This follows the post by Zipperupus yesterday: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/zipperupus/2009/11/orthodox-capitalism.php?ref=reccafe  Zip makes a clear and well-suported assertion that capitalism has become a religion.  I found it interesting that The New York Times would post an article suggestive of this on the very day I read Zip's post.  So I am sharing my thoughts about the article, wondering if others might see something similarly.

As protesters slither about Congress following speeches and exhortations from their leaders of faith, first and foremost Republican Congresswomen Michelle Bachmann and Virginia Foxx, it is a blatant fact that faith is at least one of the hooks bringing these people from across the country to Washington, DC.  Well, maybe it is not that important, but this MSM newspaper has seen fit to ensure it is made part of the narrative. 

 Another hook is the suggestion that the efforts are faithful to the principles of the Founding Fathers, saints of another religion known as nationalism.  A religion being adopted by some segments of Christianity as dogma and also encouraged by true-believer Capitalists.  It is not that Capitalists are Nationalistic patriots.  They love money no matter what the color.  But nationalism is a convenient hook to provoke mindless people to do their bidding.

My reference for this post is here at the New York Times.  On the front page of their website is the following article.  http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/on-the-hill-protesters-chant-kill-the-bill/?hp  In the post, the author makes an interesting description of the protesters: 

It's a generally older crowd, many in their 50s and 60s, predominantly, white, and many self-identified as Christians. They are fiercely conservative and deeply skeptical of the government, many of them adamantly opposed to abortion rights.

While one may not ever know the intention of the author, I found it curious that their Christianity was worthy of mention.  I thought with my conspiratorial mind that perhaps it was intended to reach the masses and help them identify with the protesters.  Let's ignore that there are certainly a wealth of Christians on each side of the argument.  I'm also going to ignore the racial profiling as that is a post worthy of its own concentrated analysis.  I'm remaining focused on religious aspects of these Tea Party fantasy role-players. 

To make the protesters heroic we are informed they are "fiercely conservative", but to return to that soft, Christian whisper made earlier, we are told they are "deeply skeptical", "deeply" being an adjective I would have expected to precede religious, but maybe they are suggesting this skepticism has a scent of religiousity, placing "Christian" and "deeply" as bookends of "fierce".  But again, who knows that the author's intention is.  Frankly, I am happy to hear they have some skepticism.  To be sure the faithful are bringing their understanding of Christianity to the fore, and perhaps to help the readers know the piety of these protesters, the author finishes the sentence with  "many of them adamantly opposed to abortion rights."  It just warms the religious heart.  

Skepticism leaves the building with the very next paragraph, however, a quote from a protester.  "The government couldn't even get the shots out," referring to the H1N1 flu vaccine. The protestor follows with, "Let's just get the government out of all this."  If one was to be skeptical of this declaration, one would ask, "What did the government do to prevent private industry from providing vaccines?  How was the government impeding private industry from manufacturing sufficient quantities of the vaccine?   Again, I want to stay on topic. I am not sure how a government ban on abortion gets the government "out of all this" either.  I wanted to focus on the quasi-religious nature of the people in Washington, DC, who were moved to attend this protest.  It seems in this regard that faith has prevailed over questioning.  It is faithful to the talking points to say one wants the government out, but it is oblivious to the lack of any private action to take its place serving the needs of the people.  To put it bluntly, the private sector failed utterly to take advantage of a peceived lack of inventory to innoculate the public.

To question the intent of the author, again, I note that one quote is from a man who travelled from Portland, Oregon, to attend the protest.  In Portland, the city so affectionately described as "Little Beirut" by George II [HWBush], there is no majority of Tea Party fans, so, without this knowledge, one might think Portland, as a city, supports this event.  Now does that seem like something a city who elected a gay mator would endorse?  No, but appearances are everything and in this article a miraculous appearance of a Portlander at the protest occurs with a call to get the government out by predominantly older, white, anti-abortion Christians. 

You have to believe this event was significant, as you see two states elect Republican governors.  But you also have to decline to ask the questions whether these governors were Conservatives, because they are not.  You also have to ignore the loss of a GOP seat in Upstate New York where the GOP moderate was driven-out like someone with leperousy, and a Democrat took the seat in a region that had been Republican since more then a decade before the American Civil War.

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed."  So these people believe in the free market, but do not see that it failed to provide vaccines.  These people believe in the private sector while they do not see Medicare as a government-run system they so fiercely defend.  These people believe the private sector will provide their healthcare, but do not see that this provision will be terminated with their employment, if the company folds, or they ever wish to work elsewhere.  These people believe they have coverage for their future health crises but do not see all those who are having a crisis not getting the coverage they also thought they had.     

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed."  Blessed?  In what way Charlie?  These people could use a little more skepticism.  If they did, they would put their faith in a diffferent place, maybe their government.