Reply #2: Fomenting ethnic and religious divisions is an important tool of empire

[ProgressiveEconomist]

and dates from at least the Roman era of "Divide and Rule" (see http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Divide_and_rule ).

The British Empire deliberately created countries out of warring tribes, and often gave the smallest tribe the most power, just to foment exploitable strife.

In the American South, the land-owning aristocracy used an elaborate mythology on race to put small farmers on their side, while small farmers and descendants of slaves had a great deal more in common when it came to economic interests.

Starting with Richard Nixon's "Southern strategy", Republicans took "Divide and Rule" national, choosing new scapegoats for every election, and creating a "social issues agend" that somehow never made it into legislation or officeholding for the poor saps who drank the Kool-Aid. But the Wall Street agenda of higher payroll taxes, drastically lower marginal income tax rates at the top, deregulation, union-busting, and offshoring always moved forward.

Sites like http://www.sojo.net , the "Red Letter Christians" who originated your long quote, are beginning to open many eyes. I predict we'll soon begin to see in the mainstream media the Sojourners leader Rev. Jim Wallis a lot more than we see Dobson and Robertson today. One of their issues for 2008 is a living wage, an idea that is a deal-breaker for Wall Street.