Religion in Politics

Religion plays a role in our politics, as it did in Fifth Century Rome, but then it was largely a monopoly after the early 500's. Any pagan practices had to be private, (there were still many, not only in the hinterlands, among peasants and serfs, but even in Rome, among the Senators who thought they ran things). The pagan god, Victory, in the Senate was removed, and only Christian rites were approved, or allowed publicly.

Now, religion is more diverse, but still, 'The Christians' believe they should have a monopoly, with a slight nod to Judaism. Jews, after all, have to be converted to Christianity for the Last Days to arrive.

Our new anointed is: Ted Cruz, or so he seems to act. His father, Raphael, after all is a well-known and outspoken evangelist. Some conservative Christians subscribe to a "dominionist" doctrine that advocates a theocratic state run by "believers," and their leaders, of course.

That's actually what The Church in Rome and Ravenna attempted to do in the fifth century. Maybe it's why Emperor Theodosius was denoted "the Great:" he capitulated to Church dominance. His legacy: Goths, Vandals and other heretical Germanic tribes overran his successors and their subjects.

The Church was unable to prevent the barbarian takeover, but was able to weight the game towards a barbarian tribe that converted to the Catholic (Universal, or official) Church--the Franks.

Pagans survived largely in the countryside--the word 'pagan' is derived from the word for peasant or villager.

Today, among the believers of Cruz-type Christianity, the greatest threat is not from pagans or heretics, but from Communists, Socialists or The State. They label Obama a Kenyan Socialist, or a Communist, it doesn't matter which.

Since only a minority, probably smaller than media hype tells us, adheres to extreme fundamentalist or evangelical Christianity, the Ted Cruz's of politics feel compelled to play obstructionist to any progressive change. Gay marriage, according to Raphael Cruz, is a government conspiracy; the Affordable Care Act is a conspiracy to take "our fortunes."

It isn't a stretch for his son, Senator Cruz, to mount a 21-hour filibuster aimed at defunding Obamacare. If saner heads hadn't prevailed, we could have had not only the days of government shutdown but a credit default that would have spelled doom for the most powerful asset the US still has: the US dollar as global reserve currency.

In Rome, the Church, with the reigning Emperor, staged the Adventus (installing holy relics), many times, in an attempt to magic the barbarians away. There were no saner heads to prevail.

Perhaps it's lucky that Wall Street conservatism is not particularly religious: evangelical or fundamentalist. It's unlucky that the establishment believes in other magic: austerity will reduce unemployment; yet it's demonstrated repeatedly that cutting government programs promotes joblessness, while raising taxes on the wealthy will promote prosperity.