John Whitehead's Commentary
State of the Union: Fascism with a Smile--Part III
"For this, to be sure, from the child's primer down to the last newspaper, every theater and every movie house, every advertising pillar and every billboard, must be pressed into the service of this one great mission, until the timorous prayer of our present parlor patriots: 'Lord, make us free!' is transformed in the brain of the smallest boy into the burning plea: "'Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle!'" -- Adolf Hitler, Mein KampfAs I stated in Parts I and II of this series, our country is in dire straits. Some fear that America is moving toward a Nazi form of authoritarianism. Undeniably, there are some danger signals on the horizon.
While concerns about the economy, the never-ending threat of war and the loss of our civil liberties abound, the culture wars, the undermining of religion and the loss of traditional values also reflect a startling parallel between the road America is traveling and that of pre-Nazi Germany.
At the time of Hitler's rise, Germans were some of the most religious people in Western Europe. Germany was the land of Martin Luther, where the Protestant Reformation was born. The German church was still intact while Hitler was making his rise to power. However, the readiness of German churches to identify with and accept the existing political order without criticism greatly reduced the effectiveness of churches to speak truth to power. In fact, many German churches readily threw in their lot with the Nazi call for a "spiritual" renewal of the nation as promised by Hitler, who referred to himself as a Christian.
Turning to the present day, the close identification of evangelical churches and organizations with the Republican Party, and in particular the current Bush Administration, has, in the opinion of some, resulted in their being manipulated and co-opted by political power. This is recognized even by some conservatives. As Pastor Chuck Baldwin, a former organizer for Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, wrote in a Newswithviews.com commentary: "The Religious Right, as it now exists, scares me. The Religious Right has obviously and patently become little more than a propaganda machine for the Republican Party in general and for President G.W. Bush in particular." Moreover, "The willingness of the Religious Right to give President Bush king-like subservience is easily seen in the way they demonize anyone who dares to oppose him. This is very unnerving."
This intense devotion to George Bush may be explained by the fact that evangelicalism, which once was predominant in the culture, is now competing against a diverse group of religions. Thus, Christianity is now sharing the cultural stage with an expanding Islamic faith, as well as New Age and secular ideologies. Due to this and the pervasiveness of apocalyptic thinking among many evangelicals, a "them versus us" mentality, which is easily manipulated by the political establishment, has developed.
Moreover, although church attendance may be stable, how people live often seems to be in conflict with what evangelicalism teaches. Indeed, divorce, supposedly a Christian anathema, is highest in the Bible belt.
Public schools, under the guise of political correctness and tolerance, have effectively created a highly controlled, secularized environment for America's children. Within the schools, mention of traditional Judeo-Christian religion has mostly become taboo. The axiom is that what children learn in school today is the philosophy of the next generation. Thus, eventually any mention of traditional religion in other public places may become taboo as well. The end result could very well be a total ban on references to Christianity, except in so-called "private" places such as churches and homes.
Add to this the fact that the foundation of society, the family, is fractured and in serious trouble. As a consequence, our community ties and kinship have been broken. And while we need them more than ever, there is little left of the older values. Indeed, if one were to judge American society by the hedonistic sexual carnival played out nightly on primetime television, he or she would logically conclude that the older values are now nonexistent.
We are, therefore, an uprooted society where many of our apathetic youngsters are no longer part of a settled family or community life. Who can blame them for being apathetic after a daily dose of public education, followed by headphones with pounding music and the violence and sex of video games? Of course, this loss of community creates the type of atmosphere where the only place one can find unity is in the state--as evidenced by the rabid, fanatical, religious fervor that one sees at political rallies and conventions. These provide the meaning and purpose which is gone from the life of the isolated individual. As one young Nazi put it just before World War II, "We Germans are so happy. We are free of freedom."
This loss of basic values has affected even young people who consider themselves Christians. Indeed, the Barna Institute reports that very few teens who call themselves Christians, for example, actually believe the traditional doctrines taught by their faith. In fact, only 6% of all such teens believe there are moral absolutes at all.
It should come as little surprise when one considers the cumulative historical impact of events from the assassination of John Kennedy to the forced resignation of Richard Nixon to the moral malaise and impeachment of Bill Clinton to the serial scandals of virtually every presidential administration. These have left in their wake a tribalized society, as well as fragmentation, violence, rejection of values and apathy.
Consider, too, the fact that major scandals--such as Clinton's sexcapades and lying to the American public--have numbed the populace and made them more willing to accept misconduct in high office. In fact, some of the scandals surrounding George W. Bush--Enron, Halliburton, the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the Abu Ghraib tortures, to name a few--could have toppled a president 30 years ago.
In sum, it is not being fatalistic to state that I fear we are headed for a meltdown of epic proportions. Rather, I believe it is a realistic assessment of what the future holds unless the American people can once again rekindle the spirit of freedom held by those who gave birth to American democracy.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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