Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

-- John Lennon, Imagine

Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn:  The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history.

-- Kevin Phillips, American Theocracy

Since September 11, 2001, Americans of all beliefs have decried Islamic fundamentalism, vowing to protect themselves from such extremism and the terrorism it lends itself to.  Yet the short years since have proven detrimental to religious freedom and liberty in general, leading to the nagging question: could America slip into a fundamentalist mode that parallels those nations we are desperately seeking to defend ourselves against?

How Did The GOP Become God's Own Base?

Psychoanalyst Robert M. Young reports in "Fundamentalism and Terrorism:"

When people feel threatened, they simplify, or regress, says Young.  They "eliminate the middle ground" and divide "the world into safe and threat, good and evil, life and death."  President Bush's worldview is much the

same. He has declared, "Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists," and has made similar statements on more than one occasion.  

The very person leading our country has divided the whole world into good and evil, black and white; no gray can exist.

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

The United States has organized much of its military posture since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks around the protection of oil fields, pipelines and sea lanes. But U.S. preoccupation with the Middle East has another dimension. In addition to its concerns with oil and terrorism, the White House is courting end-times theologians and electorates for whom the Holy Lands are a battleground of Christian destiny.

Both pursuits -- oil and biblical expectations -- require a dissimulation in Washington that undercuts the U.S. tradition of commitment to the role of an informed electorate.

If any region of the United States had the potential to produce a high-powered, crusading fundamentalism, it was Dixie. If any new alignment had the potential to nurture a fusion of oil interests and the military-industrial complex, it was the Sun Belt, which helped draw them into commercial and political proximity and collaboration.

Unfortunately, more danger lurks in the responsiveness of the new GOP coalition to Christian evangelicals, fundamentalists and Pentecostals, who muster some 40 percent of the party electorate. Many millions believe that the Armageddon described in the Bible is coming soon.

Chaos in the explosive Middle East, far from being a threat, actually heralds the second coming of Jesus Christ. Oil price spikes, murderous hurricanes, deadly tsunamis and melting polar ice caps lend further credence.

Meet The Dominionists

Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the evangelical movement, Dominionists are pressing an agenda that makes Newt Gingrich's Contract With America look like the Communist Manifesto.

They want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of American history, pack the nation's courts with judges who follow Old Testament law, post the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions. In Florida, when the courts ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed, it was the Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests and issued a fiery call for Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take Schiavo into state custody.

Their ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of a "faith-based" government that will endure far longer than Bush's presidency -- all the way until Jesus comes back.

"Most people hear them talk about a 'Christian nation' and think, 'Well, that sounds like a good, moral thing,' says the Rev. Mel White, who ghostwrote Jerry Falwell's autobiography before breaking with the evangelical movement. "What they don't know -- what even most conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know -- is that 'Christian nation' means something else entirely to these Dominionist leaders. This movement is no more about following the example of Christ than Bush's Clean Water Act is about clean water."*

Cass urges conference-goers to stack school boards with Dominionists. "The most humble Christian is more qualified for office than the best-educated pagan," says Cass, an anti-abortion activist who led a takeover of his

school district's board in San Diego. "We built quite a little grass-roots machine out there. Now it's my burden to multiply that success all across America."

--Gary Cass, executive director of Reclaiming America

The Wacko Memo

Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become

the first religious party in U.S. history.

To recap:

Fascism . . . .

* Is an economic system geared to the needs, not of the people, but of the wealthy elite.

* It is a republican form of government

* It features extreme forms of nationalism.

* While Nazism is a form of fascism, fascism is not Nazism.

* Fascism creates "enemies of the fatherland" in order to gain public support. These "enemies" usually include liberals, socialists, trade unionists, and conspicuous minority groups.

* Fascism is not conservative, although it often claims to be traditional.

* Fascism will replace a free press with propaganda.

Fascism depends on propaganda, rather than information.  

This stems, in part, from the discontinuity of its self-described features (conservative, traditionalist) and in part because its aims are often at variance with the public weal, and, quite simply, it has to lie in order to get any public support.

Thus, it will corrupt the media if the media was free to begin with, and set about redefining public institutions and government apparatus and actions to suit itself, an activity made famous by the George Orwell term, "Newspeak".

Previously in this series.

Fascism: Are We There Yet?

Neofascism: A Theocon Wish List

Thanks as always for reading.