Our Father who art in Heaven—stay there...

I have been following this presidential election more closely than any other of its calibre in my life for the simple reason that, for the first time, I will get to vote in it this year.  Despite the back-and-forth diatribes made ever more annoying by the televised ads and by the internet; and despite the annoyance that Palin's person brings to me personally, there is something that gives me a mild satisfaction about how this campaign has unfolded on both sides:  the minor role played by religion.

I was glad to see that neither of the candidates mentioned god in his speeches beyond making it known that they were men of god or beyond the iteration of slogans and clichés such as 'God bless America.'  This has been the case for the two presidential nominees and for Biden, yet Palin has been much more unabashed about her fundamental Christian beliefs and more than suggestive about bringing those convictions in her executive policy-making, should she (___ forbid!) find herself in the White House or in the Oval Office.  Perhaps this side of hers that she has shown in her speeches and interviews is part of the reason why I dislike her as much as I do.  I cannot help but see the fundamentalist bigot resurface in her when words like 'Muslim,' 'science,' or 'gay' come up in conversations, interviews, or questions.  In addition, she is the one who, more often than others, has brought up the issue of religion, specifically by constantly questioning Obama's faith at her rallies, only to then rejoice in and be invigorated by the bigoted, racist, xenophobic, ignorant response of the crowd.  She knows how to arouse such a mob and she just nods repeatedly at the end of such statements.  I find that unforgivable in a figure that seeks election to an executive office.

I apologise for digressing for a moment.  It's just that the woman annoys me a great deal and there is a lot of bile I can spill on her.  Returning to my previous point, I would like to add that I retain the hope that in an Obama administration religion will again take a back seat and be there only to guide him as a person and not as President of the United States and much less as an ideal in the making of long-term policies.  

At the same time, I cannot help but be wary of what is inevitably going to come:  a revival of extreme right-wing 'values' justified and energised by fundamental Christian values and spearheaded in part by... you guessed it—Sarah Palin.  She will not be the only one, however; she will merely be one of the representative figures who, with fundamental religion as a justifier, will appeal to the basest and ugliest aspects of human nature that will further divide this country and engender more divisiveness.  That is why I fear that in four years the presidential election will be quite different from this year's and the punches out of the right wing will be coordinated by staunch fundamentalists who—to my chagrin and to their credit—have proved in the past that they can revive themselves and a political party through a grassroots movement.  

The only remedy to that situation would be a strong and prosperous Obama-Biden administration that will revive the economy, give a satisfactory solution to our wars overseas (while refraining from starting others), restore hope among Americans, de-vilify our image in the world, dispel all doubts that Democrats are weak in defense and prove the fallacy of the equation LIBERAL = HIGH TAXES = REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH = SOCIALIST = COMMIE = ATHEIST = IMMORAL = EVIL.  

I am tired of this line of (il)logic....