Secular Socialism...Boo!

At the recent Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, GOP leaders such as Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and Liz Cheney took turns explaining why Obama was doing such a horrible job as Commander-in-Chief. Gingrich was quick to paint Obama as the new Voodoo chieftain of "the most radical administration in American history." Gingrich used the term, certain to become the new bogeyman epitaph, "secular socialist machine." Sounds pretty bad doesn't it?

This got me wondering, did any of these folks really have a clue what was being said, with the term "secular socialist," or was everyone just reacting to words supercharged in the vernacular of evangelical capitalists?

Take the word secular, heretofore tossed in front of another Voodoo word, humanist. You may remember these heathens as the people who insisted on doing good in the world based on a moral code that didn't necessarily include a God as the evangelicals understood God. Definitely radical stuff.

These secular radicals aren't as new as Gingrich et al. might have us believe. It was secular radicals like Locke and Voltaire over 200 years ago, that influenced the secular radicals that founded the United States, and wrote a secular Constitution to govern the new Republic. Mr. Gingrich may recollect from his historical study that many of the preeminent founders of this country were by no means orthodox Christians. In fact Washington, Franklin, Hancock, LaFayette, Hamilton, and others, practiced Freemasonry--a very tolerant, inclusive form of deism that many evangelical capitalists might call secular today.

The United States was, in fact, founded by thinkers who recognized the importance and value of secularism in democracy.

Really, is socialism still a nasty word? It's been kicked around recently and brandished almost as much as it was in Senator McCarthy's time--back when we were convinced that folks like Pete Seeger would bring us to our political knees!

Let's look at the top 30 countries in the Economic Freedom of the World Index. This index measures what capitalist's hold near and dear to their hearts. GOP leaders like Palin, Gingrich, and Cheney will find at least some common ground in the values of countries that promote economic freedom among their citizens. At least 22 of the top 30 countries in the Economic Freedom of the World Index have a form of Universal Health Care System. This criteria alone, according to many of the evangelical capitalists, make them socialists. This 'socialist' list includes: New Zealand; Japan; Germany; Belgium; United Kingdom; Kuwait; Sweden; Canada; United Arab Emirates; Netherlands; Finland; Luxembourg; Denmark; France; Australia; Ireland; Portugal; Cyprus; Iceland; Hong Kong; Singapore; and Switzerland. In spite of the fact that they all have universal health care, and are socialists in at least this one regard, they are also some of the strongest allies to the United States. Some might even be secular socialists.

Before you folks pack up your Obama slam-fest there in New Orleans, maybe you can explain to the citizens of that fine city how they might have fared after the hurricane with a radical administration of secular socialists in office? Booga! Booga!