Friday, February 28, 2003

Fundamentalism in a $1500 suit

Words fail me in trying to describe how wrongwrongwrong and dangerousdangerousdangerous is the man installed at the head of George W. Bush’s Justice Department.  John Ashcroft’s misunderstanding of American values and American ideals isn’t merely monumental ... given the position of power he holds, he has already wrought immense damage to the United States and to its Constitution, and every day he remains in that position he is likely to continue to wreak such damage.

Example number whoknowshowmany:

In response to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision not to take up the Pledge of Allegiance “under God” question, Ashcroft promises to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.  His statement, as quoted in Adam Liptak’s story in the NYTimes:

"The Justice Department will spare no effort to preserve the rights of all our citizens to pledge allegiance to the American flag.  We will defend the ability of Americans to declare their patriotism through the time-honored tradition of voluntarily reciting the Pledge."

Has he no understanding of the facts of the case?  Does he not know that the two words in dispute were added to the Pledge in June 1954, nearly 62 years after its origin?  Is he not aware that the Pledge of Allegiance that he recited when he was eight years old didn’t contain the words “under God"?

The case has absolutely nothing to do with patriotism, allegiance, or the flag.  It’s about the First Amendment, about the separation of church and state, about imposition of religion under public auspices.  In his fevered fundamentalist brain, John Ashcroft does not understand that the United States of America is not a Christian nation.