A Few Observations

Every day I read things that disturb, perplex, amaze, outrage, and occasionally even delight me. Most often I just set these news bits aside with the idea of maybe addressing them in the future. But this week I decided to hold onto some of them and actually jotted down a few notes. Here goes…

Pray for Israel. The surprise attack on Israel by over a thousand Hamas terrorists is among the most brutal of recent times. Hamas is a Sunni Islamic terrorist group, a collection of sadists that governs the Gaza Strip. They seized control of Gaza after a landslide win in the 2006 election. Since then Hamas has done very little for the people, since it is focused primarily on doing all in its power to kill Jews and eradicate Israel. This is Hamas’ goal, and those who think otherwise are fooling themselves. Since Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, and stashes weapons and munitions in hospitals, schools, and civilian neighborhoods, we can safely ignore its purported love for the people of Gaza. Although I labeled Hamas as sadists, that’s likely an understatement. What Hamas has done in recent days simply confirms its vicious ways. Hamas terrorists not only targeted civilians but were purposely brutal, dragging women and children from their homes, raping and killing them, then emptying their weapons’ magazines into the faces of the dead. They slaughtered nearly 300 people, all civilians, who were attending a music festival, which ironically was dedicated to peace. They also took hostages, more than a hundred, including many women and children. Reportedly they have imprisoned them in the elaborate system of tunnels beneath much of Gaza. Today they threatened to begin executing hostages if Israel continues to carry out its response to the Hamas attack.

Israel really has no option but to destroy Hamas. At the moment the Biden administration has offered its full support to Israel, declaring it has a right to defend itself. I suspect that will change within a few weeks once the global anti-Israel hive begins to call for an immediate ceasefire. The weak, epitomized by the Biden administration, fear using their power, so they might as well not have it. Perceived weakness always enables terror and violence. Unfortunately, groups like Hamas respect only one thing: power, and a willingness to apply it. My concern is that this attack by Hamas is just the beginning. I expect, in the months, and perhaps only the weeks, to come, we will experience similar attacks throughout the world. Our enemies are not stupid and will take advantage of our political confusion and impotent leadership. Keep your eye on Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, and even the minor players like Nicaragua, Cuba, Syria, Venezuela, and so many others. We are entering very dangerous times.

Pray for Israel, good people. They just might need divine power to withstand the future that awaits them. 

Save Democracy! For a few years now the political left has been screaming its latest mantra — Save Democracy! — at high volume. Their attacks are aimed at anyone who believes in and openly defends what I’ll call American traditionalism. If you believe the U.S. Constitution is the greatest secular document every written, or at least humanity’s greatest political accomplishment, you are certainly an American traditionalist, and you will be attacked as a destroyer of democracy. After all, the Constitution is conspicuously anti-democratic because it purposely rejects democracy as a form of government, preferring instead a constitutional representative republic. In truth the founders abhorred pure democracy, for them a system that guaranteed a tyrannical majority would inevitably persecute a nation’s minorities. A constitutional system not only protects the rights and freedoms of the people from their elected government, but also protects the people from themselves. Of course, there’s an irony here. As the left screams its mantra, it simultaneously promotes policies designed to curb the basic freedoms of Americans. If you disagree with their far-left policies, you should be denied the freedom to state your case publicly. If your religious faith fails to promote gay marriage, or so-called transgenderism, or abortion, the legal system must be distorted so it can prosecute you. In a way, then, I suppose next year’s elections just might be a way to save the republic from the left’s skewed version of democracy. Otherwise, as my son said to me the other day, “It’s all over.” That might be an exaggeration, but then again, maybe not.

May Their Tribe Decrease. I suppose here, at the start, I need to explain myself and share a few pieces of my own psyche before I launch into criticism of others. I reveal this, not to impress, but in a spirit of true humility. First, I am not an ambitious man. Indeed, I can never remember being ambitious in a worldly, material, or competitive sense. I was blessed with intelligence, a desire to learn, and have always enjoyed a sense of satisfaction due to accomplishment. I was, therefore, able to achieve a reasonable amount of success at most of what life offered me. And for me that was enough. I had no desire to achieve human greatness; my object was far more confined and limited to the happiness that comes from family and friendships and the joys of daily life. Like the rest of humanity, I am a sinner, but one who struggles to get better at this business of living the Christian life. 

