2019-01-14 – Everyone loves being a rebel. We revel in our self images as iconoclasts. We love smashing the idols.

So why is it that we also love erecting new idols?

The idol-du-jour, of course is “The Wall.” This is the altar upon which Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell daily offer to sacrifice our government. But Trump’s wall is not the only idol in American public life. Some idolize the 2nd amendment. Some idolize the first. And you can find a whole lot of folks who idolize selected passages (or imagined passages) in their favorite holy scriptures.

But the thing that got me thinking today was an article that was trying to rehabilitate Karl Marx. I’m not going to give you a link to the site because I don’t want to make any contribution to their traffic. But I’m sure you are not surprised that there are some people out there who idolize Karl Marx. Whole nations have bowed to that idol.

Here’s the thing: Karl Marx said some good things and some bad things. Our Constitution has some stellar provisions and some provisions that are not so stellar. The same goes for any holy scripture.

The problem comes when you idolize them. They problem comes when you are so blinded by your worship that you swallow the whole thing. Don’t swallow whole things! Whole things contain bones and offal!

It’s best to be a little picky.

In the world of marketing, they would call this unbundling. That’s what’s happening with Cable TV. People don’t want to pay for channels they don’t like. Sellers, of course, want to slip some of that undesirable stuff into your subscription.

So look: Karl Marx did say some good thing about the value and nobility of work, but he also said some nasty things. Don’t ask me to idolize him. Don’t choke me with the nasties just to get a taste of the sweat meat. Same with whatever holy text you are selling.

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