Yet Another "Sleeper Cell."

[KoKo]

Yet Another "Sleeper Cell"
By Jeff Sharlet Mon Apr 09, 2007 at 07:22:27 PM EST


There are many, many great evangelicals working in government, almost all of them clear about the constitution and every bit as dedicated to their jobs as their counterparts of other faiths and no faith. And, for the record, there's nothing illegal about getting yourself a government job because you believe government should be led by God, so long as you perform your job competently. But from a democratic perspective -- small d democratic, that is -- there's a real problem with men and women dedicated not to democracy but to a sort of voluntary theocracy, especially when they work toward that end without regard for competence or rule of law (Goodling, Contreras above). And those of us opposed to the fundamentalist attempt to pack the bureaucracy have to recognize that this problem has been with us for decades.

What's the solution? I can hardly believe I'm writing this, but I think it's bloggers. I'm glad the mainstream media is picking up on Goodling and the Regent connection now, but there should have been reporters looking at these lower level appointments a long time ago. How did Contreras get her job? How did J. Douglas Holladay, a guy who continued to report to the leadership of The Family even as he steered U.S. foreign policy, escape notice? What was Goodling doing evaluating lawyers with far superior credentials? With newsrooms shrinking and newsmagazines sensationalizing, those kinds of stories are going to keep being ignored.

Don't blame the reporters -- blame us. It's the public hunger for ongoing soap opera scandals -- Plamegate, the prosecutors -- that drives the press to ignore the smaller workings of government. But don't just blame us -- do something about. Pick a federal bureaucracy and start learning about. See who's working there. See where else they work. Look past the big names. It doesn't take big media to bring down an unqualified or crooked official. Joe Feuerherd, of the National Catholic Reporter, forced the resignation of ultra-right Bush Catholic liaison Deal Hudson; Ayelish McGarvey, a young journalist with hardly any clips to her name, brought down Bush's FDA thug Dr. David Hager; journalist and blogger Cynthia Cooper exposed Health and Human Services Secretary Wade Horn as a fundamentalist flunky with shady ethics, leading to his resignation. Who'll reel in the next one? Could be you.

(Cross-posted at Daily Kos)

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/4/9/192227/9673

[bryant69]

1. I agree with the conclusion but not the premise

More sunshine is always a good thing. But no civil servant is going to have a perfectly clean ideology. The very fact that you have an ideology is inimical to democracy, and yet we all have one. I think I'm right and therefore in so far as you disagree with me, you are wrong. And you presumably would feel the same way as me. It's the paradox of democracy, the hope that by joining my ideas with a bunch of people who, in my opinion are wrong, something better will be created.

I would agree that evangelicals merit watching; but anybody a republican nominates will merit watching.

Bryant