Religion & Law

Hello All,

Many thanks to Rick for his thoughtful reflections on the 'tea party' folk.  A propos Rick's penultimate paragraph, however, I wish to ensure that my post of last evening has not been misunderstood.  Something very much like what Gross characterized as 'friendly fascism' is what I suggest we are seeing today in the cozy relations between large corporate interests and our very own government -- a state of affairs that I believe both of our dominant political parties have been complicit in bringing about.  The 'tea party' types, I suggest, are intuiting this, and lashing out against it in the only -- sadly ill informed and anything but 'friendly' -- way they apparently know how.  I am not, then, suggesting that these benighted people are fascists, but am suggesting something to the contrary.

I do also suspect, though, that many of these 'tea party' types are apt to be bamboozled and coopted in future by the very forces against which they inveigh.  One already sees the ever-corporate-and-plutocrat-friendly Republican Party launching precisely such a cooptative effort (I am sure that many would like to see the ever silly Ms. Palin serve as their 'aw-shucksy frontwoman -- an American counterpart to Italy's woulda-been Caesar, il Duce), all while the ever-only-negligably-less-corporate-and-plutocrat-friendly Democratic Party turns tail and runs like the colonial militias during the early months of the revolutionary war.

Also, while we're on the name 'Godwin,' let me recommend this Godwin -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Godwin -- as one whom the 'tea party' people would do well to read, so long at they make sure to repudiate the confused 'utilitarian' bits.

All best,

Bob