The occasional, often ill-considered thoughts of a Roman Catholic permanent deacon who is ever grateful to God for his existence. Despite the strangeness we encounter in this life, all the suffering we witness and endure, being is good, so good I am sometimes unable to contain my joy. Deo gratias!


Although I am an ordained deacon of the Catholic Church, the opinions expressed in this blog are my personal opinions. In offering these personal opinions I am not acting as a representative of the Church or any Church organization.

Monday, July 8, 2019

Living Among the Breakage

There is no end, but addition: the trailing
consequence of further days and hours,
While emotion takes to itself the emotionless
years of living among the breakage
Of what was believed in as the most reliable--
And therefore the fittest for renunciation.
 -- T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets: The Dry Salvages

We certainly seem to be "living among the breakage" these days as our "most reliable" values, all that we the people have held dear for centuries, are considered by many "fittest for renunciation." 

Is there anything about this country the score of presidential wannabes believes to be worthwhile? Anything that does not merit condemnation? Do they truly despise this nation, its founders, and its Constitution? Do they believe our flag is a symbol of oppression? Listening to them one would think so.

They all openly despised the July Fourth celebration of the birth of our nation as a militaristic, Trump-centered fiasco that would draw no one. Of course they were wrong, completely wrong. Huge crowds joined the celebration despite the weather. The president spoke eloquently not about himself but about the greatness of our nation. And the presence of our military, from tanks to Blue Angels, thrilled the crowd. It was a wonderful day, a fitting birthday party for the USA.

Some among the 20 yearn for a socialist America. They call themselves "democratic socialists," an obvious oxymoronic title. Yes, they all scream, "Power to the people," but really mean, "Power to the state." That's what it's all about. It's all about power. Just count the ways...

Abortion. The 20 hopefuls all support abortion on demand up to, and even after, the moment of birth. They like to call abortion "reproductive health" or "women's health" but it really has little to do with reproduction or women. It has everything to do with a total lack of respect for human life. Despite their public religiosity, politicians and others who support abortion are essentially atheists, for how can anyone who believes in a loving God approve of the premeditated murder of the most innocent of human beings? Once again, it's all about power. So focused on the attainment of worldly power, they overlook the omnipotence of God.



In the Nicene Creed we praise the Holy Spirit as "the Lord and giver of life." Is abortion, then, anything less than a sin against the Holy Spirit? And so many sins...In our country alone we have murdered more than 50 million unborn babies since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Abortion is surely the work of Satan, but his love of death has blinded him to one beautiful thing. The unborn innocents are now with God interceding for our broken, sinful world and for those who choose and perform abortions. Prayer will always defeat Satan.

Gun Control. Regardless of your feelings about firearms, all Americans should support the 2nd Amendment which has nothing to do with hunting or target shooting, and everything to do with maintaining our sovereignty as a free people. The 20 hopefuls support for radical gun control is movitated less by concern over firearm deaths than by power.

An unarmed people are a controlled people (e.g. Venezuela and Tiananmen Square), and can be handled fairly easily by an armed military and police force. But a people with arms? That's a civil war, and wars can be lost. People control, therefore, demands gun control. And gun control really means gun elimination.

Healthcare. The hopefuls want "single payer" healthcare -- that is, healthcare run completely by the government -- because it gives the state ultimate power, the power over life and death. The selective wielding of that power can go a long way toward limiting any real opposition. Remember the "psychiatric hospitals" of the old Soviet Union? Such convenient places to provide "healthcare" to those pesky dissidents.


Open Borders. The hopefuls want open borders because, ultimately, they dream of a world government led by "smart people" like themselves. This borderless world would be free of all those national, cultural, religious, and racial "artificialities" that separate us. It would be the kind of world dreamed of by the unelected eurocrats in Brussels who by uniting Europe are destroying it. Open borders destroy national sovereignty, alter the culture of a society dramatically and permanently, impoverish the people, and solidify the long-term political power of the elitists.


Taxes. The hopefuls need higher and higher taxes because socialism costs; it costs a lot. Medicare for all requires trillions in new taxes. Providing free healthcare to all illegals will cost additional trillions. Paying for everybody's college education means more trillions. And giving every adult $1,000 per month...yep, trillions. This all demands that the state confiscate the people's earnings, then disburse it in ways that best preserve the state's power. 

There's a subtle gnostic side of socialism. Those in power are convinced they are the elect, the ones who know what the rest of us don't. "We can spend your money far better than you," they tell us. "Trust us." Uh-huh. Margaret Thatcher famously defined socialism's long-term economic failure when she remarked: "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." By then. of course, everyone is already enslaved by the state and it's often too late to change without outside help.

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If our presidential hopefuls are driven by a socialist, far-left ideology, I suppose their hatred for all things American makes sense. We can only assume, then, that this is what motivates them. The only other possible explanations are ignorance, gross stupidity, or political expedience. But whatever the cause, whether they have knowingly wrapped themselves in the mantle of Marxist ideology, are merely burdened by ignorance or stupidity, or are unable to speak the truth, I can't see how one of them can win the presidency in 2020. I can't believe American voters will abdicate their sovereignty and turn it over to these elitists and their bureaucratic toadies. I can't believe they would discard the political system that gives them the opportunity to make such a choice.

I could, of course, be wrong. The ignorance of too many Americans, especially younger Americans, could lead them to reject freedom and unthinkingly blunder into the Marxist slavery that has destroyed so many during the past century. I could be wrong since most of today's recent college graduates have never taken a course in either American or world history. Most have never opened a copy of our Constitution. Most have no understanding of how the government of our republic is constituted and meant to function. Most know little or nothing of the foundation and greatness of Western Civilization. Most consider our nation's Judeo-Christian roots to be the cause of all they believe to be evil. Yes, indeed, most have been brainwashed but not educated.  

I could certainly be wrong, and if so, the American experiment of a constitutional republic, one founded on the principles of limited government and the protection of its citizens' God-given rights, is likely finished.

I believe the 2020 election will determine whether we plunge deeper into the breakage or enter a period of renewal.

Pray for our nation and for those we have elected to represent us. God hears our prayers. He always answers them in ways that accomplish His will for the world. God always has the final say.

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