Por Mois?

Newspapers and faux news programs have been priming We the People for the annual day of worship of war and warriors. The heroic stories, the tragedies, the mundane. They collide into a convenient, well-scripted narrative finding equal only in religion. Heroes, uniforms, pageantry and all the accoutrements that rival the Pope's appearance in St. Mark's Square.

Among the faithful, this show of force renews their fervor, inspiring them to return to obedience and "faith" not only in its doctrine, but in those who claim to be the stewards of that doctrine. With this renewal, unfortunately, comes the virulent disdain for those who do not share the "faith".

We will hear about the troops who "died for our freedom" and be admonished to get on our knees and kiss their feet to express our eternal gratitude. They will be enshrined in the American cultural equivalent of sainthood.

"He died for your freedom". "He died for your sins".

An eternal debt, payable only in obedience and guilt, but that can never be paid in full.

The consequence of the epistomology of religion is the politics of tyranny. If you cannot reach the truth by your own mental powers, but must offer obedient faith to a cognitive authority, then you are not your own intellectual master; in such a case, you cannot guide your own behavior by your own judgment, either, but must be submissive in action as well. This is the reason why...faith and force are always corollaries; each requires the other.

Leonard Peikoff