This being said, I trust the comments that follow don’t appear conspiratorial, or irrational, or simply petty. Now that I think about it, though, I don’t really care. So here goes: I don’t trust politicians — not just some politicians, but all of them, without exception. That being said, let me define my terms. To me, a politician is someone who spends the bulk of his adult life in or seeking elected office. This includes those who, having failed to get re-elected, gravitate either to appointed government positions, or to politically oriented jobs in so-called think tanks or foundations, or as temporary executives in the well-paying “military-industrial complex” where they remain positioned for another run at elected office. I suppose it boils down to my distrust of those possessed of unbridled ambition, the “professional” politicians. I find it amazing that so many, when they finally leave what they like to call “public service,” retire as multi-millionaires. Driven by greed and unwilling to sacrifice their personal ambition, these are the politicians who care more about their own re-election than the good of the people. The professional politician will never support term limits.

Our first politicians, the nation’s Founding Fathers, were citizen legislators. They were farmers, lawyers, judges, clergymen, teachers, merchants and traders, men who truly sacrificed to serve their fellow citizens. For example, of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, five were captured by the British and imprisoned and tortured. Nine signers fought in the War for Independence and either died of their wounds or from the hardships suffered. The sons of two signers joined the Continental Army and lost their lives in the war. The sons of two others were captured by the British and imprisoned. The homes of at least a dozen signers were pillaged and destroyed. Many, far too many, died impoverished. The founders were men who knowingly and publicly called for independence, fully aware of the dire consequences they would face. I wonder how many of today’s lifelong politicians would do the same. 

My advice: never vote for anyone who’s spent more than 10 years in political office.

Saving the Republic

The left loves to confiscate. It stems from its basic belief that individuals do not and should not own anything. In their view, only the state, the acquisitive state, should possess. Socialists, communists, and yes, even fascists all believe the state alone has the right and should, therefore, exercise its power to take anything from anyone in order to further its mission. And what is that mission? To exercise total control over the population, because that's the only way totalitarianism can survive. When all power resides in the state and a people is dispossessed of everything, that same people can do nothing. Of course, we see an example of this with so-called "gun control," a policy that ultimately aims at gun confiscation. An unarmed public is far less threatening to those in power than one which possesses millions of weapons. This, then, is the theory under which the acquisitive state operates.

We saw signs of this in England and elsewhere when landowners and even small property owners were attacked both politically and financially. But the signs became very real during the twentieth century when the Soviet and Chinese Communists, along with their less influential proteges, blatantly confiscated all productive property. In response, the United States government openly condemned the violent and terroristic approach of these nations. And yet, despite the condemnation, our government's policies tended push our nation and its people in the same leftward direction. The New Deal, the Fair Deal, the New Frontier, the Great Society, Globalization, Obamacare, the Green New Deal, and many other doctrines and programs moved our nation and its people away from personal freedom and toward increased governmental control of all aspects of their lives.

Although most of these doctrines were hatched in the political incubators of the Democrat Party, the Republicans did little to slow the process. Under Republican administrations we experienced the establishment of many intrusive agencies and recent Republican presidents have expanded government spending by huge amounts, doing very little to slow the advance of an unelected bureaucracy to power. It would seem many Republicans have decided to continue along the same leftward path, but to do so more slowly and less conspicuously. At the same time, they declare the welfare state is doomed, that it will eventually collapse. One is reminded of Margaret Thatcher's famous line: "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." Perhaps, but that can take a long time so long as those "other people" willingly provide the funds.

Free-market economies not only offer economic freedom and opportunity, but also encourage political freedom. But it's important to remember that socialist regimes like Communist China have been able to remain in power, even though they reject the true economic freedom and productive benefits of capitalism. They've stayed in power because they use the technological advancements of capitalism, technology they acquire through both trade and thievery.

The Communist Chinese have learned much from the earlier mistakes of the Soviets. Personally, I don't believe they are about to collapse, at least not in the near term. Such regimes, which rely heavily on terror, will manage to survive so long as capitalism still exists. I suspect they can last even longer through the ready use of force and other means of coercion. Force, especially when it is applied brutally, can overcome a people's desire to achieve the material benefits of a free economy.

If we truly want to save our Republic from morphing into just another form of totalitarianism, we must take a totally different approach, less political and more spiritual, more religious. We must openly address the moral inhumanity of all forms of socialism. Socialism aims to deprive the individual of the gift of his humanity since it views people as mere statistics, thereby demeaning them all. It denies the person the ability to exercise the freedom to choose how he lives and deprives him of responsibility for his future and for the well-being of family and community. Only by focusing on moral and spiritual means and ends can the plague of socialist totalitarianism be defeated. It demands more than individual, family, and community prayer. Prayer is necessary, but we must also act. We must courageously address our civilization's and our nation's moral and spiritual foundation, ensuring that those who follow will continue the fight for the freedom God wills for us. We must accept that we are not fighting an economic or social war, but rather a spiritual war. No other approach can succeed.

