The GOP Trinity - Oil/Military, Religion, & Finance

Kevin Phillips, writing in today's WaPo, gives us "How the GOP Became God's Own Party" where he summarizes some of the arguments I understand he puts forth in "American Theocracy: The Perils and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century" In one portion of his WaPo writing he argues

Unfortunately, more danger lurks in the responsiveness of the new GOP coalition to Christian evangelicals, fundamentalists and Pentecostals, who muster some 40 percent of the party electorate. Many millions believe that the Armageddon described in the Bible is coming soon. Chaos in the explosive Middle East, far from being a threat, actually heralds the second coming of Jesus Christ. Oil price spikes, murderous hurricanes, deadly tsunamis and melting polar ice caps lend further credence. ...

Besides providing critical support for invading Iraq -- widely anathematized by preachers as a second Babylon -- the Republican coalition has also seeded half a dozen controversies in the realm of science. These include Bible-based disbelief in Darwinian theories of evolution, dismissal of global warming, disagreement with geological explanations of fossil-fuel depletion, religious rejection of global population planning, derogation of women's rights and opposition to stem cell research. ...

No leading world power in modern memory has become a captive of the sort of biblical inerrancy that dismisses modern knowledge and science.

Just last week I was talking with my kids about "terrorism" as we wound up a World Geography Unit on the U.S. and Canada. I've yet to have so much participation and "insightful detail" on any topic as various end of the world theories. "My preacher said ..." or "In Revelations it says ..." and "You know the anti-Christ ..." and ... Lots of these poor country kids can't find Europe on a map yet they've already been brainwashed into perfect rubes for the ReThuglicans of tomorrow. As an extra, Mr. Phillips' ideas on the credit-finance complex will likely haunt me for days. We seemingly have a real mess looming folks! Peace ... or War!