  Has American-Style Conservatism Become a Religion?  Friday, 16
September 2011 04:54 By Joshua Holland, AlterNet | News Analysis
• Print   • Email  As the American right lurches from
traditional conservatism – a go-slow approach to governing that
stresses the importance of continuity and social stability – to
a far more reactionary brand typified by acolytes of Ayn Rand
and Tea Party extremists waving misspelled signs decrying
Democrats' "socialism," the time has come to ask whether modern
“backlash” conservatism has become a religious faith rather than
a pedestrian political ideology.  Ideology is grounded in the
real world. It offers us a philosophical lens through which we
can efficiently process what's happening in the world around us.
Religion is different. It's a fixed belief system, based on
faith, and it is immune to – or at least highly resistant to –
challenges mounted by objective reality. Which better describes
the belief system of a typical Rush Limbaugh fan or Tea Party
activist?  Like religi