Marxists, Socialists, Communists, Liars, Haters, Disrupters, Purveyors of Chaos, Totalitarians

The title of this post consists of a series of words, synonyms really. Each describes the left of our country, which sadly, has commandeered the very core of the Democrat Party. Their ultimate goal is power and the primary means to achieve this is the destruction of our constitutional, representative republic. If you don't believe this, you are grossly misinformed, simply foolish, or invincibly ignorant.

I've probably already upset a few people, but I really don’t care. I’m sick of listening to the lies emanating from a corrupt media and from even more corrupt politicians, especially from the so-called “squad” and from our puppet-like president. Does anyone really believe these people are smart enough to understand the ultimate ends of the policies they espouse? They are perfect examples of Lenin’s “useful idiots” who do exactly as they are told, and later become expendable. Yes, the great unifying candidate has become the great dividing president who does the bidding, as best he can, of the committed leftists that surround and handle him and of the foreign powers that have bought their way into the Biden family’s graces. 

Marxism, in all its manifestations, never changes. The socialist, the so-called democratic socialist, the communist — they all believe the same monstrous ideology, all seek the same outcome, all accept the same tactics, and all desire one thing: power. Only the names they hide behind change, all in an effort to appeal to those who must be convinced, either to vote for them or to accept without resistance their revolutionary grab for power. Just look at the record. The Soviet Union, Communist China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, and all the rest followed the same path to power, a path littered with the bodies of those who dared to resist. These were not revolutions by the people. Each was a coup carried out by a relatively small group of committed, violent ideologues. For the Marxist, hatred between races and classes, disruption of the normalcy of civil society, undermining a nation's religious and historic foundation, chaos in the streets are all desirable. They create the crises needed to consolidate power. Should a people be foolish enough to vote a socialist government into power, as for example in Venezuela, they will never be permitted to vote them out of office. Once it seizes power, the Marxist state always fails its people and turns their nation into a poverty-stricken slave state. Marxists must become totalitarians because that is the only way they can maintain their power.

It’s happening here…right now. Note how the Biden administration welcomes all who cross our southern border and then resettles them throughout the country. That these immigrants enter the country in violation of federal law means nothing to an administration that simply ignores the law. Any attempt to change the law would hurt them politically, so they act as if the law doesn’t exist. These immigrants, of course, are rewarded with cash, housing, and a plethora of government assistance, including promises of quick citizenship so they will vote for those who let them in. 

Contrast DHS policy regarding our southern border with yesterday’s statement by the DHS Secretary. He warned the Cuban people not to try to make their way to the United States or they will be sent back to Cuba. Our borders are indeed open, but only for the right kind of people. Cubans, who for 62 years have suffered under a murderous, totalitarian, communist regime, are not welcome here because we all know they vote for the “wrong” kind of politicians. They will vote for freedom not more enslavement. Instead of welcoming these people, instead of supporting those who courageously resist communist tyranny, our government turns its back on them. According to the Biden administration, the Cuban people are upset not because of communist tyranny but because of COVID and our policy of sanctions against Cuba. The lies continue.

Note, too, how the protests in Cuba have resulted only in deafening silence from the far left of the Democrat Party. For years they have praised Cuba as a showcase of progressive ideology. Cuba has such wonderful healthcare, they tell us. But when we ask Cubans we hear something very different. Even with support from Russia, China, and many other nations, healthcare for the Cuban people hasn’t changed much since Fidel came to power in 1959. And, of course, Cuba’s famous literacy program, so highly touted by people like President Obama, ensured the people could read Fidel’s speeches and those of his successors, but little else. Trust me, and if you don’t trust me, trust those who left Cuba and escaped to this country, Cuba is no workers’ paradise. It’s been a slave state for decades and remains so today.

The Marxist left has captured most of the media, almost all of academia, certainly the entertainment industry, and far too many politicians. They hope to federalize the entire election system, create division in schools and families by means of Critical Race Theory, weaken our national defense, create a population dependent on federal largess, and so much more. 

Like the people of Hungary in 1956, the people of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the people of Poland in 1980, the people of Hong Kong and Cuba today, we should be willing to follow the lead of these courageous people and be prepared to resist those trying to take control of our nation and destroy our God-given freedoms.  

I, for one, intend to resist if necessary. I am not a martyr and have no intention of becoming one. God, of course, might have different intentions but I’ll leave that to Him. I am not of the school, one popular among many Catholics, that teaches active resistance to evil is not a valid option for the faithful. The Church, of course, teaches exactly the opposite. If my family and its freedom are threatened by those committed to the destruction of our nation, I not only have the right, but also the obligation, the responsibility, to resist using appropriate means. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states this clearly: “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others” [CCC, 2265]. If you don’t believe you are at least partially responsible for defending those who depend on you, you might want to reconsider that belief.