| | Bill,
Long term or short term there is no good marriage between Capitalism and mysticism. We agree on that. As a matter of fact there is no good marriage between any rational, intellectual discipline or endevor and mysticism. And you are correct that the religious right wants to impose religious views of different sorts via government force.
You say that they are strongly opposed to personal choice in private conduct - yes and no. They often support freedom of choice in some areas and oppose them in others, while the left supports freedom of choice in some areas and opposes it in others.
When you read what I wrote, you'll see it isn't an embrace of christianity or mysticism or faith (all of which are abhorent to me) - it is instead a recognition that most Christians are allies for purely political battles in most areas until we have stopped the current march to dictatorship and then from the winning battlefield, continue our education on more fundamental princples. At a sense of life level most casual christians - those who believe but don't practice or attend church very often and are simply hard working average Americans - are our allies. We both support individual choice (with the possible exception of abortion), free enterprise, success via personal effort, etc. Because we work together to defeat ObamaCare or Pelosi/Reid/et.al. doesn't mean we cease to oppose the imposition of religious views. The number of people who are christian but don't want any part of a theocracy is extremely large. The hard-core religious right is a tiny fraction of our political landscape. I want to draw a bright line between those who are in politics to effect religious changes and those who happen to be religious but are not attempting to impose religious views. Although much less extreme this is like the difference between the average muslim and the terrorists. And the parallel carries in another way: The fastest, most likely path to success is to get the moderates to join with us in our battle.
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You wrote, "They are philosophically and scientifically naive, and they will not earn the respect of intellectuals who have a strong influence on higher education and who shape public opinion. "
Nearly all of those who are in the academy and are progressive will never respect anyone who fundamentally opposes statism. (I sanctioned John for his post.)
There is some of the which-comes-first, the chicken or the egg, in this. Until the demand for intellectual capitalists is higher, they won't find slots available, and in this marketplace it is the work of the intellectuals that helps generate the demand. (Obama's policies create economic chaos, the chaos spurs people to find better answers, that is demand for capitalist answers), the increased demand opens the market - more niches - and the increased product educates those who want answers, and that increases the sophistication of those wanting answers (but it is still early in that cycle).
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You wrote, "Intellectuals must eventually recognize capitalism as respectable, if it is ever to gain a strong and enduring foothold in American life. "
This is true, but it is unlikely that those who are today's progressive intellectuals will change their positions so far as to become friendly to Capitalism - that degree of personal conversion is very rare in someone who has finished their upper degrees. The path for change in this area is via replacement of the intellectuals. Let the eductational system become private and let the pressure from consumers and administrators and pressure groups (e.g., tea party) focus on changing the requirements for instructors and over time the old intellectuals will be replaced. Also, the culture and the market place will begin to change who is listened to and the niche for intellectual capitalists will expand while the niche for leftists will diminish. We are seeing that already.
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It is critical to understand what battle field one is fighting what fight on. It you attempt to fight for intellectual correctness at a philosophical level (which we should) but mistake the mid-term elections as where that battle should be fought, you will lose.
There is an order to things. We need to stop the changing of laws by replacing the representatives. That will take place over several cycles to get a body that will start reversing statism. Once that is well underway, we need to use that win, and those representatives to change the pressures that bear on the educational system (out with grants, out with unions, out with tenure, convert to private education, etc.). Then ramp up a campaign to isolate those who are in politics for religious purposes and to gain agreement that church and state must stay very separate. And all the time arguing on philosophical ground, in philosophical arenas for rational egoism and reason over faith or mysticism.
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