[Peace-discuss] Fwd: The Evangelical Rebellion by Chris Hedges

[C. G. Estabrook]

Seems pretty sober to me.  The Left that Cockburn has in mind is the sad 
American version, synonymous with liberals, and represented by, say, the 
Nation magazine (and, indeed, Chris Hedges).

The American version is of course only a simulacrum of a Left as the 
term has been used for two centuries, because it's abandoned the Left's 
defining characteristic, attention to class struggle.

The Left in the US has been reduced to a matter of thinking the right 
thoughts and using the right language (what used to be called "identity 
politics," until it became the norm).  It's all a matter of symbolic 
analysis, in Robert Reich's term: you can't diss Darwin or believe in 
resurrection, altho' it's a bit hard to see what those terms have to do 
with politics.  (In fact, I think the latter does, but probably not in 
Evangelicalism, which seems to me a relatively simple material heresy.)

American politics have to be bumped over into the symbolic arena because 
there's no real contestation over policy.  The presidential campaign 
means very little because all the "serious" candidates (Republican and 
Democrat) support the same policy -- on the war, health care, the 
economy, etc.  It doesn't matter which of the actual candidates is 
elected because policy is doubly insulated from politics -- the policy 
is not under debate and political discussion is about irrelevancies (cf. 
Darwin).

Americans (outside of the ideological institutions -- universities and 
the media) recognize this and conclude correctly that the presidential 
campaign has little or nothing to do with them.  It's a game played by 
those designated -- show-business for ugly people.   As a result, the 
actual policies of both parties -- essentially two business parties -- 
are substantially to the right of the views of most Americans.  (E.g., 
80% of Americans say big business has too much influence in the USG.)

Alex I think would buy most of this, and it's in that context that he 
discusses Huckabee (and Paul).  Remember he started as a political 
reporter and is here simply assessing the chances of candidates, without 
the moralistic fury against a Baptist minister who dares to run. (A fury 
incidentally not shown to M. L. King, another Baptist minister.) He 
considers the possibility, over against the monoglot media, that 
Huckabee could be a "genuinely interesting candidate," even a "wild man" 
terrifying the political establishment like Bryan (a rather admirable 
figure although "another implacable foe of Darwin") or Wallace 
(certainly less admirable).

Surveying the US presidents from Reagan to Bush, can you seriously doubt 
that "any imbecile could be head of state" (or government)? But the 
problem is not that they're stupid -- in some ways they aren't -- but 
that they do vicious things.

I don't agree that "lack of experience and knowledge about the rest of 
the world is one of the principal problems right now in American 
government."  Liberal critics of the Vietnam War used to say that the US 
had stupidly blundered into a situation there (a "quagmire") that it 
didn't understand.  There was no blunder -- it was just hard for US 
Liberals in their naivety to believe that that people they went to 
school with would kill 3-4 million people to teach the Third World a 
lesson.  But they did (successfully), just as Clinton and Bush have 
killed millions in order successfully to maintain US hegemony over ME 
energy resources.  And Clinton-Obama-Edwards-Romney-Giuliani-Huckabee 
will do the same. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme *pose*...

