Yesterday, Richard Cohen penned an opinion piece for the Washington Post that I wish every person in America would read. "A grand old cult".
As you can figure from the title, it is about what the current Republican Party has become.
A cult.
Someone ought to study the Republican Party. I am not referring to yet another political scientist but to a mental health professional, preferably a specialist in the power of fixations, obsessions and the like. The GOP needs an intervention. It has become a cult.
After reading that introduction to the article I paused and considered the various conservative "friends" who I interact with, mainly through Facebook these days since I no longer work a cubicle job. Some of these people I still know from my years working phone tech support at various outsource companies (Stream, Compucom, etc), some are guys from way way back in High School who never did leave that craptastic small Texas town I grew up in.
What they all seem to have in common, regardless of income bracket, urban/rural lifestyle, degree of education, is that they cannot unlearn anything they have previously learned if it's about politics. No matter how many times you tell them, show them, prove beyond any reasonable doubt that, for instance, a separation of Church and State was most definitely intended by our founding fathers, they cannot change their thinking.
It's amusing, if a bit sad, what happens when one of these cult members steps out of their echo chamber of fellow loons and takes up their to-themselves-familiar arguing points with people who are NOT part of the Right Wing. "So you're telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?". You can almost feel sorry for Ms. Witchy in that rather hilarious debate. She knows there's no separation of Church and State in the Constitution. The words "separation of church and state" aren't there. She knows that; and to their pedantic, if simple, way of looking at the world that means there's no principle of Separation in the Constitution. If nothing else, let us all thank FSM that the Tea Party has brought people like Christine O'Donnell out of the shadows of the Right and into the spotlight. So that the rest of America can see what these cultists really believe, what they actually stand for.
Now, there's a thousand other examples of this, not just Separation of Church and State. About as many examples are there are Rights in this nation. Someone, from Clarence Thomas down to my unemployed hick friend from the Gulf Coast will argue, in all earnestness, that there's just no such right. Privacy. Unreasonable Search and Seizure. Life, Liberty. Pursuit of Happiness.
The reason they argue these items, the reason that no matter how hard you try you will never convince them they are wrong... is that they have been indoctrinated by a cult.
The hallmark of a cult is to replace reason with feverish belief. This the GOP has done when it comes to the government’s ability to stimulate the economy. History proves this works — it’s how the Great Depression ended — but Republicans will not acknowledge it.
Emphasis mine.
And that's pretty much the situation in America, 2011. We have one political party that runs from Liberal to Pro-Corporate, and another political party that is... a cult. That scorns facts, reason, education. They argue subjects as matters of faith, not as matters of fact. And you will make no more headway with them on the subject of trickle down economics than you will on the subject of the divinity of Christ.
Because their view on trickle down economics and the divinity of Christ comes from the same parts of their brain.
When George Bush left office he had an approval rating of 23%. Stop and think about that for a moment. What that means. Almost a quarter of American citizens cannot be reached by any fact, reason, argument.
Be able to recognize when you are dealing with a 23%er. And know that you are not going to accomplish what you might wish: convincing someone of the facts. You may still accomplish some good by confronting the 23%er, the cultist. Someone else hearing or reading your discussion, who isn't a cultist but who feels like they might be alone or in a small minority due to their appreciation of facts, their desire to see public policy be based on reason, logic... that person might feel a little less lonely and despondent, if they see you take on the cultists.
But that's about all you can hope for. Because these guys, these 23%ers? They are far gone.
They belong to a grand old cult.
This intellectual rigidity has produced a GOP presidential field that’s a virtual political Jonestown. The Grand Old Party, so named when it really did evoke America, has so narrowed its base that it has become a political cult. It is a redoubt of certainty over reason and in itself significantly responsible for the government deficit that matters most: leadership.
Kudo's to Cohen for putting it in these terms. I thank him, because now, at long last, I understand. I get it.
Update: Thanks to the many commenters, and the obligatory "Woot, first time on the Rec List". I posted this to my Facebook, my Cultist "friends" are offended. So, good for that at least. :)