JESUS AIN'T NO CONSERVATIVE!

Can you imagine for a moment, Jesus in his time? Imagine him walking along the road with his disciples and a beggar comes up to him and asks that he be healed of a limp. Then Jesus says to his disciples, "keep away from those such as these. You must conserve your spiritual gifts for those who are truly worthy. Beggars, prostitutes and thieves are unworthy of the fruits of the spirit. " Again imagine the teacher alike of angels and men saying, "only those who value the family, who propagate in truth, who are hard working and responsible may sit at the table with the Holy Father and Son."Hard to picture, yeah, I know. Jesus did not get along with folks who headed his faith at the time. He was a revolutionary who defied their stayed antics, pretentious faith and dead-letter view of the teachings of the day. Even a cursory reading of the New Testament would reveal that Jesus ain't no conservative.



I have never been politically savvy, just sane and temperate. For the most part I consider politics a disgrace and blight to the country. But as an American I think it behoves me to understand the political landscape of my country so that I can participate in the process conscientiously and speak with strangers or foreigners and appear to "represent" as a citizen.



But for the life of me I am having a dickens of a time understanding conservatives, right-wingers, neo-cons, Republicans, and whatever else they are calling themselves these days. What I have figured out though, during the current election cycle and even more so now that the President-Elect is a Democrat (Reagan Democrat, if you ask me), is that there is a visible schism in the Republican party, something which has the party scuffling around in disarray. And if it's one thing that you could say about the Republican party, it was that they were fiercely organized and regimented. That regiment and organization, acting on one accord, with one goal, was the source of their success.



I do believe, however, that their agenda was bigger than their coffers could hold. They got greedy and tried to ransack the American conscience, the American trust and the American temperament. The policies that came out of the Bush Administration from Homeland Security to Immigration, pushed the boundaries of tolerance under the cloak of terrorism. They maintained a heightened level of stress to justify their conundrums. Meanwhile typical Republican economic policies, which favor big business, were stripping the American public of its concept of fairness and equality. From Supreme Court decisions preventing individuals from recovering against big business to the tax incentives that allowed big business to avoid more than 20 % of their share of tax responsibility, the Republican party is the party of big business.



The conservative mantra of family values, individual responsibility and hard work are giving me a headache. Is there some underground society that indoctrinates conservatives, teaches them to ape the same phrases, to falter on the same questions and to beat around the bush not answering sensible questions when put to them? They all parrot the same phrases. I have yet to meet one that can actually explain what it is to be Republican or conservative. And are they devoid of intelligence as a matter of course? I thought there was an emphasis on education and the betterment of the individual so that society could thereby be enriched. Republicans get an F on this one. Well, maybe a D, I'm feeling generous.



I suspect conservatives are just like everyone else. There are different kinds. You have your George W. Bush conservative, then you have your Colin Powell Conservative, they you have your average Joe conservative, and then your Religious conservative, your fiscal conservative, and your social conservative. Are they all stingy and uptight? Are any of them sensible? I would like to meet a sensible, intelligent one. I would also like to meet a sensible intelligent Christian. Maybe fate will be kind to me and send one my way and we can become bffs.



For now however, I have assembled a slew of books about conservative ideology and the conservative intellectual movement. Once I start reading them they will post on Ex Libris Dydimus, one of my other blogs that I will dedicate to books, books reviews and essays on books.