Rob Kall asked an incisive question. Why are about 100 million Americans allowing themselves to be screwed over by the powers that be? I asked God about that and got an equivocal answer.

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As I've mentioned before, God occasionally stops by for a cup of coffee on his way to work.   This morning I asked him Rob Kall's question about why 100 million or so Americans are not marching in the streets, protesting being screwed over by just about all of the powerful, the banks, the corporations, the insurance companies, and especially the United States Congress.

God said that he has wondered about that, too.   He said that the majority of people who are born into and live their entire life in reduced circumstances will accept the way things are, up to a point and that point hasn't been reached yet.   He said that there have been six major peasant revolts from the 14th century up until the early 20th century.   Those revolts came about when conditions became so oppressive that they endangered even minimal subsistence living.   At that point they have nothing to lose and revolt is all they have left.

I asked God why did our economic system break down, leaving us in such a horrific financial situation.   He said:

"Look at your congress.   There is a perfect example if why?   You've got 277 Republicans out of a population of over 310,000,000 who are hellbent on using Republican ideology and the false issue of a debt ceiling in order to bring even more poverty and suffering to the unwealthy, and to make them pay for the privileges of the wealthy.

"If you want to know why you're in the fix you're in, look at the countries that have the highest standard of living in the world for all their people, that have universal health care for all their people.   Norway, Sweden and Denmark all have that kind of system.   And, they have accomplished that by getting rid of Republicans in their government.

"Sure, they have right-wing, conservative ideologues, like that guy who recently killed all those people in Norway.   But, they don't let them run their country, like you do here.   You see, Democrats get elected to congress to get re-elected to congress.   Republicans get elected to congress, not to govern, but to impose Republican ideology on your country."

I asked why do Republicans refer everything back to their ideology, no matter how damaging it is.

"It has to do with their psychology.   The reason they've adopted conservative ideology is that the basic premise of conservatism is, no changes, everything must stay the same.   And, the reason some people must live in a world without change, that is static, is that they don't have the mental capacity to cope with change.   Their lives must be made up of only that with which they are familiar, that offers no challenges, no new information, and the threat of any new experience because they cannot learn from experience.

"Conservative ideology in all areas, social, economic, political and religious spans only the spectrum from hopeless to catastrophic.

"For them, their entire life is their ideology, and when facts contradict that ideology, they ignore or lie about the facts, as was demonstrated by the statement that "that wasn't meant to be a factual statement.' In other words that was an admission that it was a lie.   And, since their ideology is all they've got, they live in a world of paranoia and fear, as shown by that Bachmann woman who ran from a restroom screaming for help and the police when a woman only wanted to ask her a question.   There's full-blown paranoia.

"That Bachmann woman and that Palin woman are able to dip down into their bottomless wells of ignorance and pull up whole fantasy worlds, especially to their own liking.   They are unconstrained by those pesky requirements, reason, logic and truth.

I asked, what causes the Republicans to be that way.

"Well, they have a lot of help from famous hypocrites and liars.   Take that awful Limbaugh person as just one of the fear-mongers and race baiters.   His whole life is the product of the improvements made by progressives, the invention of money, of which he has accumulated millions, instead of the barter system, the invention of radio, where he gets his money, and the invention of automobiles, which he uses to get about and to go to work.

"All the while, Limbaugh denigrates and blames progressives for all problems in the world, when the truth is that if it weren't for progressives, Limbaugh would have to waddle down the street, shouting at people, verifying that he is a psychotic liar."

I asked God if there is any hope for the enlightenment of the Republicans, the bringing them to a point where they can enjoy the benefits of civilization and culture.

"No, there is no hope for them.   They are living the very circumscribed life of the hunter-gatherers of 50,000 years ago, where small tribes made up what human organization there was, and where everything and everyone outside the tribe was viewed as a threat, and usually was.   The Republicans retain that primitive mind-set that lasted 10 times as long as the rise of civilization 5000 years ago.   They have not been able to join the rest of you in the progress made during that 5000 years.

"In fact, with their reliance on their blind ideology that they offer as the solution to the very problems that it has caused, I expect the Republicans to regress even further away from civilization and culture to a more primitive way of living, worshipping a great stone figure of a closed fist with a raised middle finger.   That would be their god of conservatism, YOYO, You're On Your Own."

God said he had to be going, something about problems out at the far edge, running out of space for an expanding, evolving Universe, and he was gone.  

Authors Bio:
Ed Martin is an ordinary person who is recovering from being badly over-educated. Born in the middle of the Great Depression, he is not affiliated with nor a member of any political, social or religious organization. He is especially interested in the phenomenon of those who view the glaringly obvious with total incomprehension, in other words, out political, social and religious leaders.