I see lefties engaging in just as much name-calling and finger-pointing as the righties, true enough, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard an imputation that right-wingers are disloyal and unAmerican. Doesn’t mean that that particular stone has not been cast, of course.
But it seems to me that about the time that Ronald Reagan and his handlers (i.e. Lee Atwater) got into bed with the Evangelical Right, the Republican Party and the conservative movement in this country adopted a strategy of demonizing the left in a systematic manner. That, in my opinion, is the danger of mixing religion with politics - you blur the distinction between “intellectually mistaken” and “morally corrupt”.
I really do so help me God believe in the concept of “the Queen’s loyal opposition”, and it’s an idea that I think is being driven out of American political discourse by people like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. And the Republicans and Tea Baggers are letting people like that define their discourse. Very dangerous. Like I said, you want to regain some credibility, make George Will your spokesman.
It did seem a lot more like “oh shit I am so scared, if I tell you what you want to hear will you promise not to hurt me” than “I’ve objectively considered my actions and come to the conclusion that I fucked up.”
You make some good points there, but the Gregorian Reform did not create separation of church and state as we know it. It tried to set the church over the state, ideally allowing popes to depose secular monarchs at will.