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E.J. Dionne, Jr. reviews the history of religiosity and secularism in American politics and predicts that 2008 will mark the end of the cycle that began in 1980:

The era of the religious right is over. Even absent the rise of urgent new problems, Americans had already reached a point of exhaustion with a religious style of politics that was dogmatic, partisan and ideological.

That style reflected a spirit far too certain of itself and far too insistent on the moral depravity of its political adversaries. It had the perverse effect of narrowing the range of issues on which religious traditions would speak out and thinning our moral discourse. Precisely because I believe in a strong public role for faith, I would insist that it is a great sellout of those traditions to assert that religion has much to say about abortion and same-sex marriage but little to teach us about war and peace, social justice and the environment.

With the United States turning its attention again to very large, post-9/11 issues — as our forebears did during the Depression, World War II and the Cold War — we will certainly be asking for God's blessing and help. But the questions that will most engage us will be about survival and prosperity, not religion and culture.

Things become very clear when Glenn Greenwald explains them:

The number one rule of the standard establishment journalist is to avoid offending the powerful because the more offense they give, the fewer favors the powerful will do for the journalists. Conversely, and by logical necessity, the more journalists please the powerful, the more favors the powerful will do for them. As [Tucker] Carlson put it: "People don't talk to you when you go out of your way to hurt them as you did." I can't think of any single dynamic that better explains what has happened the last eight years than that one. [...]

Even after the lead-up to Iraq War, eight years of the Bush administration, the Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch fiascoes and an endless string of similar incidents, American "journalists" like Carlson are actually proud of the role the American media plays. Newsweek's Richard Wolffe, sitting and chatting with Tony Snow: "the press here does a fantastic job of adhering to journalistic standards and covering politics in general."

That's why it won't change and the only real hope is to develop alternatives to it. Serving the politically powerful, functioning as the PR arm of the political establishment, is what they want to do, what they believe they should be doing. The more they do that, the more respectful they are of the politically powerful, the more "standards" they think they have. The success of the American establishment journalist is measured by how many good friends they count among the politically powerful.

And here we all thought they considered their jobs to be reporting the truth.

Maybe you've heard about the Utah Democratic Party's Mass Meeting and wondered what it's all about.

Well, the mass meetings or neighborhood caucuses are the most basic process in the UDP's organization. These are the meetings where delegates to the county convention are selected. It is where they select precinct officers and legislative district leadership.

Simply by attending your district's mass meeting March 25 at 7 p.m., you can become a neighborhood leader to help Democrats win in November!

For more information, click on the following link: Mass Meetings.

To find your legislative district, click on the following link: County Clerk.

If you live outside Salt Lake County or if you have any additional questions, contact Joe Crockett at (801) 220-0122.