It is my contention that American society is not, first and
foremost, a democracy. Although it
contains some key democratic elements, American society much more closely
resembles a theocracy than any other concept of government.
What is a theocracy?
There are several definitions.
From Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 1977: “literally, the rule of a
state by God or a god.” Less, literal,
but more helpful is Webster’s 7th New Collegiate Dictionary, 1967:
“government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials regarded as
divinely guided.” And more
comprehensively is The American Political Dictionary, 1982: “any political
system in which political power is exercised directly or indirectly by a
clergy, and in which church law is superior to or replaces civil law. The implication is that decisions are made
by a Supreme Being and are transmitted to human beings through agents who rule
in a theocracy.”
Such a definition is, however, still a little narrow. It seems to correlate theocracy only with
Christian rule. Obviously, a theocracy
could exist in which church law is not Christian law, but rather Koranic
(Sharia) or Talmudic or Confucian law.
So we could amend the definition to say ‘religious law’ in place of
‘church law.’ Those who do not yet see
where this is going will likely point out that our Congressmen and Senators are
surely the furthest thing imaginable from a collective of religious
leaders. Insofar as religious leaders
are supposed to be the moral conscience of our society, politicians are clearly
as far from a moral conscience as possible.
But what is the religion of the United States? Christianity, you might say. Well, 55% of Americans agree with you, but
I’m not here to debate that point. The
Constitution clearly indicates the separation of church and state. Christianity is NOT the state-sanctioned
religion of the United States. So what
is? Americanism.
And so we’re back to definitions – what is Americanism? Americanism combines a belief in politicized
American Exceptionalism (that America is the best country in the world) with a
devotion to all things America. What’s
great about Americanism is that it’s not exclusive. You can be an Americanist and a Christian or an Americanist and a
Muslim or a Jew or an Atheist. Nevertheless,
Americanism has many of the same components that other organized religions
have.
What are the essential components of organized
religion?
Scriptures.
Americanism has the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution –
Check.
Deity or Deities.
Americanism has a whole host of people, referred to colloquially as the
Founding Fathers (no religious overtones there). George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Thomas
Jefferson, etc., etc., etc. – Check.
Places of worship. If
you’re an Americanist, like other religions, you must pay homage to the
deities. You do so at the temples
constructed in their honor: the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial,
the Lincoln Memorial. These temples are
even constructed in the Ancient Greek style so as to evoke the only
polytheistic tradition with which many Americans are familiar – Super Check.
A clergy. The role
of the clergy in traditional religion is to help the ordinary citizen interpret
the scriptures. This role in America is
played out by politicians generally, but by the courts in particular. At the highest level, Supreme Court Justices
interpret the meaning of the Constitution so that it can be understood and
obeyed by all Americanists. They even
wear clothing that distinguishes them from ordinary citizens – Check.
There exist innumerable other similarities. How does one become a member of most
organized religion? The vast majority
of followers of any particular religion arrive there by birth and
upbringing. The same is true of
Americanism. One becomes an Americanist
by being taught throughout his or her upbringing that America is the greatest
country in the world and that her Founding Fathers were divinely inspired.
Of course, like other religions, Americanism does allow for
converts. I’m not speaking about
immigrants. I would argue that most
immigrants are actually raised Americanists, that they were Americanists long
before moving to the United States.
When I speak of converts to Americanism, I’m speaking of people who are
initially raised not within the Americanist tradition but then come to it
later. They first believe that America
isn’t any better than other countries, or perhaps even worse, but eventually
they are persuaded that America is, in fact, better.
Furthermore, like Christianity for example, certain
followers can become sanctified. Such
seems to have been the case with John F. Kennedy, and is gradually becoming the
case with Ronald Reagan. These are
people who were so unwavering in their commitment to the Americanist cause that
they are deserving of worship.
Currently there is debate over the manner in which Dwight D.
Eisenhower’s transcendence is managed.
Moreover, Americanism has a long history of waging war to
assert its righteousness. Like the
crusades, which attempted to demonstrate that the Christian God was the one,
true, God, Americanism waged a genocide against the indigenous population of
North America to assert its dominance.
This, coupled with imperialistic aims around the world (see the
Philippines, Cuba, Grenada, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, etc., etc., etc.) has created an enormous swath of the world that
buys at least part way into the Americanist vision.
So when I say that the United States is a theocracy
supported by the official religion of Americanism, I mean that any other
perspective is so far removed from the public discourse as to be politically
untenable. Part of the Americanist
tradition is freedom of religion, so one isn’t forced to be an Americanist by
virtue of being an American. However,
not to be an Americanist is to be excluded from public discourse by the
hegemonic ubiquity of Americanism. To
participate in the governance of the country, one must agree with the ideas of
divinely inspired Founding Fathers and an exceptional history, and possess blind faith in the greatness of the
United States.
