The Disease of Government

As the Ayatollah Khomeini’s ascent reminds us, nothing in politics is more potent, for good or ill, than the triumph of a religion. American history since the early 1960s is the saga of the good—and then the evil—that ensued the triumph of a similarly weird and mystical cult within the institutions of American power: namely the belief that the spiritual equality of human beings dictates a statistical equality in the distribution of wealth.

Government in America reached this summit on that day in 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson boldly closed the chasm between church and state, between the nation’s dominant political party and its prevailing religious movement, crudely fusing the power of the Presidency with the passions of worship. Since the religion he embraced was the most ardent faith and superstition of America’s intellectual elite, every voice of the media and the academy chimed its approval. The Supreme Court saw nothing amiss, the American Civil Liberties Union was ecstatic, and there is no report that even Madalyn Murray O’Hair was anything but pleased.

About the Author

George Gilder

Mr. Gilder is a founder of the Discovery Institute, a venture capitalist, and the author of 15 books, including The Israel Test.

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As the Ayatollah Khomeini’s ascent reminds us, nothing in politics is more potent, for good or ill, than the triumph of a religion. American history since the early 1960s is the saga of the good—and then the evil—that ensued the triumph of a similarly weird and mystical cult within the institutions of American power: namely the belief that the spiritual equality of human beings dictates a statistical equality in the distribution of wealth.

Government in America reached this summit on that day in 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson boldly closed the chasm between church and state, between the nation’s dominant political party and its prevailing religious movement, crudely fusing the power of the Presidency with the passions of worship. Since the religion he embraced was the most ardent faith and superstition of America’s intellectual elite, every voice of the media and the academy chimed its approval. The Supreme Court saw nothing amiss, the American Civil Liberties Union was ecstatic, and there is no report that even Madalyn Murray O’Hair was anything but pleased.