Death of a Salesman

Ever since Jerry Falwell coined the term Moral Majority, the Republican Party has taken on the mantle of protector of public morality. This was an ideological consideration, a religious revolution, and a painstakingly scripted socio-political strategy for raising votes and money. It has gained the conservative wing of American politics an upper hand by the pervasive cadence of Sunday school policy. All the converted have anchored their ships to this pier of permanence and "truth". The Machiavellian perfection of this coup is admirable for its audacious belief in the assurance of its own success.

Bill Clinton was nearly undone by the groundswell of indignation from that quarter. The mainstream press, pressed on both sides by the religious right, and the corporate grinder, has almost totally caved in. Appalling disregard for the law and the rights of human beings has been ignored and even sneered at. And this horde has ruled the day. In fact they have ruled the decade.

How fitting that this swarm of locusts should sweep back and eat its own kind. Or to be more accurate, they have bitten the hand that they have fed (and which for a while pretended to feed them).

Good Liberals have nearly shaken in fear at the grotesque caricatures of such men as embodied in Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. We have watched in disgust as they maneuvered "good Christian" pawns against sane policy and debate. We have sometimes been almost envious of their ability to master this juggernaut. But the juggernaut is out of control.

Those hungriest for power will seize it when it's offered to them freely and obsequiously. They will grasp the opportunity to take over when they see it arise. And in this case, they found the party that gave them that power to be wanting. They found them to be empty of the piety they professed.

And now the morally outraged Christian right, more indignant than ever at having been mislead and lied to, are descending for the kill.

Happy eating.