The dogma you know....?

"I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier."

                                                                                                    ….Rufus, Dogma 1999

I have been watching and listening to the exchanges between Obama and his supporters, the Congressional Black Congress and Obama, and the Republican hopefuls…and it occurred to me that what was playing out in today’s political arena is not politics at all.

It is something far deeper, far more fundamental to the psyche than mere politics.

Obama is all about fundamentals….not the economic fundamentals that have never changed since Adam was a boy…no, not the natural laws of supply and demand, not the fundamental laws that control the money supply and value of the currency…he has no interest whatsoever in those fundamentals.

He is all about fundamental change.

But what is so broken that it requires fundamental change? What is so broken that we need to tear it apart and rebuild it in a new image?

I believe the fundamental change he is talking about is the completion of the process of turning left wing ideologies into beliefs….the sort of beliefs that allow for political dogma as a control tool.

Just as the Christian church has created dogma (man-made rules) to control the method and style of belief, to put limits and guidelines on the methods of worship, to create rules about how to live, how to gain redemption, who to confess to and even whether eating meat on Fridays is a sin, or not. The dogma is the tool for the Churches to control their congregations, their worshipers and their fringe dwellers. In a society where such rules are not created, it is believed that chaos would ensue.

The argument is that by regulating these things, the Churches are able to create an environment that is safe for all people, enabling a comfortable worship style, and preventing the possibility of offensive worship styles. 

While I do not necessarily agree with this thinking, I do understand why it is so.

The big problems arise when dogma becomes the guiding light of the church, supplanting God’s word as the basis of faith and belief. People become so concerned with complying with dogma that they lose sight of the simplicity of faith.

And this is Obama’s plan for this country. He wishes to supplant the idea of progressivism with the belief in it. Once people believe that the progressive ideologies are right and true, then he will be able to create the dogma that traps people in those beliefs.

This gradualism of socialist views is no longer happening slowly. And the conversion of ideas to beliefs is well on its way to completion.

Here are a few examples:-

1.      There was once an understanding in this country that all men were created equal. That all men would be provided the same opportunity. That all men could do with that opportunity whatever they wanted.

It is sad to see that this is no longer the case. First came the idea that those born in difficult circumstances were in need of more help just to become equal with everyone else. Then that idea grew to include people of certain races who needed more help than people of other races. Over time, this idea took hold, and even people of conservative views started believing that society should help some folk more than others.

When an idea becomes a belief, there is then room to create the dogma. In this case it is affirmative action, giving people of certain races better opportunities than people of other races. The dogma becomes a legal structure that traps us in the belief that some folk need more help than others.

Over many years the left has turned an idea into a belief and then created the dogma to trap us in that belief.

2.      There was once an understanding in this country that a man’s labor was paid for at a rate negotiated between the man and the employer. 

And then we came up with the idea that men could not negotiate a fair wage by himself because evil employers would not be willing to pay a fair wage. This concept/idea started to gain strength…and society started looking for a solution to the problem. It did not take long for people to ignore the basic premise of free trade…that labor was a commodity and would be paid for at market rates. Once that idea was ignored, it was easy for the idea of a minimum wage to take root….to become a belief that it was only fair that a person be paid a minimum amount for his labor regardless of the value of that commodity.

The idea became a belief, and the dogma soon followed in the form of Government mandated minimum wages.  Unions are simply another example of dogma locking in beliefs.

 There was an understanding that human life was valuable. Abortions were considered evil.And then the idea came along that women should be responsible for their own bodies.

A movement espousing the belief in the woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy if she so wanted became powerful, changing the idea into a belief.

Once it became a belief, it was easy to create the dogma that gives the woman rights to terminate for any reason she wants.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of babies are terminated before they take their first breath every year.

Ideas lead to belief. Belief leads to dogma. Dogma traps you in that belief.

And this is the aim of Obama when he wants to fundamentally transform America. He wants to change ideas into beliefs.

His attacks on the obstructionist, intransigent terrorists of the right are all designed to make the right look extreme…and the left look like their ideas are reasonable. Soon, those ideas become beliefs.

And as the quote above says…” You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier.”

There is a second element to all this thinking about ideas and beliefs.

People are less inclined to fight for an idea than they are to fight for a belief. By creating believers of political ideology, Obama can be assured of a powerful force willing to do almost anything to protect those beliefs.

While the right has just two defenses:-

1.      The truth

2.      Freedom

In the long run, it does not matter what dogma is created to protect falsehoods. The truth has a way of surviving all attacks on it. It has a way of surfacing in a way that cannot be denied. The beliefs of the left will ultimately be unable to stand in the face of truth, regardless of the dogma walls created to protect those false beliefs.

And the desire for freedom will always be the strongest motivational force ever known in this country. When the truth is visible, the people will throw off the shackles that have chained them to a belief in lies, and will rise up and fight for their freedom.

So, in the long term, all Obama’s efforts will be for nought. But in the short term, he will continue to fundamentally transform an America of ideas into an America of false beliefs. He will use regulation and congressional stupidity to build walls of dogma around those false beliefs…and he will gloat at what he has achieved.

2012 is your last chance to prevent this. As Obama said yesterday to a group of supporters….”the result of this election will fundamentally drive America for years to come”.

He makes no secret of what he is doing….we simply don’t want to believe that he is as dangerous as he is.

Be wary of the dangers of dogma.

…..devereaux