God and Halliburton

Our weak minded, (but warm-hearted!) president -- The President of Good and Evil, to borrow philosopher Peter Singer's description –- clearly sees himself as a moral leader on the order of Jehovah in the Old Testament. When asked by Bob Woodward in the run up to war if he had sought the advice of his father, the first president Bush, he replied: "He is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength. There is a higher power I appeal to." (cited on page 84 in "The Abuse of Evil," which I review below).

As Richard Bernstein, author of "The Abuse of Evil" says, it's okay that George W. Bush has strong religious beliefs, but "...such an appeal to the Almighty in his making political decisions is antithetical to the spirit of democratic politics, debate, and deliberation. Because the world of political action always involves unforeseen consequences, reasoned doubt is always appropriate when making momentous decisions. But this is a president that does not admit to having made any significant mistakes." (pages 84-85).

Jehovah, the original "war president" doesn't make mistakes either. That's because, as God, He is infallible. He righteously rains down death and destruction upon His people when they deserve it, and their foes when His people need help. But what's really admirable about Him, in my opinion, is that He and His Family and His Cronies never stood to realized a single cent in profit when He served up his calamitous object lessons about the nature of good and evil. After The Flood, for instance, He didn't send in his buddies at Halliburton to do the clean-up.

When conservatives talk about their "values," they only pay lip service to Jesus' teachings in the New Testament to "love thy neighbor," and "turn the other cheek:" I'm referring here to their blather about "compassionate conservatism." It is the Old Testament God, the "vengeful God" they actually prefer and emulate. Conservatives like nothing more than to cast their foes as corrupt and sinful, charge that they have fallen away from the Lord God and His commandments, smite them, and then, when no one's looking, lay their big groping hands on whatever loot they can.