Regards, CGE


Matt Reichel wrote:
> I think Alex must have been inebriated when writing this snippet. 90% of 
> the time I think he is quite good, if not outright fantastic, but this 
> article in particular was sloppy and poorly defended.
> The bigotry of the Left? What . . is he talking about the Communists in 
> The Soviet Union who is father spent his life defending? . .
> 
> Even worse, he says: "So Huckabee will probably survive these charges, 
> as he should the
> whines of New York Times columnists that he is unversed in foreign
> affairs. Both Ronald Reagan and George Bush demonstrated
> conclusively that a passing glance at a stamp album is the only
> education required for dealing with the rest of the world."
> 
> Is he trying to assert that any imbecile could be head of state because 
> the real brains are already in place at the state department, FBI and 
> CIA? . .This is obviously un-true, since the CIA is so desperate for 
> anyone who actually speaks a foreign language that they are practically 
> handing jobs away to anyone who can pass a drug test. I don't know how 
> many times I've had to explain to someone on the phone that I am not 
> interested in a career at the CIA!! . . And a simple google search of my 
> name would reveal quite conclusively that I am not CIA material!
> . .  Or does he actually mean to say that one can obtain the knowledge 
> necessary to associate in a complex manner with foreign envoys without 
> experience studying in a foreign setting (once a pre-req for anyone 
> looking for work at the state dept) . . . ?
> Either way I find this remark unsettling, if not outright insulting. The 
> lack of experience and knowledge about the rest of the world is one of 
> the principle problems right now in American government, and goes a long 
> way to explaining the continually growing resentment of the U.S. by a 
> majority of people in our fellow "Western countries," as well as 
> explaining the concurrent rapid decline of the American empire.
> Perhaps that's it! It's best to have unskilled statesmen at the helm 
> because that will facilitate the decline of the Empire, which will 
> presumably be a good thing for a majority of the world. This seems like 
> a far fetched reason to support idiot presidents!
> 
> -
> mer
> 
>  > From: brussel4 at insightbb.com
>  > Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Fwd: The Evangelical Rebellion by Chris 
> Hedges
>  > Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:06:29 -0600
>  > To: galliher at uiuc.edu
>  > CC: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>  >
>  > So, Huckabee or Paul for President! Kookyness abounds it seems.
>  > And where lies the so-called "bigotry on matters of religion" of the
>  > left? (Is it their disbelief in Genesis and ressurection and other
>  > myths, and fear of the fundamentalists seemingly growing influence?)
>  > Why doesn't Cockburn get on his horse for someone like Kucinich
>  > instead of relishing the likes of Huckabee?
>  >
>  > --mkb
>  >
>  >
>  > On Dec 28, 2007, at 2:33 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>  >
>  > > [I often find myself agreeing with Alex Cockburn. Here I think
>  > > he's good on Huckabee and the presidential campaign. The
>  > > comparison with Bryan is apt, except that Bryan was more anti-war
>  > > than Huckabee: Bryan resigned as Secretary of State when a
>  > > mendacious Democrat president (celebrated by liberals) manipulated
>  > > the US into war. Regarding this thread, I think Cockburn is right
>  > > to say, "The clamor about Huckabee's Christian beliefs is overdone,
>  > > not least among the left whose bigotry on matters of religion is
>  > > particularly unappetizing" -- although, needless to say, neither
>  > > Cockburn nor I agree with Huckabee's theology (if on different
>  > > grounds). --CGE]
>  > >
>  > > Mike Huckabee's Ascending Chariot
>  > > By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
>  > >
>  > > Suddenly it's Huckabee. The surge of the former Arkansas governor
>  > > in the race for the Republican nomination has the pell-mell
>  > > excitement of one of Napoleon's victorious rampages across Europe
>  > > in his heyday. In this case the long faces belong not to the
>  > > crowned heads of the Grand Alliance, but to the Republican
>  > > establishment, quivering with terror at the thought of their
>  > > doughty standard bearer in 2008 being a former Baptist minister, a
>  > > fellow who thinks God created the world 6000 years ago more or less
>  > > in its current form.
>  > >
>  > > The great dread of American political establishments down the
>  > > decades has been that a wild man will suddenly sneak past all
