Reading the U.S. Constitution Through The Eyes of Fear, Myopia and Demagoguery

We The People
by  Garrett Epps
Writing for The Nation
May-June 2011 
Reprinted in Utne Reader


  In October I spent a crisp Saturday in the windowless basement of a suburban Virginia church attending a seminar titled “The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution.” I was told that the Constitution is based on the Law of Moses; that Mosaic law was brought to the West by the ancient Anglo-Saxons, who were probably the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel; and that the Constitution restores the fifth-century kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons.

The instructor, an Arizona judge named Lester Pearce, also declared that virtually all of modern American life and government is unconstitutional. Social Security, the Federal Reserve, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, hate crime laws—all flatly violate God’s law. State governments are not required to observe the Bill of Rights, and the First Amendment establishes “the religion of America,” which is “nondenominational” Christianity.

Pearce’s brother is Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, author of the anti-immigrant law SB 1070. So it wasn’t surprising that Lester tended to digress about how he cracks down on Mexican immigrants in court. More astounding was that he had the rapt attention of 50 attendees—earnest citizens who had come to learn about their country’s Constitution.

And what they were being taught was poisonous rubbish.

Americans today are frightened and disoriented. In the midst of uncertainty, they are turning to the Constitution for tools to deal with crisis. The far right is responding to this demand by feeding their fellow citizens mythology and lies.

The seminar I attended was organized by the National Center for Constitutional Studies. Nestled securely in Malta, Idaho (population 177), the NCCS was the Cold War brainchild of the late W. Cleon Skousen, a prominent John Bircher. The center’s revisionist ideology and, in particular, its educational programs are touted on the air by Fox firebrand Glenn Beck. Across the country, civic groups, school districts, and even some city governments have been persuaded to sponsor daylong seminars by the self-proclaimed “nonpartisan” organization.

Read the rest of the article here 

Gay Activist and Spiritual Writer Toby Johnson Gives His Erudite Take On The Goddess Mythology of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" Video

 Lady Gaga Walks the Weird Wall: Toby Johnson Reflects on the Goddess Mythology of BORN THIS WAY

 Lady Gaga's new music video for “Born This Way” begins with a powerful creation myth.

In a voiceover with eerie and dramatic space music, Gaga begins: “This is the manifesto of Mother Monster.” She then describes a birth of magnificent and magical proportions: it was the infinite birth of the mitosis of the future, infinite wombs giving birth to infinite new life—and it is eternal! It is the birth of a new race within the race of humanity, an evolution into a race that is without prejudice, without judgment, only boundless freedom. This is the birth from the Eternal Mother of the Multiverse.

But at the same time, there is another birth: the birth of Evil. And She Herself is split in two, rotating in agony between two ultimate forces. It seems so obvious that everyone would choose good, but the Mother wonders, “How can I protect something so perfect without evil?”

Then begins the song “Born This Way.” The song is unabashedly gay positive, with lyrics like “Don’t be a drag – Just be a queen” and the closing verse, “No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life / I’m on the right track baby / I was born to survive.” The rest of the verse then recaps with another layer of division among humans: “No matter black, white or beige / chola or orient made.” So all difference—sexual and racial—is celebrated as love for life; to wit, “I was born this way.”

To read the entire article follow the link to My Out Spirit here. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toby Johnson, a former Catholic monk turned activist, psychotherapist and spiritual writer, was a student of Joseph Campbell and has a Master's in Comparative Religion and a doctorate in Counseling Psychology. Among his many books are Gay Spirituality: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness and Gay Perspective: Things Our Homosexuality Tells us About the Nature of God and the Universe. From 1996 to 2003, he was Editor and Publisher of White Crane: A Quarterly Journal of Gay Men's Spirituality, Johnson's central idea is that as outsiders with non-gender-polarized perspective, homosexuals play an integral role in the evolution of consciousness--especially regarding the understanding of religion as myth and metaphor--and that for many homosexuals gay identity is a transformative ecological, spiritual, and even mystical vocation. www.TobyJohnson.com

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