Fear and Loathing Among the Semi-Literate

 

Photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash

“In every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the People.” ― Eugene Victor Debs

The First Amendment to the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Read that first part again. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

Michelle Bachmann didn't read that part. It's the First Amendment. I can only wonder if she has read the rest of them. 

“If you want take away my religious liberties,” she once said in a radio interview with Lars Larson, “you can advocate for that but you do it through the constitutional process and you don’t intimidate and no politician should give away my religious liberties or yours.”

Somehow, in that muddled brain, she equates the call for gay rights as a move to take away her religious rights, and then assures us that her religious rights are esconced in the Constirution; that human rights are a violation of her interpretation of the Constitution. Can she perceive why the term "batshittery" was invented to describe her incoherent ramblings?

Some of the more conservative elements within the Christian religion have translated Bible verses in any manner that they feel promotes their views. It doesn't matter what the scripture in question actually says, it only matters how it can be twisted, spun, bent, and mangled. That same thinking drives those Christians into reworking the Constitution, our history, the words of the Founders, and the pronouncements of political figures. Anything can mean anything to semi-literate, and it does. 

Michelle Bachmann and her current cronies-in-kind-- Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, Matt Gaetz, among a legion of others-- thrive on fear and hate, the two-sided coin that drives the reactionary right.

A wise man once told me, "Do not ever-- ever-- make a crucial decision when you are in the throes of fear or hate. Nothing good can come of it. Wait until your senses return, and then decide."

It's unfortunate for our country that many of our right-wing politicians have not had a wise man or woman in their lives.

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