Many Christians in America see this country as the Promised Land, reserved for them and them only. They want a theocracy. Almost every decision is made to exert more control over citizens of every faith. Their punitive, coercive policies have caused mass suffering which they blame on the people they’ve crushed.
Religious conservatives have failed America.
Political conservatism has been transformed into religious dogma and dogma into public policy. And any politician-or friend or family member-who expresses the tiniest dissent from increasingly harsh theocratic ideals is instantly demonized and shunned into compliance.
What the rest of us must do is focus on human-centered solutions. We need universal healthcare, tuition-free college and vocational training, subsidized childcare, fare-free public transit, a living wage, universal basic income, and an immediate ban on all new fossil fuel projects.
Because the far right and corporate collaborators on the left have already brought so much destruction, our options are now limited to taxing corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share or accepting we’ll live in an increasingly dystopian society.
Equity and justice aren’t free, and in these essays, author Johnny Townsend (Recommended Daily Humanity, Am I My Planet’s Keeper?) shows us that no matter the cost, they’re still cheaper than the alternative.
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The Power of Positive Giving Up
Victim-Blaming the Religious Right
Only Lazy People Demand a Life of Ease
Reparations, One Family at a Time
First, Do No Harm to Shareholders
With Gods Like This, Who Needs Devils?
Village of the Darned
Gerrymandered Out of Church
Crazy Lady on the Bus
Porn Is Not a Public Health Crisis
A Barbed Wire Tightrope
Payday Loans Suck Life from the Poor
Assholiness
Parable of the Three Firefighters
Ashamed to Call Myself a Mormon
Our Nazi Who Art in Heaven
Freshman Biology for LDS Leaders
Drowning in Belief
As Righteous as a Paramecium
Drinking 7-Up on Bourbon Street
Silence Isn’t Deafening
Addiction to Money and Power Is a Public Health Crisis
Vote for Me! I Promise Not to Give You What You Need!
The LDS Church Should Pay Off the Medical Debt of Its Members
Does the Second Anointing Explain Mormon Support for Trump?
Healthcare Thieves
Healthcare for Me
The Religious Civil War over Healthcare
Woe unto Them That Are with Child
4 Out of 5 Oligarchs Give Up Their Money and Power When Asked Politely
Aid in Dying for the Non-Terminally Ill
Teetotalers for Legal Marijuana
Gay Mormon Escort
I Emigrated 2612 Miles Away
Bullet Points
Leaders Should Lead, Not Block Forward Movement
Socialists Are Crybabies
Commandments, Laws, and Regulations
Chastity Belts for Everyone!
The Gospel of Misery
An Educated Ignorance
Would You Invite a Demon into Your Home?
De-escalation Is More Feasible Than Eliminating Bias
Their Eyes Were Watching…a Sit-Com
Taxpayer Dollars Should Benefit All Citizens
Mormons Hate Socialism, But Only in the United States
A Stingy God
Inasmuch As Ye Have Done It unto One of the Least of These My Brethren, It Matters Not to Me
The Archbishop’s Evil Twin Was Right
Is Tuition-Free College and Vocational Training Feasible?
It’s Not the Government’s Place
I Will Not Live to Be 230 Years Old
The Ship Is Sinking
Mardi Gras Leather
Relying on Ignorance, Poverty, and Poor Health
Enabling Abusive Corporate Behavior
The Decadent Sex Life of a Puritanical Mormon
All I Really Need to Know I Learned from I Love Lucy
Happiness Isn’t the Goal
Who Will You Hide and Who Will Hide You?
Every Who in Whoville Has to Make Noise
Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Work for Justice
Об авторе
A climate crisis immigrant who relocated from New Orleans to Seattle in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Johnny Townsend wrote the first account of the Up Stairs Lounge fire, an attack on a French Quarter gay bar which killed 32 people in 1973. He was an associate producer for the documentary Upstairs Inferno, for the sci-fi film Time Helmet, and for the deaf gay short Flirting, with Possibilities. His books include Please Evacuate, Racism by Proxy, and Wake Up and Smell the Missionaries. His novel, Orgy at the STD Clinic, set entirely on public transit, details political extremism, climate upheaval, and anti-maskers in the midst of a pandemic.