Don't Know Much About History

It's OK for Sam Cooke to sing, "Don't know much about history. Don't know much biology. Don't know much about a science book. Don't know much about the French I took", but Sam isn't running for President. Michele Bachmann is running though and a course in Remedial History might do her some good.

Appearing before an Iowa church group this weekend, Michele said, "Probably the greatest amount of censorship today occurs in the pulpits of churches because we have a law that limits pastors from what they can say about politics in the pulpit. That's not the American way."

Actually, Michele, it is very much the American way. In fact, "free exercise of religion" is the very first sentence of the Bill of Rights. The Founding Fathers were very clear that religion and politics do not mix. Roman emperors declared themselves gods so any word against them was not only treason but blasphemy. Savonarola stopped the Florentine Renaissance in its tracks from the pulpit. Ferdinand and Isabella killed or exiled all non-Catholics from Spain. King Charles, head of the Church of England, exiled those dissenting Pilgrims to Holland and eventually to America. The Pilgrims, in an act of hypocrisy, then exiled dissenting Roger Williams to Rhode Island. Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were specifically established as a haven for persecuted Baptists, Quakers, and Catholics.

Pastors can say anything they want from the pulpit (good old Bill of Rights again). They can urge parishioners to send in those Right To Life postcards conveniently displayed in the narthex. They can decry segregation. They can espouse voting rights. But they cannot tell you who to vote for. If they do, their church becomes a political organ and is no longer tax-exempt.

That's the extent of "the greatest amount of censorship today", Michele. It has worked out pretty well since 1789 and I think we ought to stick with it.

Just Another Brick in the Wall

People love to be scared. Halloween ranks only behind Christmas for consumer spending. You can't flip your TV remote without choosing a vampire, zombie, or attractive blonde wearing a semi-revealing outfit in peril show (or in the case of the Twilight trilogy - not-terribly-attractive and modestly dressed. We're Christians here!).

If it works for entertainment, why not use "scare tactics" in politics? Actually, it has worked out quite well in the past. Kennedy used the "Missle Gap". ("Elect Nixon and the Russians will have Sputniks orbiting your kids pre-school!). LBJ used the mushroom cloud behind the little girl picking daisies. ("If Goldwater wins, he will bomb our enemies back to the Stone Age and they might retaliate.") Bush Senior used Willie Horton. ("Dukakis let a murderer out on a prison furlough and he raped and murdered again. How good are your door locks, really?), and Bush, Jr had the whole Swift Boat thing (Sure, Kerry volunteered for dangerous service in Viet Nam while I used my Daddy's connections to go to Texas Air National Guard drills when I felt like it, but he probably didn't deserve those three Purple Hearts. Do you want a liar in the White House?")

Michele Bachmann is now using scare tactics to spur her Presidential bid. Saturday, she promised to build a fence on the US - Mexico border "And it will be every mile. It will be every yard. It will be every inch of that border because the portion you fail to secure is a highway into the US." Michele now kicks in with The Big Scare. "Fifty-nine thousand illegals came across that border this year from nations other than Mexico. They were from Yemen and from Syria. These are nations that are state sponsors of terrorism!"

Fifty-nine thousand crazed Arab terrorists swimming the Rio Grande and showing up on my suburban cul-de-sac each year! OMG! Build that fence, Michele!

Of course, Michele didn't exactly get her facts straight. Yemen is technically not a sponsor of terrorism per the State Dept, but the big one is that those 59,000 non-Mexican illegals were almost entirely Central and South Americans taking the only land path to the US from the south.

Not that the facts matter. We know that Frankenstein was actually a cultivated British actor in platform shoes, but he still scares us. We know that the 9/11 bombers entered this country legally through airports not by infiltrating from Mexico, but a big, honking wall will make us feel more secure. As H.L.Mencken said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public" or failed to be elected either.