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Alternative EnergySource: David Apperson
url: http://veterans.barackobama.com/page/community/tag/alternative-energy
I know folks throw that "fascist" label around for everything they don't like and every little thing that sounds even slightly authoritarian. Let me begin by saying that the word 'fascist' should be reserved for things that are, in fact, 'fascist'. I'll set aside the fact that the Wiki entry on fascism reads like it was written to describe the Right Wing in this country (and perhaps was, depending on who edited it), and focus on the kind of merging of corporations, state, and nationalist identity that has traditionally been the cornerstone of fascism.
Here's the statement from Sarah Palin that I've been contemplating all night. It occurs in her discussion (in her church) of the gas-pipeline project she was championing:
"I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that.”
She is a political leader telling people what to PRAY for, and that something to pray for is "unifying people and companies" as an instance of necessary divine "will".
That the invocation of God's will for the advantaging of political initiatives is in and of itself fascist could be argued. But Sarah is going even further here into what appears to be explicitly fascist thinking: That God's will demands ("has to be done") the merging of people and companies for the special project of a special political personality (hers and her administration's). Merging people and companies in the name of a nationalist identity, and in the intimate reality that is 'prayer' among believers?? pretty close.....pretty close.
"We the people" are the government, are we not? Whether talking populist about simple pockets of 'folk' or about the state as such, the unification of people and companies for ideological advance via the intimate process of praying is about as close a recommendation of explicit fascist movement as I've seen by anyone in our political menagerie. Wherever the popular "we" are, there too is our form of government. Uniting that "we the people" with "companies" is step one in thinking in a fascist manner about how our system should work.
Of course her openly espoused policy stands, as far as they've been shared with us, do not all lend themselves to the 'fascist' label. But the missionary zeal at the base of her thinking, especially its allegiance to seeing her politics as aligned with God's will (including the Iraq War as a "task from God") and commandable as prayer, is nothing short of alarming. My own vetting process for a Vice President would find this by itself an exclusionary factor for anyone seeking office in this country, no matter what their other merits might be (and in that I grant that Mrs. Palin has many merits). No surface merits compensate for a deep-seated theology that shapes, guides and impels ones entire world-view in the direction of a form of nationalism inimical to America. Her extreme and absolutist position on abortion (no exceptions for rape and incest despite her state having the highest rates of both) pales in comparison to the troubling merger of monied and divine interests in a perfect storm of raw power. At the very least this is a nascent theological fascism, which when fully gestated could not help but spawn a political fascism through, say, being given the keys to the White House--the most powerful "bully pulpit" in the world.
By RACHEL ZOLL AND ERIC GORSKI, AP Religion Writers Sat May 3, 2:34 AM ET
Conservative Christian leaders who believe the word "evangelical" has lost its religious meaning plan to release a starkly self-critical document saying the movement has become too political and has diminished the Gospel through its approach to the culture wars.
"That way faith loses its independence, Christians become `useful idiots' for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology," according to the draft.
(I give thumbs up to the group who gathered to create this manifesto. I think that it shows a level of public and social awareness for all people. I'm not surprised that Dobson didn't sign it since he is very biased against particular groups and ideals and constantly produces hate messages toward those groups instead of messages of love or caring. I agree with the this statement from their manifesto; "All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others," they wrote, "while we have condoned our own sins." They argue, "we must reform our own behavior.")
So I know a lot of people are mad at Reverend Wright, but I am inclined to say that, for the most part, he is doing exactly what he should be doing. Just like Obama is doing exactly what he should be doing.
Jeremiah Wright is a prophet to his people, and a famous one in his own way. His manner of speaking and way of presenting his case is in keeping with that role. If you want to make a comparison, check out the biblical prophets in Christianity or those of most other major religions. They tend to be loud, forceful, offensive, and maybe a little crazy at times too.
This in combination with the traditions of the African-American church make him all the more potent. These things get said in churches all over the nation, and the world for that matter. Its just that not all pastors evoke emotion in the same.
While my familiarity with Wright is limited to footage I can find on youTube, I would venture a guess that he is at least familiar with Liberation Theology. How would he not be influenced by these ideas given some of the schools he has both attended and taught at? He is who he needs to be to his people.
Barak has been left with no choice but to distance himself from his pastor due to the Media's reaction to Wright. I do not think this was a choice he should have had to make (though the comments by Wright implying that Barak was posturing did piss me off.) His affiliation with Wright should in no way incriminate him. But the, I guess this is just the nature of politics.
The Acton Institute is a conservative think tank with the goal of “Integrating Judeo-Christian Truths with Free Market Principles (see http://www.acton.org/about/principles.php )
Professor Anthony Bradley (Assistant Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology, Covenant Theological Seminary) is a research fellow at the Institute and is a favorite of Glenn Beck and other Fox flunkies (HNN video with Beck here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hv1ShidiN2g )
Bradley is the one most likely to be quoted when someone tells you that Wright’s religion is anti-white and anti-American. So that makes it especially powerful for us to cite back to them Bradley’s statement below that Obama does not believe in what Reverend Wright preaches. It will also help with that “he sat there for 20 years so he must believe it” argument.
