Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Mike Huckabee are competing for the support of right wing preacher John Hagee, praising his leadership and commitment in pushing extremist religion into the the public sphere. It’s well worth noting, therefore, the way that Hagee proposes we all look at the identity of the American nation.

Conventional history has it that the United Sates was created as a sovereign nation in 1776 through the American Revolution, and subsequently through the Articles of Confederation, which were succeeded by the American Constitution, which is now the supreme law of the United States of America, defining the parameters of what the USA is.

That’s not how John Hagee sees things, though. According to John Hagee, the United States was born in the year 1607. Hagee took part in the Consecration Conference at Assembly 2007, which declared, “In April of 1607, the Jamestown colony landed in Virginia Beach and planted a cross, birthing a new nation dedicated to God.”

Progressives believe that the United States was born through the American Revolution and the establishment of the Constitution. Right wingers like John Hagee believe that all it took to create the United States was a prayer and a cross planted in the sand.

If you vote for John McCain and Mike Huckabee in 2008, you’re voting for the cross-in-the-sand vision of the birth of America.

(Source: People for the American Way, March 22, 2007)