In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe newly minted GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano has a snowball’s chance in a burning hell of being elected Pennsylvania’s next governor.
Simply put: State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R- Franklin, is a theocrat, and an unapologetic one at that.
According to the New Oxford Dictionary, a theocrat is “an advocate of a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or gods.”
It isn’t a pretty word, especially to folks who value the separation of church and state. Theocrats have been a pox on this land since Plymouth Rock. They’ve had a variety of intimidating names and have rebranded their movement for changing times. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, elitist theocrats called themselves Theonomists. They had an enormous influence on what was then called the religious right.
In an American theocracy, abortion under all circumstances would be outlawed, but Old Testament law will allow you to kill your rebellious teenagers for “disobeying” you. You can also put the women, children and unborn babies of the enemy to death in particularly grisly ways during wartime. This sounds a lot harsher than Roe v. Wade.
Theonomy, Christian Reconstruction and Dominionism are perfectly distilled in the theology of the Christian Praetorian guards that sprung up around Donald Trump during his presidency.
Doug Mastriano is one of these theocrats. He’s a happy, holy warrior for Mr. Trump, not because he’s under any illusion that the former president is a “believer,” but because he’s convinced that God is using Mr. Trump to usher in an era of “Christian” control of government — fascism with a faith-based face.
The most accessible term for this kind of totalitarian delusion is Christian nationalism. This sounds like something an unsophisticated patriot can grab onto and not feel self-conscious about. Being a Christian is good, right? Being a patriot is even better — so the two should go together like peanut butter and chocolate.