Image of man in a dust storm from the FDR Presidential Library archive: “In 1934 & 1936 drought and dust storms ravaged the great American plains and added to the New Deal’s reflief burden.”
This morning, federal workers thronged back to work after a full 16 days of unpaid holiday. And while the political drama of the past few weeks has certainly received its share of airtime, few commenters have sketched a connection between the grandstanding of right wing politicians and the religion that undergirds so much of our politics.
To begin to tell this story, we need to look back to FDR, a figure who has been held responsible for many things—but government shutdown? What’s the connection?
Knight Chair in Media and Religion and Religion Dispatches Director Diane Winston looks back at religiously informed political clashes of the past and predicts more to come.