Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Choose This Day: A Meditation on Joshua 24:15


15 Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”


I am a metaphysical pluralist who is also a realist. That means that while I believe there can be more than one right answer regarding this admonition to choose, there are some answers that are just plain wrong. (See Truth in Context: An Essay on Pluralism and Objectivity by Michael P. Lynch.)

Given today's secularism, where the gods of various movements and factions and groups and causes remain implicit within the groups with which we identify, we show in whom or in what we trust.

And I believe Trumpism is the worship of a god that feeds off fear and human sacrifice. Beyond that (if there is any need to go beyond that), it represents the worst themes in American history: America's shadow self.

So, are Trump's supporters (as well as Trump himself) most representative of conservative, liberal, or radical right-wing groups in our American history?

A literate child would answer this correctly ten out of ten times.

Their ensorcelled elders will get it wrong about eight out of ten times. 

(Of the two who get it right, one will be a white nationalist and the other will be a neo-Nazi who will both be grateful that a President of the United States has finally come out and explicitly said what they've been dog-whistling for the last four decades and who has encouraged them to come out of their dark, fearful, and hateful shadows at last.)


American conservatism is a broad system of political beliefs in the United States that is characterized by respect for American traditions, republicanism, support for Judeo-Christian values,[1] moral absolutism,[2] free markets and free trade,[3][4] anti-communism,[4][5] individualism,[4] advocacy of American exceptionalism,[6] and a defense of Western culture from the perceived threats posed by socialism, authoritarianism, and moral relativism.[7]

Liberty, economic freedom, social conservatism, and promotion of Judaeo-Christian[1] ideals are core beliefs, with a particular emphasis on strengthening the free market, limiting the size and scope of government in the economy, and opposition to high taxes and government or labor union encroachment on the entrepreneur. American conservatives consider individual liberty, within the bounds of conformity to American values, as the fundamental trait of democracy, which contrasts with modern American liberals, who generally place a greater value on equality and social justice.[8][9]



Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on what many see as the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process, and equality under the law are widely accepted as a common foundation across the spectrum of liberal thought.[citation needed]

Modern liberalism in the United States includes issues such as same-sex marriage, reproductive and other women's rights, voting rights for all adult citizens, civil rights, environmentalism, and government protection of freedom from want.[1] National social services such as: equal education opportunities; access to health care; and transportation infrastructure are intended to meet the responsibility to "promote the general welfare" of all citizens. Some American liberals, who call themselves classical liberals, fiscal conservatives, or libertarians, support fundamental liberal ideals but disagree with modern liberal thought, holding that economic freedom is more important than equality, and that providing for the general welfare exceeds the legitimate role of government.[2]



Especially historically in United States politics, the radical right is a political preference that leans towards extreme conservatism and anti-socialism.[1] The term was first used by social scientists in the 1950s regarding small groups such as the John Birch Society in the United States and since then it has been applied to similar groups worldwide.[2]

The term "radical" was applied to the groups because they sought to make fundamental (hence "radical") changes within institutions and remove from political life persons and institutions that threatened their values or economic interests.[3] They were called "right-wing" primarily because of their opposition to socialism, communism, marxism, anarchism, social democracy, progressivism and liberalism and their ultraconservative or reactionary tendencies which limited new access to power and status.[4] "

*   *   *
Jeffrey Kaplan and Leonard Weinberg argued that the radical right in the U.S. and right-wing populism in Europe were the same phenomenon that existed throughout the Western world. They identified the core attributes as contained in extremism, behaviour and beliefs. As extremists, they see no moral ambiguity and demonize the enemy, sometimes connecting them to conspiracy theories such as the New World Order. Most politicians are seen as traitors or cowards. Given this worldview, there is a tendency to use methods outside democratic norms, although this is not always the case. The main core belief is inequality, which often takes the form of opposition to immigration or racism. They do not see this new Right as having any connection with the historic Right, which had been concerned with protecting the status quo.[29] They also see the cooperation of the American and European forms, and their mutual influence on each other, as evidence of their existence as a single phenomenon.[30]

Daniel Bell argues that the ideology of the radical right is "its readiness to jettison constitutional processes and to suspend liberties, to condone Communist methods in the fighting of Communism".[31] Historian Richard Hofstader agrees that communist-style methods are often emulated: "The John Birch Society emulates Communist cells and quasi-secret operation through 'front' groups, and preaches a ruthless prosecution of the ideological war along lines very similar to those it finds in the Communist enemy". He also quotes Barry Goldwater: "I would suggest that we analyze and copy the strategy of the enemy; theirs has worked and ours has not".[32]

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