PDHblog
This is a place for members of Progressive Democrats of Hawai‘i to express their thoughts
and exasperations about political happenings. The opinions and views are not necessarily
those of PDH's steering committee or membership as a whole.

This morning on CNN Kyra Philips interviewed a Christian blogger and a novelist who were both professing that the violence in the Middle East signifies that the “end of days” is coming. The banner at the bottom of the page actually read, “Apocalypse Now?” Seriously. I couldn’t make this up.

In 2002 I was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in Boston. While there, my then fiance (now husband) was approached by a woman and her 4 children who wanted to know why we were supporting Democrats. He felt like he was surrounded by the “children of the corn” when she explained to him that she was supporting GW Bush because he was going to bring about the end of days leading to Jesus coming. She meant this literally. We often relate this story to our friends from other countries as an example of how America is full of Christian fundamentalists that view the Book of Revelation as a prophecy that will come true in their lifetimes. Our foreign friends, used to much more secular societies, never believe us. Now we get to watch these prophecies gain credibility as they are being reported on CNN rather than just being shouted from street corners. Maybe the end of the world really is near.

I have heard it hypothesized that the current administration may privately justify running up the national debt because they believe that by the time our grandchildren would be called upon to pay the bill, the world would be over. Similar justification for environmental policies. Why take care of the planet when the apocalypse is near? Sounds crazy, I know, I just wish I could be confident that there was no element of truth to it.