A Muslim Middle Eastern country ....

What can you say about a country full of religious fanatics who believe they have the right to force their peculiar religious beliefs on everyone in the country, and indeed everyone in the world? Who want their government to enforce their own religious laws?

What can you say about a country whose citizens are so ill-educated that half of them couldn’t even find their own country on a world map. About a country who believe the most imbecilic statements by their political leaders, statements that they accept as true even though ten minutes of research in a library or on the net would prove them untrue?

What can you say about a country so poorly run that it is in financial chaos, with politicians who are routinely bought by powerful interests?

What can you say about a country so xenophobic that they have been clamping down on immigration for years, even though they need foreign workers? About a country openly hostile to religions other than their own?

Oh, did you think I was talking about one of the Muslim Middle Eastern nations? Yes, the description would fit those countries as well, but in fact I’m talking about America these days. Do these charges sound extreme? Think about it.

The Christian right has been trying for decades to emplace federal laws to enforce their own religious views on things like abortion and gay marriage and evolution. And they spend their time proselytizing all over the world, trying to convert everyone to their own religion.

Yes, according to the Pew polls about half of high school graduates can’t find America on a world map. As for the imbecilic statements, just listen to the political ads these days from both parties, full of misinformation that ten minutes of research would disprove, yet lots of people, perhaps even a majority, will believe them and vote on the basis of such fanciful claims.

With a debt past 100% of GDP, a federal deficit of over a trillion dollars a year, and no plan whatsoever from either party to reverse the trend, we are certainly in financial chaos. And our politicians are certainly bought. Oh, few take outright bribes in brown paper bags (or so it seems), but almost all get huge campaign donations when they run, and cushy lobbying jobs or board memberships on retirement from groups they have helped while in office. It is being bought, even if it is a more genteel form of bribery.

Here we are at a time when we desperately need more high-skill immigration for our technology companies (because, stupidly, we aren’t training enough natives to fill all these jobs), and more low-skill immigration to help pick California crops, and yet we are making it increasingly difficult for people to immigrate.

And we like to think we believe in religious plurality, but we really don’t. Look at all the anti-Muslim feeling in the nation. Look at all the anti-Semitism still around. Look at the degree to which people are trying to force everyone into the Christian mold (or at least, their own version of the Christian mold).  Could a Muslim get elected president in this nation?  Could an agnostic or atheist get elected President?  I don't think so.  Even a Jew would probably have trouble getting elected. And maybe even a Mormon would have trouble.

Next time you get exasperated with some primitive Middle Eastern nation, look around first.