Friday, November 25, 2005

The Godless Constitution - An aside

I wanted to quickly expand on something I said in the last chapter, about how believing in a secular politics and a secular government has its roots in our history.

The problem with America is that it is largely founded on a series of disagreements. Our political history is a history of Americans disagreeing with each other. Thus in a confounding way, both sides of many of our national debates have deep roots in American history.

I find the current brand of Conservativism (or Limbaugh conservatism) to be small-minded and mean-spirited, but I can'd deny that Limbaugh is building on a certain American historical tradition (although, as we all know, he would deny that my liberalism has any American roots).

That is one of the reasons why the Right wing's constant attempts to portray their political enemies as un-American is so troubling; it's a denial of the spirit of conflict and discussion that this country's politics have been built on.

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