>  > > obstructions cunningly devised to repel uncomfortable surprises and
>  > > upset the apple cart. Democrats even today shiver at the memory of
>  > > William Jennings Bryan, another implacable foe of Charles Darwin,
>  > > who ran on a silver platform in the late nineteenth century. George
>  > > Wallace, a redneck governor out of Alabama, ran as an independent
>  > > presidential candidate in 1968 and Richard Nixon was terrified that
>  > > he would steal enough votes to throw the race to the Democrat,
>  > > Hubert Humphrey. A would-be assassin's bullet put paid to that threat.
>  > >
>  > > The clamor about Huckabee's Christian beliefs is overdone, not
>  > > least among the left whose bigotry on matters of religion is
>  > > particularly unappetizing. A robust majority of all Americans, so
>  > > polls unfailingly show, maintain they have had personal encounters
>  > > with Jesus Christ. Ronald Reagan believed and publicly stated more
>  > > than once that the Apocalypse was scheduled to occur in his
>  > > lifetime at Megiddo, as excitingly trailered in the Good Book. The
>  > > soigné Governor Mitt Romney, now displaced by Huckabee as the front
>  > > runner, is a Mormon and thus, unless he is a heretic from the
>  > > Latter Day Saints on this specific issue, believes that Christ was
>  > > Lucifer's older brother, as Huckabee has not been slow in pointing
>  > > out.
>  > >
>  > > But Huckabee should not be dismissed as simply the creature of the
>  > > Christian fundamentalists who play a very significant role in the
>  > > Republican primaries and who are currently hoisting him in the
>  > > polls. Of course they like Huckabee for all the obvious reasons,
>  > > and because the alternatives are the Mormon Romney or Giuliani,
>  > > who's hopped from wife to wife, shared an apartment with a male gay
>  > > couple and favors abortion.
>  > >
>  > > But on many substantive matters, demonstrated during his ten years
>  > > as the governor of Arkansas, Huckabee was often a progressive, with
>  > > enlightened views and a record of substantive executive action on
>  > > immigration, public health, education of poor kids and the
>  > > possibility of redemption for convicted criminals. In his ten years
>  > > as governor, Huckabee commuted the sentences of, or outright
>  > > pardoned, over 1,200 felons including a dozen murderers. This was a
>  > > courageous and unparalleled display of enlightenment in a country
>  > > whose interest in rehabilitation is near zero. As Huckabee said in
>  > > answer to Mitt "throw away the key" Romney, should a woman
>  > > convicted of check-kiting when she was 17, have this criminal
>  > > offense prevent her from getting a job thirty years later?
>  > >
>  > > Democrats started by chortling over Huckabee's meteoric rise in the
>  > > national polls. The Democratic National Committee supposedly
>  > > ordered a moratorium to onslaughts on the Arkansas governor in the
>  > > hopes that as the nominee he will be roadkill for them in the race
>  > > next fall. This patronizing posture is already fraying. Huckabee
>  > > would not be a pushover. He's quick on his feet, has an easy sense
>  > > of humor and has a powerful appeal to Americans unconvinced by any
>  > > of the major contenders.
>  > >
>  > > Thus far, beyond hee-haws at his Christian fundamentalism, the most
>  > > the liberals can come up with is that he intervened to save his son
>  > > from very nasty charges of dog-abuse at a Boy Scout camp and that
>  > > among those whose sentences he commuted was a rapist, Wayne Dumond,
>  > > who killed at least one woman after his release. Murray Waas has
>  > > devoted thousands of plodding words to the case.
>  > >
>  > > It's chilling to watch liberals and pwogs thundering their outrage
>  > > at the mere idea of pardons or commutations, as though one of the
>  > > besetting horrors of America today isn't the penological mindset
>  > > that puts people behind bars for decades, or the living death of
>  > > what the criminal justice industry laconically terms LWOP, Life
>  > > Without the Possibility of Parole. Let's go back to 1988, when
>  > > Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis, who had supervised an
>  > > elightened parole and day-release program as governor of
>  > > Massachusetts, was trashed for letting Willie Horton out of prison
>  > > on a weekend pass. Who first raised the Horton issue. No, not
>  > > George Bush Sr. Not Lee Atwater. It was Al Gore, in the '88
>  > > Democratic primaries.
>  > >
>  > > Of course, if you decide not to let people rot in prison for forty
>  > > years, and let some of them out, there's a chance there'll be a
