I don't know how many saw the article posted on this topic yesterday, but it can be read here:
Are You In? On Obama as Weber's Charismatic Leader, and the Decline in Constitutional GovernanceThe article was originally published in the New Criterion (Link here to mobile version). The piece is very long, but very good. Great weekend reading, albeit somewhat disheartening.
As the influence of Christian faith grows weaker, the opening for secular saviors grows. Now, we've always had our share charlatans and spritual snake-oil salesmen (e.g., Jim Jones, Heaven's Gate, etc), but with Obama, we see their emergence in the political forum. What's worse, Obama has a large constituency. This is what happened in Europe with Musselini, Hitler, and Lenin. Sadly, the USA is on the same trajectory. Secularization--or loss of faith in God if called by it's true name--makes whole peoples susceptible to demagogues and charlatans in the political realm. Our constitution was expressly set up to combat this, but we are now part of the overall decline of the West. Our old ways no longer have the same hold over people's minds that they did 20-30 years ago. Can we pull out of this spiritual decline and avoid the tragic fates of France, Germany, and Fascist Italy? We are now fighting the same forces that wreaked havoc on those countries. We used to fight these forces abroad; now we must fight them at home, and that is a very different kind of battle. The enemy isn't a Nazi, a fascist or a commie "over there," but a an increasing portion of our own citizenry.
“The Enemy Within” has been inside the gates for the past 50yrs.
Excellent article; thanks.