They don’t believe in God; they don’t have a Church. . . But they still need something large and strong and good to secure their futures in this world—the only world in which they believe. So they believe in the State, and put their trust in it, willing to vote for any person or program that makes it as big as God and as kind as God ought to be, if there was a God.Maybe this is why I run into resentment when I assert that government is great for the things that only governments can do (e.g. provide highways, ensure voter rights, manage relationships with other governments); otherwise, there are better ways to get the right things to happen. If Government is thought to have the attributes of God, then I have just insulted the object of their deepest faith.
Hmmm. Entrusting your well-being to the goodness, kindness and wisdom of a Bureaucracy. I frequently offer thanks for the knowledge that I am not God, but it never occurred to me to be thankful that I know that the federal government is not God.
Maybe this is why President Bush is so disproportionately demonized by the left. I could understand vigorous disagreement, but the vitriolic hatred has puzzled me. But if one thought that the throne of God were illegitimately occupied, rage and no-hold-barred warfare would result.
Again, hmm.
