One American Dream…
Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza, former owner of Detroit Tigers, sugardaddy for lots of conservative causes. He has his version of the American Dream which he laid out in the first annual Boston Catholic Men’s Conference (!). It has to do with Ave Maria, the Catholic university that Monaghan is building in Florida. Monaghan is not only building a university, he is building a new society:
Bold talk — but the most dramatic part of Monaghan’s speech is yet to come. Ave Maria won’t be just a university, he continues. It will also be a new town, built from scratch, in which the wickedness of the world will be kept at bay. “We’ve already had about 3500 people inquire on our Web site about buying a home there — you know, they’re all Catholic,” Monaghan says excitedly. “We’re going to control all the commercial real estate, so there’s not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We’re controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives.” A private chapel will be located within walking distance of each home. At the stunning church in the center of town, Mass will be said hourly, seven days a week, from 6 a.m. on. “So,” Monaghan concludes, with just a hint of understatement, “it’ll be a unique town.” As he exits the stage, the applause is thunderous.
Doesn’t Iran have something very similar? Though naturally with different fundamentalist ideas at its base, but the similarities are more striking to me.
It’s likely that Monaghan’s dream is not quite legal. But isn’t it interesting to get a glimpse into the mind of a wingnut?
June 18th, 2005 at 10:48 am
Amazing how once a little dick makes money off a string of pie shops he thinks he is god- this is a cult and needs to be presented as such.
June 18th, 2005 at 11:18 am
Jonestown?
Drink your Kool-aid..they’re coming with flamethrowers!
June 18th, 2005 at 11:53 am
Christ, what a day…
June 18th, 2005 at 12:29 pm
Disney did it first, although not with a particular religious faith in mind. Disney’s creation embodies the worship of Norman Rockwell’s small-town America, which never really existed except in people’s minds. Anyone who believed wholly in that should read Sinclair Lewis’s Babbit.
June 18th, 2005 at 3:47 pm
This guy is a wingnut, but he’s a wingnut in the vein of Ross Perot, i.e. he a nut, but he’s got (a few) valid points, which the progressive community needs to understand and compromise with in order to win back a significant part of the moderate, and also conservative-but-not