>  > > Dumond or a Horton among those released. That's a risk. To say that
>  > > it's an unacceptable risk is the same as saying there's a risk in
>  > > administering the death penalty, because an innocent person might
>  > > get gassed or killed with poison, but that nonetheless the price is
>  > > worth it. Some guy with a DUI on his record gets his license back,
>  > > gets loaded again and kills another carload of innocents. So, we
>  > > should bring in a lifetime ban of all DUIs from driving ever again?
>  > > More people get killed by drivers with DUIs on their record than by
>  > > convicted killers let out of prison, or for that matter by sex
>  > > offenders. These days, with liberal assent, sex offenders serve
>  > > their full terms and still can't get out of prison. Run a society
>  > > totally on principles of revenge, not forgiveness or redemption and
>  > > you end up in the realm of Milton's Moloch, "besmeared with blood
>  > > of human sacrifice and parents' tears."
>  > >
>  > > Then there are the corruption charges. Huckabee accepted gift
>  > > vouchers for meals at Taco Bell and had a registry at Target and
>  > > Dillard's where he and his wife got big-ticket items like a Jack
>  > > LaLanne juicer. Hold the front page! From reading the furious
>  > > brayings of Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone, you'd think Huckabee was
>  > > the Emperor Bokassa, of the Central African Republic, crowned on a
>  > > golden throne, wearing a Roman toga embroidered with a hundred
>  > > thousand pearls, then driving off in a coach pulled by six white
>  > > horses flown from Paris.
>  > >
>  > > Try as they may, dustrakers like Taibbi have a hard time showing
>  > > Huckabee was anything more than a piker in the perks department.
>  > >
>  > > Here's some of the record of shame. Total for items requested on
>  > > the Target wedding registry, $ 2,282, including a 12-piece cookware
>  > > set for $ 249, a DeLonghi retro 4-slice toaster for $ 39. 99 ,
>  > > napkins, kitchen towels, two king-sized pillows and a clock. Total
>  > > on the Dillard's registry, $4,635, not omittting the Jack Lalanne
>  > > juicer for $ 100.
>  > >
>  > > True, the Huckabees got married in 1974, but they had that covenant
>  > > marriage in 2005, which is certainly as convincing as Hillary
>  > > Clinton saying she just got lucky when, as Arkansas' first lady she
>  > > made $99,000 on cattle futures off an initial stake of $1,000, the
>  > > whole miraculous bonanza organized by a guy in the retinue of Don
>  > > Tyson, the largest food processor in the state of Arkansas. More
>  > > convincing, actually.
>  > >
>  > > As so often with American politicians accused of graft and
>  > > corruption, one reels back in embarrassment at the tiny sums
>  > > involved. In 2003 Huckabee was fined $250 by the State Ethics
>  > > Commission of bringing shame on Arkansas by accepting a $500 canoe
>  > > from Coca-Cola in 2001. The Comission also gave him a rap on the
>  > > knuckles for not reporting acceptance of a $200 stadium blanket the
>  > > same year. He probably wanted it to put over his knees in the canoe.
>  > >
>  > > Huckabee appealed the sanctions to Pulaski County Circuit Court.
>  > > Judge Fox said he should have owned up to the blanket, but threw
>  > > out the $ 250 fine, finding that there wasn't sufficient evidence
>  > > to show that the canoe, painted with the words "Coke, Arkansas and
>  > > You," illegally rewarded Huckabee for doing his job as governor.
>  > > Huckabee battled other such charges, including more substantial
>  > > gifts of clothes and furniture. It was all familiar stuff, to
>  > > connoisseurs of small-time corruption charges. Were the suits for
>  > > the shrunken Huckabee to deploy to Arkansas' advantage at
>  > > conferences of governors or trade trips abroad? Was the furniture
>  > > for the rehabbed governor's mansion while Mr and Mors Huckabee
>  > > roosted in the double-wide?
>  > >
>  > > Arkansas underpays its governors as a matter of policy, forcing
>  > > them into a flexible ethical posture, as opposed to chill high
>  > > mindedness. Incorruptibles are often more of a menace to society.
>  > > The American way, which isn't so bad, is to have the laws on the
>  > > books, for proper use if things start getting seriously out of
>  > > control. Corruption, held within bounds, is a useful lubricant. Is
>  > > it really worse for Muscovites to slip the traffic cop 500 roubles
>  > > ($20), thus paying a de facto fine, as opposed to getting a ticket,
>  > > and mailing in your $250 speeding fine to the County Superior Court?
>  > >
>  > > Bill Clinton got $20,000 a year for governing Arkansas. Huckabee
