In my teens, I was introduced to a number of authors one of whom was Eric Hoffer. In his
The True Believer [1951] he pointed out the common aspects of all mass movements.
"A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following ... by the refuge it offers from anxieties, barrenness, and meaninglessness of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring on them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves — and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole." — P.44
The term "Dominionism" see; Seven Mountains, came to the fore when Pat Robertson ran for the Presidency. It is, in turn, an outgrowth of Christian Reconstructionism, the brainchild of the R.J. Rushdoony, a Calvinist theologian who died in 2001. To be fair, not all Fundamentalists share his views; a view that only Christians should control a Biblically based government. Still people like Ted Hagee, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Tom ["God wrote the Constitution"]Delay and others advocate for similar concepts. And, needless to say [but I will anyway] the Kim Davis froth.
Charles Pierce in his very funny, yet scary, "Idiot America; How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free " enlarges on Hoffer's theory by coining; "The Three Great Premises of Idiot America:
· Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units
· Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough
· Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it." Goebbels knew this. These are now applied to the theocratic urge in the G.O.P.
Adjunct to this is the troubling aspect of revisionist history or more specifically, "pseudohistory". This specious and critically denounced attempt to rewrite the history of the Republic, by authors such as David Barton, who attempt to promote the notion[among others]that this is a Christian nation and the Founders were all Evangelicals.
At the risk of preaching to the choir here, it is perhaps still worth extrapolating the consequences of an American theocracy. Any faith enshrined or established by the government has the force of law. Laws must be enforced and penalties established. It would, of course, marginalize all other faith expressions. It is not pleasant to imagine what circumstances would follow. What we have currently is a civil religion. That is to say a God, mom and apple pie idea that should be an influence on society, not a hammer. It would be wise to be careful with our wishes.
This hinges, of course, on not only challenging but negating the Non-Establishment Clause. Is this likely? If I could answer that one I would be living on a boat with enough eighteen year old single malt to drink myself to death like a gentleman.