Plato’s Revenge: Socrates Meets Sarah Palin

My latest piece on PoliticusUSA: Plato’s Revenge: Socrates Meets Sarah Palin

In Prop 8 Ruling the Constitution Triumphed Over Theocracy

It's been awhile but I'm back and in full swing from surgery. I've been posting again at A Heathen's Day and I've new pieces at both GodsOwnParty.com/blogs and at Politicususa.com. My latest is In Prop 8 Ruling the Constitution Triumphed Over Theocracy

An Interview with Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation

My new article at Pagan + Politics, the blog of the Pagan Newswire Collective, can be found here.

Conservatives Argue Against the Constitution When They Oppose Gay Marriage

My introductory piece on Politicus (www.politucususa.com), Conservatives Argue Against the Constitution When They Oppose Gay Marriage

Choice is Not Hate - It is Freedom

My new article appearing on GodsOwnParty, Choice is Not Hate - It is Freedom

The Crooked Cross and the Cross: Nazism and Christianity

My new piece on NewsJunkiePost can be found here The Crooked Cross and the Cross: Nazism and Christianity. This piece investigates more deeply the associations between National Socialism and Christianity, a topic touched on only in passing in my "Back to the 30s" series.

America the Progressive

I've begun a new blog to replace Restitutor Orbis. It was a choice of trying to change the direction of that blog or outright replacing it and I went with the latter option. I feel the only real hope at this point for America is a return to the Enlightenment - a Progressive Renaissance - thus the name. The call for change has gone missing, as has change itself, except incrementally.

My new article there is America the Progressive, a refutation of claims put forward by The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History.

We're Taking Back Our Nation

My new guest-post is up at God's Own Party? - We're Taking Back Our Nation.

Back to the 30s: National Socialist and Republican Discourse 5

Part 5 of my series examining the similarities between Republican and National Socialist Discourse is now up on NewsJunkiePost.com

Note: Part 4 was published yesterday here

Mythical America

I have written a new piece, Mythical America. It has been posted at Gods Own Party (the title above will also link you to it).

Liberals: The Children of Liberty

Here is my new article, published in ProgressiveNation today: Liberals: The Children of Liberty.

A Crap Sandwich By Any Other Name...

I received a militaria catalog in the mail today called Military, apparently by some group called "The Press of Freedom." It's a right wing production. It contains an article by Oliver North. It has articles that denigrate Barack Obama. And it has little snippets that are quite anti-liberal in content. One of them in particular pissed me off. Under the heading "Liberalism/Socialism" it says,

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." - Thomas Jefferson

I couldn't agree more. The problem is, they're co-opting Jefferson to make him appear the enemy of liberalism when in fact, Thomas Jefferson was rooted in the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment. He was as far from the conservatives of that time as can be. Obviously, at the time, he was something of a radical, as were all the Founding Fathers, when you remember conservatism at the time was deeply rooted in monarchy and state religions.

The thing is, conservatives are perfectly happy spending our money on their causes, for example, Faith Based Initiatives - then its not tyranny at all. They're not denouncing the use of tax dollars to fund various programs because somebody finds them immoral or objectionable. They're demanding that their own views be privileged. By all means, they say, spend our tax dollars. Spend them on churches, on proselytizing, and on other programs that further the cause of Christianity.

And so, of course, they are hypocrites, and of the worst kind. I'll give this particular crap sandwich its due consideration and dispose of it appropriately.