God and Fascism

During the 24-7 pope coverage I caught a few moments of Colin Powell delivering his reflections on the pontiff and his influence - and articulating a point that might be lost on those who keep waving their arms about theocracy.

Those who assembled the constitution were products of the enlightenment, and they thought - get this - that our rights came from God. The framers believed that basic freedom wasn't simply a noble idea, or a nice-to-have, or something invented after a few drinks - but something constructed in the very essence of the human design with a divine hand.

And because our rights come from God, we are inoculated against tyranny. No man can take these rights away - be it Stalin, Mussolini, Ashcroft, Hussein, King George III, or MGM.

Governments, at their best, can only secure these rights. And Pope John Paul II could recognize true fascism in the communists and Nazis he saw in Poland - systems that were built to deny those rights. And while he understood that capitalism had the potential to obscure the importance of the individual with materialism - he saw it was much better than the alternative.

Which is why I don't have time for people bitching about fascism.

Don't talk to me about some pantywaist book clerk who got a mean phone call. If you soberly think because we’ve got a few Neanderthals like DeLay walking around for our entertainment – or because, during the last election, Christians voted like Christians - that because of things like this we are truly living under fascism - then you are either willfully narrow-minded or you don’t know anything about history.

Try reading a book.