Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:15 pm
The differences between the Republican and Democratic Parties have been made ever more apparent by their respective conventions. The Republican convention was dark – full of angst, hate, and a dystopian image of an America that as many have noted, Republicans among them, has no basis in fact.
What coverage of the Democratic National Convention has shown is its entire opposite: love instead of hate, joy instead of anger, compassion instead of condemnation, unity instead of division, and an acknowledgement that while not perfect, America is already great.
As a polytheist, I do not subscribe to dualistic views of the universe, of a mighty and eternal struggle between good and evil. The idea that everything is black and white, good and evil, is a logical fallacy.
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Sure, there are always more than two choices, and our primary process is designed to give us this – and you should always run from those who tell you that you have only two – but at this point, we are seeing a struggle between good and evil.
So like it or not, dualism guides our way, and the way is all ‘Lord of the Rings’ at this point, either into light, or into darkness. The GOP has posited a dark, troubled world, something like 2008 but only worse, and the Democratic vision offers us a world that, while not perfect, is troubled, yet full of promise.
The Republican response to these imaginary ills of theirs, like a shattered economy that Obama has already repaired, or joblessness that Obama has already overcome, is to elect a dictator. To somehow convince us that the best way to protect the Constitution is to destroy it, and the best way to save Democracy is a turn to oligarchy.
This is ridiculous, of course. Republicans don’t really want to save the Constitution. It’s mostly an inconvenience to them. And their argument is a sham. If we held to the original meaning of the Constitution, blacks would still be slaves and worth only three-fifths of a white person.
It is ironic but not surprising that the only parts of the Constitution Republicans really like are not even articles of the original Constitution, but later additions, the Second and Tenth Amendments.
They don’t want a “living” Constitution – except for the parts they like.
Nor do they care much about Democracy. If they did, they would not be so busy trying to disenfranchise as many people as possible. Republicans are in thrall to the 1 Percent, and what favors the 1 Percent better than oligarchy – the rule of the 1 Percent?
You can watch the GOP Convention or read the transcripts. You can watch the Democratic National Convention and read the transcripts. And you can decide for yourself which party has a clearer grasp of reality.
The Democrats are having fun. There is joy, the joy of Democracy, in their convention. The Republicans were just angry, which is apparently how O’Reilly’s white people have a good time. They love to hate, and they will never run out of people or things to hate.
Donald Trump lurks in his dark tower, hating the world below him, while Democrats are more akin to Tolkien’s elves, a part of and unafraid of the world, and loving it, nurturing it and each other. Rather than excluding, Democrats are looking to bring as many into the party as they can: Democracy’s many voices rather than an oligarch’s one.
It is a simple view of the world perhaps, but the Republican Party, in birthing Donald Trump like a dark lord, have made the choice very simple for us.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
