As I write this, the diary atop the recommended list declares Nominating Hillary Clinton will destroy the Democratic Party.
This is fear-mongering twaddle.
Sure, sure. PsiFighter has good reasons for thinking that a Clinton nomination would do incalculable damage to the Democratic brand. It might set us back a decade at the very moment we seem poised to leap ahead twenty. It might very screw us into the ground.
But destroy the party?
Really?
Come on.
As it happens, I was finishing up this week's Progressive Bible Study for Street Prophets, which you all ought to go over and read right now.
But for those of you too lazy or too secular to do so, let me do a quick recap: the scripture for the week is Matthew 21:1-11, the story of Jesus' "triumphal" entry into Jerusalem, where the citizens throw "branches" (palms aren't mentioned) and their cloaks in his path.
This resembles the story of more than one victorious king riding into Jerusalem: Solomon and Jehu, maybe some others. There's a double irony here: Jesus isn't much of the salvific warrior-king he's supposed to be. But then, Solomon and Jehu weren't either. It's only after much grief that the Israelites learn that nobody's perfect, their kings least of all.
The message is clear: don't follow leaders and watch your parking meters. If you think your candidate ain't Jesus, you're right: the only person who's Jesus is - Jesus. And if you think the opposing candidate ain't Jesus, guess what?
Right: not Jesus either.
Now, if I've still got your attention, you might be thinking that this is tailor-made for Obama, what with all the loose talk about his "messianic" "cult". And certainly, it's fair to take warning from the text. Neither Obama nor Clinton will be the next Savior on a shining white horse. Ain't nobody Jesus but Jesus - and he drove a donkey.
But the flip side to that warning is that nobody's going to bring the eschaton in except Jesus. Put it to you this way: a whole lotta Jews missed the boat about 2,000 years ago*, and guess what?
Jerusalem is still standing.
God didn't come along and grind it into dust. No anti-Christ came along to usher in the end of the world. A lot of bad things happened in the past 2,000 years, in Jerusalem and outside it. A lot of bad things.
And yet, here we are, muddling through somehow.
Ever get the feeling that if God had wanted to zap us all, he'd have already done it?
Here we are, muddling through, and so we shall continue to muddle through, despite whatever a-hole shows up in the history books.
Ain't nobody Jesus but Jesus, ain't nobody but Jesus going to bring about the end of the world**, and Jesus don't seem so interested.
So what do we have to be so afraid of?
Plenty. But there is no fear so great that it ought to paralyze us. There is no fear that ought to cause us to despair. There is no fear that ought to move us to easy apocalypticism. Life - and the struggle for justice - will go on with or without a progressive Democrat in the Oval Office. The sooner we all forget about the silly shit that comes up in a primary and get focused on that, the better off we'll all be.
End of sermon.
*So to speak, and that's okay.
**This is not for a lack of trying. I do believe the best description I ever heard of Dick Cheney was: "What is he doing? Running for Evil Mad Scientist of the Year?"