Billmon Does History: War Party

You probably know who this is:

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But what about this guy:

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And him?

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If you'd like to know how three stupid white men -- two living, one dead -- help explain the violent course of the American history, the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, and the invasion of Iraq, then read on.

White male #1 is Jerry Falwell, political preacher par excellence, founder of the Moral Majority, and more recently peddler of some truly loopy conspiracy theories involving the 42nd president of the United States.

White male #2 is Falwell's U.K. counterpart: Ian Paisley, Presbyterian minister, leader of one of the more extreme Protestant parties in Northern Ireland, and a ferocious opponent of the devil, the IRA and the Good Friday peace accords -- not necessarily in that order.

And white male #3 (deceased) is, or was, King James I, defender of the faith, protector of the realm, first of the Stuart line to sit on the throne of England. More than any other single person, he's responsible for creating the tribe -- and the cultural tradition -- that produced Falwell and Paisley, as well as Andrew Jackson, the Alamo, George Wallace, the NRA, Ross Perot, the Oklahoma City bombing and the current shape of the U.S. electoral map.