The God Squad across the Pond

Is the USA lurching to a Bible-bashing right?

As a Brit, I have been observing the current state of American politics, and particularly the mid-term elections, with open-mouthed amazement. I mean, what on earth is happening on the other side of the pond?

Forgive me, but I'm now going to go into full-on ‘rant’ mode...

As I understand it, right-wing MAGA Republicans – people who in any sane modern society ought to be dismissed as irrelevant religious nut-jobs – are actually getting elected. Elected! In 2022!

Let me just get my head round that. People actually go into the ballot booth, look at the name of some christo-fascist wacko, and say, ‘Yup, that's the person I want to represent me.’ Believe me, as a Brit, I find that quite incredible. (What's that? 81,326 people voted for Liz Truss as Tory leader? Yeah, OK. Fair point).

But for goodness' sake, the people the Americans are voting for appear to believe some deeply weird shit. Such as that the superstitious stories made up thousands of years ago by ignorant bronze-age goat herders are the literal truth! And I repeat, this is in 2022 – when empirically verifiable scientific research has clearly refuted every part of such anachronistic mythologies. Even Liz didn't put that level of stupidity on her manifesto.

And that's not all. Not only do they buy into the whole ‘Jesus is my saviour' thing – where Jesus saves you from what he would do to you if you don't let him save you – but they also seem to believe that an ethically dubious businessman and narcissistic reality-TV performer is Christ's modern-day equivalent.

I beg your pardon – they believe what!? That a man who seems fit to lead nothing more complex than a dance conga is some sort of messianic saviour? A man who has been impeached twice; has (allegedly) removed highly sensitive documents from the White House, and who appears to think it is politically acceptable to belittle his opponents with playground nicknames that a ten-year-old would think too childish? That man?

Yes, apparently this is the man that they see as their modern-day saviour and potential leader. Seriously? It truly beggars belief.

But back to the mid-terms. The sad truth is that at the time of writing, it looks like the Republicans may well take control of the House of Representatives, while thankfully the Senate seems to be staying Democrat. Of course, if the Republicans had lost the Senate, they would have cried ‘foul' and claimed ‘voter fraud', while had they won, they would have said it was a free and fair election (or at least as fair as it can be when they menaced voters with guns). And even with the House – and, of course, Trump's Supreme Court – being Republican, it will leave poor old Joe Biden finding himself hamstrung unless he dances to their tune.

All of this means that the world will have to watch in sick fascination as American politicians force their perverse and patently untrue religious views on the rest of their nation, whether or not other people happen to share such views. For example, we will see how an unfeeling clump of cells has its ‘rights’ prioritised over the health and rights of a living, breathing and feeling woman; how children are sent into the adult world believing that creation myths are the truth, while evolution, although proven, is not; and how the lives of schoolchildren are acceptable collateral damage in the fight to preserve gun ownership.

You might want to read that paragraph again, because it does seem to be very, very scary. It certainly scares the crap out of me.

Perhaps there is one ray of hope in this whole sorry mess. It is this: that the so-called ‘red wave' didn't happen to the extent that was predicted, and the majority of young Americans voted Democrat. If the Republican party (I hesitate to call it the GOP as I can't see anything about this lot that justifies the word ‘Grand') is able to rid itself of the current crop of christo-fascist MAGA extremists, then maybe, just maybe, there will be a role for it in the future of American democracy. If not, and – worst case – there is a second Trump presidency, then we might be looking at the death of democracy and some form of fascist coup. Then we would see a new theocratic regime based on Christian fundamentalism; and by that I mean the kind of mind-controlling regime that could make the Ayatollah himself feel quite envious.

OK, OK, I know what you're thinking. Yes, my conclusions are based on regurgitated tweets and Instagram posts from Democrat Americans that I follow, overlayed with my own rational secularism (or ‘atheism’ if you insist, although as I have previously pointed out, why should I define myself by my lack of belief in other people's unproven myths?). And no, I don't live and vote in the USA. But surely that's the point? I'm simply putting forward the perspective of those like me who live outside the USA. People who are powerless to influence what happens through America’s ballot, yet are actually affected by America's policies.

I thank you. Here endeth the rant.

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