Just as I suspected, it certainly didn't take long for the self-serving, gushing encomiums to the greatness of the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-12th cent.) to begin pouring in. Jeebus, you'd think the man had been the second coming of Mother Teresa instead of the miserable excuse for a human being he truly was. Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © called him "a kind, decent, and humble man and a passionate defender of what he called "the Miracle of America." Billy Graham called him "a man of consistent conviction to conservative ideals and courage to faithfully serve God and country based on principle, not popularity or politics." And on and on it goes...pretty sickening if you think about it for any length of time, which I'm really trying not to do.
On a personal level, Jesse Helms may have indeed been on a par with St. Francis of Assisi and Mahatma Gandhi. I neither know nor care much about that, because it was his public and political personal that so sickened me. Despite what Helms and his ilk may have been thinking, America NOT is the playground of White Christians, no matter how much they might believe otherwise. Helms spent his political life pedaling an narrow, bigoted worldview predicated on the notion that this is a Christian nation and that Conservative Biblicial mores are what our laws should be based on. Apparently, Helms never got the memo regarding the separation of Church and State.
From where I sit, Helms' branded of slash-and-burned dominionist theology is nothing to be celebrated. He may have been an absolute prince of a man on a personal level, but his passing can only mean one less bigot now walks the Earth...not that there won't be someone immediately available to step into his shoes.
My condolences go out to Helms' family, who undoubtedly knew him in a much more positive and gentle light. All I have to go on is his public persona, which was about as ignorant, bigoted, and intolerant as a man can be without wearing a white hood while burning a cross on the village green. If you believe in karma- and I do- I'd say there's a pretty good chance that Helms will be reincarnated as a cockroach. Yes, this is an uncharitable assessment, but I believe it's a well-deserved one. Jesse Helms stood for ignorance, divisiveness, and an America ruled by a White, Christian majority that looked out for their own interests first and foremost. America is supposed to be better than this...isn't it??
WE DESERVE BETTER. Jesse Helms was a miserable excuse for a human being and a public servant, and this world is a better place today without him. Good riddance....
