The Attack on America's Way of Life
The United States of America is under attack. America has an enemy that will stop at nothing until it defeats our way of life. If you are afraid of any possible threat to our way of life posed by Islamism, or China, or the European economic crisis, or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, well, those are all child’s play when compared to this threat.
You may be wondering, “Just who is attacking the United States?” According to the conservative website Caucus for America, which is “dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the historic American civilization,” liberals are to blame. Liberals are attacking the religious core at the heart of America’s way of life. The secular Left, which, according to the website, has contaminated protestant Christianity, “knows that the only way to destroy the America we’ve known is by destroying the Christianity, the Judeo-Christian ethic, which has made it great.” The Left is attacking America’s soul from the inside. If this was an enemy from the outside our borders, “We would have raised our swords” against this threat.
That’s pretty serious. But, there’s more. According to the progressive website Common Dreams, it’s not the Left who is attacking America; it’s the Right. And you should be very afraid of the policies those demons would legislate if they were to gain power. “It’s very possible that Mr. XY Zombie Republican could seize power in November, with the backing of endlessly deep pockets like the Koch brothers, Big Energy, and Big Finance, and the blessing of the Supreme Court.”
As I read these equally hysterical but completely opposite viewpoints, I realized they had something in common that is more profound than their panic and fear. Whether on the Right or the Left, the American way of life many of us are so eager to defend involves demonizing and shaming others so that you aren’t the one demonized and shamed. Attack! Attack so that the attention is on your opponent’s deficiencies and not on yours. Seriously? “Zombie Republican”?!? Are you kidding me? It’s sophomoric and certainly not progressive. And the suggestion that we should raise our swords against the Left to protect our American way of life is an American way of life that I reject.
And so I’m attacking this American way of life. Yes. I’m attacking it because it’s pathetic. It’s banal and I think it’s time for us to grow up. The Left and the Right justify the demonization of one another in the name of protecting America. And they both look pathetically similar. The Left and the Right are caught up in a mimetic rivalry, where both sides assert differences where no difference exists. They are exactly the same. They both claim the mantle of righteousness while they demonize the other. It is, apparently, what America is all about.
Indeed, it’s pathetic and weak. It makes us into cowards because the American way of life that demonizes the other conveniently blinds us to our own faults. It takes courage to look deep within ourselves and critique our own failings. Under our current way of life, we will never have that kind of courage because we are possessed. Make no mistake - when the bible talks about demon possession, it’s not talking about an archaic misunderstanding that our ancestors had about humanity. No. They had a much more powerful anthropology than we moderns do. When we accuse others of being a demon (or a Zombie), when we blame the other for all of our cultural problems, we become instantly blind to our own demons. You can be damn sure that you are possessed by a demon if are inciting fear of Liberals and accusing Republicans of being “Zombies.”
I’m attacking this American way of life because I demand better. The American way of life that mimics accusations against one another needs to stop because it will destroy us. I have little hope that politicians, the media, and bloggers have the power to change this pattern. I do have hope, though. I have hope that people like you and I can change. We don’t have accuse one another. We are not enslaved to a way of life that demonizes and shames our family members, our neighbors, our co-workers, or even those we call our enemies. We must say no to that way of life, because only when we say no to that way of life can we be empowered to say yes to a way of life that respect opposing views and values dialogue over demonization.
When the American way of life emphasizes that spirit, I will stop my attack.