A New Religion

My last post, Detroit Greece and Puerto Rico, was actually about lessons not learned. Detroit, Greece, and Puerto Rico are clear indicators of the failure of the big government, tax and spend style of governance—the kind of governance promoted by progressives in general and the Democratic party in particular. Even as failure after failure occurs, the big government narrative must be maintained by progressives. To vary from the narrative, to adapt and conciliate, to actually work toward real reform and possible solutions is not something that is possible.

Richard Fernandez comments:

The Hill has an article showing Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders drawing a huge crowd in Madison, Wisconsin. His popularity among Democrats is an indication that the grassroots liberals are dissatisfied with the leftist status quo. Contrary to the administration’s claims, things are not going well for most people. Many of those who vote Democratic don’t want Obamacare, but think Single Payer is the answer. They know Obama’s foreign policy isn’t working yet believe that even more appeasement provides the solution. They understand times are tough yet are convinced that more “free government” programs will help.

In short they are like patients feeling the symptoms of a dread disease but think that Doctor Miraculo’s Wonder Elixir holds the cure. Things are not hunky dory. Quite the contrary. The disease is real; it’s the nostrum that’s fake. Yet the rapturous crowds are unlikely snap out of the spell, no matter how many times they beggared, interned or lied to. The true believers never came to a moment realization in Jonestown and they won’t in Greece. Those who survived Jonestown couldn’t convince their fellows to stop chugging the Kool-Aid, they just edged away into the jungle and ran for their lives.

Powerful social movements do not promote diversity, except superficially. What they sell is membership in a group. That is the core product of religions, clubs, political parties — and until recently, nations. The left is no different. It doesn’t want its members to think independently but follow the party line, to parrot the narrative. The party line must be served, no matter when, no matter what.

It's fascinating to watch the left reject and often deride formal religions (with the exception, of course, of Islam) while at the same time adopting the same unprovable and often irrational tenets of a new religion with its own rules, its own priests, and its own vision of heaven and hell.

The new religion uses political correctness as its catechism, demanding absolute fealty to every tenet espoused by the politically correct. Those who refuse to abide by these tenets are labeled as troglodytes, bigots or racists—sometimes all three. Its priests are people like Bernie Sanders who use divisive and often dishonest claims to demonize their opposition, divide people along class lines, and cultivate anger derived from envy. Its vision of heaven is the leftist utopia, a workers' paradise controlled by a central government that redistributes the fruits of labor under the guise of "fairness." No matter that every attempt at achieving this utopia has ended in ruin or that the common man has suffered greatly during the attempt. Its vision of hell is an earth ravaged by man-made "climate change"—oceans inundating cities, famine, pestilence and suffering. No matter that there is little scientific evidence to support this vision of hell, we must act immediately (adopting a 'ready, fire, aim' approach) to avoid judgement day.

Many media outlets have adopted the new religion and work very hard to maintain its narrative. Most democratic politicians are apostles. Million of leftists who would tell you they reject mainstream religion as outdated and unresponsive, worship daily at the progressive alter. And no amount of contradictory information will change their world view. Detroit festers, Greece crumbles, Puerto Rico moves ever closer to bankruptcy, but few, if any, progressives express concern or doubt about the policies that got these locales where they are today. The new religion dictates big government (read: leftist) control of all that matters. So there is no room for concern or doubt.