The 21st Century Paul Revere riding to spread the alarm [concerning the threat to the nation by corporate oligarchs] faces an unwelcome reception from subjects still loyal to King George W. Why? Because the loyalists that make up a sizable portion of the population are indoctrinated into the modern-day theology of prosperity – contradictory to Christ’s precepts. In this regard, their dogma is heresy.
The first Paul Revere rode into towns receptive to his message. The 21st Paul Revere is not only rudely rejected but lambasted for being unpatriotic and a rebel to the ruling monarchs.
The religious right views America as a “Christian” nation, although the founders constructed it as pluralistic to include all religious views and those with none. Thus, the nation in time became safe refuge to peoples of all creeds and color from all corners.
Although Bush is relatively silent in Dallas, the religious millions who made up his base are unrepentant and unrelenting in their quest to reshape America into a theocratic oligarchy consolidated with corporate power – 21st Century Fascists or “Dominionists” – as they like to be called.
The “Tea Party” movement is just the latest derivative of the same.
The surfacing of George W. Bush might have been the premiere symptom of decline, perhaps indicating the initial deteriorating phase all empires suffer in their last throes. The ominous theory could be premature, although the symptoms say otherwise.
Which came first, the chicken or the egghead?
It is my belief the advent of Bush the son (the “egghead”) via stolen elections, combined with the capitulating nature of Democratic leadership, mark the downward spiral of the once-great American republic.
It is now evident: hatemongers outnumber peacelovers in this country. Guns are worshipped alongside flags, crosses and Bibles – which passages are selected dealing with judgment, damnation and wrath. True Christians are an endangered species probably only found in the Pennsylvania hills and called "Amish" and “Quakers.” Much of the rest are pretenders who, en masse, follow wolves masquerading as conformity-minded sheep, and the wolves are determined to destroy the pasture along with the flock at any cost (because, of course, the loss is carried by the unsuspecting, dumb sheep exclusively).
Many of us tried to spread the alarm about impending fascism should this country fail to reverse course. Not to downplay the subsequent rejection to a “persecution complex,” we found our warnings rejected and unheeded. But not only were our fellow countrymen in denial, they turned on us with rage and false allegations. The tone of conversations grew uncivil. We now find ourselves alienated from former friends and family members – some in our closest circles: mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters included.
On August 21, 2008, while in Vegas, I had a dream. I was a little boy playing with toy cars and trucks on the wooden hardwood floor of an old Victorian house which looked over 100. Mom, now 95 but much younger in the dream, was in the kitchen preparing supper. Then I heard the floor creak. I shouted, "Mom, something's wrong with the house. The floor is making weird noises."
Then my toy cars began rolling across the floor on their own and I could see the floor becoming unlevel. I screamed again, "Hey Mom! Something's not right! The floor is moving."
Mom just laughed, "Loren, nothing's wrong. You're just imagining again."
Then I heard a popping and cracking sound as planks of wood came splintering up from of the floor on one side of the room and the wall gave way where I could see daylight peeking through. I yelled again, "Mom, we've got to get out of here! The house is coming apart!"
Mom just laughed.
Then the whole house started moving. I ran outside as quickly as my little feet could carry me. Mom was left in the house. I saw the building with Mom inside tumble and roll down the hillside and break in two on its descent. The sound was like thunder. I sat and cried thinking about Mom in the house rolling to her death down the hill.
When I woke, the sense I got was the house was America, our home. Mom was Mom, but she represents the millions like her of the religious right who are quick to believe impostors and charlatans who have the agenda of destruction foremost on their minds in an aim towards "self-fulfilling prophecy" where world calamity brings on the end of days and the "chosen few" are favored by final redemption.
I see the religious right as the main ingredient giving power to the destroyers of this country: the greedy class that desires to concentrate wealth into the hands of the few while eliminating the weak, poor, and less privileged through natural attrition – killing the beast: social programs, ethnic & economic equity, and safety nets – which they so blithely refer to as “government entitlements for welfare queens.”
Most of my former religious friends and family, including Mom, cannot see – or refuse to see – what is really going on in this country, although I warn them time and again. Being a 21st Century Paul Revere doesn’t win hero praise.