Skewering Sacred Cows

It’s not hard to figure out how we got into this sorry mess of politics and idiocy. It’s nauseating but predictable. To get out of this mess will require skewering a few of our nation’s favorite sacred cows.

History tells the story in the starkest of ways, so let’s take a look back.

The first sacred cow that needs to hit the grill is the racism that is woven into the warp and woof of every shred of our social fabric. Beginning with the wholesale slaughter of Native Americans by the earliest colonists, the undercurrent of wanting a white, Christian America runs deep.

Entrepreneurs came to the new world in search of greater business opportunities. They were exclusively white men and the system they mirrored from the old world was recreated in the new world. It assured they would keep their power.

The portion of settlers who came to escape religious oppression promptly created a similar system of religious oppression in the new world. This too was a system dominated by the authority of white men.

By the time of the Civil War the deep divides in the country around racism were justified on both sides by cherry picking Scripture to support their point. Emotions ran high. The Southern Baptist Church was founded specifically in response to and support of slavery. Once again, using Scripture as their justification they staunchly supported those who believed in the necessity and veracity of slavery. White Evangelical Christians who were politically conservative fought against every inclusive racial effort from abolitionism to affirmative action.

When white Southern Baptists expanded west in search of new entrepreneurial opportunities they brought their theology and politics with them. This created another social and political bloc of conservative voters that has continued through the centuries.

Fast forward to today, the question of how we got into this mess and more importantly, how we get out of it is on the minds of lots of people. The country seems to be on roller skates to hell.

The second sacred cow that needs to hit the grill is the misnomer of “Evangelical Christian.” Every truly Evangelical Christian should be horrified and offended by the loudest voice claiming that moniker. This political and conservatively social voting bloc is neither evangelical nor Christian. They are willing to separate individual moral and religious behavior for the sake of their larger social and political agenda. This is the worst kind of “religion.” From now on I am going to call them the Great White Embarrassment (GWE) and the occupant is their king.

When it comes to the occupant, it means they are willing to overlook the fact that nothing this buffoon does even remotely resembles a life of Christian faithfulness. They are also willing to overlook his dismal representation of the Office of President for the sake of the political agenda he promises.

For example, to date the occupant has confirmed 158 federal judges at various levels of the judiciary. They are predominantly conservative and pretty much a slam dunk for promulgating the priorities of the GWE. It also guarantees that the courts will be changed for years to come, as these are lifetime appointments. If you’re not scared by now you should be.

The third sacred cow that needs to hit the grill is homophobia. More and more states are passing anti-LGBTQ/non-binary legislation which gives individual business people the right to deny services to gay people.

Tennessee just passed an anti-LGBTQ law that prevents any foster care or adoption agency that receives federal funding to allow same sex parents to foster or adopt children. In Florida, charter schools that receive public monies for education are turning away LGBTQ and non-binary children, suggesting their educational needs will be better served “somewhere else.”

The final sacred cow that needs skewering is the ongoing nonsense around Roe v. Wade. It is the law of the land. Get over it. If your religion says you shouldn’t have an abortion, don’t. Just don’t tell every woman in the country that she can’t. You are not the morality police for the whole country.

More and more states are passing restrictive abortion laws, often called heartbeat laws that prohibit termination after a fetal heartbeat is detected. More and more clinics are closing and access to reproductive care is almost impossible for poor women and women of color. The truth is that white women of privilege will always find a way to access reproductive health care. This law unfairly targets the poor and women of color.

While racism has a long tap root into the conservative policies of the GWE, there are numerous other offshoot roots which ultimately have a goal of keeping America white, straight, and dominated by male power.

This social climate promises to continue and increase in the years to come, whether the occupant is re-elected or not. His behavior has given us a glimpse of who America really is, and who we have always been. He has given permission for racist, homophobic, misogynistic and hate filled attitudes toward anyone who is not white, male and straight.

We cannot, however, afford to despair or succumb to a feeling of powerlessness. We are a government of the people, by the people and for the people. It is time the people, those of us who believe in the fundamental equality of all people and civil rights for all people to unite. It is time to establish a modicum of decency as an expectation for human behavior. Write to your legislators. Write to legislators who are not from your state. Tell them to do their jobs and put the country ahead of party loyalty.

We cannot be of the people, by the people and for the people if we do not use our voices to speak for those who have no voice.