“Religion, too, is a weapon. What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?”
Warning: This post contains spoilers from the book series on which the Dune film is based. If you haven't read the books but plan to see the film, don't read this.
Warning 2: This is probably the most political post I've ever written. You have been warned.
Note: This post contains stereotypical descriptions of average Republicans and Democrats. They are not intended to be any real people, though they are based loosely on polling.
In the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert, Paul Atreides, son of the Duke of the planet Caladan, discovers he can see the future in visions. When his family move to the desert planet Arrakis, exposure to a drug known as melange or "the spice" makes the dreams more vivid. Then when he's forced to flee into the desert with his mother, they meet the natives, known as the Fremen. The Fremen have been specially preconditioned by Paul's mother's fellow Bene Gesserit (like weirder, all-female Jedi) to accept a boy with Paul's general description as their messiah. When he proves his strength in combat, and then the power of his visions, he becomes their leader and god, known as Muad'Dib.
Now, at this point, if you haven't read the book, you may be thinking, "Okay, Dutch, I can guess what happens next. Paul leads the Fremen to victory against their offworld oppressors who killed his father, and then they all live happily ever after. Classic white savior story."
And you're wrong.
Paul does lead the Fremen to victory. And he stays loyal to them. He doesn't become a sadistic madman or anything.
But all the time, thanks to his vision, he can see that he's created a monster.
"Paul saw how futile were any efforts of his to change any smallest bit of this. He had thought to oppose the jihad within himself, but the jihad would be. His legions would rage out from Arrakis even without him. They needed only the legend he already had become."
You see, once the Fremen accepted him as a leader and a god, they wanted to spread the "good news" of the messiah Maud'Dib throughout the universe. And no matter what he says, they will interpret it as words from heaven. As for "unbelievers", who can refuse to follow a god and live? Such a person must die, they say.
If all this all sounds like a huge overreaction, know that the Fremen have been under the cruel hand of the brutal Harkonnens for a long time (eighty years). When the Harkonnens took back Arrakis from Paul's father, they also killed many Fremen along the way. Once they were back in charge, they attempted to exterminate the Fremen.
So you can imagine how the Fremen feel when a boy matching the descriptions of the legends comes to them, promising to help them take back their world. They identify those who refuse to follow Muad'Dib with the Harkonnens.
Tell me if this sounds familiar:
You're a well-meaning, middle-aged Republican who goes to church once a month. You continually see Democrats attempting to push what you see as radically liberal policies through Congress, and you rely on your trusty Republican majority to hold them back. It's been that way since the founding of the country, as far as you can tell. Democrats running off into the blue and Republicans trying to pull them back to reality.
But suddenly, you see what you perceive to be a leftward shift in the government. Obama is elected and the nation "barely survives" him. Wow, he made a mess of things. Then he leaves and Hillary Clinton, of all people, is now running. Obama was bad from your point of view, but you see Hillary as far worse. So when you find that Donald Trump is running for the Republicans, you are excited. He's a strong, no-nonsense Republican. Sure, he's got a sketchy past, but in your mind it's a solid anti-Democrat grounding that counts. And on top of that, he's supposed to be a Christian. You hope that he will be a moral beacon for America.
When he wins, you thank God for bringing a good leader to the nation for the first time since "The Good Ol' Days" (which you vaguely define as Reagan's presidency). Trump quickly shows those RINOs what a true conservative does.
Then the Democrats do the unthinkable. They accuse Trump, a Godly, upright, if blunt leader, of election fraud. However, you quickly realize that only crazy people who voted for Hillary believe any of that trash. And your Democrat neighbors, they can't have voted for Hillary. They're too nice. Only commie nuts voted for her. It's not like she got the popular vote or anything.
But Trump owns the libs and isn't impeached. And then he keeps on being a good conservative. Yeah, there were a few times he didn't seem to keep his promises, and more than a few scandals, but he's still solid. He's the one you can trust.
You're a successful Democrat in your thirties who was raised Jewish or Catholic, but now would identify as nonreligious. You see the theme of modern politics as being thus: Republicans keep trying to hold back the rest of the nation and use underhanded policies to take us back to the middle ages. You liked Obama and defended his policies.
