great Goldwater quote on the tyranny of religious zealots

[welshTerrier2]

i received this Goldwater quote today in an email from Randi Rhodes:

Goldwater: "I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?"

Goldwater was dead on the money with his observation that certain so-called religious groups have become a political force so that they can dictate their moral beliefs to other citizens ... the phrase "moral majority" embodies incredible disrespect for those, whether they are a minority or NOT, who disagree ... what are the rest of us, immoral ??? are those who profess such a "holier than thou" attitude
taught to see all others with such disrespect??? is that what their religion has taught them ???

We suffer with the tyranny and the exploitation of these so-called religious groups because we do NOT adequately teach our citizens about democracy ... this is NOT some type of vague, idealistic, wishy-washy concept ... in fact, those practicing most of the great religions of the world should understand that democracy, like religion, requires putting the good of society ahead of your own selfish motivations ... i have often heard the question asked: "how can you expect me to vote against the teachings of my own religion?" ... and the answer is that in a democracy, you should be voting to protect not just the beliefs of YOUR religion but the belief in democracy that protects the beliefs of EVERY citizen ...

Christian fundamentalists who are politically active have no respect whatsoever for the ideals and practice of democracy ... their goal is to impose (or as Goldwater observed, "dictate") their morals on the rest of society ... they don't understand that their religious liberty is predicated on a system that allows each person to follow their own beliefs without the imposition of government-mandated regulations ...

But who is standing up to preach democracy??? ... why must it be relegated to something we only teach to young school children?? How can we hope to preserve our democratic institutions when so few of our citizens truly understand the role they must play in protecting Constitutional freedoms? and who is delivering this daily message to the American people? other than Senator Byrd waving his dog-eared copy of the Constitution around on the Senate floor, the message is just not getting out ...

If we truly want to preserve our freedoms and reclaim our country from the tyranny of corporate rule and the exploitation by (and of) a badly misguided and ignorant group of religious zealots, we need to make fighting for democracy job one ... the most logical political force to lead the charge is the Democratic Party ... these are radical and revolutionary ideas ... we are talking here about firing the first shots in a new American revolution ... it is radical; it is extreme; and it is very, very necessary ...

The Democratic Party needs to go beyond the wonkiness of arguing about the separation of Church and State ... we need to start educating Americans about the role they must play in protecting our democratic institutions ... we need to shine the brightest spotlights on every example that seeks to trample on the vision of liberty encapsulated in the Constitution ... if we can't rise above the "Democrats are anti-business" propaganda of the corporate state and the "America is a Christian nation" cries of the religious right, i see very little point to fighting the many other battles we engage in ... absent a democracy, where the best interests of each and every citizen sits at the core of public policy, citizens truly have no power and any gains we might make are merely illusory and transitory ...