Today's NY Times features an excellent article in the Public Lives section profiling Fritz Stern, a leading scholar of European history whose family had fled Hitler's Germany in 1938. ("Warning from a Student of Democracy's Collapse" by Chris Hedges).
If someone is better than I at inserting links, the article can be found on B2 in the Metro Section. I assume it's also in the National
Section.
Hedges, quoting Stern,
"Some people recognized the moral perils
of mixing religion and politics [in prewar
Germany], but many more were seduced by
it. It was the pseudo-religious
transfiguration of politics that largely
ensured [Hitler's] success, notably in
Protestant areas."
Think about Fritz Stern's words in view of the talent <tee hee. lineup for Bush's inaugural schedule:<p>
Summary: Bush's inaguration schedule
The Associated Press
Posted: Wednesday January 5th, 2005, 9:39 AM
Last Updated: Wednesday January 5th, 2005, 11:31 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will take the oath of office at noon on Jan. 20 at the West Front of the Capitol. Here is the schedule of events and performers for the historic ceremony:
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10 a.m. EST
- Music by U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club; U.S. Marine Band; Alcorn State University Concert Choir.
11 a.m.
- U.S. Marine Band; music by Wintley Phipps, gospel vocalist and founder of the U.S. Dream Academy, an online Christian academic resource; music by Guy Hovis, vocalist from Tupelo, Miss.
11:30 a.m.
- Music by the U.S. Marine Band
- Call to order and welcoming remarks by Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies
- Invocation by the Rev. Dr. Luis Leon, rector at St. John's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C.
- Music by mezzo soprano Susan Graham
- Oath of office administered by Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., to Vice President Dick Cheney
- Music by mezzo soprano Denyce Graves
- Oath of office administered by William H. Rehnquist, chief justice of the United States, to President Bush
- Inaugural address
- Music by U.S. Marine Band, U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, U.S. Navy Sea Chanters
- Benediction by Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor at Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston
- National anthem sung by Air Force Technical Sgt. Bradley Bennett
- Music by U.S. Air Force Band
Allow me to recap:
In our multicultural country, not one religious speaker represents a denomination outside Protestantism. (And isn't that the point?!!)
Alcorn State, Wintley Phipps and Guy Hovis all hail from Mississippi, same place as Trent Lott, Chair of the Congressional Inaugural Committee. He must have worked his good ole' boy butt off assembling that lineup.
This homage to Dixiecrats-cum-Republicans has people of color, which may be the only reason we can't say it's purely fascist. But that will come. As Stern said about another minority group's misunderstanding of totalitarian regimes in the Times' article, "The Jews in Central Europe welcomed the Russian Revolution, but it ended badly for them. The tacit alliance between the neo-cons and the Christian right is less easily understood. I can imagine a similarly disillusioning outcome."