Last week I wrote about the challenges Pakistan faces in dealing with the religious zealotry of the Taliban and the Taliban’s intention of imposing a theocracy on Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Don’t feel smug thinking the United States doesn’t have such difficulties. We do.

If you want to know why we are having the economic difficulties we are, then I invite you to follow this causative chain regarding the activities of our own American Taliban.

We’ve had people in power the last eight years who governed with a flawed philosophy. How were they able to come to power? They got the numbers necessary to win elections. Wall Street bankers, Hedge Fund Managers and Neo-Cons do not come in sufficient numbers to win national elections. Where did the numbers come from? A prime source was the Religious Right. This group really only asked two qualifying questions of potential candidates.

Here are the two questions: When does life begin? Who should marriage be between? If candidates answered those two questions in the "right" way, then the candidates were supported.

The reliance on choosing candidates based on the two questions was based on this apparent reasoning. If a candidate answered "correctly", then not only would their beliefs on those two questions be supported legislatively, but all other questions would be answered "correctly", too. As a result, the candidates’ governing philosophy was overlooked as a selection criterion.

Some prime elements of that flawed governing philosophy include . . .

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