To Kim Davis on her moral conflict

[Maven]

22. These people don't care about this kind of logic

They want the government to enforce their religious rules. They don't care about "civil" vs. "religious" because they'd like nothing more than for the former to be a codification of the latter. And they've been empowered in this way of thinking by, on the one hand, the plutocrats on the right who for years have used them to mobilize poor voters for policies that benefit the rich; and on the other hand, feckless Democrats who've indulged their lunacy and cowered at their false indignation, up to and including our current president. Hence we have ludicrous ideas based on nothing more than superstition competing on an even playing field with fact-based policies.

These people aren't misinformed about the difference between civil and religious proceedings. It is we on the left who've been misinformed about their intentions. They aren't civic participants acting in good faith who merely have their own opinions about matters for which "reasonable minds can differ", to paraphrase President Obama's onetime justification for giving credence to antigay bigots. They are the American Taliban.