Can we do business with these people?

In my previous post "The Morning After!" I quoted a comment to an article in "The Guardian" by Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos where a submitter, nin (probably European), takes Markos to task for suggesting that:

The United States is a bitterly divided nation, at war with itself. Tuesday was merely one battle in a long-term war for the heart and soul of our nation. There will be the usual blather about unity and nonesuch, but the time for that is past. Bush has won himself four additional years to further inflict damage upon the world. Half of of the US public is not happy about that tonight.

The comment writer asks Markos:

Characterizing your effort as a "war" is the reason for your failure. How many Bush supporters has your blog converted? Do you think demonizing or ridiculing the people who disagree with you and the leaders they support is going to change their minds? Instead of fighting a war against your own people, why don't you Americans on the left start talking with them? Figure out "tactics" that get them to listen to what you have to say instead of tactics that alienate them.

I cite this comment not because I in any way agree with it, but because it represents a position that must be considered. I've heard this position advanced in the media, "...the Democratic Party needs to learn how to speak to people of faith."

My problem is that people of faith don't give you any wiggle room. Their basic premise is by definition, “I and those who agree with me are absolutely right, and those who disagree are absolutely wrong.” That doesn't allow for any compromises or any tolerance around the edges.

So I'm very skeptical that any profitable discussions are possible between the Religious Right and a party of inclusion. I think that the more effective strategy is to wait for the Republican bloc to unravel. I can't imagine the three main segments of the Republican coalition (libertarians, corporatists and the religious right) coexisting indefinitely just because of the uncompromising attitude cited above.

Where the Religious Right gives no quarter, corporatists main focus is profit. Much-maligned Hollywood is owned and run by corporatists and they make money hand over fist from it. So right away there is a huge point of disagreement.

Also, libertarians are almost religiously averse to government intrusion. Yet the Religious Right would like to place a mullah, oh excuse me, a reverend to chase sin from every bedroom in America. In fact, if you consider the rules that the Religious Right would like to impose on the citizenry, you will find a rigid, stifling jailhouse in which I’m sure few Americans would choose to live.

The bottom line, I believe, is that it would profit the Democrats little to try to initiate a dialogue with the Religious Right. They are fully deployed in a rigid and uncompromising paradigm that would allow no room for tolerance or growth.

In that regard, I believe that it’s best to let the situation evolve and hope that rifts develop in what is a coalition of strange bedfellows.