The Emerging American Theocracy

Over most of my lifetime grave concern has been muttered by the chattering classes about the need for separation of church and state. But we have in America a new theocracy emerging: the civic religion of antiracism.  The media is ablaze with rhetorical auto-de-fes calling for the excision of any symbol of the Old South and the Confederacy following the tragic murders by a drug-addled lunatic in Charleston.

Grave dangers are lurking to the Republic. Children might actually see the Confederate Battle flag atop the “General Lee” on the Dukes of Hazzard. Unless people are stopped from placing Confederate Battle flags on the graves of deceased Confederate soldiers in national cemeteries the nation will be in danger of collapse.  Incalculable psychic harm is done if any symbol of the Confederacy is glimpsed, however fleetingly, at any point, at any time, anywhere. 

As the great leader and legal savant, Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina has pointed out Confederate symbols may be permitted on private property – still. Maybe one day we can progress beyond this unfortunate circumstance.

What we are seeing is one of the most irrational and hysterical reactions to tragedy in American history. Yes, we know that Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, does not represent all environmentalists. And we are constantly reminded that even if tens of thousands of ISIS members are doing their best to sever heads from bodies that Islam is a religion of peace. No, no group or thought is to be condemned by the actions of one person or even tens of thousands.  The chorus of correction is already rising after the crimes of Chattanooga. 

But if that person is Dylann Roof or some other person who poses with a Confederate Battle flag, the public must draw conclusions about "hate."

The truth be told, the polls are telling us that the great mass of people remain blissfully ignorant of the perils presented by Confederate symbols. But the managerial elites who operate the levers of power have seen that the time has come to use Charleston as an cudgel to exterminate symbols which they find repellent. No Voltaires are found in their number eager to defend the right of multiple civic expressions in a “diverse” society. Every knee must bow to their gods.

The emerging civic theology of antiracism and equality is a jealous God. It will accept no dissent.

And we are told that the managerial elites are showing great “courage” to act against the symbols of the Confederacy. The support groups of the system hold regular courage conferences in which they bestow upon each other awards for standing up against the St. Andrew’s cross flag with only the media, the Chamber of Commerce, the banks, big business, organized minority pressure groups, university professors, and other minor players to support them.

Of course, once we can eliminate any Confederate symbology from the public and private marketplaces, we will enter into the long-promised paradise. It’s a promise made as far back as the French Revolution as mobs shouted for “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” lubricated by the blood of aristocrats, priests and other enemies of the people.

Antiracism and equality were the watchword of such gentle souls as John Brown, a great hero in his day and, carefully explained nowadays by the New York Times, not a terrorist but a real humanitarian – a mensch, so to speak. Chopping up children with swords was merely a means to ensure a glorious future.

Equality was once again the watchword as the Bolsheviks in Russia, Eastern and Central Europe exterminated tens of millions and incarcerated other millions. Communism in China was even more vigorous in its determination to bring about equality. But, as a fine Pulitzer prize-winning journalist pointed out concerning the emerging Brave New World, “you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.”

Fortunately, we are all brilliant and progressive enough not to hold the antiracists and equalitarians of today responsible for the roughly 100 million omelettes broken in pursuit of these noble goals.  We will keep our eyes on the prize.

Permit me to shyly shuffle forward to ask a question: what if this Taliban-like purge of the Confederacy from the public and private markets fails to end the problems for which it is charged?

Racism is certainly more deeply entrenched and other purges will be required. After all, when the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 every single one of the colonies had legalized human chattel slavery.  Despite the soaring language of “all men are created equal” there was no equality in a single colony at the time of the adoption of the Declaration. There has never been any since.  Even today, the progressive elements explain that we are not equal; they insist that in some distant time we can be made equal.

Wise civic fathers (and mothers) are now engaged in expunging any slaveholder from public commemoration. Of course, this includes the author of the phrase “all men are created equal” Thomas Jefferson. I’ve heard, as an established fact, that he has been purged from honor at several public schools around the nation for his unpardonable, mortal sin of being a slaveholder.

Washington D.C. is said to require a new moniker because the father of the country is unfit for commemoration.

In order to cure the problems of poverty, pellagra, ignorance, racism, drug abuse, murder, illegitimacy, and the other social problems that bedevil us today we need to dig deeper.

Our managerial elites, being positioned to know what is best and instruct the ignorant democracy, must tell us the new, revised list of heroes and heroines, acceptable symbols and proper forms of civic worship.

It is only then that we can move forward into the radiant light first promised in such clarity in the shadow of the guillotine.

 

Martin K. O'Toole
Lt. General Leonidas Polk Camp #1446
Smyrna, Georgia