Politics isn’t a spectator sport. This 30th October 2010 I plan on attending the Stephen Colbert ‘March to Keep Fear Alive’ Rally in Washington DC. This event is simultaneous with ‘Rally to Restore Sanity’ at the National Mall. These political open air parties are for people who have nothing better to do and still have a job Not since Nixon’s “I am not a crook” speech and President Clinton’s “I never inhaled” statement have we heard politicians make absurd personal disclaimers. Christine O’Donnell recently made her now famous “I am not a witch” campaign advertisement. Ms.O’Donnell who is a Christian fundamentalist running for the US Senate in Delaware, admits to dabbling in witchcraft while in college.

Candidate O’Donnell is heavily supported by The American Taliban Movement (Tea Party) and has a political agenda which would force us back to the days of the zealots and the pious religious right. An evangelical movement who insist they know what is morally right, not for themselves, but for me.

The United States has a legal separation of Church and State. Under the Constitution, the government cannot promote, condone or inversely condemn any religion. Under the leadership of the Republican Moral Majority we would see a shift to faith based government programmes, promotion of secular Christian beliefs and of course a condemnation of alternative religions. Mormons, Buddhists, Jews and Muslims are pretty much out of luck.

There is a certain hypocrisy to these candidates. Republicans rarely practice what they preach, and they preach a lot. You can open a Playboy club or liquor store next to Ground Zero in NY, just don’t try and build a Mosque there. If this Delaware candidate was a unique quirky oddity it would be humorous to follow her campaign, but she is only one of a half dozen like minded Senatorial candidates who are seriously in the running for office. Removing women from the military, mandatory prayer in schools, banning the sale of alcohol, no unwed mothers employed as school teachers and eliminating social programmes such as social security pensions and health care are targets.

Collectively, these Republican candidates have the political IQ of breadsticks. What happened to society in that these people can actually be considered capable of leadership and determine our future.

The first immigrants to this country, The Pilgrims, left their native lands seeking religious freedom and escape from persecution. What did they do after they waded ashore and set up camp?.

They formed ecclesiastical councils and tribunals, and then proceeded to deny the very freedom they wanted, to other Pilgrims. As a side task in between having Witch Trials and inquisitions, they also persecuted the indigenous native Americans who weren’t Christian enough for them. They became the very thing they were fleeing from.

Pogo said it best “We have met the enemy, and them is us”.

The mother of all Pilgrims, Sarah Palin is considering running for the Presidency in 2012. Having a Barbie doll like Sarah ‘Evita’ Palin would be a nightmare for not only the US, but the rest of the free world.

Politics is money, and we have political campaign loopholes here wider than the Grand Canyon.

The American Chamber of Commerce has been funding targeted campaign ads to unseat democratic candidates. Unfortunately a lot of their funding is coming from foreign banks, oil companies (thanks BP) and via shell companies, from foreign governments. This foreign money takes advantage of campaign financing laws which give privacy to campaign donors.

Oil companies who are opposed to ‘Clean Energy’ legislation are pushing for Republican candidates who will vote this issue down. Bahrain, Dubai and Saudi Arabia are predominant in funneling money to Republican campaigns. China is also one of their biggest backers.

There is something distasteful about foreign governments spending money to influence US elections. Oil companies do not want ‘clean alternative energy’ and China does not like the economic interference of the US in their global monopoly of consumer goods, trade imbalance or devalued currency.

The March to ‘Keep Fear Alive’ in America is a reminder to everyone to get out and vote.

Let’s ‘Restore Our Sanity’ Across the Pond