Bob, even though I am no friend of Pat Robertson & Co., I think you are over-reacting to the "threat" posed by the RR.
1) In just about every modern democracy, "extremists" of left & right are supported by about 15%, 20% of the population. That proportion seems fairly stable, and I see no real reason to believe it will change radically (unless we find ourselves in the midst of a world depression, in which case, all bets are off).
2) Of course, a determined minority that knows how to lobby (and that has lots of cash) can get parts of its minimum program enacted - but only those parts of it that have broad support within the non-RR public as well. We need never fear that the United States will introduce elements of the RR's maximum program: for example, the death penalty (by stoning) for adultery and heresy, as indeed some on the Religious Right DO advocate. Meanwhile, as Who Me quite rightly points out, the only way to "stop the juggernaut" is to organize & get your voters out..
3) It is a mistake to demonize the self-described "conservatives" or "fundamentalist Christians" on this thread, or any other one. Just because they describe themselves that way does not mean that they necessarily support all the positions of the Christian Coalition, for example, or any other "Christian" political group. They may even reject some of those positions. Or they may not even know what those positions are. When you, and others here, assume that they are all the storm troopers of the RR, you are doing the same thing that they tend to do, which is to assume that the rest of us here are the storm troopers of the Mythical Yet Evil Democratic-Liberal Left.
As a result, we spend much of our time fencing with imaginary opponents...
jbe
|
