The American Ayatollah's

No, they didn't insist on women wearing headscarf's or hiding their bodies completely in floor length gowns. Nor, did they insist that they travel only with male members of their own family. And they weren't Muslim extremists, but other similarities to the Taliban are frightening.

In my mind, any religion that subjugates either sex is wrong on the face of its belief system. I can't think of one religion that considers men the inferior of the two sexes. While the equality of women in American culture is new, (Yes, I know that will surprise people under the age of forty.), the blow-back from the feminist movement of the sixties has always been at the forefront of the conservative, may I say, extremists in the US. The recognition of equality between the sexes has been blamed for the break up of the traditional American Family, the higher divorce rate, the resulting escalation in single parent families, the abortion rate and the general lowering of morals in the society. Are these issues all solely the results of the feminist success?

Many men who were caught in the cross over from "a mans home is his castle" to the "why doesn't he help with the housework' eras, were frustrated, some say emasculated by events and there is no doubt they were motivated to strike back. Women who felt that the freedom to be all they could be was nice, but the practical application of the day to day reality of the concept was hard. In the early days of the movement the talk was easy, the walk, as a lot of women will tell you, was another story. Your security and future, when you have kids, a low paying job and no husband doesn't look to good and slogan and conscious raising nights out with the girls isn't a lot of solace.

Those of us that lived through the sixties thought that society had changed irrevocably on number of social fronts, but what we forget is that power is never surrendered. Finding a coalition of frustrated and seemingly disenfranchised, religious leaders formed a movement called "the moral Majority". Let me say this that while admittedly the movement gained a lot of power because of its solidarity and visibility, at its core it was neither moral nor a majority, but it often times appeared that way. T V Evangelists and mega church pastors did one thing differently than their predecessors, they took sides in the political arena. Billy Graham, used to be the pastor to presidents. He never seemed political, but he was always welcome in the White House. The new Ayatollahs however, hung their hat on the Republican party and rode the moral and social discontent to a position of power so great that even during this election process in 2008, we are witnessing the republican candidates jockeying for "Evangelical Christian" support, similar to the Democrats scrambling for the Labor Union support.

The Ayatollahs have been able to keep their flock together because they successfully convinced these good folks that these issues are personal and that they are being persecuted. The government is the problem. The government is controlled by liberal interests that do not have their best interests in mind when they legislate laws that protect gays, promiscuous single moms, and convicted criminals. This movement is highly symbolic. Prayer in school, protection for the American Flag and focus on banning abortions are all highly visible rallying points. I call The guns, flags, sluts and fags" agenda.

The problem is that while the support of these groups might be important to get the nomination from the party in some respects they are toxic in the general election. The American Ayatollahs are no different in one respect to their counterparts in the Muslim world. They have to convince their followers that they are the victims of society, that they are persecuted for their beliefs and the enemy is the defiler of their sacred beliefs. Abortion is murder and those that practice it can be justifiably killed. Women are vessels of God and should be sheltered and defended from sin and degradation. Only their husband can do that and they must trust and obey him in all things. Homosexuals are all living in sin and can not be tolerated. If we do not pray in school we are losing the Christian foundation of our American beliefs. And the latest scare tactic, illegal immigrants are a threat to our society and must be expunged from our country.

This deliberate and calculated reliance on discontent and fear is no different than their counterparts in extremist Muslim countries. Unfortunately, it worked for a long time. A minority of malcontents have held this countries deliberative process hostage for far to long. For Republicans it required being the right kind of conservative to gain admission to the inner circle, moderates from either party need not apply. And so in each election process, the candidates would march to Bob Jones University, pay homage to the Ayatollahs and get their blessing. The power, of course, came from motivating a huge voter turn out that blindly voted their pitiful one issue minds. Their need to be assured that the candidate would not make them license their guns, would not recognize gay marriage, fight to overturn Roe v Wade, allow them to pray in schools and, subtly but clearly understood was, the need to assure them that they were candidates of a Christian America.

What's changed? The stark realization that the Ayatollahs had sold out the needs of the average Joe. Somewhere along the line, people began to realize that all of these social issues were important, but not so important as to not recognize other needs, pressing needs. Poor health care delivery, the instability of jobs in a global economy. failing infrastructure and lack of emergency preparedness all became more important than abortion rights, flag burning, commencement prayers and homosexuals rights.

As a matter of fact, people became aware that nobody was preventing them from pray silently in school, forcing them to, burn a flag, have an abortion or adopt a homosexual lifestyle. They could still object to these things on moral ground and more to the point they did not have to prevent others from holding their beliefs. In short they weren't being persecuted for their beliefs, they were attempting to inflict their beliefs on others by law. Does that not sound like religious extremism? Of course it is and while you can try and call it strong religious belief, it's fascism with a holy face. I am hoping this next election deals a death blow to religious extremism in our political system. I want the Republicans to field meaningful candidates and provide honest opposition to the Democrats in matters of civil law and statecraft. The Ayatollahs will not go away, but at least they will be relegated to the fanatic fringe where they belong.