Ten Commandments in Public

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."

-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.

If you're a Christian in Oklahoma City, thank Buddha that Lynn Westmoreland is not your representative.

A judge in Oklahoma City ruled today in favor of the Ten Commandments being displayed outside a government building, Yahoo reports. It's not just the Ten Commandments.

No, no. It's much more sly than that. Your rights are not being subverted in an obvious way. What would be the fun in that? They've got to be slowly chipped away until you have nothing but the mere shell of democracy lying broken on the floor of the kitchen, with the yolk having been sucked out over the course of a few decades. Wouldn't that be some stinky democracy?

Anyway, the judge ruled that - in this case - it is permissible for the Commandments to be shown in public. The Supreme Court has determined that such a practice is acceptable.

My beef is not with religion or even people wanting its doctrines getting displayed in a public places. Well, it is sort of. But I am more concerned with the sort of clandestine alterior motives behind it all.

What most people don't understand is that there really aren't any giant shifts in political, religious, etc. thought. All changes come gradually.

It would be very surprising to me if Roe v. Wade got overturned or religious zealots took over the government. The process, if it happened at all (and I don't think it will), would be slow and gradual.

For example, instead of trying to overturn RVW outright, lots of right-wing politicians have begun getting little things passed - little requirements - for women seeking abortions. Over the last two decades the right to an abortion has gotten more restrictive (and some good things have come of that, too, mind you) and eventually it will be all but impossible for a woman to have one.

But,

then it will be up to the other side to pull against it for awhile, to change things around a bit. Politics, like everything else, works in cycles. We're only experiencing a moderate right turn right now. The law of averages will eventually win out and things will start going the other direction.

Just think of how many people are sick of Republicans right now. It will change. Granted, it only took eight years for the public to tire of the Democrats' shenanigans, and my fear in that is that the cycles - let's call them the "Cycles of Averages" - will become shorter and shorter, allowing for less gradual shifts. This sort of mentality is much more pervasive and prone to upheaval than our present system, so be careful. That's all. Be careful.