Did I Read That Correctly?

Today I stumbled across a blog post titled “The Democratic Party Has Turned Into A Cult” from REVJAB. Some of the claims made by the author about the Democratic Party include:

- “An all-out selling of soul to ends-justify-the-means, operationally married to "ethics" only when and if it has some helpful persuasive PR effect.”
- “Blind, amoral devotion to a leader that completely disregards and/or excuses the sexual, financial, and ethical evils of the leader(s).”

After you read the above mentioned article, check out what Religious Tolerance.org says about cults. It’s a good explanation, and a very unbiased explanation.

I guess now I am a member of this Democratic Party Cult right? I’ve been involved in Democratic politics for a while, and I have many friends and family who are Democrats, and I just have never seen much of the “Cultish” ways of the Party. If you read what Religious Tolerance has to say, you will find out that typically a “cult” has a charismatic and authoritarian leader. For those of you who know the Democratic party, you are chuckling right now because rarely are the Democrats unified. I sometimes feel that they are more unified against George W. Bush than for John Kerry. And charismatic? I like Kerry, but he is not the most charismatic person in the world.

As for the two quotes from the REVJAB post I have mentioned above, I know there are some people in the Democratic Party that are all about selling out and using “ethics” to get something, but heck the Republicans have their fair share of this. George W’s good buddy Ken Lay at Enron sold out his employees. Former Speaker Newt “Contract with America” Gingrich sold out his first wife when she was sick with cancer, and sold out his second wife to get with a staffer. If I remember correctly the “Contract for America” was all about values right? The point I want to make here is that both Parties sell out and will continue to sell out. Both will use “ethics” to gain votes. Does this make either Party a cult? No.

This blind amoral devotion the author talks about is also laughable. I don’t have a blind amoral devotion to any politician or any other person for that matter. None of the Democrats I know of have it either. Although I do know a good number of Republicans who believe George W. Bush has no flaws, if that counts. So far I am not seeing a connection between the Democratic Party and cults.

I think what may be hard for the author to handle is that the Democrats do a better job at being tolerant. As far as I can tell, the Democratic Party has never declared themselves as the only righteous political party. Political parties are not meant to be Churches, they are not meant to be religions. Some parties may be more accepting of differences, others may not. I’d say that the Democrats accepting non-Christians into their ranks is very non-cultish. Cults are supposed to be authoritarian and oppressive, allowing people with different beliefs into the group and letting them keep their beliefs is definitely not oppressive and authoritarian.

Maybe I am blinded by my devotion to some politician. However, I cannot figure out who I am blindly devoted to. There is no candidate running who I like 100%. Heck, no candidate running that I like 80%, except for Cobb running for the Green Party, maybe.

Maybe I am selling out. I am not sure to whom I am selling out and they are not giving me anything in return.

If anyone really believes the Democratic Party is a cult, please let me know.