In an age of constant political squabbling, windbag pundits, and widespread misinformation, the idea of moving beyond our petty debates can sound awfully appealing. Perhaps this is why some have convinced themselves that President Obama's fixation of compromise might be the way to go.

The notorious Christian extremist group known as "the Family" has its own ideas about this. And the Democratic Party has been playing along, almost as if they don't realize what is happening.

The Family wants to "transcend" left and right with a faith that consumes politics, replacing fundamental differences with the unity to be found in submission to religious authority. Conservatives sit pretty in prayer and wait for liberals looking for "common ground" to come to them in search of compromise.

- Jeff Sharlet, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

I wish I could say that this image of conservatives waiting for liberals to come to them looking for compromise is even a little unrealistic. I wish I could say that most of the American left would see such efforts for what they were and resist them.

Is submission to religious authority really where we want our country to go? And make no mistake, they are not talking about submission to anything you would recognize as Christianity, not even fundamentalist Christianity. Their philosophy is more Hitler than Jesus. It is about their own power, cloaked in religious trappings to deceive others.

The rise of corporate power at the expense of those of us who work for a living is exactly what we should expect more of as the Family continues to win. They celebrate this sort of power as a divine right and view the rest of us as minor obstacles.

Do we learn from Wisconsin or change the channel?

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