The Decadence of American Conservatism

In the birth of the American experiment there grew two roots. One root is the secular enlightment that was nurtured by Paine, Jefferson, and Franklin types and the other root is the puritan instinct that the Christian fundamentalists nurtured. These two roots have battled for the soil and the ability to grow to fruition in the same pot. They have been bumping clumsly into one another and making entwining compromises along the way.

Modern conservatism with its relatively recent success in politics has grown a taste for power and this power is easily corrupting the movement. It has become a form concerned with power rather than with the actual individual lives of its members. It is more interested in the spoils of power than the purity and principle of its own people. Indeed an interesting dichotomy has been developing in conservative households. Homes that have a taste for liberalism in entertainment, education, music, and in the daily choices of the family. A liberalism with its children and a high divorce rate among evangelical unions is common place. The quest for consumerism and money is as strong as any secular Gordon Gecko. It seems liberalism in every arena except in the political one and this points to a quest for self- indulgent power not for individual integrity.

This is a sign of a decadent corrupt movement. One that goes to church on Sunday morning and then watches their favorite violent and sexual television show in the afternoon. One that commits fornication at night and then attacks sex education in the day. One that advocates for a fetus but sexually abuses a child and covers it up with bribes. One that commits adultery in the dark and then attacks gay marriage in the open. You would think that with the high divorce rate in conservative households they would be much more interested in reforming their own homes than outwardly attacking other peoples choices. But self-righteousness and humble self -examination are not able to coexist easily.

History seems to indicate that religion is corrupted by state and government power and vice versa. Christianity seemed to be at its highest point in purity when it was persecuted and alienated. When the Emperor Constantine infused the church with money and power it is plain to see the corrupting impact it had on the church and its hierarchy. Once the church lost its vision to change and reach people on the inside through persuasion and integrity and switched its emphasis to political power and influence to change people on the outside through force and bullying it became a decadent form and a bastard child of its actual foundation.

The New Testament Jesus seemed more concerned with judging those inside his flock than those outside. His target was not Pilate or Roman politicians but rather the spiritual leaders of his day. If Jesus of Nazareth entered the American scene it seems rather obvious that his targets would be greedy television preachers and sexually abusive priests than the likes of Obama or the Democratic party. His mission seemed more keen on changing peoples hearts than a political grab for power in Rome. To get really technical the historical Jesus, a bearded man who originated from Palestine, spoke Aramaic, and whose appearance would resemble very few people in the American South would ironically be a liability to the modern conservative politician on image alone. The irony itself is proof of its shallowness and decadence. It has lost its claim to universal truth when it has limited itself to only a specific time and a specific place in America.



Modern American conservatism has become so superficial and xenophobic that they would judge the historical Jesus as an outsider, "not like us", other, different, and perhaps a secret terrorist. The obvious truth is that the Palin rallies in Columbus Ohio in 2008 are very far away from Palestine 2,000 years ago. A modern American chrisitan is altogether a different creature than the original faithful in ancient Palestine. This is a rather straight point but the fact that these people who claim to know and represent this Jesus cannot even think on this is a sign of the bankruptcy and intellectual dishonesty of this unexamined movement. It lacks "metacognition" the ability to think about itself in context and instead relys on the narrow limitations of its immediate surroudings. The decadence of American conservatism is that it has traded away its internal integrity for a play at power to force a standard of living on others that it fails to uphold in its own homes and congregations. It resembles not the historical Jesus or the New Testament version but a Jesus that is somehow an english speaking American that revels in power politics and money making schemes. Charlatans and political power lead the way to the frugal and passive Nazarene? One of the ironies of the Bush political system and use of the religious right is that its master mind is an agnostic by the name of Karl Rove.


The hypocrisy is there to see but there is also another injustice. The murder of wisdom for the sake of the appearance of morality. So much wisdom is censored in the cause of this puritan instinct that aims to hide from human reality and break the mirrors that reflect ugly truths. To the christianist the mirrors are the enemy not the actual moral failings in the dark. Tupac Shakur was attacked for his raw music and language and he stated, "You censor me you censor the lessons I learned." He once told a person who confronted him about his harsh lyrics that when the community starts to clean up the ghetto he will start to clean up his language. Until then he was going to hold up the mirror and not suppress the injustice and ugliness that went on in the daily lives of people. Tupac despised Victorian polite society that had no problem doing the deed but dare not say it in public.

Hiding human frailty in the dark is corrupting because it censors lessons and wisdom and opens the door to more hypocrisy and ignorance in the day light. If American conservatism has the courage to expose itself in the light and risk political power for doing so it might be able to make its way back to the road of credibility. Until then the politics and the money reign supreme in the movement and the pursuit of bigger church memberships and the political will to power will override personal and private integrity as the priority.