Why don't I feel rage over this latest so-called sex and drugs scandal concerning the nation's top Evangelical leader? The President of the National Association of Evangelicals has been exposed as a man who allegedly cheats on his wife and family, employs a male prostitute, uses illegal drugs and generally lives a life of complete hypocrisy.
As was the case with Foley, we're already on a roller coaster of diversion. Haggard stands accused by a male prostitute. He denies the allegations but then he resigns quickly. And then within hours, one of Haggard's associates tells the press that the the Evangelical leader is partly guilty of some of the accusations.
But why don't I feel rage? At the very least I should be feeling snarky. But I'm not.
Partly, I suspect, it's burnout. Another hypocrite among the Christian and Republican conservatives. Yawn.
The whole lot of them are obvious frauds and it has been a long-standing mystery as to why anyone would think otherwise. A true Christian minister would live humbly and dedicate his life to charity and compassion, not live in great splendor, meddle in the politics of the nation and crusade for intolerance. It's a no brainer. I suppose as is usually the case, the best place to hide the truth is in the clear and bright light of day--like mega-churches of pure glass.
A true conservative would fight for less government, less government spending and he or she would be a passionate defender of the Constitution. Rather neo-Conservatives have nearly bankrupted and crippled this nation with insane spending policies and massive government meddling in our lives that must be the envy of petty dictators everywhere. Furthermore these neo-conservatives relentlessly stomp on the Constitution as if it were little more than an old doormat.
The real surprise is the alleged surprise that media and the American public express when one of these frauds is exposed for what he so obviously is and has been all along.
So rage seems a waste of time and energy and certainly not the right word to describe how we should be feeling.
Perhaps disgust is a better word: Not with the frauds, but rather with the tens of millions of Americans who've allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by these frauds.
And heartbreak.
Heartbreak over the sad and tragic plight of the tens of millions of men and women in this nation who truly believe in their leaders, only to find them out to be con artists who are simply hungry for power, wealth and pleasure--leaders who peddle an insane brand of bigotry, ignorance, superstition and misinformation for self-gain.
Heartbreak for the tens of millions of Americans who seem to have lives so devoid of education, illumination, self-realization and culture that they feast on the smoke and mirrors staged by the preachers and politicians who do nothing but embezzle what little money these working class and impoverished Americans may have and channel it into lavish and obviously self-indulgent lifestyles.
And the real tragedy is that this will become yet another gay thing, diverting us all from the true crisis.
This is not a gay sex scandal; this isn't about Haggard engaging in homosexual activities with a male prostitute and doing illegal drugs, this is about a profoundly corrupt and broken system of leadership in government and society overall that is dominated by hypocrites, pirates and megalomaniacs who are raping what's left of this nation while a frightened and very confused majority of Americans watch their lives go down the toilet.
The true scandal here is that this will become another gay thing, bad for the gay community and very bad for America.
Pervasive corruption, hypocrisy and immorality among our political, religious and community leaders is an American crisis, not a gay crisis. But the gay card will divert the media and the American people from the real problem and nothing good will come of it. It's McGreevey, Foley and the Catholic priesthood all over again, all about gay when it's really about corruption, power and greed.