Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Damn Straight!

"religion is the reason our political discourse is so scandalously stupid in this country. "

Thanks to Tasha for passing this onto me. A supremely well written piece from the Huffington Post about all the things that should be said, but can't be said by any politician in this country. Specifically a look at Obama and how is caught in this mess.

For those who don't want to read the whole thing, here's the good stuff (in my opinion):

"Like every candidate, Obama must appeal to millions of voters who believe that without religion, most of us would spend our days raping and killing our neighbors and stealing their pornography. Examples of well-behaved and comparatively atheistic societies like Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark--which surpass us in terrestrial virtues like education, health, public generosity, per capita aid to the developing world, and low rates of violent crime and infant mortality--are of no interest to our electorate whatsoever...

...Despite all that he does not and cannot say, Obama's candidacy is genuinely thrilling: his heart is clearly in the right place; he is an order of magnitude more intelligent than the current occupant of the Oval Office; and he still stands a decent chance of becoming the next President of the United States. His election in November really would be a triumph of hope.

But Obama's candidacy is also depressing, for it demonstrates that even a person of the greatest candor and eloquence must still claim to believe the unbelievable in order to have a political career in this country. We may be ready for the audacity of hope. Will we ever be ready for the audacity of reason?"

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