Fear Of A Cult Planet (Or A Fear Of Normalcy)?

I just got wind that some fine folks at Live Journal were talking about TMR's coverage of cults in the Democratic Party, and saw a comment from someone named "Pedx" that intrigued me:

"He seems really concerned that Democrats are going to ruin everything to spite Republicans because everyone they pick has cult friends.

I don't see how this is any more alarming than Republicans touting leaders who want to rule by the Bible and other totally irrational and sickening religious views."

Really? Is that all that's going on here? Or is that extreme partisanship - or even the influence of cultism - still talking? It sounds like the kind of thing a cultist would say. There's no alarm, like a normal person would have, that there's a cult influence in the party. Or that cult influence can bring down the Democrats. Just a knock on what a Republican thinks, like what party I'm in matters more than the circumstances of cult control. (Pedx doesn't seem aware I go after religion, too.) Doesn't exactly come across like sound reasoning to me.

Keep in mind - I was a Democrat once - so unlike those who are still in the Democratic Party, I still have affection for it in a way Democrats don't feel for the Republican Party. Even if I didn't like the party anymore, I'm still an American, so why would I want to see it overrun by cults? Forget religion and the Republicans for a moment - isn't the Democratic Party being overrun by cults a bad thing under any circumstances?

Let's look at this idea: I seem "really concerned that Democrats are going to ruin everything to spite Republicans because everyone they pick has cult friends."

Ruining "everything" sounds pretty serious to me. Not the kind of thing one should just blow off. And what does that mean? Since Democrats openly believe the cultist's lies - like Scooter Libby exposed Valerie Plame - why shouldn't I worry about the damage all their other lies have caused - and can bring in the future? Why isn't Pedx worried that if Democrats can believe a lie as big as Valerie Plame (which Plame is aware of but says nothing) what other lies are they buying as truth? Lies about the war itself? Lies about themselves? What are Democrats avoiding?

By believing such lies, Democrats are demoralizing our country , our president, and their fellow citizens; showing the rest of world discord at home, and leading our enemies to believe America is further divided than we actually are. Is all that nothing during a war? Considering the Republicans are fighting this war with a seriousness the Dems can't muster (because the cultists have practically convinced the Democratic Party there is no war) isn't this cult influence putting "everything" at risk? Aren't they putting YOUR LIFE at risk? My life? Aren't our lives "everything"?

And what exactly are "cult friends"? What cult has friends? By definition, cults are totalitarian organizations - where does "friendship" come into it? They aren't the Democratic Party's "friends" - they're controlling you - to trying to destroy the only power that can stop them from doing so: those who are patriotic enough to defend the United States.

And why should I, or anyone else - regardless of party - want to see the Democratic Party run by totalitarian cults?

Because Pedx sees Republicans as "touting leaders who want to rule by the Bible," does that mean Democrats shouldn't do anything about the cults telling lies to the party? Isn't Pedx letting the cults of the Democratic Party off the hook because of what he/she has been led to believe is the "other side's" wrong behavior? Isn't he/she using relativism to fuel a position of irresponsibility - adopting a pose that does nothing about this corrosive influence on our lives? Is that what Democratic politics is for? "Oh, the Republicans have crazy preachers, so we don't have to do anything about the sinister left-wing crap that chased another Democratic voter away from our side." That's insanity.

But, unfortunately, it's also the most common Democrat refrain given to anyone trying to bring common sense to our current political discussions.