Religion Is Politics ...

... and politics is religion. With Sarah Palin, America has taken one very large leap toward a completely theocratic politics. For Palin, as for Rick Warren, there can be no distinction between politics and religion: all politics is subject to religious guidance and that guidance is to obey the literal truth of everything in the Bible:

In the address at the Assembly of God Church here, Ms. Palin’s ease in talking about the intersection of faith and public life was clear. Among other things, she encouraged the group of young church leaders to pray that “God’s will” be done in bringing about the construction of a big pipeline in the state, and suggested her work as governor would be hampered “if the people of Alaska’s heart isn’t right with God.”

She also told the group that her eldest child, Track, would soon be deployed by the Army to Iraq, and that they should pray “that our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that’s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God’s plan.”

Everything in her worldview must be according to God's plan, and God's plan is revealed without any ambiguity whatsoever in the literal words of the Bible, Old and New Testament. There is no detail too small, no policy too obscure, that isn't vetted through this filter. This is the fundamentalist psyche in its most extreme form: think Bush but less intellectual. Think Bush's evangelical tradition combined with speaking in tongues and a belief in the Rapture. Yes, this is now conservatism. If you want to explore how it came to this, I gave it my best shot here.