{"id":2536,"date":"2012-06-23T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T12:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/06\/the-emperor-obamas-new-campaign.html"},"modified":"2012-06-23T12:06:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-23T12:06:00","slug":"the-emperor-obamas-new-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/06\/the-emperor-obamas-new-campaign.html","title":{"rendered":"The emperor Obama’s new campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve been hearing about the evils of the American Empire my whole life. The funny thing is, the more we emphasize the evils of America, the faster we seem to be heading toward actually being as bad as we\u2019ve been saying it is. Especially in a country devoid of fundamental principles and world views. This is not something that is Right or Left of course. But it is seen more keenly on the Left, where traditional religious and philosophical grounding for one\u2019s outlook on life has been replaced by a narcissistic emphasis on the imperial, autonomous ME. <\/p>\n

Now in terms of religion, theism as it is, we\u2019ve always been taught that humans have an innate \u2018God Space\u2019 in their hearts. Humans will worship something. So when atheists insist that Communism was treated like religion, and that\u2019s why it was evil, it easy to believe. In the absence of God, people will worship. <\/p>\n

And\u00a0this sort of cultic worship of a human or thing\u00a0is more, shall we say, obvious among the Left than Right. Again, to emphasize, it can easily happen on the Right. But it is more common today, and more flagrant on the Left. For the Left has long abandoned the notion of God, religion, or worship in the traditional sense. Even liberal religious leaders subscribe to a watered down, self-focused narcissistic spirituality that more or less focuses on me, me, and me. Hence, that desire to worship something is left wanting. And so in walks Obama, who for political expediency will naturally want to encourage a certain devotion from his base. That\u2019s not uncommon. But since he is pandering to a grouping already devoid of serious objects of worship, he is able \u2013 with a straight face \u2013 to do what even mockeries of political personality cults wouldn\u2019t have thought of 20 years ago. Thus:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Yes, you saw it right. This is not unlike the fascists states of Europe, or the Communist states, or the Roman Empire, or any other movement based upon total fealty and loyalty to a person. It isn\u2019t even uncommon when nations believe their existence is in jeopardy, and all are called to sacrifice, as in the US during WWII. In this case, however, the great cause is Obama. <\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t a big thing in itself. But it speaks volumes. Had any politician said such a thing 30 years ago, he would have been laughed off the stage. But Obama says it with a straight face and an outstretched hand: give everything you own to The One. You may be starting life in a crappy economy, where the average worker makes barely more than a grocery bagger would have in 1985 (assuming inflation), but whatever you thought you should get in order to start life, should be handed over to the Worthy Cause: Obama. If you read this, and start thinking of this little tune from Veggie Tales<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Then that\u2019s good. Especially if you replace the word \u2018bunny\u2019 with \u2018Obama.\u2019 It shows that somewhere, not too far beneath the surface of logic, you detect something has gone seriously wrong in our culture. That we will end up worshipping something. A return to the God worth worshipping probably isn\u2019t a bad idea, given that we see that people will worship something or someone in lieu of God. We\u2019ll see how it works out. <\/p>\n

Oh, and don\u2019t for a minute this only counts for non-Christians on the Left.\u00a0 Christians, too, have been known to throw in with the latest, hippest.\u00a0Especially when they reduce their faith to an abstract existentialist concept by which we measure our pain (St. John Lennon 3:16).\u00a0One of the ironies of history is that when Christians abandon their sense to follow the most recent demand on their loyalty, if that demand turns out to be something horrible (I\u2019m thinking Nazis here), the Christians are justly condemned for having done so.\u00a0 Of course, the ones condemning them are as likely as not insisting that Christians today abandon their traditional beliefs to conform to today\u2019s latest, hippest.\u00a0 But that\u2019s for another post.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been hearing about the evils of the American Empire my whole life. The funny thing is, the more we emphasize the evils of America, the faster we seem to be heading toward actually being as bad as we\u2019ve been saying it is. Especially in a country devoid of fundamental principles and world views. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe emperor Obama's new campaign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've been hearing about the evils of the American Empire my whole life. 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