It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Conservative movement in the US is essentially a cult.

I capitalise Conservative deliberately, because I do not intend to disparage conservative positions or politics. I consider myself quite conservative, at least by foreign standards (ie. flaming pinko commie by US standards). Reasonable and good people are frequently conservative in at least some regards. By ‘Conservative’, however, I mean those who consider themselves part of the active Conservative movement in the US today, ie. Tea Partiers, freepers and other Conservative blog-types, dittoheads, Beckians, Paulians, and the like.

It’s a cult, and one that has been carefully made over the past 15 years or so. Its tenets are based on articles of faith and beliefs that are increasingly at odds with objective reality, and these beliefs are not dependent on reason, factual argument, or contrary evidence. All contrary evidence, opposing opinions, and the like are lies, perpetrated by hostile enemies anathema to everything they stand for. There is no other explanation - if what they read on Hot Air or see on Fox or hear on the radio is at odds with evidence presented elsewhere, the so-called ‘evidence’ is nothing more than part of the conspiracy against them.

Frequent arguments here on LGF revolve around whether the obvious racist and atavistic bent of the Tea Parties should be taken as meaning that all Tea Partiers are racists. I think that argument, while it has merit, does not get at the real heart of the issue. Which is, I believe, that this Conservative movement may or may not one that naturally attracts racists, secessionists, and others of dark intent, but it is a cult that creates a certain dogma and immunity to facts in those that adhere to it. In other words, whether a given Tea Partier is a racist/secessionist/worse is not necessarily the point; the point is that his belief set is more or less what the strong personalities and leaders in the cult say they are.

It’s a frightening thing, I think. Because if it were merely a problem of differing political beliefs or outdated ideas, weight of evidence and the power of persuasion could be used. But when dealing with a cult mentality, weight of evidence and persuasion are of limited use, if not totally useless. And I think that’s very, very grim indeed for the future of political discourse in this country.