Gingrich inveighs the Ghost of Politics Past at Liberty University Commencement

Maybe it's because I'm gay; however, every student or graduate I've met over the years from Liberty University has been gay. Is there a gay-thing going on in 'Liberty-ville' ?

This week America said good-bye to the Reverend Jerry Falwell---the moralist and politician---who very nearly single-handedly spoiled any hope of American religion remaining a spiritual refuge and nourishment by breaching the time-honored tradition of the separation of church and state in theses United States.

Falwell was a much a part and parcel--a cause really--of the very culture he spent so much time denigrating and lambasting. Falwell was so sickened with American "secularism," perhaps better termed American humanism, that he felt the calling from God to create his own university when the public schools--a fine tradition in themselves--could no longer be counted on to blindly spew outr that sort of propaganda and moralistic urgings on which Falwell and his ilk thrive.

Newt Gingrich--the politician perhaps most to blame for the current sad state of civil society and public discourse in this country today--according to the Associate Press (AP) had this to say at Liberty's commencement exercises yesterday:

"A growing culture of radical secularism declares that the nation cannot profess the truths on which it was founded..."

"We are told that our public schools can no longer invoke the creator, nor proclaim the natural law nor profess the God-given quality of human rights."

"In hostility to American history, the radical secularists insist that religious belief is inherently divisive and that public debate can only proceed on secular terms."

Gingrich is washed-up. A sad symbol of the divisive nature of  American politics from 1978 to 2007. The same politics that has resulted in the presidency of George W. Bush, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the growing division between the affluent and the poor, the disappearing middle class, globalization and the break-down of our national borders, the healthcare crisis, privatization, the unprecedented collusion of government and religious fundamentalists via the Office of Faith-based Initiatives, and the culture of complaint.

Gingrich's interpretation of revolutionary America is not history so much as the type of agenda-driven drivel and political propaganda that denigrates our political process and divides Americans. Essentially Gingrich, like Karl Rove, is hateful by nature. Insistent on dividing America, quick to charge, fast to attack, low on personal faith and public solutions. Overall a low common denominator.

Ask Mr. Gingrich to seriously name those radical secularists who have any real influence over public policy and governmental processes today. Funny that the founding fathers talked about the public square, not the public pulpit.

"We are told..."  We are told what and by who, Newt? Since you belittle everyone you meet, you typically forget that many of us do not need to be told anything because many Americans are smart enough to figure it out for themselves.

Strange, isn't it, that public schools would be avoidant of secular biases. Really hard to believe, Newt.

Even harder to believe that American courts would be "biased," as Gingrich cleverly puts it in favor of the separation of church and state since, after all, the Nation was founded on that doctrine. So much for "original intent." I guess that what they teach at Liberty University. 

Gingrich also decried what he called judges' overreaching efforts to separate church and state.

"Too often, the courts have been biased against religious believers. This anti-religious bias must end," he said.

Of course, if we don't teach history, as a new study of eighth graders in the U.S. suggests, then it is so much easier to indoctrinate the young just like the NDSAP did in the 1930s.

Ahhhhh...Newt Gingrich's vision of a "new America."