I'm sorry this is coming so late, but I didn't read the article in Mother Jones that prompted this piece until after work on Monay night (and I work until Midnight).

I first must apologise for being so absent as of late...I've been busy working on two book projects, running a coven, changing jobs, and looking for a new house. I really don't have the time to write this piece (a chapter on Wiccan theology is sitting, waiting for me while I do this) either, but I thought this issue so important that I'm taking a few minutes to bang this out before bed.

Like many feminists (ie, people who ascribe to that crazy notion that women are, gasp, human!), I was excited by the prospect of a female candidate for president that was viable, with a real chance to win. Too long has the US been lagging behind the world in female political leaders, but the '08 election cycle seemed like an opportunity at last.

Not the I was a hige Hillary Clinton fan, mind you...her record since entering the Senate has been troubling (voting to authorize the Iraq war, voting to fund the ominous "Real ID" Act, which paves the way for a national ID card and unprecedented government spying powers, and the "Patriot Act", which has done more to erode civil liberties than any other law in the history of the USA...to name a few), but I was open, and willing to be convinced. However, I eventually opted for Obama (at least after John Edwards dropped out) because I liked his grass-roots strategy. Besides, Hillary had surrounded herself with people stuck in a 90's mentality of elections, where the philosophy was that to beat the Republicans, one had to become more like them. I rejected that mentality then, and I reject it now. People want a clear choice...duh!

As the primary has worn on, I have found myself happy in my choice...Obama is inspiring a whole new generation of young activists, while Hillary's campaign has descended into wierdness...race-baiting, Karl-Rove tactics, sucking up to FOX (faux) news, etc. Recently, I found an article on the Mother Jones website which raises serious concerns about what a Clinton administration may mean for Witches and other Pagans.

The whole article merits a read-through, but I have included a few choice exerpts for thought. My comments are in italics.

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"Through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the Fellowship. Her collaborations with right-wingers such as Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)(who is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest while voting against sex ed that mentions controceptives) and former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) (rabidly homophobic and in favour of domestic spying on Americans) grow in part from that connection. "

"When Clinton first came to Washington in 1993, one of her first steps was to join a Bible study group. For the next eight years, she regularly met with a Christian "cell" whose members included Susan Baker founder of the censorship advocacy group PMRC) , wife of Bush consigliere James Baker; Joanne Kemp, wife of conservative icon Jack Kemp; Eileen Bakke, wife of Dennis Bakke, a leader in the anti-union Christian management movement; and Grace Nelson, the wife of Senator Bill Nelson, a conservative Florida Democrat.

Clinton's prayer group was part of the Fellowship (or "the Family"), a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to "spiritual war" on behalf of Christ, many of them recruited at the Fellowship's only public event, the annual National Prayer Breakfast. (Aside from the breakfast, the group has "made a fetish of being invisible," former Republican Senator William Armstrong has said.) The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God's plan."

(She first encountered) Fellowship leader Doug Coe at a 1993 lunch with her prayer cell at the Cedars, the Fellowship's majestic estate on the Potomac. Coe, she writes, "is a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God."

"The Fellowship's long-term goal is "a leadership led by God—leaders of all levels of society who direct projects as they are led by the spirit." According to the Fellowship's archives, the spirit has in the past led its members in Congress to increase U.S. support for the Duvalier regime in Haiti and the Park dictatorship in South Korea. The Fellowship's God-led men have also included General Suharto of Indonesia; Honduran general and death squad organizer Gustavo Alvarez Martinez; a Deutsche Bank official disgraced by financial ties to Hitler; and dictator Siad Barre of Somalia, plus a list of other generals and dictators. Clinton, says Schenck, has become a regular visitor to Coe's Arlington, Virginia, headquarters, a former convent where Coe provides members of Congress with sex-segregated housing and spiritual guidance."

Cells like (Clinton's), Nelson added, exist in "parliaments all over the world," with all welcome so long as they submit to "the person of Jesus" as the source of their power.

"Throughout her time at the White House, Clinton writes in Living History her autobiography, she took solace from "daily scriptures" sent to her by her Fellowship prayer cell, along with Coe's assurances that she was right where God wanted her. "

"That's how it works: The Fellowship isn't out to turn liberals into conservatives; rather, it convinces politicians they can transcend left and right with an ecumenical faith that rises above politics. Only the faith is always evangelical, and the politics always move rightward."

"With Santorum, Clinton co-sponsored the Workplace Religious Freedom Act; she didn't back off even after Republican senators such as Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter pulled their names from the bill citing concerns that the measure would protect those refusing to perform key aspects of their jobs—say, pharmacists who won't fill birth control prescriptions, or police officers who won't guard abortion clinics."

"Clinton has championed federal funding of faith-based social services, which she embraced years before George W. Bush did; Marci Hamilton, author of God vs. the Gavel, says that the Clintons' approach to faith-based initiatives "set the stage for Bush." Clinton has also long supported the Defense of Marriage Act (which is, essentially, an anti-Gay marraige bill) a measure that has become a purity test for any candidate wishing to avoid war with the Christian right."

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Taliesin here again - All in all, Pagans have dodged a bullet for these past 8 years. While a theocratically-inclined Republican congress (for 6 years) and an arch-conservative administration (packed with graduates of Pat Robertson's fundie college), our lives could have been made much, much more difficult. Only the combined bugaboo of Islam and gay rights has occupied the extreme right to the point where they haven't had much time to worry about us heathens. That, however, could change anytime, and we have to be cautious about our leaders. This article raises important questions about Hillary Clinton, ones that Pagans who haven't voted yet should consider before casting a very important vote.

I hope to be back without the soapbox soon. For now, good night, and Blessed Be.

- Taliesin