The Colorado Confederatarian

'L, it ain't Christianity, as this here piece by Charlie Kraut Hammer indercates. We all a'wonderin', thin, why so many of the Evangelicals in the Religious Right 'ssociates with the neocons. Not only a'do so many of the elite not like 'em, all they evah do is throw the Evangelicals a bone now and agin; jus' enough bones to keep 'em pulling that "R" lever. Eugene Genovese sez that some day the Evangelicals may wake up. ("Arise, O Sleeper!")

If' y'all wanna git a clear piture 'bout what neocons a'lookin' fo', read this here art'cle by Front Page's Jamie Glazov. Some exsurps:

ALMOST HALF of Canadians believe it is highly likely Canada will join the United States within ten years. That’s what an opinion poll , released on June 3 by EKOS Research Associates, a Canadian polling and research firm, tells us.

This isn’t really big news. It simply means that almost half of Canadians are willing to reconcile themselves with reality. Let’s face it: globalization is the way of the future. It can’t be stopped. That means that Canada ’s destiny – being absorbed into the American empire -- is much closer than we think. As a Canadian, I can hardly wait.

I must admit: the supremacy of globalization and free trade fills me with an intoxicating sense of glee. After all, the victory of unrestrained international capitalism translates into market forces running unhindered in Canada, which, in turn, translates into a diminishment of Canadian "sovereignty" – that absurd joke that has imposed socialized health care, federal funding of bilingualism and multi-culturalism, and other intellectually-bankrupt policies, onto heavily-burdened Canadian taxpayers. Canadian governments will finally have to listen to the market, rather than to leftwing ideologues and elites, and shed the last remnants of the Canadian welfare state. And as multinational corporations gain power, and national barriers come tumbling down, the forces of deregulation and privatization will triumph, leaving Canadian socialism where it belongs – on the ash heap of history. . . .

The victory of globalization means the end of Canadian socialism. And the end of Canadian socialism means the end of Canada , because this nation is an artificial structure that is kept intact by nationalist and socialist elites who exploit their own citizens for the sake of keeping themselves in power. It’s time for the unrestrained forces of capitalism to prevail, so that we can finally abandon our pathetic fantasy of having a unique culture, let alone a unique anything. It’s time to become who we always were: Americans. Long live globalization.

And them neocons go and pooh-pooh our consurn that there just might be these here plans afoot for a North American Union.  (Damn fool libruls and no-account neocons, a'followin' they Master, Honest Abe Lincoln, jus' love they "unions".)  Glazov provides us with a glimpse into the mindset.

Now, here's a little sumpin' from a sekular hoomanist gal who knows what's what when it comes to the neocon view of thangs.  (This gal hates religion, shore 'nuf, but that notwithstandin' he shows it like it be):

To say that Strauss’s elitism surpasses that of the Grand Inquisitor is an understatement. Undeniably, there are strong similarities. Like the Grand Inquisitor, Strauss thought that society must be governed by a pious elite (George Bush the second and the Christian fundamentalists who support him fit this role perfectly). Like the Grand Inquisitor, Strauss thought of religion as a pious fraud (something that would alarm the Christian fundamentalists who are allied with the neoconservatives). And even though Strauss was sympathetic to Judaism, he nevertheless described it as a “heroic delusion” and a “noble dream.” Like the Grand Inquisitor, he thought that it was better for human beings to be victims of this noble delusion than to “wallow” in the “sordid” truth. And like the Grand Inquisitor, Strauss thought that the superior few should shoulder the burden of truth and in so doing, protect humanity from the “terror and hopelessness of life.”

All the similarities between Strauss and the Grand Inquisitor notwithstanding, the Straussian position surpasses the Grand Inquisitor in its delusional elitism as well as in its misanthropy. This shows that while one need not be a religious thinker to be misanthropic, religion is an excellent vehicle for implementing misanthropic policies in public life.

The Grand Inquisitor presents his ruling elite as suffering under the burden of truth for the sake of humanity. So, despite his rejection of Christ, the Grand Inquisitor is modeled on the Christian conception of a suffering God who bears the burden for humanity. In contrast, Strauss represents his ruling elite as pagan gods who are full of laughter. Instead of being grim and mournful like the Grand Inquisitor, they are intoxicated, erotic, and gay. And they are certainly not too concerned about the happiness of mere mortals. They have little pity or compassion for them. On the contrary, the pain, suffering, and tragedies of the mortals provide them with entertainment. . . .

Strauss thought that the best way for ordinary human beings to raise themselves above the beasts is to be utterly devoted to their nation and willing to sacrifice their lives for it. He recommended a rabid nationalism and a militant society modelled on Sparta. He thought that this was the best hope for a nation to be secure against her external enemies as well as the internal threat of decadence, sloth, and pleasure. A policy of perpetual war against a threatening enemy is the best way to ward off political decay. And if the enemy cannot be found, then it must be invented.

For example, Saddam Hussein was an insignificant tyrant in a faraway land without the military power to threaten America. And he wasn’t allied with the Islamic fundamentalists who attacked the World Trade Center in 2001. But the neoconservatives who control the White House managed to inflate the threat to gargantuan proportions and launched the nation into a needless war. Even though they are not hardcore Straussians, neoconservatives share Strauss’s view that wealth, freedom, and prosperity make people soft, pampered, and depraved. And, like Strauss, they think of war as an antidote to moral decadence and depravity. And this should make us wonder if they purposely launched the nation into a needless war because they were convinced of the salutary effects of war as such.

There is a strong asceticism at the heart of the neoconservative ideology that explains why it appeals to the Christian Right. Neoconservatism dovetails nicely with the views that humanity is too wicked to be free; too much pleasure is sinful; and suffering is good because it makes man cry out to God for redemption. With the neoconservatives and the Christian Right in power, Americans can forget about the pursuit of happiness and look forward to perpetual war, death, and catastrophe. And in the midst of all the human carnage and calamity that such policies are bound to bring, the Olympian laughter of the Straussian gods will be heard by those who have ears to hear it. In short, the Straussian elite makes the Grand Inquisitor look compassionate and humane in comparison.

So, here's a'hopin' that our Evangelical friends so enamured of neoconservatism 'l do a bit-a readin', both 'bout neoconservatism's roots and about true conservativism.  Ole Eugene could tell 'em.

S. Jones