The most recent 20 comments posted to Electrolite by Nancy C. Hanger:

I think Brad has hit the nail on the head with point #1 of his comment.

What I began seeing in evangelical Christianity (and I was deeper into it than any of you know) back in the mid- to late-70s, and ever since, has been a movement towards reaffirming the whole faith-versus-works issue between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. Entire weeklong workshops were dedicated to it: my half-brother dragged me to one that lasted two days (two days too long, imho) of lectures on the evils of relying on social justice and good works for redemption. That faith, and only faith, could lead to redemption, and only faith marked one as a "true" Christian. (By their works shall you know them seems to have been lost in the bathwater.)

The movement seems to be a full embrace of this: by declaring faith as a particular kind of Christian one is redeemed. And only through faith. Doing social justice is for "others." (Unless you're a missionary, in which case one is doing social justice for poor unChristian people, who will be saved by faith, anyway.)

I am indeed simplifying this, and I'm sure will take heat for that, but I see the trend continuing -- pushed into politics. It's contiguous with the "nothing I did before I was born again 'counts' now" routine.

The disconnect makes a lot of sense to me -- I saw it every day of my life for decades, working with and immersed in the culture.

This is not to say that all of evangelical Christianity pulls this party line. They do not, most assuredly. My cousin is a prime example of someone who has lived a life of doing social justice and good works, particularly in his retirement. It is a particular subset of evangelicalism. There are many, and they are intertwined. But I can point to one large megachurch which has preached the "faith only" disconnect for many years, as the first megachurch in the country, and has spread its roots widely across America: The Rock Church in Virginia Beach, VA. It spawned many other megachurches in its day, and the subset has spread.

(The Rock was Robertson's original church, and grew as PTL grew. My sister-in-law's father was pastor there, ghu help me.)

I've been out of it -- quite literally -- since Monday night, because I did an incredibly Stupid Thing.

I fear for many things, not as I feared during previously conservative Republican administrations because this admin seems to be at some polar extreme that calls for new language to be invented. Neocon doesn't seem to do it. Wingnuttery doesn't even seem to fit the bill, to me at least. Perhaps the Theocratic Imperialistic Isolationism Party -- yet TIIP sounds like a new rap group, somehow.

What I fear the most -- and I'm looking for consolation here, guys (really, serious consolation) -- is the economy. With my taxes increasing during the last "tax cut," what will happen next to the working class? Who's going to pay for that great whopping hole a privatized SS system would create? The money's gotta come from somewhere, and we've already been told the tax system will be revamped -- right there on Dubya's front burner of issues.

I'm scared. Food or medicine. It isn't just for "the poor" anymore. (Then, I know many of you know that, like me, firsthand.) I'm scared, I'm despairing, and it ain't going away anytime soon. I can't work. I can't even sleep, and I have a clinical fatigue condition that means I usually sleep 12-16 hours a day.

Kerry wasn't the cure-all for the economy, but he didn't seem to want to actively trash it just because he could as president. Dubya? Wings on a fly.

Consolation? I always said my mother didn't raise a stupid child, but I feel stupid right now for despairing and fearing that which hasn't yet happened, yet the wolf is on my doorstep. And feel even more stupid for asking for consolation -- yet here I am.

Patrick is firing a standard-issue military .45 automatic. On arrival back after shooting, the first words I heard him announce were, "Pow! Bang! Ka-BOOM! That was FUN!" The smile was worth the price of admission.

BTW, he not only hit the side of the barn, but I have a photo of the man-shaped target, with nice little holes through the heart area. I will leave it to him to upload those pics, along with their caption which was written on the target. It is his punchline to reveal, so to speak.

Upstream there were some comments about Nader as perhaps crazier than Nixon.

Um, no.

I've met both, personally. Nixon was a neighbor at one point when I was a young child, in fact. Despite never confusing Nader and Nixon due to their height differences (JC Cherrist! Nader is one of the tallest men I've ever met who wasn't currently a pro basketball player), Nixon was indeed crazier than a bag of rabid ferrets. He had one of the severest cases of OCD I've ever seen -- he agonized over his pristine lawn to the degree that he went out in the evening and swept it with a broom. If one of us stepped on the lawn (we were kids, mind you), he would rush out of the house and threaten and scream and yell. I'm told it was worse as he got older, but of course I have no proof of it personally other than a few visits when he was president.

Nader, on the other hand, is an egoist. I can't speak to true egomania, but he does have a heck of an ego -- which was evident even in the short meeting I had with him at the Dean offices here in NH back during the primary. He does appear to think rather much of himself. I can't speak to his politics, frankly; I know little about them other than third-party information. I'm sure this is a huge gap in my understanding of the world, but I only have so many hours in a day, and I was never very interested in much of what he was advocating other than environmental issues that were being advocated by others as well.

Health care. Will S. -- yeah, talk to me about that some time. I've been having (literal) nightmares for months, now. If GWB closes the last windows to cheap(er) Canadian drugs as he has been promising to do, I will have little opportunity to actually maintain a meaningful chance at keeping my health on an even keel. As it is, I'm paying insurance rates so high I have to choose between food and insurance/prescription bills. Food has been losing; I've lost 50lbs. Luckily, I had it to lose. I haven't been sleeping for weeks now, thinking about "what if I lose my self-paid health insurance?" If GWB stays in office, my chances at a healthy life in this country will continue to drop.

Sad part is, I'm considered "middle class." My business is doing well. I find this entirely bizarre: How can I be doing so well and yet not be able to buy groceries? I live in a state with no income tax; I'm actually pretty well off -- or I should be. But not with what I pay for heating oil, gas, electricity, and my health costs, all of which should be considered basics for living. My mantra for the last six months has been, "How can this be happening?"

Damn, that sounds self-pitying. I'm not. Just scared GWB will take the election. And I mean take.

Patrick, I'm taking you and T. to that bar when you're here. I am buying, and expect a great deal of entertainment as I watch you play Stump the Neocon in his own habitat. In fact, this should be a great deal of fun.

(Hell, I'd take you there, anyway, because it's our local hangout and they have pretty damn good drinks and VERY good food. And lots of dead beef cooked extremely well. Er, not well done. Just well. Oh hell, you know what I mean.)

What weirded me out about that Village Voice article Andy Vance linked to above is that these people could have been the people who populate what is my local watering hole, and most of my neighbors. What he is portraying is not an exaggeration, in fact, he seems to be downplaying not only how widespread this view is but how deeply devoted these people are -- unquestioning devotion by virtue of literally parroting what they hear. Which just leads one to wonder: Does the "average" American listen to or watch anything but deeply slanted neocon media? Is it that pervasive, or are they just hitting the outlets they know are most popular (or accessible; i.e., the stations bar TVs are turned to)?

Locally, I'm a cypher (and made fun of to no end) because I don't get my news from just Fox and CNN.

Most of the extraneous/nasty security surrounding the DNC has been foisted on Boston by not the DNC but by the Secret Service and by (drumroll, please) Homeland Security.

Like the brilliant idea of building a wall around the entire Fleet Center, which was "highly suggested" this last week. Yeah, right. A wall. Around a building that is sided on one side by a highway.

Those of us in southern NH are expecting quite an influx during that week of "tourists."

(cross-posted to TNH's blog)

A blessing upon your new home,
A blessing upon your new hearth,
A blessing upon your new dwelling,
Upon your newly-kindled fire.

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