My Grandpa Was A Communist and I'm A Christian

I was asked if it isn't better to say presidents in general are an unrepentant prideful lot. They certainly tend to be and I am among the first to say political leaders of any stripe generally drink freely and happily from the whore's cup. But in this case I say it is important to be specific. In this case we have to be clear that regardless of any anointing by the NAE or assurances from the Reichskirche to the contrary we are being... swindled. (Some more colorful imagery a la Ezekiel or Jeremiah would be appropriate but I don't want to lose anymore than I probably will.) If Evangelicals were not going whole hog for this president it might be enough to warn of the generic seduction of power. If Christians could maintain the "moral clarity" we had during the Clinton years it might be enough to say, "Tsk tsk, there they go again."

I will concede that it is not just this president that suffers from this. I will allow a generalization: it is the ethos of his administration that sees the public trust of government as a tool of private wealth. It is possessed by a clear and articulated desire to reduce government of every protective function except that which protects the advantage of the privileged. It is a machine as bad as many of the Gilded Age oiled with the blood of the poor and fueled by wealth. (How's that for hyperbole?) And unlike others sedated into apathy, we are not indifferent, we give our blessing, happy to be invited to the dance, giddy that the skinny plain girl would even be asked. They tell us we're special; Pastor Ted goes to Oval Office prayer meetings, Dr. Dobson gets secret phone calls.

It may surprise some to hear, but I like the US. I like many aspects of our political philosophy. One being our acknowledgment of sin as seen in our institutional checks and balances and that, though we sin, "we the people" can create a system where we better and better serve everyone rather than allow the already privileged few to suck the marrow from the lives of the many. Democracy is our ideal -not oligarchy- and as Christians we have the opportunity to speak uniquely and clearly to a government that will never be the church, that should not be a theocracy, that is ruled by the seductive power of evil but, according to our ideals, can be held in check. But what we have now is an administration that has hijacked the language of our faith to get us into bed. What he have now is a cabal of charlatans that know exactly what to say and do so we'll give it up. We have had it before, and we'll have it again, but this does not diminish that right now, this president- this administration- is committing a horrible fraud against the US- making a joke of democracy- and a lot of the church is making him breakfast.

How does Harriet "Best Governor Ever" Miers fit into this? Maybe she's a moment of clarity. Maybe she's the third act of "A Very Special Beverly Hills 90210" where we realize he never loved us, he just used us and we were all too happy to let him. Maybe the call for her withdrawal is a glimmer of self-respect. I'll make it clearer, maybe some of the church realized W Inc. isn't about conservatism or liberalism, it's about pandering to a loyal segment desperate for attention- throwing them a bone, patronizing the gullible to maintain power for the corporate sluts. This time the bone didn't do.

But this hasn't opened the president's eyes. The looming indictments, the myriad high level ethics and criminal investigations, the increasing number of political failures aren't leading to a denouement where the president and his ilk change their ways. That was the point of the last post. No repentance, no shame. Maybe that's expected, and like I said, not unique to this president. I just highlighted it because of our whorish devotion as the church to this administration- that's the point.

What will we do? Not much is my guess.