This article is a fine example of left McCarthyism.

Yes, some Americans believe that a tyrannical government should be opposed, by force, if necessary. Recall that the United States was founded based on a revolution against the English, who were hardly the archtype of the totalitarian state.

The whole article was a series of innuendos, showing the insanely liberal biases of the author. Somehow, opposition to central planning is a sign of a budding theocrat. I especially loved how home schooling was equated with theocracy - let’s see, if you oppose centrally planned government indoctrination of children, that demonstrably fails in the claimed task of education, then you are a theocrat. Isn’t government controlled indoctrination of children exactly what a theocrat wants?

But the real insanity was equating libertarianism with reconstructionist theocratic totalitarianism.

Here’s a clue for the Left. While the Left spent the last century fawning over Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, libertarians were opposed to totalitarians of all stripes. And still are.

The last century should have taught anyone with eyes to see that central planning in the name of the Good of Society is at least as totalitarian as central planning in the name of God, and has zero justification based in Reason or Reality, given it’s abject failure to produce material goods or personal happiness and well being. 

I understand that Sam is a liberal. As you have probably surmised, I am not. While we don’t agree on politics,  we do share a desire to see more reason and reality based thinking in the world, and less faith and superstition, so when his liberal biases leak out, I just consider them a bit of his own superstition and dogmatism leaking out.

But this article is beyond the pale. It’s beyond bias, it’s beyond even proselytizing, it’s a dishonest, irrational piece of argument by innuendo, and has no place on a site claiming to encourage critical thinking and oppose dogmatism and bigotry, except in Hall of Shame.

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@ buybuydandavis, I think this article is useful, in that it describes the memetic lineage behind some of Angle’s weird comments.  When people running for elected office say stuff like “We have become a country entrenched in idolatry, and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government. We’re supposed to depend upon God for our protection and our provision and for our daily bread, not for our government.” then yes, I want to know where the hell she gets her crazy ideas from.

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Dan Davis, referring to this article, you wrote: “I understand that Sam is a liberal… so when his liberal biases leak out, I just consider them a bit of his own superstition and dogmatism leaking out.”

I don’t think Sam Harris personally posts these articles.  Registered members like ourselves submit articles to a newsfeed, and I think there is a team of people who review and post the articles from the newsfeed.  So the articles that appear on this site are not necessarily seen by Sam Harris before they go up.

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gcheng, I hadn’t assumed that Sam was personally selecting the articles for display, or even knew which articles were being posted. But his politics are liberal. Same for Dawkins and Dennett. Same for the majority of people I see posting here. The general liberal bias is evident in Sam’s talks and all over the site. Fine. We’ve all got our hobby horses we like to ride.

But this article ventures into crazy talk territory: insane, bigoted, and blinded by bias. I suggest the maintainers of the site, and Sam as well, keep a firm reign on their biases, and not let the Liberal Project hijack the Reason Project.

Bananapeel, To infer that a belief in libertarianism,  the second amendment, or homeschooling demonstrates an intellectual lineage in reconstructionism is crazy talk. Was Paine a reconstructionist? Jefferson? Milton Friedman? Hayek?

You consider the idolatry statement a sign of Reconstructionism. Certainly the use of “idolatry” indicates some religious influence. But the idea that the Left worships the State is hardly confined to Reconsturctionists. Conservatives generally have a Will to Servitude to God, while Liberals generally have a Will to Servitude to the State.

I generally prefer the RIght to the Left because the Right can in theory separate their Church from the State, and some even make the effort, while the Liberal Church is the State, and because they don’t call it God, they see no problem in imposing their values on others through the State.

Freedom of Religion and Separation of Church and State are not confined to the right to pray to any God you want, but express the right to hold and live by your own values. I see more respect for that on the Right than the Left.

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It sounds like buybuydandavis is the biased, insane and dogmatic one.  I know the type of people that this article is about.  I went to those types of churches growing up.  I was one of them.  These people would NOT give ANY Religious freedom to ANYONE that doesn’t believe like they do.  I’ve heard them say it many. many, times. These people are violently opposed to the separation of church and state, they state it plainly many times over.  To say that they are better at separation of church and state is simply wrong.  This article isn’t stating that belief in homeschooling, the second amendment or libertarianism is equal to reconstructionism but rather that reconstructionist have these tendencies.  That’s a big difference.  One can believe in homeschooling, the second amendment and libertarianism for reasons that are very different from the reconstructionists.  This article is trying to point out how dangerous the reconstructionists reasons are.  To me, the reasons behind the opinion are more important than the opinion itself.  In my job I also deal with a lot of homeschoolers.  The vast majority of them at least heavily lean towards reconstructionists views.  A lot of homeschool textbooks support the views spelled out in this article.  I’ve seen it myself.  They are anti-evolution, anti-science, anti-ancient earth and believe that the US was founded as a Christian only nation.  I have seen a lot of this type of stuff first hand and this article is dead on.

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