Posted by Sigismund on September 24, 2008, at 20:33:36
One from Judaism through Christianity is that of being a 'chosen people'.
(For all I know there may be people who feel this who do not have this heritage.)
What brought it to mind was the Insight program from the US.
There were a range of activists and undecided voters talking about how they saw things, so naturally there were strong feelings.
One was a personal friend of John McCain who was organising support for Obama.
However the people who seemed particularly energised were those who were supporters of Sarah Palin.
The friend of McCain who was organising for Obama seemed tired, very determined and somewhat dour by comparison (she was older).This was brought to mind by what I read this morning.....
'If the American sense of secular mision is not exceptional, neither is the sense of being a nation chosen by God. The Dutch Afrikaners in South Africa, Protestant communities in Ulster in Northern Ireland and some Zionists had similar beliefs. So have many Russians. A belief in a God-given national mission was central in the reactionary messianism espoused in the C19 by slavophils. Where America differs from the other nations is in the persistent vitality of its messianic belief and the extent to which it continues to shape popular culture.'
"Black Mass", p160.The Russian messianic tradition, absorbed into Marxism-Leninism, took some time to work itself out, until eventually many Russians felt that they had become a sort of light of the world, a beacon saying 'Do not do it this way'.
So you know, taking the long view, maybe McCain and especially Sarah Palin are a necessary step along the way, to wherever it might be, not that this is how I would wish it to be.
poster:Sigismund
thread:853879
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20080728/msgs/853879.html