The atheist books are a backlash against the Religious Right, Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, irrational thinking, religious indoctrination, and so much more.

I agree. Apparently Parker failed to notice that these books started coming out after years of the religious right pushing their radical agenda. They’ve been pushing it with extreme force ever since Bush got “elected” (I still can’t figure out how that happened, no one I know voted for him!)

Which is why I typically vote third party whenever I can.

A Green and an Alfie Kohn reader – you my soul bruthah!

If only this were an issue which only plagued one party.

Indeed. Which is why I typically vote third party whenever I can.

BTW, have you ever read “Jennifer Government”? It’s like the converse of 1984 – what happens when corporations have all the power and government has none?

No, it ends in back room deals with corporate lobbyists. For all the danger of religious demagoguery in the next election, I still think the influence of big business and corporate greed on politics is a far greater threat to democracy right now than anything else we can imagine.

If only this were an issue which only plagued one party. As Emerson said, property will always write the laws for property. There are companies out there that are paying billions and billions of dollars a year in income taxes. Anything that big is obviously a threat to democracy. If the right few people decided it was in their interest, they could probably bankrupt the United States. Of course, somewhat ironically the populist message of low interest rate take-from-the-rich-give-to-the-poor would cause so much inflation that the money would cease to have any real value. Rocking the boat too far in either direction brings disaster. While backroom deals are unquestionably bad for about 85% of the U.S. population, democracy does have one thing in its favor: business values consistency above all else. When populists start suggesting we intentionally cause double-digit inflation in order to “predistribute” wealth, business gets worried. As long as that’s not happening, business is pretty content to work with either party. That said, making things religious is the trick that the corporate types use in order to sneak in their agenda.

“So this is how democracy ends… To thunderous applause.”

No, it ends in back room deals with corporate lobbyists. For all the danger of religious demagoguery in the next election, I still think the influence of big business and corporate greed on politics is a far greater threat to democracy right now than anything else we can imagine.

But I love the Star Wars quote! (Even though I hated the prequels.)

It makes me sick too. How can they violate the 1st amendment and no one seems to care? It doesn’t seem like much fun to me. It sounds like more crap to me.

“So this is how democracy ends… To thunderous applause.”

That actually sounds like a lot of fun, if you ask me!