Rick Perry's Christo-Fascist Vision for America

It now looks like the Republican race to be the next nominee for the 2012 presidential election is a race between Mitt Romney and RIck Perry.  Or the two, Rick Perry's message of right-wing evangelical activism has resonated with the white nationalist Tea Party movement which will likely determine the outcome of the primaries.  Perry, like the other Tea Party candidates, talks about his candidacy in Biblical terms, and sees his campaign as fulfilling God's mission on earth. 

Perry spoke recently about his faith in a well-received speech at Liberty "University", where the students take an oath to reject science and kneel each day before images of Jesus and Ronald Reagan. Perry, who also rejects the science of climate change and evolution, was very much at home at the right-wing Madrassa.  He told the young audience that he had learned to listen to God's personal message to him:

“He who knows the number of drops in the ocean, he counts the sands in the desert, he knows you by name. . . . He doesn’t require perfect people to execute his perfect plan."

And Perry does know how to execute God's plan  In his case, God's plan is execute as many prisoners as possible - even if they are innocent.  The German magazine Cicero picked up on Perry's brand of Christianity, which can be describes as "Christo-Fascism":

Nichts zu spüren von Christi Nächstenliebe und Vergebung der Sünden, stattdessen Hass und Vergeltung. Die Todesstrafe bedient die niedersten Instinkte des Menschen, dem Lüstern nach Rache: Auge um Auge, Zahn um Zahn. Die Angehörigen der Opfer und des Täters dürfen den Hinrichtungen beiwohnen und dem Verurteilten bei seinem letzten Atemzug zuschauen. Sie erhoffen sich davon eine Art Katharsis. Dass diese Christen zugleich am meisten gegen Islamisten und die Scharia wettern, ist geradezu ironisch. So groß sind die Unterschiede in ihren moralischen Wertvorstellungen offenbar nicht.

(This has nothing to do with loving one's neighbor or the forgiveness of sins, rather it is hate and retribution.  The death penalty appeases the basest human instinct, the longing for revenge: an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. The relatives of the victim and also of the perpetrator can be present at the execution and watch the condemned person take his/her last breath.  They are hoping for some kind of catharsis.  It is ironic that this sort of Christian warns most loudly about Islam and Sharia.  There doesn't appear to be much difference in terms of their moral values.)

 Every aspect of Rick Perry's "policies" are informed by his Taliban-like religious zealotry, as the online magazine Telepolis notes:

In der Vergangenheit erregte Perry unter anderem dadurch Aufsehen, dass er [...] gegen eine Jahrhundertdürre und ausgedehnte Waldbrände mit drei Gebetstagen vorging. Dem Fernsehmoderator James Robison sagte er, die Amerikaner sollten froh darüber sein, dass die Wirtschaftskrise ihnen das Leben schwer macht, weil dies Gottes Weg sei, sie zu den in der Bibel niedergeschriebenen Grundsätzen zurückzubringen. Diese beinhalten seiner Ansicht nach, dass man die Staatsfürsorge zurückfährt. Sonst, so Perry, würden die Menschen "Sklaven ihrer Regierung". Außerdem forderte er die Aufnahme eines Verbots von Abtreibungen und gleichgeschlechtlichen Ehen in die US-Verfassung sowie ein Recht des Kongresses, nicht genehme Entscheidungen des Obersten Gerichtshofs für ungültig zu erklären.

(In the past Perry attracted attention by dealing with an unprecedented drought and widespread fires with three days of prayer.  He told the television moderator James Robinson that all Americans should be happy that the financial crisis was making their lives harder since that is God's way of leading them back to the fundamental message of the Bible. This means of course that any government safety net should be scaled back, otherwise people would become "slaves to the government."  He also wants to ban abortions and same-sex marriage through a constitutional amendment and give the US Congress the right to overturn any Supreme Court decision it doesn't agree with.)

At least two thirds of all Americans uphold the separation of church and state and reject the type of theocratic government envisioned by Rick Perry.  But, as students of European history know very well, it is possible for a group of highly motivated fanatics to hijack an entire nation.

 

Comments

[Jakester]

Yep!

[AnonymousSoldier]

Holy fuck.

Rick Perry needs to just fucking stop.

[phototruth]

Rick Perry is greedy, self-serving, hateful, and, oh, yeah, a pathetic excuse for a human being.

The only surprise is the ignorance of those who think that he and others like him, are worth anything, and that's scary.