Damon Linker, a former editor of First Things journal, details the rise of conservative theological influence on Washington politics in The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege. The emergence of religious rhetoric in political speech has been, for the most part, a recent infiltration contrasting against the secular swing of the sixties and seventies.
The Theocons chronicles the shift in loyalties of certain prominent theological leaders--namely Lutheran minister turned Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus, and Catholic philosopher Michael Novak--from Vietnam War-inspired liberalism to the current theocracy permeating the Iraq War strategy.
The validity of Linker's assertions comes from his three and a half years of experience as editor of First Things, a publication by the Institute on Religion and Public Life, whose own goal according to the First Things website "is to advance a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society." Linker's personal observations of key players of the "theoconservative" movement, who also happen to be behind the creation of the journal, and his detailed research of prior publications made by these individuals, illustrate the deceptive manipulation of the American public by both the media and politicians, specifically the Bush Administration.
An unexpected quality of the book is that the majority of the content is relatively unbiased and is composed strictly of chronological facts. While it is clear that Linker disapproves of the agenda the theoconservative movement has created for the American people, the actions of those involved do well to create an image of an insidious political conspiracy, whether intentional or not. Collectively, religious leaders in the public eye have succeeded in molding American democracy into little more than an extension of the church.
The Theocons was originally published by Doubleday in 2006, and this 2007 Anchor Books trade paperback edition features an Afterword updated with two more years of political reactions and influence.
Armchair Interviews says: If this subject interests you, Linker offers a lot of thoughtful challenges.
Theocons sound like the latest version of Transformers: Autobots, Decepticons, Theocons. Whatever breed they belong to, it must have some audience draw to garner the author a rumored $160K advance for this insider's tale of their antics. The real scandal doesn't seem to be in the book at all, however. That would concern the missing Linker, who served? posed? as an editor at the New York journal First Things from 2001 to 2004. The Great Pen and Ink Scandal, one might call it, slightly borrowing a title from the Sex Pistols. Or maybe Decepticons VS Theocons in the battle for Ameritron. That might be a story.
One can understand a broke writer upping the stakes, anxious, as so many seem, to break his own personal Watergate. But exposes seem to be written in inverse proprtion to the legal guns on the other side. You won't, for instance, see exposes of, to take two names completely at random, Disney or Planned Parenthood any time soon. Linker has chosen the one guy probably guaranteed not to sue him, the ever- amiable editor and able author, Richard John Neuhaus. He's also chosen as his target, the calmest, most reasoned, thoughtful and profound journal in existence. I'm sure Linker himself subscribes to many that are far more strident.
Not to join the Watergate breed of wild- eyed reporters, nor admit that I myself fall into the starving writer category, but if you want to read the full story, you can. It's in the August/ Sept. 2006, Number 165 issue of First Things, pp. 76-77. Or better yet, subscribe to First Things yourself, as I suggest in this Linker-like ad: Follow the trail of death and destruction as the terrible Theocons strangle helpless America in their mighty grip! Who can save the tiny victim? Only that hero of truth and justice, the Decepticon Missing Linker.