And then you see an alarming turn. A madman with a huge ego and no moral standards is elected to the White House. You're shocked, of course, that such an awful candidate could be chosen by the American people, and when you hear it might have been those naughty Russians, you immediately understand. Of course! A corrupt billionaire could easily get the approval of such a corrupt nation who run phony elections. It all makes sense.
But somehow, Trump gets away with it. Several of your trusty Democrat congressmen went over to the dark side, and of course the Republicans voted for the one they worship.
In the weeks after the impeachment, you think, Maybe he really didn't conspire with Russia. After all, all this party division has to have gotten to me. What if I'm wrong? Gotta think about that. After you have that thought, you forget about it, except for occasional similar thoughts about how blind everyone else is. They all blindly follow a leader, except you and maybe a few others, probably all Democrats.
When COVID hits, you conscientiously wear a mask and keep your distance. The whole time, you're disgusted by Trump's spreading of misinformation about the virus. When he catches it, you aren't so cruel as to hope he dies, but you certainly hope being sick teaches him a lesson. When it doesn't, your opinion of him gets even lower.
Then the election starts. In considering who to vote for in the primaries, you rule out Warren because she focuses too much on one issue, and Sanders because he seems too radical. Most of the others stand little chance of winning, so you vote for the one candidate who seems moderate, capable, who has a chance, and whose policies you like a lot. Joe Biden.
Biden wins the nomination and faces Trump in the main election. As Biden campaigns, you are surprised to find that lots of Republicans think that a person with a stutter is incapable of leading well. Can't they leave a nice old guy alone?
As Biden's poll number improve, you're encouraged. For the first time in years, you actually pray a few times that Biden wins—it can't do any harm.
When Biden wins, you're surprised and very glad.
Then the January 6 riots leave you stunned. American citizens, urged on by an American president, have stormed an American federal building. Right-wingers claim that Antifa was behind the uprising, but you know that, dumb as Antifa can be, they would never do such a thing. Trump was clearly attempting a coup. This alone is enough to justify voting for someone else.
(The above examples are not representative of every Republican and Democrat. Not many are quite that polarized. Some are more polarized.)
Basically: From a Republican's point of view, the Democrats are the Harkonnens, the Republicans are the Fremen, and Trump (sometimes other leaders) is Paul.
From a Democrat's point of view, the Republicans (specifically the far-right ones) are the Harkonnens, the Democrats are the Fremen, and Biden (sometimes other leaders) is Paul.
But it doesn't end well. (The human savior idea never does.) Worshipping a mere man as a god, or even following him as a representative of a god, never goes well. Here's my favorite Frank Herbert quote:
“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late.”
What Herbert meant? When breaking a law made by a man becomes a sin, those who follow that man will follow him through fire, and only an external thing can stop him. The problem is that he now has ultimate power over these people. But if he's only a man, worshipping him is futile. (Ironically, Herbert was not a Christian.)
If a person can gain both religious and political power (sometimes other types of power as well), they are very hard to stop.
Everyone has this weakness. No one is nonreligious—even atheists worship something or someone (usually themselves). Our default religion is self-worship, but different people have joined different religions that charismatic leaders can use.
With Republicans in general (certainly not all), that religion is Christianity. If a candidate they like is Christian, the candidate may become the symbol of Christianity for them. Going against that candidate is essentially going against God. Not quite, but close.
With many (certainly not all) Democrats, that religion is some form of humanism. Not all humanists call themselves such. Traditional humanists believe that man is the only place where truth can be found, if it even exists. Most rationalists think man's understanding of reason is the only source of truth. Darwinists believe that the furthering of the human race is all that matters. Going against such-and-such seems to them like going against human progress, even if they never say or think that in so many words.
It's important to remember that the leader doesn't always want to be the bad guy, and some never become bad guys at all. Paul was trying to be the good guy, and he didn't want the jihad to happen, but he couldn't stop it. Ultimately it never goes well.
Will we ever break this loop? Yes. I can show you how. If you make me president, I will eliminate the Muad'Dib Phenomenon...
There's another example. And more evidence that we can't stop this loop. I think only one person can, and he's no mere human. He was born roughly 2000 years ago in a tiny town in Judea.
Okay, guys, I realize this has been a rather long post, so I'll shut up. I hope I've given you something to think about.