There is a sickness in the body politic.
This will not be an examination, but rather a personal statement. This statement is for those who can only be called “Obamaniacs,” crazed and excessive supporters of Barack Obama. I know some of these people personally. (I would also apply this statement to the “Palintologists,” those similarly extreme supporters of Sarah Palin, but I don’t personally know any. Any excessive attachment to a public figure—any public figure—is unhealthy.)
I worship none but God. I deify no man or woman. My loyalty is to my republic, the United States of America, not to any party or person. I will not now, nor ever, bow before the madness of your attachment to a candidate. I will not restrain my criticisms, witticisms or judgments because they offend your semi-religious devotion to some famous woman or man.
I distrust mass movements, especially those of the political variety, and I distrust charmers. The former is quite often an outgrowth of the application of the gifts of the latter. Mass political movements are always a result of general desperation on the part of the public due to their fears and their sufferings. The fact that those fears and sufferings are legitimate do not in any way absolve the psychological compulsions on the part of people to attach themselves to slogans, banners or men. The bulwark of any republic is its citizenry. It is the citizenry, and not their leaders, who safeguard the political tenets upon which every republic stands. When the citizenry abdicate their duty to challenge and question those in power, or those who seek power, the republic is lost.
It is not enough to challenge those whose beliefs differ from yours; you must also challenge the motivations and intentions of your allies in the nation as well.
I know to be brief because in our hectic age, no one wishes to read a lengthy essay, so I’ll make a few personal points to those of you for whom this is intended:
1. I agree and support most of the political stances of Senator Obama. However, I challenge the nature of his motivations and the veracity of his and his supporters’ assertions of his political purity. He is far from pure, as are we all, and I will not ever hesitate to criticize him.
2. The criticisms that I level at Obama zealots are the same criticisms that I level at the zealots of George W. Bush. You are twins from different mothers. I will spare no one.
3. Many of you say that you are not “zealots.” You simply “like the man” and believe that he’s “inspirational.” My definition of a political zealot is thus: When you respond to any criticism of your candidate with anger, when you can admit no wrong of your candidate, or can admit to no wrong without accusing someone or something else, when you strain friendships and relationships because of your attachment to such a personae, you are a zealot. Look closely in the mirror. You might not like what you see.
4. Further, if your friendship cannot withstand my criticism of someone that you do not even know, nor are ever likely to know, then you are no true friend.
5. If you doubt that this type of Obama zealotry is extensive, if you wish to call it an aberration, I invite you to peruse this blog:
http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/
Read it with an open mind. The blog was not created by a zealot, but rather by one who wished to expose such zealotry. The examples on the blog are not isolated, but rather indicative of what’s going on in the country at large.
Thus ends my personal statement. There is a sickness in the body politic. May God grant us the grace to heal it before it is too late for our grand republic.
“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”
-- Thomas Paine
No comments:
Post a Comment