I have not read this book.[1] I just saw the author, John Avlon, on Late Night, with Stephen Colbert. If the guy writes like he talks he should be engaging. The point is Washington saw a coming evil that threatens us today and he warned against it in his fair well speech. That evil is partisanship or tribalism, a greater loyalty to the party than to the nation. Washington never joined a political party he feared that as people gave their allegiance to parties a demagogue would rise up and claim power, through the allegiance to a party name. Truth, honor, and ideals would all be superseded by party loyalty. Now I have not read the book so I will depart from the book but that is my premise, I see this happening in the modern age,
Roy Moore has been exposed as a child molester, yet the Evangelical Christians of Alabama support him all the more. [2] It wasn't that long ago that just the accusation would take him out of the race. Since they've already accept the principle of men with no principles being men of God, with Trump, why make an exception now? The supporters reject the allegations partly because they are not party aligned news sources.[3]
Now we find that education has no power to communicate truth, That;right we find now education just mean sophisticated excuses,
A new study shows that the more education conservatives gain the more omitted they are to denying climate change. Directly contradicting Trump administration propaganda on climate "13 federal agencies an exhaustive scientific report on Friday that says human are the dominate cause of global temperature rise that have created the warmest period in the history of civilization. [4] This is the Climate Science Special Report [5]
Rather than changing republican' minds,however, this knowledge only serves to make them more committed to denial. [6]
But there is little reason to think that yet another scientific report will fundamentally shift attitudes on global warming — either among policymakers or the public at large. Researchers have found again and again that attitudes about climate change are shaped far more profoundly by political ideology or by comfort with proposed solutions to global warming than they are by the science itself. The latest climate report, written by scientists in 13 federal agencies as part of a congressional National Climate Assessment, says little that hasn’t been said in countless reports over the past decade. Its major conclusions are virtually identical to those of a federal assessment published in 2014: Global warming is real, caused by humans and its impacts are being felt across the United States, from increased heat waves to greater flooding risks along the coasts.[7]
Washington 's theory needs tweaking. Party allegiance is declining.[8] People are replacing party with ideology. Core Trump supporters were willing to destroy the party for the spread of the ideology. But the party faithful have associated the party with God for so long they just support it at all cost even going down with the ship.
Ultimately, since the 1960s, American conservatism has increasingly exhibited the traits of religious fundamentalism. When politics is treated as a type of religion, and then combined with the rituals of worship and scripture in the form of evangelical Christianity, a type of hallucinatory ideology is created. This has become a form of political cultism; its power and hold over those caught in its ecstasy and passion cannot be easily broken.[8]
Remember the lost? the guys we were supposed to seek and save? They became the enemy then they became those we hate and seek to kill. To the world the evangelical movement just makes the cross and the Gospel look like a hypocritical fantasy that was doomed to failure. We live in an age in which people dig into ideological positions and truth be damned.
Sources
[1] John Avlon, Washington's Farewell The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations.New York: Simon Schuster, 2017, no page mdicated.
http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Washingtons-Farewell/John-Avlon/9781476746463
(accesssed 11/10/17)
[2] News Desk, "Roy Moore's Supporters Stand by Their Candidate." The New Yorker, (Nov 9, 2017)
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/roy-moore-supporters-stand-by-their-candidate-despite-sexual-assault-allegations
(accesssed 11/10/17)
[3] Johna Goldberg,"Roy Moore's Supporter Don't Want the Allegations to Be True So They Don't Beleive Them," The Los Angels Times, (Nov 13,2017).
(accesssed 11/10/17)
[4] Lisa Friedman and Glen Thrush, "U.S. Report Says Humans Cause Climate Change,Contradictin Top Trump Contradicting Top Trump Officials" (Nov 3,2017)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/climate/us-climate-report.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news(accesssed 11/10/17)
[5] Climate Science Special: Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA 4) vol. I
https://science2017.globalchange.gov/
(accesssed 11/10/17)
[6] Kevin Quealy, The More Education Republicans Have The Less then tend To Believe in Climate Change, (Nov 14, 2017)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climate-change-by-education.html?action=click&module=Top+Stories&pgtype=Homepage&_r=0
(accesssed 11/10/17)
[7] Brad Plumer, "A Climate Science Report That Change Minds? Do 't Bet on It" The New York Times, (No 4,2017)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/climate/trump-climate-change-report.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fbrad-plumer&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=collection
(accesssed 11/10/17)
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[8] Chauncy Devega, "The Toxic Ideology at the heart of Evangelical's Alliance With Republican Party" Alternete (August 10, 2017)
https://www.alternet.org/belief/toxic-ideology-heart-evangelicals-alliance-republican-party
(accesssed 11/10/17)
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