>  > > got $80,000.
>  > >
>  > > These guys had to go to McDonalds or Taco Bell. It's all they could
>  > > afford. Of course they pocketed $10,000 bribes in cash for issuing
>  > > end use certificates and the like. If the truth be told, Gov
>  > > Clinton in his Arkansas days in the governor's mansion, was a piker
>  > > in corruption, just like Huckabee. The laughable thing about
>  > > Whitewater was the pathetically small sums the Clintons stood to
>  > > make if all went well, which they did not. When the tribunal
>  > > investigating Irish prime minister Charles Haughey finally
>  > > concluded its labors, long after his death, I totted up the proven
>  > > bribes and it came to something like $50 million.
>  > >
>  > > So Huckabee will probably survive these charges, as he should the
>  > > whines of New York Times columnists that he is unversed in foreign
>  > > affairs. Both Ronald Reagan and George Bush demonstrated
>  > > conclusively that a passing glance at a stamp album is the only
>  > > education required for dealing with the rest of the world.
>  > >
>  > > Huckabee's single rival as a genuinely interesting candidate is
>  > > another Republican, Ron Paul, who set a record a few days ago, by
>  > > raising $6 million in a single day. Unlike Huckabee, Paul's core
>  > > issues are opposition to the war and to George Bush's abuse of
>  > > civil liberties inscribed in the U.S. Constitution. His appeal, far
>  > > more than Huckabee, is to the redneck rebel strain in American
>  > > political life – the populist beast that the US two-party system is
>  > > designed to suppress. On Monday night Paul was asked on Fox News
>  > > about Huckabee's Christmas ad, which shows the governor backed by a
>  > > shining cross. Actually it's the mullions of the window behind him,
>  > > but the illusion is perfect. Paul said the ad reminded him of
>  > > Sinclair Lewis's line, that "when fascism comes to this country it
>  > > will be wrapped in a flag and bearing a cross." In the unlikely
>  > > event they had read Lewis, no other candidate would dare quote that
>  > > line.
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Robert Dunn wrote:
>  > >> so.... what is the point. The Republican establishment hates him
>  > >> because he will not cowtow to them. He is more of a threat than
>  > >> Ron Paul or Ralph Nader ever was or would be. I disagree that a
>  > >> Huckabee presidency would bring about a new wave of fascism. This
>  > >> is one of my hugest pet peeves of the liberal wing of the American
>  > >> Left. The hostility to evangelicals needs to cease for the Left to
>  > >> be effective. It would have sounded absurd if during the 2002 15th
>  > >> Congressional District, Carls opponents attacked him based on his
>  > >> devout Catholic beliefs. Who would not rolling on the floor with
>  > >> uncontrollable laughter if the main threat from Carl was that
>  > >> through him, then Pope John Paul II would control policy for East
>  > >> Central Illinois. Of course it would be nice to have my state
>  > >> taxes go down from 30% to the tithe of 10%.
>  > >> So, if others can really help me out with some fruitful
>  > >> discussion, perhaps Carls 2 or more cents, on this issue. I am
>  > >> curious as to who the "real enemy" is? Is it the "Right-Wing
>  > >> populists led by the noses?" Or is it the corporate establishment?
>  > >> Either way, if the Liberal wing of the American Left, particularly
>  > >> the Democratic activists who claim to speak for the Left continue
>  > >> to come up with ridiculous notions of a Christian theocracy as the
>  > >> real threat, the more evangelicals will reject the Left and
>  > >> continue "to vote against their economic interests." So with all
>  > >> fairness to actual folks concerned about real violations of civil
>  > >> liberties such as the Patriot Act, domestic wiretapping, etc. Baby
>  > >> Jesus at city hall or some public school kid praying over his PBJ
>  > >> is not a threat to average Americans.
>  > >> Carl, do you have any insight into this ridiculous article?
>  > >> Who am I supposed to fear, the corporate elite or the rubes duped
>  > >> by them. Because I could just as well say that there are liberal
>  > >> rubes that the corporate elites are duping. This whole culture war
>  > >> issue where abortion, environmentalism, gay marriage, even
>  > >> identity politics on the Left is in my opinion another way of the
>  > >> corporate elite to maintain power. Are those who just say whatever
>  > >> the Democratic Party spouts at the moment dupes as well, as I have
>  > >> seen some even on this list?
>  > >> Cheers,
>  > >> Robert
>  > >>  ...