The Ignorance of Faith

Why are we letting the insane ramblings of the dumbest segment of American society hold so much sway over our elections? In the 21st century why are we listening to charlatans that peddle false hope to the weak and vulnerable?
This round of political discourse was probably doomed from the start as Mormonism and Islam dominated early in the campaign. I think that a Romney presidency would be a disaster with his tax cuts make the flowers grow and the birds sing economics but when Mike “lets make it gods constitution” Huckabee (http://www.politicstv.com/blog/?cat=185) started talking about Mormons worshiping Satan as the brother of Jesus in his best preacher’s wink and nod I was disgusted. I reached the exploding head point when Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber try to get Barack Obama in some sort of anti Semitic gotcha with Louis Farrakhan. We are a nation at war on two fronts on the brink of economic collapse and what are we talking to the democratic parties possible nominee? Are you against saying mean things about Jews? Lets parse the words reject and denounce.
And the beat rolls on with one wacky preacher after another being trotted out to embarrass the candidates and distract from the real issues facing a troubled nation. I thought John McCain got it right back in 2000 when he denounced the likes of Pat Robertson and the religious hate wing of the party but he lost and has now has begun pandering to god squad in efforts to appease them in some messianic belief that only he can keep our nation safe. Now when questioned about people like Hagge he thanks them for supporting his ideas.
When the news cycle spent a day debating Hillary Clintons non denial denial that Obama is a Muslim how can we hope to deal with something as complicated as regulating securities schemes, derivatives, the mortgage crisis and sovereign wealth funds that are taking us into a depression the likes of which we have not seen since the 30’s.
The second part of my argument will get me labeled another blame America first liberal America hater and to that charge I respond that I am an honorably discharged disabled veteran of the United States Air Force and that my late wife died from a service connected disability. We sacrificed for our first amendment rights as well as for those at faux news so I will exercise mine on occasion without fear. This argument is another consequence of the ignorance of faith. When you are unwilling to confront hate and question authority you will never improve the nation. If our actions as a people do not stand up to scrutiny it is not the fault of the observer no matter what Heisenberg says about collapsing the wave.
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell among other preachers pontificated about the godless gays and secular humanists brining on god’s wrath and now he is McCain’s go to god guy. This Hagee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qNi7tPanUA) spews forth a hate filled diatribe against gays and explains god destroyed the gulf coast cause to many men were kissing and McCain thanks him for his support. Then we have Jeremiah Wright (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080314/ap_on_el_pr/obama_pastor) and God Damn America. Same sentiment but this time the target is not the drag queens and the fornicators but the criminal foreign policy that breads hatred for America. The Iranians don’t hate freedom, they hate the fact that we toppled the only democracy they ever had and that we threw them to the mercy of a savage dictator. (http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html)
I have listened to several long clips of the sermons of Jeremiah Wright what scares me is not what the man was saying but what the talking news heads are saying about it. Why is Hardball’s Chris Mathews convinced America is afraid of an angry black man? Why do the people at fox news conflate holding the government to account on morals grounds with hating America? The type of attacks the man was leveling is hard for the privileged to hear but I am still waiting to hear what in his rant was untrue.
Jesse Ventura spoke his mind (http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/10/03/ventura/index.html) and was crushed unmercifully for it so I am not surprised that Senator Obama took the tack he did at the Huffpo (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html) but I wish we lived in an America where the facts actually mattered and superstition was left to the sports arena.