- by Alan Adaschik

Sometime ago in our nation’s history, disregarding prescribed amendment procedure, Congress knowingly passed unconstitutional legislation because the matter in question made sense and was thought to be in our best interest. For these reasons, no one took issue with this illegal and irresponsible action. However, people at the time should have cared greatly because this usurpation of authority and power meant that our Republic had died and that the nature and form of our government had changed, not by our consent but through our indifference and ignorance. From that day forward, Government officials, to their shame and discredit, take their oath of office with fingers crossed behind their backs and the government we are supposed to have, like Santa Claus, is something everyone says is there but really isn’t.

The President we are cursed with and must endure today is the inevitable and predictable result of situation described above. Lying and deception are a prerogative of government and routinely used for what is perceived as being our own good. Every governing principle dear to us and every moral precept we take pride in has been flushed down the toilet and we accept this status quo with blind indifference. Our President has even had the unmitigated gall to lead our Nation to war on a lie and some of us, ironically, still support this man like he will deliver us from evil. Adding insult to injury, Fundamentalist Christians, contrary to everything that is Christian, have formed an unholy alliance with this demigod President because of their lust for political power. Now with “god” on his side, our President feels free to use torture as an instrument of government and with Caesar on their side, the Fundamentalists are better positioned to ram their twisted conceptions of religion down everyone else’s throat.

Words do not exist to describe how bad things are in this Nation, yet most of us still pretend nothing is amiss. If we ignore the problem, it doesn’t exist and this frees us to do really important things like watching Dr. Phil and Opra Winfry. However, if you are a person who is beginning to realize what we have lost and are beginning to think that this nation just may be on the road to ruin and disaster, then perhaps the following words by Thomas Jefferson may hold some meaning for you.

“Almighty God hath created the mind free and manifested His supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishment or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was his Almighty power to do, but to exalt it by its influence on reason alone.”

And

“The most effectual means of preventing the perversion of power into tyranny are to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people. It is an insult to our citizens to question whether they are rational beings or not, and blasphemy against religion to suppose it cannot stand the test of truth and reason. Light and liberty go together. I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condition, promoting the virtue, and advancing the happiness of man. Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity.”

The fact that most citizens of this nation are incapable of understanding these words by Thomas Jefferson is an abomination. The fact that George Bush is also incapable of understanding them is a tragedy. How many more innocent people must suffer and die because of our President? Only God knows the answer to this question but one aspect of this situation is crystal clear; Fundamentalist Christians helped George Bush on his road to power and were instrumental in his re-election. It is highly ironic that those who claim to follow the Prince of Peace bear a measure of responsibility for the death and mayhem George Bush has brought into the world. Their lust for political power overcame all other considerations even their love for God and the message of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.