{"id":334,"date":"2009-08-05T20:48:11","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T20:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/a-personal-statement.html"},"modified":"2009-08-05T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2009-08-05T20:48:11","slug":"a-personal-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/a-personal-statement.html","title":{"rendered":"A Personal Statement"},"content":{"rendered":"

In early 2000 I had completed a manuscript on salmon and
\nsustainability, learning in the process never to eat anything from a salmon
\nfarm.  <\/span>I was planning another
\nmanuscript on forest conservation and some more articles on democracy as an
\nemergent order.  <\/span>Those latter would have been very abstract ‘social
\nsciencey’ stuff for the most part. 
\n<\/span>I laughed that my first book was Pagans and Christians<\/i>, as I’d
\nnever planned to write on such stuff. But I figured the rest of my work would be on
\nenvironmental issues.   I didn’t like the religious right, but George Bush seemed not
\nall that threatening even if I didn’t like him either.  I believed my biggest
\ncontribution to both my country and to my values as a Pagan was to work in the
\nenvironmental field. 
 <\/p>\n


\nThen 9-11 happened, and the authoritarian right, religious
\nand secular alike, appeared to dominate the country.  <\/span>Expressing a different opinion in passing, as had the Dixie
\nChicks, was enough to get you vilified by every ignorant yahoo from coast to
\ncoast.  <\/span>Idiots talked of “freedom
\nfries” and cast a wary eye at “French toast.”  <\/span>Neoconservatives even wrote about Europe, especially France, becoming our enemy.<\/p>\n

Two values central to Paganism as I practice it, the Sacred
\nFeminine and the sacredness of Nature, were constant targets of the radical
\nright.  <\/span>Even more worrisomely,
\nthese people argued through character assassination and lying.  <\/span>They did not respect either facts or
\nlogic, nor did they ever assume one could disagree with them for honorable
\nreasons.  <\/span>I like a good discussion
\nas much as anyone – if those involved try to be honest and attend to the evidence and the logic
\nof their arguments.  <\/span>But these
\npeople mostly did not.<\/p>\n

In the 60s I had found a similar attitude among the Stalinists,
\nTrotskyists, and Maoists who did so much to pollute the student movement, but
\nthey were never in positions of real power.  <\/span>These current guys were in office  in Washington, DC.  <\/span>They were writing the laws.  <\/span>“Conservatives” who under Clinton were always
\ntalking of limited government, the risk of tyranny, the rule of law, and the
\nconstitution as if they took these things seriously were scrapping them faster
\nthan I’d ever seen before upon their assuming power.  <\/span><\/p>\n

I was appalled.<\/p>\n

After deep soul searching I gave up the research I loved, on
\nNature and living well with it, to do all I could to fight the moral monsters
\nwho were taking over my country and the demonic ideologies they called “fundamentalist
\nChristianity” and “conservatism” – although this conservatism had as much in common with that of Barry Goldwater as Saddam Hussein did with George Washington,  rather like the similarity of their ‘Christianity’ to the words of Jesus. <\/span><\/p>\n

I told myself I
\nnever wanted to be in the position all too many decent Germans probably were in 1938:
\nwondering whether the Nazis would have come to power if they had opposed them
\nhard enough.<\/p>\n

In my judgment the danger unleashed by Bush, Cheney, and
\n9-11 has not passed.  <\/span>We are, unfortunately, a two party system where one is often corrupt and the other is bonkers.  The radical
\nright is doing everything it can to make our country ungovernable.  <\/span>Given enough chaos, many people in an
\nungovernable country eventually seek strong authority.  <\/span><\/p>\n

This is what makes “Christian”
\nsubversion in the armed forces, and in Blackwater, so dangerous.  <\/span>They are more than happy to provide the
\n“strong hand” people tired of chaos often seek – and are trying to stir up
\nchaos to enlarge public demand or at least toleration for such a change.  <\/span>I think they will ultimately fail, but
\nat a still unknown cost to this country they claim to love, as they seek its
\ndestruction.<\/p>\n

And so long as I believe the religious right and its Republican servants are a danger to this country, I will do what I can to oppose them.  When they sink into the obscurity they so richly deserve, I’ll devote what time I have left to dealing with issues I really love.<\/p>\n

Till then, so long as I have it, this blog will frequently deal with politics.  But know that I do it from a sense of responsibility as an American, a Pagan, and a human being.   I’d rather study that noble fish, the salmon.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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