’t see, they look at you funny.
Over at Two Percent Company, they’re seeing it too:
“...Laugh at us if you will. Hell, we wouldn’t blame you if you did. We used to laugh when people said that we were headed for a theocracy — we used to think that ridiculous far right legislation would never make it through the Senate. But then “Terri’s Law” was passed in the blink of an eye even though most Americans were against it, and we stopped laughing. At this point, it looks like we need some more people to stop laughing, and start yelling. And we’d better start yelling soon, because if we wait too long, we can yell ourselves hoarse, and it won’t make a bit of difference.“
- Two Percent Company; So, When Does The Backlash Come?
Their entry covers the “Constitution Restoration Act of 2005,“ and efforts to muzzle the judiciary from ruling on any church/state issues. You’ll find links to Alabama’s many attempts to codify religious intolerance, and Mississippi’s proposed law to pretty much make Christianity the official state religion complete with monuments in public places. And much, much more, all for the low-low price of…
Just keep telling yourself: it couldn’t happen here.
I think you’re overreacting. There are very strong political movements in our country to keep the government secular, and they have the constitution on their side.
Posted by Lucas on 04/14/05 at 02:22 AMWhile I would like to agree with Lucas, I do think I am starting to lean towards DoF’s position ...
The Constitution only protects the people if there is an indepenant judiciary to interpret it, something that Lott and Co, are desperately trying to change, and if Dubya gets a couple of seats on SCOTUS all bets are off on that front.
There may be “strong political movements” to keep the government secular, but they are disperse, and at ods with eachother… say what you want about the Right, they are good at lockstep ...
10 years ago I would say there was about a 5% chance of this comming to pass ... today I would say about 40% .. still not even odds but gaining.
Posted by John P. Hoke on 04/14/05 at 12:24 PMRemember that most of the protections of church-state separation did not exist prior to the beginning of the twentieth century. The risk of becoming a theocracy was inestimably greater in 1905 than it currently is—indeed there was public prayer in government funded schools, and the teaching of evolution was on the way out of schools (as opposed to having very minor opposition from fringe groups). One of the main forces which gained us many of the freedoms we currently enjoy was interfaith rivalry (e.g. the ruling which allowed students to refuse to recite the pledge of allegiance was because of the Jehovah’s Witnesses). Catholicism was also a very powerful force opposed to any government endorsement of religion, since it would surely be the wrong religion. I suspect that if movements to remove secularism from government took off, many Catholics and Mormons would change their positions on church-state issues.
Regarding the “conservative judiciary” idea, I think that unless Bush et al succeed in filling the judiciary with very intellectually dishonest people, even this couldn’t remove most of the protections we currently enjoy against the government endorsement of religion. I’ve seen little evidence that this is the case—even Scalia, the most reviled conservative justice is still a very intellectually honest person. I’m very skeptical that a supreme court full of Scalia or Thomas clones would overturn Lemon v. Kurtzman (probably the most important court ruling in this matter).
Also, much of the secular voting-age population is nonvoting. I think this would change very quickly if church-state separation became threatened in any serious way.
In short, I think the risk of the US becoming a theocracy is very low. What everyone should be much more worried about is specific policies which powerful religious lobbies are pushing. For example, abortion rights. One does not need to cite the bible to overturn Roe V. Wade: that can be done through secular reasoning about the constitution. That is, I think, likely to happen if Bush gets to appoint a few new supreme court justices.
Posted by Lucas Wiman on 04/14/05 at 04:00 PMIt may seem that abortion may not be a reasonable choice soon enough, what with Pharmacists deciding not to dispense a prescribed pill, doctors with skills and willing to perform abortions is rising to above the age of 42 (the ones who remember back-alley atrocities), fewer counties have any facilities. Also in the works are requirements for more medical tests, staff, and documentation for the places that do provide aid.
Most of the women who would have to go to a clinic probably don’t want all their privacy rights uncovered, yet legislatures (especially in Florida) are getting into this in a big way.Posted by MrsDoF on 04/14/05 at 04:23 PMI spent a long time in the “it can’t happen here” camp, but what’s to stop it? The Judidical Branch was the only arm of the government that stopped the Terri Schiavo debacle from proceeding, so if the far right can do something about that, then the skids will be greased.
In the end, I think it will come down to the people to stand up against it, and I’m just not sure that “the masses” will come through.
Posted by Tom on 04/15/05 at 10:11 AM
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