The Brief for Secession
While the nation turns toward Republicans and austerity the SF Comical notes the the GOP in California actually suffered major defeats. They lost the Governorship and two seats in the legislature and the ability to hold up the state budget with the nay votes of only one third of the legislator.
The Comical, being the Comical, goes on to report the usual blather spouted by GOP operatives about reaching out to Hispanics and touching the suburban voters and so on but Wonks Anonymous believes that there is a more serious divide operating here.
Here in California we have become another country, dividing from the rest of the nation. We have moved apart in the only way that nations and people move apart. We have crossed a spiritual divide while the rest of the nation has chosen to stay where they were.
Denominations and creeds do not matter that much, they are not the essence of spirituality, what does matter is the fundamental view of the world.
The old spirituality is founded on the belief in limited good. There are only a certain number of places in heaven. Love must be guarded and limited by laws since it is only spent and never renewed or enlarged. Prosperity also must be held tightly or it too will vanish.
God has created a narrow chartered world and we must obey his laws and submit to him if we want any hope of love, prosperity and salvation. If gays are allowed marriage then there will be less love for straight people. If workers are paid more then there will be nothing left for entrepreneurs. If the rigid rules of conventional JudeoChristian religion are not enforced by the state then believers will no longer be assured that they have places in heaven.
In this religion there is no room for human love or creativity because we are fallen and our hearts can create nothing but evil. There can be no renewal and growth because the wellsprings of growth have been blocked and condemned at every turning.
By contrast the Left Coast has developed its own haphazard spiritual orientation, compounded of scraps and patches of Paganism, Christianity, Psychology, 12 Step Programs and Tree Hugging Dirt Worship.
And, whatever form it takes, this spirituality recognizes one fundamental thing. That is that human love and creativity are good and that they have infinite potential. We are not sinners in the hands of an angry God. We are good, working in cooperation with whatever gods there may or may not be to improve ourselves and to create a better world.
Welcome to humanism, secular or otherwise.
And now, more than ever, we face a fundamental social and economic crisis that is rooted in the selfishness and restrictions of the old spirituality, Thousands sit in enforced idleness because the nation fears to spend hoarded tokens of value and these tokens, unspent, become meaningless pieces of paper and metal. For the economic details of this see Krugman's excellent blog.
The rest of the nation is destroying itself with its belief in human evil and limited good. We do not believe in these things. Is there any reason that we should go down to hell with them?
The Comical, being the Comical, goes on to report the usual blather spouted by GOP operatives about reaching out to Hispanics and touching the suburban voters and so on but Wonks Anonymous believes that there is a more serious divide operating here.
Here in California we have become another country, dividing from the rest of the nation. We have moved apart in the only way that nations and people move apart. We have crossed a spiritual divide while the rest of the nation has chosen to stay where they were.
Denominations and creeds do not matter that much, they are not the essence of spirituality, what does matter is the fundamental view of the world.
The old spirituality is founded on the belief in limited good. There are only a certain number of places in heaven. Love must be guarded and limited by laws since it is only spent and never renewed or enlarged. Prosperity also must be held tightly or it too will vanish.
God has created a narrow chartered world and we must obey his laws and submit to him if we want any hope of love, prosperity and salvation. If gays are allowed marriage then there will be less love for straight people. If workers are paid more then there will be nothing left for entrepreneurs. If the rigid rules of conventional JudeoChristian religion are not enforced by the state then believers will no longer be assured that they have places in heaven.
In this religion there is no room for human love or creativity because we are fallen and our hearts can create nothing but evil. There can be no renewal and growth because the wellsprings of growth have been blocked and condemned at every turning.
By contrast the Left Coast has developed its own haphazard spiritual orientation, compounded of scraps and patches of Paganism, Christianity, Psychology, 12 Step Programs and Tree Hugging Dirt Worship.
And, whatever form it takes, this spirituality recognizes one fundamental thing. That is that human love and creativity are good and that they have infinite potential. We are not sinners in the hands of an angry God. We are good, working in cooperation with whatever gods there may or may not be to improve ourselves and to create a better world.
Welcome to humanism, secular or otherwise.
And now, more than ever, we face a fundamental social and economic crisis that is rooted in the selfishness and restrictions of the old spirituality, Thousands sit in enforced idleness because the nation fears to spend hoarded tokens of value and these tokens, unspent, become meaningless pieces of paper and metal. For the economic details of this see Krugman's excellent blog.
The rest of the nation is destroying itself with its belief in human evil and limited good. We do not believe in these things. Is there any reason that we should go down to hell with them?
Comments