Following my post yesterday, I was sent the following quote:

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right” - Abraham Lincoln.

While a brilliant line by an incredibly gifted orator, Lincoln's quote completely misses the point. (Or perhaps exemplifies the point perfectly.)

Whether or not there is some higher being that is "always right" is completely irrelevant. What is relevant is in 2011 there are a very small handful of predominantly, middle aged white men in places like Rome, St. Lake City and Tehran, who feel that they and they alone each know what this "right" is and that they and they alone know how this "right" should be accepted by the 7 billion inhabitants of the world. Again, these are just men, human beings, mere mortals, who feel empowered to speak the "right" for a presumed higher being.

More troublesome, is that there are (currently) just 4 middle aged+- white men in the Republican party, competing to be the most powerful person in the world and each of the 4 feel a special connection to this knowledge of "right." The "right" that each of these believe has done harm to millions and the election of any one of these 4 to the most powerful position in the world could only bring devastation to millions around the world. One's personal belief system is a wonderful thing, but history has shown over and over that zealotry and forced conversion to a belief system will fail each and every time. This country was made great by its protection of the rights of others and by the people's tolerance of other's rights. This history is collapsing under the weight of the current era of right wing extremism whose fire is fanned by self serving politicians willing to say and do anything to get elected.

nuf said