10 Great Things About America That Drive Conservatives and the Religious Right Insane

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/150946/10_great_things_about_america_that_drive_conservatives_and_the_religious_right_insane/

Religious Right groups and their frequent allies in the Tea Party talk a good line about respecting American values, but much would change if they had their way. They seek not to restore our country to some Golden Age (that never existed anyway) but to recreate it – in their own fundamentalist image.

An America rebuilt along Religious Right lines would be a very different place. And to get there, the theocrats among us first have to tear down some features of American life – some of which are longstanding. Here are ten things about the United States that drive Religious Right groups crazy:

1. Our history debunks Religious Right mythology: American history stands as a rebuke to the Religious Right. America’s founders established a secular government with freedom of religion and its necessary corollary, separation of church and state, built into the First Amendment. A “Christian nation” was not what the founders sought. How do we know this? They said so. Think about it: If an officially Christian nation had been the intent of the founders, the Constitution would prominently include that concept. It doesn’t.

And those Religious Right claims that separation of church and state is a myth? They’re a crock. As James Madison put it, “Strongly guarded…is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States.” Madison ought to know. He’s considered the Father of the Constitution and was one of the primary drafters of the First Amendment.

More at the link --

[hobbit709]

1. The problem is that they won't let facts get in the way of their thinking.

not only do they reject the facts, they want to suppress them so no one else can see them.

[Bragi]

6. Sadly, that's what everyone does

There is enough empirical evidence around that shows that when presented with facts that confound a strongly-held belief or value, people will simply dismiss the facts to preserve their strongly-held belief or value. Whether the belief is a right or left wing belief matters not at all.

The failure to acknowledge this cognitive reality makes much of our political discourse irrelevant.

For more info, do a google search for George Lakoff and look at some of his work on issue framing.

[CanonRay]

2. The problem is they don't think at all

just regurgitate right wing talking points and/or the bible.

[get the red out]

3. I posted that on my FB page

Maybe I'll get "unfriended" by some more neanderthals from high school. One can hope!

[SecularMotion]

4. Kick

:kick:

[alfredo]

5. k

[Shandris]

7. Good article. The only one I'm kind of 'ehhhh' on is #5.

From the angle of the article he's right -- the Constitution has preserved ~relatively well~ the things that make us a good nation. However, on the other hand, the vagaries (especially) of it and a few other things -- mostly things intended but not actually inscribed -- make it ~worth~ rewriting. Not adding in huge chunks wholesale about school prayer and other RW tripe, of course. But addressing other concerns? Yeah. I've often called it an alpha-release, and it still is. But the broad-brush stuff? The article and I agree.