Arrogating Americanism

If Prager speaks for a majority on the political right, then the right is wrong!

My deep respect for a friend (who made a sincere request) has caused me to make a valiant effort to struggle through a recent book by Dennis Prager.  The struggle began in the very introduction where Prager labels me - my life, my goals, my very nature - as un-American!

The link I used above directs the reader to the whole Google search for the man because there are many different avenues one may take to discover what he is supposed to represent.  What he represents to me is pure arrogance in the name of some imagined fundamental Christianity upon which our nation was supposedly founded.   He is wrong, despicable and damaging to any sound future of America!

The obvious fact that this man is intelligent and successful does not make him right; he is merely accepted by and supported by the right.  His major battle this book has launched is against the left. And the left he describes quite clearly as all of us who have views other than Christian conservatism.

Prager's claim that the Republican, right-wing political view is the ONLY one representing Americanism and that truth and the American Way are under attack from a sinister secular wave of socialism is the most flawed excuse for thinking I have witnessed in a long time.  And I am personally offended to hear that my whole way of life, as a Golden Rule-guided Humanist, is somehow UN-American! 

Then this Limbaugh in religious garb (crude nuttiness 2.0) has the temerity to invoke our founding fathers as backing for his claptrap.

Well, Mr. Prager - how's this for showing myself to be UN-American: I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!

At the very root of Americanism is the freedom of speech, and fools of all stripes engage in speech that may or may not offer any edification to mankind.  That applies to all I write and all that Prager writes.  But as far as my words go, they do not claim to be any authority on anything - only food for thought.  Prager wants all to heed his words because they are purportedly the paraphrasing of holy words and he readily claims attachment to a strong Christian heritage.  He also freely ascribes that heritage to our nation and wants all of us who proclaim no religious connection to buzz off and quit claiming to be Americans!

Prager fears the left and he fears the fact that progressives are pushing for improvements for our future, which includes the support of better education for our youth.  He fears youth itself!  He fears too much change will undermine the stable "goodness" of America.  Naturally, he has many fears; his whole claim to a sound connection to life is his firm belief in the fantasies and superstitions of religious teachings.  Traditional religious belief is to him, sacred and beyond examination.  He clearly cites The Enlightenment as the beginning of the troubles of humanity.  Those crazy eighteenth century thinkers who preached reason were never to be trusted!  Why, they even dared to question the Pope and sought a new foundation for living a good life, without the shackles of ethereal and infallible belief.  Prager obviously does NOT fear the infallibility of belief, as reasoning people do. 

Yes, I defend even this idiotic blathering as his right to print in books and sell to the public.  Never mind that I would like to see this book (Still The Best Hope) reach the top of the non-seller list!

Does Prager, or do any of his ilk, even know that our great nation and powerful constitution were founded on this wave of enlightenment rather than on Christian tenets?  The fact that our forefathers were bright enough to assure a freedom of religion (which includes a freedom from religion), has been a major contributing factor to our true Americanism and to our success as a government.  Does he even grasp that if it weren't for the secularism built into our government (which is frightfully close to being overwhelmed by Christian radicalism today) we would not likely have survived as a free nation?  He probably detests the above quote about free speech because it is manifestly from the writings of the enlightened, whether penned by Voltaire or by Beatrice Hall who edited The Friends of Voltaire - or maybe by some other enlightened soul.  The thought is so deeply American in its intent that little else can compare to it in exemplifying the Americanism which Prager so glibly tries to pilfer and turn into some Christian ideology. 

It is due to a morality based in enlightened understanding, a much more fundamental and work-a-day morality than Prager's flawed concept of unassailable Christian morality, that even allows him to write such irresponsible bovine fecal material and sell it to other fearful souls for his own profit.  Welcome to the real America where we tolerate fools.