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By cam (Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 04:22:25 PM EST) (all tags)
Always surprises me the role religion has in America. The US has super-enlightenmentated Europe's western tradition - except in this area. Liberal democracies and market economies increasingly secularise - except for America. Given how America has taken over, innovated upon and advanced the enlightenment it is quite odd that this exists. I think the flap over Obama's pastor is a good example of this. Obama's nationalism and patriotism is being questioned because of his association with a pastor who teaches outside of 'accepted' religious norms. Or does he? The union of politics and religion in non-secular America seems a given. Maybe the flap is that people don't like his strand of religiosity and hence his politics and hence his nationalism?


The Jacksonians (as Walter Russell Mead calls them) conflate religion, politics and nationalism all in one. The Bush South is a good example of Jacksonianism.

Then again in Mead's thesis of there being four schools of foreign policy in American politics, and by implication four schools of politics; the Jacksonians, the Hamiltonians, the Jeffersonians and Wilsonians; the Jacksonians who are likely to go nuts over the Obama pastor thing would never vote for Obama anyway, they would vote for Huckabee first.

Obama's appeal is to Wilsonians first and foremost, maybe the Jeffersonians see something in him in adhering to constitutional principles, while Hamiltonians can ensure that Obama will keep America a financial world leader and calm markets so that American can continue to liberalise the world marketplace and keeps goods/trade flowing too and from the US.

The Jacksonians are a lost cause to Obama's campaign. He didn't speak to them in his speech at all. He basically calmed the patriotic Hamiltonians and Wilsonians.

[was going to write more including describing the taxonomy but I am running out of time]

Full discussion: http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/3/22/162225/776