Friday, November 12
Enlightenment
The Enlightenment is being rolled back before our eyes. Yes, it scares me. This town I live in is as red as it gets (and I love that Republicans got stuck withe much hated in my youth commie Red) and there are a lot of reasons I choose to live here. Its Republicaness is not one of them.
How Republican is it? Our rep in Congress is Marilyn Musgrave, the notorious pink-suit wearing '50s hairdo styling mistress of the wacked religious right, you remember, the one-trick pony pushing the bigoted anti-gay-marriage act. I'm sure 65 or 75 percent of this town agrees with her. George Bush himself came to visit here right before the election, which we took as a sign of how desperate they were to win Colorado (I mean, if he had to come here to get votes...) but the visit turned out to be part of their strategy to turn-out the base. His visit cost us city taxpayers $30,000, and you could only attend the rally at the local rodeo/fairgrounds if you took a loyalty oath and promised to work/vote for Bush.
What really scares me is the lack of trust in progress or science or freedom of thought. My mom, who died just a few weeks ago, would've been appalled if she'd had any control of her thoughts, or ability to share them. Freedom of religion, she would've said, also means freedom from religion. I may not be a religious person, but I am a spiritual person, and frankly I thought the past 400 years of progress was a good think. I'm not ready to go back to the dark ages.
How Republican is it? Our rep in Congress is Marilyn Musgrave, the notorious pink-suit wearing '50s hairdo styling mistress of the wacked religious right, you remember, the one-trick pony pushing the bigoted anti-gay-marriage act. I'm sure 65 or 75 percent of this town agrees with her. George Bush himself came to visit here right before the election, which we took as a sign of how desperate they were to win Colorado (I mean, if he had to come here to get votes...) but the visit turned out to be part of their strategy to turn-out the base. His visit cost us city taxpayers $30,000, and you could only attend the rally at the local rodeo/fairgrounds if you took a loyalty oath and promised to work/vote for Bush.
What really scares me is the lack of trust in progress or science or freedom of thought. My mom, who died just a few weeks ago, would've been appalled if she'd had any control of her thoughts, or ability to share them. Freedom of religion, she would've said, also means freedom from religion. I may not be a religious person, but I am a spiritual person, and frankly I thought the past 400 years of progress was a good think. I'm not ready to go back to the dark ages.
