Newt Gingrich on the terrible, terrible future of America…
"I have two grandchildren… I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."
First of all, great point! If America doesn't win in this battle against what America is all about, America will never be what makes America America. I've never heard this put quite so succinctly.
However, I remain unconvinced that America will become "a secular atheist country… dominated by radical Islamists." I think it's entirely possible that it could become a reform Jewish country dominated Zen Buddhists. Or possibly even a fundamentalist Zoroastrian country dominated by apathetic Hindus. Or we might just get eaten whole by John Travolta.
Anything can happen. It's a very scary future.
Tell me, do Republicans even try to do more than string a bunch of scary words together? How stupid are their supporters, anyway? And Gingrich is supposed to be one of their "intellectual leaders"!
Yeah, we're going to have a secular atheist country (I wish) dominated by radical Islamists (and no doubt run completely by Sharia law, huh?). That's crazy even by Gingrich standards!
In reality, of course, separation of church and state is the last thing radical Muslim fanatics want. And frankly, it seems to be the last thing radical Christian fanatics want, too.
In so many ways, it's the far-right Republicans who seem to be on board with radical Muslim thinking. I'm reminded of this quote by Juan Cole:
On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God's will and climate change, Sarah Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts. What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick.
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