I wrote True Believers (In the Cat’s Eye, 2009) to express my concern about what our society might become. In the years since, it seems like the true believers have become even more strident. The extremes in both political parties seem to want to force their will on the general public. As we expand the role of the federal government, and Congress empowers it with more controls on our lives, we run the risk of becoming the kind of society that we had always opposed.

We are a large and diverse country. It is hard to squeeze California, Nebraska and New Hampshire into the same narrow mold of cultural, religious and social mores that some desire. Our democracy will fail if we eliminate the very features that allow free people to be free. Our founders understood this. Some of our current leaders don’t.

We are being ripped asunder by people who are unwilling to compromise and politicians who allow themselves to be controlled by big money and single issue advocates.

True believers in a more advanced state of intolerance are now the ones ripping apart the Middle East. They accept no compromise, no willingness to find common ground: only the desire to put opponents under the ground.

We are rapidly losing our faith in Congress and the Executive branch to lead us away from these kinds of extremes in our own country. We push each other to the edge with anger and intolerance, and the need to demand “one size fits all” legislation.

We should beware of what we ask for.

Glenn K. Currie

 

 

True Believers

 

They wear their causes

Like tattoos.

Insignias

Made from the cloth

Of cultural epiphanies

Or sacred decrees.

 

They march to words

Beaten into placards.

Written too large

To accommodate

The small surface

Of their hearts.

 

Their torches burn

At my windows,

Demanding

Allegiance

To a society

Without questions.

 

They want to create

A new world,

Where everyone

Believes the same.

Where everyone knows

All the answers.