Communism and Fascism are religious movements...

The great religious movements of the 20^thcentury, Communism and Fascism, liked to think that they toiled in the wilderness against a corrupt political and religious establishment. In fact, of course, they always obtained support from young fashionables in the educated elite, and their ideas leaked quickly into the political mainstream.

The current rising world religious movement of leftist radicals is no exception. If you peruse Ernest Sternberg's analysis in Orbis, "Purifying the World: What the New Radical Ideology Stands For (pdf)," thoughtfully reviewed at NRO by David Pipes, you keep encountering notions that the Obama administration is implementing or would like to. But the Obamis are doing it within the current power structure. That's what you get to do when you win a couple of elections.

"Here is what the new radicals want:

The earth will be protected, justice will reign, economies will be sustainable, and energy will be renewable. Diverse communities will celebrate other communities, with the only proviso that they accede to doctrine. Far purer than democracies of the past, this future regime will operate through grassroots participatory meetings in which all communities are empowered."