Magic in secular as well as religious forms

Midway into a long article about the decline of empires in general, and the likely declining of America's in particular, Chris Hedges talks about the belief by many evangelical Christians, and how it's a form of magical escapism, at least today.

But he then goes on to note:

The faith that science and technology, which are morally neutral and serve human ambitions, will make the world whole again is no less delusional. We offer up our magical thinking in secular as well as religious form.

Indeed, indeed. Click the "salvific technologism" tag, and you'll see I have written a lot about this.

We think we have somehow escaped from the foibles of the past. We are certain that we are wiser and greater than those who went before us. We trust naively in the inevitability of our own salvation.

That's why an Obama won't do more on global warming.