Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.

According to dominionist ideology, one of the "legitimate functions" of government is to restrain evil. Somehow, allowing someone to die naturally is considered evil. This became clear when Terri Schiavo's husband wanted to remove the feeding tube that had been keeping her in a persistent vegetative state for fifteen years. Hundreds of deeply concerned people camped out on her lawn praying for the government to intervene. And intervene it did.

Many people were puzzled by a special midnight vote.  Do you remember when the Republican leadership of Congress called this vote and forced our legislators to fly home from their spring breaks? And to make the moment all the more poignant, President Bush interrupted his vacation at his ranch to fly home on Air Force One so that he could sign the legislation into law.

Every court in Florida had ruled on behalf of Terri Schiavo's husband -- to remove the feeding tube. But the dominionist leadership of Congress and the White House saw it as their moral duty to intervene. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the decision to stand with the Florida Courts and the tube was finally removed. RIP

The untimely death of mine workers

Since Bush assumed the Presidency, he has been appointing anti-regulatory lobbyists and business executives to key regulatory positions. These appointments have a deep impact on the environment, public health and worker safety. The Sago mine workers were simply victims of an ideology articulated by the Texas Republican Party Platform This platform is a blueprint for dominionism. The Platform calls for "unfettered" capitalism. That's their term: "unfettered." Now let's go from an ideal to the reality. A New York Times editorial from March 21, 2006, Slapping King Coal's Wrist demonstrates what happens in "unfettered" capitalism :

The Bush administration's accommodation of the mining industry -- notably by packing the mine safety agencies with pro-management appointees -- has produced a marked decline in major fines for negligent companies. A recent data analysis by The Times documented a risky, business-friendly downturn in penalties since 2001. At the same time, nearly half of the announced fines still go uncollected.

With a rash of 24 mine deaths so far this year, Congress is considering tougher fines of up to $500,000 for culpable companies. But what good are fines if they are not being forcefully used by the federal agencies supposedly responsible for workers' safety? This question must be asked in deadly earnest in the case of the Sago Mine in West Virginia, where a dozen miners perished in January. The company was later found to have been cited for 273 violations in two years' time, not one of them costing more than $460.

Under present practices, fines are rarely levied at the maximum level, and even then companies can negotiate the penalties downward through an industry-friendly appeals process. Fines as low as $60, if collected, amount to jaywalking tickets.
Beyond the slump in fines, the administration's record has been distinguished by budget and job cuts in critical mine safety agencies. Lately, there's been a flurry of reform proposals in response to the deaths in the headlines. But an administration that prefers to fill key regulatory positions with mining lobbyists and executives has a long way to go toward miner safety.

Here are Part I and Part II of this series exploring the role of dominionism and government.

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