For a guy who has repeatedly expressed "zero interest" in running for president, Rick Perry sure looks interested in running for president, doesn't he? Word is he'll make it official this weekend. I guess God finally talked him into it.
Rick Perry scares me. Michele Bachmann too. Not because they are crazy (although they are), but because they are charismatic and crazy. Because they tap into a strain of crazy that runs deep and strong in this country, a Christian fanaticism that is every bit as ugly as its Islamic counterpart. And every bit as destructive.
In the interests of full disclosure, I should state up front that I'm an atheist. In fact, I would call myself a radical atheist. I didn't used to be. I used to be one of those people who describes themselves as "agnostic" and professes to respect people's beliefs so long as they don't try to force them upon others. But in recent years I have come around to the idea that religion is not something to be respected. It's a delusion, plain and simple. If someone said they believed deeply in an invisible, winged banana that controlled the universe, I would not respect them. I would pity them. If they told me anyone who did not agree with them was going to suffer eternal torment in the afterlife, I would laugh at them. And if they angrily tried to force society to conform to their beliefs, I would oppose them. I would not consider their opinion to be of value, nor their judgment to be sound. And deservedly so. So what's the difference between a flying banana and a magical Jew? Either way it's nonsense.
So that's where I'm coming from. Now, I expect a lot of people here will disagree with me. Yesterday I posted a diary about Mitt Romney in which I made an offhand remark about his magic underwear, and was quickly attacked for making "anti-LDS" statements. I say I was making anti-bullshit statements. Beacuse that's what the LDS propagates -- that's what all religions propagate -- bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. There are no golden tablets with the word of God inscribed upon them, there is no all-powerful being who lives in the sky, there are no fairies at the bottom of the garden. If you disagree with me, fine. If it makes you feel better to believe in magic, so be it. But don't expect me to respect that belief. And don't pretend that you respect mine.
See, as much as I fear them, at least the Rick Perrys and the Michele Bachmanns of the world are honest about their beliefs. In their twisted worldview, only they and their ilk will be saved. Everyone else will burn. They make no bones about it. It's their way or the highway -- to Hell. They make no attempt to hide their feelings. Oh, they may stop short of saying outright that gays and atheists should be killed, but you know it's what they're thinking. They would happily institute a religious theocracy in this country every bit as rigid and oppressive as Iran's if they thought they could get away with it. They profess to hate Big Government, but what they really hate is Big Secular Government. They're perfectly fine with Big Government from the pulpit. In fact they welcome it.
And that's what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that a Rick Perry or a Michele Bachmann could conceivably be elected president of the United States and pursue an agenda that would turn this country into the Republic of Gilead from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. A country where reason itself would be a crime.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this is likely to happen. But it's possible. We've already seen how bad things can get under a right-wing, socially conservative president, and George W. Bush was moderate compared to the likes of Perry and Bachmann. How much farther to the right could a true ideologue push things? Because if you believe that you have been anointed by God, you can justify anything.
And that idea scares the hell (no pun intended) out of me.