COMMENTARY
New right movement offers dangerous solutions
By Kit Elaterhold
hero is an incredible dan
ger on the horizon to free
.X. dom in this nation." began
Dr. Mel White, an innocuous
looking, middle-aged man. his
receding hairline accentuated by
the lighting arrangements of the
"60 Minutes" camera crew. "This
is not just a gay and lesbian
issue."
Having worked for years as a
ghostwriter for such new right
television evangelist bigwigs as
Pat Robertson and Jerry Kalwell.
ho had come out of the closet,
quite gay. quite distressed and
ready to tell all about the new
right and its agenda for subvert
ing civil rights in this nation.
"The entire nation should be
staggered by what is happening
out there... they don't believe in
democracy... they don't believe
in the First Amendment, they
want the shelves of our nation's
libraries stripped of our authors
our rallies shouted down, our
churches closed..."
He had come to Eugene
because he felt the people here
were at the forefront of a nation
wide ideological battle. With the
recent passage of Ballot Measure
20-(lH right next door in Spring
field, and with the recent narrow
defeat of state Ballot Measure 9.
homosexuals, and no small num
ber of concerned "straight" peo
ple have been set on edge. They
are anxious about the rising intol
erance in the present political cli
mate, a tense atmosphere exac
erbated by growing, seemingly
insoluble economic problems,
and a feeling among the nation's
electorate that America is adrift,
without national purpose,
"We declare war on homosex
uals (and their) godless, humnn
istu scheme to destroy America's
traditional moral values..." says
Dr. White, describing the head
line of a recent new right mailer
that he had received The homo
sexual community, ho explained,
was being targeted as a scapegoat
for the rest of America, in a polit
ic al witc hhunt that has a litany
of historical precedents
From time immemorial, fringe
elements of society have served
in scapegoat c apacity for the frtis
trillions of societies in times of
duress, providing an evil "oth
er.'' n personification of their
fears and u loc us point of hatred
from which political opportunists
call unify a divisive people
Christians were fed to the lions
amid a collapsing Roman Kmpire.
and millions of lews (and no
small number of homosexuals)
became fodder for Nii/i death
camp ovens after Hitler had
marked them, and their depraved
lifestyles, as licmg the root cause
of the woes of a depression
wracked (iornumy.
"I'm not hysterical., "asserted
White "I'm convinc ed that the
gay and lesbian communities are
being set up to be sacrificed
we re being marginalized in
preparation for what they have to
do to get this economy rolling
again."
And these are hard times for
America Plagued with such
problems as debt, drills, govern
ment corruption and a rotting
educational system. America
seems lost in. as Time magazine
put it. a "morel morass " People
want answers, they yearn for
direction and the new right is
only too ready to provide these
for them.
“Would you like the church to
be forced to hire queers to teach
your little bovs7" those from the
new right prod us They tell us
they have found the cause of our
woes, something concrete to
nltai k Witclu raft prai tu ing fem
inists are trying to destroy God
and Family with their unholy
agenda for an Kqual Rights
Amendment This must fie
stopped The slovenliness of drug
oddii !s is ruining the economy
as thev cowardly hide behind the
te< finicalities of the Hill ol Rights
Some of these rights must go. as
should the special rights of the
homosexuals." which they wield
in their "militant agenda" to sub
vert our children and the of fee
tidiness of our armed forces
While the minorities the new
right attiM ks are disparate, the net
effect of its crusade is i hilltnglv
i onsistenl Subversion of (all of
our) i ivil rights to further
empower a government that the
new right aspires to mold into its
own [lersonal theocrai \. from our
city councils all the way to the
White House
"When I was working with |er
ry Falwoll." White explained,
lit> never let a (las go by when
he didn't call two congressper
sotis and one senator on the
phone. " And they would call
turn In his first name. "Hello. Jer
ry."
'Jerry." Reagan had said at the
beginning of his multi-trillion
dollar (nuclear) arms build-up
back in 19H1, "I sometimes
believe we re heading very fast
for Armageddon, right now."
They both (relieved in an immi
nent nuclear showdown with the
Soviet Union, one that would
herald Armageddon, in fulfill
ment of the Scriptures
"There is sin and evil in the
world and we are enjoined hv
Si ripture and the Lord Jesus to
oppose it. should deterrence fail
said Reagan "Time is running
out said Weinberger Pat
Robertson predic ted the nukes
would go off by The
doomsday dm k hit two minutes
to midnight
Iluring the final days, and
across -tot) television and T>t)()
radio stations nationwide. Pal
well spread the good news to his
flock 1 cm "don't have to worry."
lie told them. Jiec ause all God
fearing {heterosexual, regularly
donating, anti-feminist) dims
turns would be lifted up into
Heaven, |tist before the warheads
hit. in the Holy Rapture, while
the rest of the scum (fags, femi
nists. potheuds, Buddhists, i.e.
the rest of the planet) would be
blown to kingdom come in tens
of thousands of thermonuclear
fireballs
Ka-blooey! The final solution.
Everyone who doesn't agree with
members of the new right dies. It
warms the soul to know that they
are that fond of the rest of us.
Their imploding, self-destructing
world view "raises frightening
memories of Jim Jones ami David
Koresh," Dr. White warned point
edly.
But the massacres at Jonestown
and Waco were isolated inci
dents, microcosms. The narcis
sism of the religious rigJit's infec
tive patliologv is shared by tens
of millions of red-blooded God
fearing Americans living all over
the country, who must now fig
tin? out some other way of deal
ing with the rest of us, seeing
how their blessed nuclear holo
caust never arrived.
Anil this is why the Oregon
Citizen's Alliance is back, more
subtle in its semantics ibis time,
in an effort to win over those pre
i ions percentage points that
stood between them and victory
last year.
So if you have tiiken the time
to read this far, I urge you to
oppose this measure I urge you
to gel involved Because the log
k al culmination of this way of
thinking is to deny (lie legitimo
i v of our existence, of anybody's
existence, which doesn't cximport
with tlte narrow world view of
the new rigjit, and to deny us our
right to live in pence with one
another on this planet.
kit Eistarhold is a political sci
ence nui/or nt the University
-i
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