By Richard Mellor in California
There is so much evidence that politics in the US is infantile that it’s hard to gauge what are the worst examples of it. Kamala Harris said Monday night that the United States is “…dealing with a communist dictator in the White House.” A “communist” dictator?!
Does Ms Harris have any understanding of the difference between communism and fascism? It’s beyond me. Perhaps it’s because the US public is more at home with fascism than communism. One thing I do know, is that an atheist (and Communism is associated with atheism, while fascism is not) has far less chance of becoming president than a sex offender or felon, for example. We know that’s the case, because we have one sitting in the White House at the moment, who is both.
As we’re on the subject of the degeneration of US society, an on democratic rights and free speech, it’s important to recognise that right wing Christian nationalism is becoming more entrenched than ever in government. Religion has always been an integral part of the state. Catholicism was once the religion of the European aristocracy, until the Reformation, when the rising capitalist class needed to make some adjustments to the belief system. It is now one of the world’s two main religions representing the interests of the capitalist class.
A dangerous moment in US politics
It is a dangerous moment when organised religion, no matter which kind, begins to gain more and more political power. In the aftermath of the murder of one of the bright young stars of the right wing Christian Nationalist movement, the efforts to embed organised religion into the state apparatus is intensifying.
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Schools, is proposing having Turning Point USA chapters in all the state’s high schools. This was the organisation set up and led by Charlie Kirk. “I am very excited to announce”, Walters said in a post on X, “a partnership with @TPUSA to establish chapters in ALL Oklahoma high schools. Radical leftist teachers’ unions have dominated classrooms for far too long, and we are taking them back.” (From The Hill)
This is a dangerous precedent, and also a recipe for disaster. It will lower the already dismal level of education we have here in the US, and also cause conflict between the many different religious organisations and views in US society. Religious instruction has no place in public education, and no place in politics or is state legislatures. People’s belief in God or a creator is a purely personal matter and should remain that way.
Enough said.
From the US socialist website, Facts for Working People, original here.
[Feature photograph of Kamala Harris, from Wikimedia Commons, here]
