What was thought of as a dying movement – with Republican defeats in 2006 and now Obama’s win in 2008 – actually took a break, regrouped and refocused their message.

Dressed up in “limited government” and “free-market” solutions, the tea party proponents such as Freedom Works are merely orchestrating a puppetry of people to accomplish the same goals set out decades ago.

The purpose of neoliberalism is to destroy government. Plain and simple. In itself it is generally defined as an “ideological sanctification of private property, the individual, and antistatist politics.”

But as neoliberalism itself, it’s a tough sell to the American public. So, seeing religion being brought to the forefront in the tea party movement made it easier for people to swallow their own poison.

The book Faith Based: Religious Neoliberalism and the Politics of Welfare in the United States greatly details the partnership between neoliberalism and religion.

Author Jason Hackworth has dedicated years upon years on the subject. He does a great service in explaining the political and theological efforts to merge neoliberal politics and conservative religious politics.

What is interesting to note, however, is the far right’s (and neoliberals alike) hero Ayn Rand was an atheist. She deemed Christianity as “the kindergarten of socialism” because of the contradictory biblical teachings of cooperation over individualism. Simply put, she saw religion as an enemy to the fight for individualism.

The religion aspect had to be bartered with, it seems, in order to push such radical neoliberal agendas. But, as the partnership grew, the focus was plain and clear: welfare.

Private religious welfare was better than government-run welfare. The neoliberal tactics of limited government, no taxes, ending public education, destroying public housing and ridding the country of social welfare would return prosperity back to private religious entities as they would be the ones looked upon for such services.

Sad state of affairs – as well all know such entities cannot shoulder the burden of a whole country and replace the government’s purpose.

Hackworth is spot on in his spine-rattling analysis. Although the relationship between the two is rocky, they are set in working against the government to bring to light a dominionist country – where only Christians run this country.

The book does a great job in explaining the “fusion project” of religion and neoliberalism. Neoliberals gain the most traction, Hackworth finds, when they align their efforts with other discourses and ideas.

Sadly, religion has been hijacked for this purpose.

Faith Based is an excellent book and it would serve you well to read it as you’ll begin to understand the true agenda these people have for our country.