The Paradox of Patriarchal Politics

Before I begin, I'll let you know where I am politically. I'm a registered Republican and extremely conservative. Heck, I think Ronald Reagan is the father of our country. I vote when the polls are open. My values as a follower of Christ enter into my selections when I close the curtain behind me. And...that's the end of it. I don't hold up signs at anti-abortion/pro-life rallies. I don't protest at gay rights rallies and gay pride parades. I don't boycott anything (except the Lifetime Movie Network - I can't take the "colon" movies, i.e. "In the Name of Justice: The Sissy Sue Mahaffey Story"). I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh. I'm not a huge fan of Dr. James Dobson. I don't watch Glenn Beck. When I've seen his show in the past, he starts to cry about stuff, and I feel like I'm in a little, country Baptist church and someone just said something about Mama.


I love my country. I'm proud to be an American. I would fight for my country. But, my country is my country and my faith in God is my faith in God. I feel no compulsion or need to drape my faith with an American flag.


I'm generally turned off by ministers who use their platform to promote political causes, who write politically charged books that stir the fears of the sociopolitically paranoid segment of the Christian community while these ministers clean up at the cashbox and build a base of power and influence. In my opinion, it's largely through politically driven fear-mongering like this that the radically conservative elements of the homeschooling community embraced movements like Patriarchy as a means of social/cultural engineering. What better way to defeat those mean old, nasty liberal devils who want to pollute the souls of our children than to raise our own brand of heavily indoctrinated, obedient Christian soldiers who, if all goes according to formula, on these social issues of concern, will more closely resemble militant Palestinians than disciples of Christ. They'll be willing to continue the cause into the next generation, whether they ever genuinely understand it or not.


The most disturbing thing about the hyper-fundamentalist, patriocentric crowd, though, is the hypocrisy of every political position they take. They want the government out of their lives as much as possible, with intrusion at an absolute minimum, no Big Brother forcing them to do things they don't want, telling them how to do the things they are allowed to do. No controlling or meddling in their lives in areas the government has no right to be snooping and directing. They likely consider the old Soviet Union and it's oppressive communist system to be very much the "Evil Empire" Reagan described it as. Freedom, freedom, and more freedom, so they say. I'm with them so far.


They want corndogs, apple-pie, Pepsi and Coke, and freedom galore for everyone, so they say - except for their own families (who are treated like their own personal state property), ruling their own homes in the oppressive style of Stalin, and except for those with opposing political views. Freedom...for them to be unabated religious tyrants and control the lives of others.


Democracy for themselves. Communism for their families and enemies.


Maybe it's just me, but I just can't get the math to work out right.


To better understand what it's like to live in this kind of situation, I encourage you to read this guest post at Quivering Daughters. Lots of insight.