Our World View
Separation of Church and State
Hopefully, you don't watch the nightly newscast of NBC, CBS, ABC or the other idiots who present the nightly news. If you do, you are probably confused by their terminology. The following is a explanation of their drivel.
Origins of terms "Left Wing" and "Right Wing":
During the French Revolution, the First Republic convened an elected Parliament. The Parliament met in a semicircular room and the speaker sat in the middle of the room. It did not take too long before factions developed and they grouped together. The Liberal members of the French Parliament sat to the speakers left. The conservative members of the Parliament sat to the right of the speaker. More moderate members sat in between the two diametrically opposed factions. That bit of information will get you a cup of coffee at Java Retreat (that little bit of information and a couple of dollars in your pocket) actually.
If they (meaning the nightly news talking heads) refer to the Republicans and their agenda , they love to say the word "right wing conservatives. " Then a few days later, during a story they will call a military dictatorship in Central America "fascist" and/or "conservative right wing." This goes on for weeks at a time. They do this often enough to where the average Joe six pack, sitting on his couch, eating a TV dinner actually believes that "fascist dictatorship" is a right wing and "conservative" government; and when they call the Republicans "right wing" or "conservative," the implication is that the Republican party is a bunch of fascists. This may sound stupid, but that is the analogy that the average viewer of the NBC, CBS and ABC news draws. This, we base upon the constant barrage of terminology mix up accomplished by the nightly news. Josef Goebles (minister of propaganda for Hitler) said it best, "if you tell a lie long enough, and yell it loud enough...people will believe the lie."
We at Sutter Lies have a different approach to government. We rank groups based upon the amount of government control they want. Since there is very little, if no difference between the political parties (i.e., Democrats or Republicans), we call them Republicrats. We view political parties according the amount of control they wish do impose upon individual liberty and freedom. Let us, for a moment, examine Conservatives and Liberals.
Liberals: people like Michael Moore, Senator Harry Reid and Al Franken, although they are social liberals, they need high taxes and a big government so they can engage in confiscatory tax policies so they can re-distribute the wealth. Pay up, or else they will send the police to your door and shoot you and take what they want.
Conservatives: people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck laud private enterprise, but still need high taxes to fund their big government so they can enforce their morality upon you. "Conservatives" are really in a quandary, they mouth "small government" but need the power of the police to enforce their will.
The Taliban ruling class , when they were the shot callers in Afghanistan, sent out nightly, what members of our group entitled "The Fun Police." They go from house to house and see if you are watching a western movie on the VCR, playing cards or listening to an "unauthorized" radio program. In Afghanistan, there is NO separation of "church" and "state." In the Muslim world, the clergy calls the shots. In Islam, theirs is a society where individuals do not have the right to choose things a simple as what movie to watch. This is not only true in Afghanistan, but in the nations of our so called allies like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. I loved it when all those pro-women's and feminist groups decried the female circumcisions performed daily in Afghanistan. Yet they said nothing about this procedure being conducted in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia (and probably being performed right here in Yuba City).
Separation of Church and State:
The movies Chocolate and Quills show what happens when church and state are mixed. In Chocolate (not a great movie by any standard, but you should watch it when it comes out on free TV), the local priest, who is also the Mayor of a town, uses his pulpit to decry the "immorality" of the owner of a candy store. You see, the Mayor/Priest discovers the woman is a, gasp, single mother. As Mayor, he uses his bully pulpit to force the woman out of business and out of town. Is it the job of the Mayor (who is also a Catholic Priest) to make social judgments regarding a persons personal morality (or lack thereof)? In Quills, the Cardinal of Paris is seen lobbying the Emperor Napoleon to imprison a writer (the Marquis De Sade) for his writing. Both movies (although somewhat fictional) show what happens when an out of control clergy controls the civil government to an extent that the civil authorities do the bidding of the clergy. This control is at the expense of personal liberty and freedom. Religious types, like Pat Robertson (although called a "conservative" by people like the major network talking heads), are not true conservatives. They want this great theocratic government, inspired by God and funded by tax dollars, not to guide men in their personal belief, but to control their every thought and action in a twisted type of "group salvation". To people of faith it may sound nice but our Constitution; not the Bible or a foreign governments laws or a "Holy Man," should be the guide on how men act and government be administered.
Pascal said it best, "Men do evil thoroughly and completely when done for religious motives."
In our world, there is no "Left Wing" or "Right Wing." Anarchy. a state of insanity wherein everyone does their own thing without regard to his fellow neighbor. True conservatism (less government and more individual responsibility) or "Totalitarianism" (more or total government control and less individual responsibility). It is that simple. You are either a fan of a large government which controls your thoughts, entertainment, movements and every aspect of your daily life (like the Islamic theocratic governments of Iran Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan); or you believe in a limited constitutional Republic which gets the hell out of your way and lets you do your thing.
Well, where do you stand? Do you stand for the limited Republic of the US Constitution, or do you want the government to tell you what to do? Tell us.