A prescription for leeches

If we consider “the economy” as a patient and Congress as the doctor then Congress has done the equivalent of prescribing leeches. Trouble is the economy was actually in fairly good shape when the leeches were first prescribed. The leeches which were prescribed have slowly and surely sucked the life out of the economy through holes – special tax-exempt loopholes which were part of the prescription. When the leeches inevitably made the formerly healthy economy sick then Congress prescribed more leeches. In this analogy each bit of legislation allowing a wealthy person who could afford to pay their taxes to avoid those taxes is another prescription for leeches. Doctor Congress stubbornly clings to the notion that enough leeches will cure what ails the patient. From this I conclude that the doctor needs to be fired for malpractice.

Now you might be wondering what this political analogy is doing in an Atheist blog. Well that is easy. The doctor in the analogy prescribes leeches despite overwhelming evidence that leeches are bad for the economy. This propensity to ignore evidence is engrained in the doctor by the religious-industrial complex. The religious-industrial complex does this to preserve fanciful tales such as the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark, and that whole thing with the omnipotent sky fairy. Unfortunately the religious-industrial complex does not draw a line when it is conditioning people to ignore evidence. The engrained disdain for evidence spills over to poison the public discourse on everything from “Global Warning” to the efficacy of “Trickle Down Economics.” Mix with a substantial portion of greed and the stage is set for economic disaster.