Inaugural Shipwreck

Bush's inaugural speech was ridiculously religious.  I'm not just talking about the explicit references like "Maker of Heaven and Earth."  The whole thing was infused with religion-inspired thinking: worldwide freedom is akin to Heaven or Paradise, all we know about getting it is that sacrifice is required, and we certainly won't see it in our lifetime.

Almost all religions have some kind of paradise that followers want to get into.  The key features always seem to be that it is really good, but totally unknowable.  Bush's whole talk was supposedly about freedom, and how good it would be if the whole world had it.  But what does he say freedom is?  Just like paradise, it seems to be impossible to understand.  It is given the following characteristics in the speech: "rights and dignity;" a gift of God (which means it can't be a right); "democratic institutions" (which means people on earth make the rules, not God); and something that can reflect varying "customs and traditions" (which may not include democratic institutions, or rights, or dignity). 

Also, freedom apparently entails government-enforced Ponzi schemes (Social Security), and all of the statist measures of FDR ("freedom from want and fear"). While Bush dismissed communism as a "shipwreck" early in his speech, the last third or so is an outline for the salvage operation--in the name of freedom.  Just for good measure, freedom also has something to do with the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and unspecified statements in the Koran.  At this point, you may wonder if such incoherency should bother a man who is President.  However, you would be forgetting that God is the "Author of Liberty," and He moves as "He wills."  So while our very religious President may be confused, rest assured his God knows perfectly well what the hell freedom is.

If you think it would be hard to know what to do to get to freedom, since we don't know what it is, you'd be partially right.  The details are a little fuzzy, but, like with all religious ends, it involves sacrifice.  Bush asks for "patience," meaning that we wait for the next terrorist attack to kill some of us while he bemoans our lack of influence with Iran.  And in case you thought freedom had something to do with you living your life, it apparently requires that you serve "in a cause lager than your wants, larger than yourself," meaning giving up your dreams and goals for the cause.  In fact, to make freedom work, disagreement and self-assertion are right out: "unity and fellowship" are required.  Also out is attacking the bad guys, unless we really, really, really have to.

To top it all off, none of us will see the end of all of this work.  It is going to take "generations."  This is another key element of religiosity: the payoff is never during your lifetime, but always after you leave this earthly realm. 

In sum: freedom is ineffable but good, it is going to require patience and suffering to get it, and we'll get it someday after you are a corpse.  This message, which is undisguised religious clap-trap, is what our president and his advisers consider an inspiring inauguration message.  God help us.